Avoiding the World Cup: Day One

By John Freeman on June 8, 2006

Well, actually, that’s a lie, I’ve been trying to avoid it for weeks. But really, what’s all the fuss about? If I hear any more about Wayne ‘Shrek’ Rooney’s bloody meta tarsel I swear I’ll put a brick through the telly and no, that won’t be an excuse to race out and buy a 42″ replacement and couch to match.

As my wife said when the dreaded injury occurred, ‘get up, you’re not dead’, which perhaps wasn’t very charitable but you really would think Rooney was going to play every position on the field for England and there weren’t another, um, 20 + players in the squad.

One of my friends works in a nursing home and some of the little old ladies in there have gotten themselves in a right state, wondering if they’re missing something and why the World Cup is suddenly so important… and thinking that it really must be important and perhaps they should join in somehow. is there a senior citizens version of the tournament?

Today’s attempt to avoid the world cup may involve pouring cold water over passers by wearing England shirts and talking loudly about baseball. Since very few British people know anything about baseball — including me — no-one will dare challenge me and I will insist it is far more important than anything going on in Germany.

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John Freeman

John is the founder of downthetubes, launched in 1998. He is a comics and magazine editor, writer, and Press Officer for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He also runs Crucible Comic Press.

Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine and Overkill for Marvel UK, Babylon 5 Magazine, Star Trek Magazine, and its successor, Star Trek Explorer, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics; and has edited several comic collections and graphic novels, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”, and Hancock: The Lad Himself, by Stephen Walsh and Keith Page.

He’s the writer of comics such as Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs”, with Dave Hailwood.