A different view on the World Cup

I tried posting this a few days ago, spent over an hour on it pressed "publish" and my pc fucked up and I lost all of it, so it has taken me a few days to get round to writing IT ALL AGAIN! Especially, as I have now joined a gym, doing more shifts at the bar because of the world cup and meeting up with mates back home more often.
Anyways, this is not a post from my POV and its not updates on the world cup or what I did, because thats boring. Instead, it is about an article published on page 12 of the Daily Mail on the 7th June and written by a guy called Michael Hanlon.
As a football fan, I give little time to those who aren't interested in the World Cup and don't think about them much, the industry for which I plan to work in the future is obsessed with it and so is every country that is in the world cup. However, Michael Hanlon writes this article as someone who wants to get away from it all, as the first line indicates "Ok, where can I go to Hide?" He suggests America as the only place were he can escape the constant coverage, even though they are also playing in the WC (the World Cup, not the toilets!).
The critique is written in an informal style and he identifies many factors that he does not like about football in general and the world cup. He makes sure he identifies what rankles him so much "its not the football, its the fact that everyone thinks it matters so much" which is totally true, because really it doesn't matter does it?? Its just another form of entertainment, but England seem to be obsessed with the prospect of winning. He goes on to talk about football when he was younger and how he describes it as being "...Designed so that 99% of the time nothing is actually happening. The ball goes up, then it goes down, but it very rarely goes anywhere near the goal" He describes the English game as untidy as he says "where it is thwack the ball as far as you can and hope there is someone on the end of it. Which of course there won't be".
I have been to many lower league football games and this explanation makes me laugh as it is basically what happens but he says he can't identify that much with the spirit of the football fan. He describes one experience when he went to watch a football match "22 blokes aimlessy punting the ball up and down the pitch in the rain, with no semblance of pace, grace or skill. Of course it was a draw- most football matches end up in draws, as far as I can tell- and afterwards I looked around at the terraces for signs that my fellow spectators, like me, had lost the will to live. But strangely, they seemed happy; not elated, but their team hadn't lost. Extraordinary". The description of the "beautiful game" by someone who isn't into it as much as I am, anyway, really makes me laugh and opens my eyes a bit to see how actually dull this game can be.
He goes on to talk about players and thier attitudes and the massive car flag craziness that has been going on. I agree with this, all them flags stuck out of car windows etc, what does it show? that we are supporting our national team? Of course we are!! I just don't need to stick a flag out of my car window! (However, I have got a blow-up England hand....I am a sucker for novelty items!)
Near the end of the article, Michael Hanlon says how he wished other things than "Big Brother" and the "World Cup" would unite the nation, as sport as hijacked National consciousness, and makes us rediscover our "Britishness". The final paragraph is a great summary and leaves you finishing the article with a big smile on your face as he prepares for what the world cup coverage will be like and what he can do to escape it.
Overall, I agree with quite a few points in his article and it also made me laugh when he describes how he feels towards the sport. However, come Thursday I will one of the first down the pub to cheer England on!! What can I say?! I will quote Micheal Hanlon on this point to end the post. "For anyone born without the football gene (and there are a lot of us out there, despite what you might think) we are about to enter several weeks of misery".