I’ve been sneaking away from my cube a couple of times a day to catch bits and pieces of the World Cup games in our office building’s cafeteria. Earlier today I arrived there just in time to see Radhi Jaidi’s game-tying goal as Tunisia came away with a 2-2 tie against Saudi Arabia.

Online, I’ve been using WorldCupBlog’s LiveBlogs, which provide a decent running text commentary of the action.

Also, Boston.com launched a Corner Kicks blog, in which Boston Globe reporters John Powers and Frank Dell’Apa chronicle the sights and sounds of the tournament. Some thoughtful and humorous accounts from the two, including Powers’s chance encounter with Unnur Birna Vilhjalmsdottir, better known as Miss World 2005.

Yet from the last line in this next paragraph, I get the sense that Powers, at least, is blogging not because he wants to, but because his bosses tell him he has to.

As expected, there was a massive demand for media tickets for Brazil’s first match, with a waiting list of 200 people, all of whom were convinced that they are entitled, both by seniority and insight, to have a reserved place. The Boston Globe correspondent, who apparently had just enough of both to qualify, was sitting in Block 10.1, Row 21, Table 6, Seat A. Nearly two hundred million Brazilians would have given 10 years off their lives to be in my place. Even if it included blogging duties.

And as I’ve pointed out in the past, Boston.com blogs don’t allow direct commenting, so I’m left with two other less attractive options for offering that note of disappointment:

• Completing the “Stay in Touch” form on the left side of the blog. What, exactly, does this mean? Should I be expecting a personal reply from Powers and/or Dell’Apa or, better still, an acknowledgement on the blog?
• “Sound off” on Boston.com’s soccer board. There’s been precisely one post to this board to date, so the likelihood of engaging in any sort of debate there is not good.

Actually, there is a third option — write my own blog post.

***

In a reminder of why it’s good to be in control of your blogging habits … I had intended to hustle down to the cafeteria for the end of the Germany-Poland game. But I spent a little too long writing this post consequently missed another thrilling finish!

Share This