This Sporting Life

I did pretty well for the first two weeks here in terms of getting some real exercise done. Then a stabbing pain in my back after a day of general soreness in the lower lumbar region put a stop to that and my only involvement in the physical side of things has been of the strictly vicarious variety – through Euro 2008. I haven’t bothered to try and watch all the games, and I certainly haven’t stayed up in the middle of the night to watch any. But what I have seen has been entertaining, even, perhaps because, England are not around. It looks like the Dutch have rediscovered total football, but it remains to be seen if they can keep it up beyond the group stage. By the way, Singaporean readers may be interested to know that you don’t need to pay extra here to get full coverage of the games – it comes as a normal part of the Astro service (or maybe with the sports package, but I get it anyway.)

I was also pleased to read of Tiger Woods’s success in the US Open. I can’t say I’ve got any great interest in golf, but he’s always struck me as an all-round good guy and someone with the kind of talent that can only be described using unlikely superlatives. Also for some reason I don’t quite understand my Mum adores him and in her eyes he can do no wrong, so she’s going to be very pleased when we discuss his victory over the phone tonight. (Her other major crush – quite honestly that’s the only word that really fits the situation – is Al Pacino. This is something I only realised when she began to express an unusual and repetitive interest in The Godfather, not a movie that would normally have held any appeal for her at all.) So, there it is: Tiger & Al. Go figure, as they say.