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When things go bad: addiction to oil, Iraq, surging deficits and blah-blah-blah one needs to find a way to get a good laugh. Most of the world these days has its attention focused on Germany where the quadrennial, supreme sporting event is taking place: the FIFA World Cup. There are many tens of thousands of spectators in the stadiums every day, and hundreds of millions who are glued to the TV screens at home or in public places. I don't think there is a lot of humor on the field of play: it is serious business. There is personal glory, country honor, lots of money to be won or lost, future contracts and rarely, thank God, a life may be on the line. Remember the Columbian player who made an error which eliminated Columbia from the next round of play? Well, when he got back home he was shot! The humor, the laughs the singing is all in the seats where the crowds do their rooting. They party in the German cities and they dress-up for the games. There are beautiful women, in various states of undress, handsome men and fantastic costumes and body painting. They come from the four corners of the globe. Did you know that Togo has a team in the World Cup and that when the team qualified to play in Germany, the country partied for three days and than their President declared a national holiday for additional partying? I was surprised myself that Africa is represented with teams from Tunisia, the Ivory Coast (known as the "elephants"), Togo, Ghana and Angola. Their dressing–up is incredibly colorful and brings a smile to the most hardened non-soccer fan. Iran made it to Germany and the team and their supporters have not threatened anybody, including the US. The Europeans and South American fans show the most skin, and the women are a beautiful sight. Flags and coats of arms are displayed on belly buttons, breasts, faces and other paintable body parts. There are even full body paintings. The men are somewhat more subdued in the skin revelation department, but they make up for this deficiency by sporting outrageous costumes. This will continue, if not more raucous until July 9, when the final game for the FIFA Cup will be played in the Olympic Stadium in Berlin. The stadiums are a sight to see and the Allianz Stadium in Munich has received considerable attention as a great piece of architectural design. The US team may or may not make to the next round of play (so far they have not really scored a goal). The US fans are as entertaining as all their colleagues from the rest of the world. So watch some of the proceedings whether you care about soccer or not. And, if you need some lightening up, have a few laughs and join this worldwide celebration check some of this out on www.corriere.it You may have to fumble around a bit to find the dozens of pictures that have been saved from the opening ceremonies to the present. |
