Pynchon & Italian football

[cfalbert]

The nerve.....

The reffing in the France/Croatia and Italy/Sweden matches was so 
manifestly corrupt that it turns the stomach...

France's equalizer against the Croats was scored after a blatant hand ball. 
In the Sweden match, an Italian defender, clearly outmanned in the box, 
simply raised his hands above his head to knock down a corner kick, and was 
given a free kick on a "push". I cannot figure how a man pushed from behind 
winds up reflexively throwing his hands directly above his head, while 
remaining perfectly upright.....The italians scored shortly thereafter on a 
play which was clearly offsides....


I certainly hope the scandinavians play to a high scoring tie, and by means 
fair or foul eliminate the Azzuri....

Let UEFA spin on that....

love,
cfa



At 10:30 AM 6/22/04, you wrote:


>[...] Of course, if Italian conspiracy theorists are
>to be believed, all talk of players, shapes and
>systems is academic, and the Scandinavians will strike
>a deal to play out the 2-2 draw that, thanks to Uefa's
>complicated and illogical rules (see panel), will see
>both through no matter what Italy do against Bulgaria
>- a suggestion dismissed as "ridiculous" by Olsen.
>Their fears probably say more about Italian football -
>which resembles sport as written by Thomas Pynchon,
>riddled by corruption and paranoia - than it does of
>the reality, but the instinctive defence that Danes
>and Swedes are bitter rivals doesn't wash.[...]
>
> From today's Financial Times:
>"Swedes hope diamond sparkles"
>http://news.ft.com/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=FT.com/StoryFT/FullStory&c=StoryFT&cid=1087373158846"
>
>=====
>http://pynchonoid.org/
>
>
>
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