PEPSI v COKE

 

Nike is to Adidas what Pepsi is to Coca-Cola. The reason I say this is that the current World Cup has crystalised my theory. Nowhere is that more evident than in the respective big TV commercials for each brand.

Adidas focusses on past legends of the game and ordinary street footballers whereas Nike go full superstar. The thing is that most of Nike's players are egotistical popinjays more about themselves than the team and the way in which this advert is put together gives each of the an opportunity to be performative, arrogant and far from self depreciating. Now footballers that reach their level of success have to, by definition, have a degree of confidence bordering on arrogance but there are levels.

The Nike strategy has always been about targeting the slightly rebellious athlete and as times have changed those rebels are now rebel-by-numbers.

The Adidas model is more classic in approach drawing on the brand's history which goes back to 1949 and is very much a European brand whereas Nike came along much later in 1964 and is inextricably linked with The USA.

One brand is subtle while the other is showy, the trefoil out styles the Swoosh and adidas' links to music and street culture surpasses Nikes.

But its about choice and both brands provide plenty of that, I just think it's preferable to wear the brand that the once humble Messi endorses as opposed to the brand that the arch egotist Ronaldo typifies.

WORLD CRAP FINAL

 

The Bishop of Bland Chris Martin, The Muppets and "The Children Of The World" delivered a toe curling and trite sub-Michael Jackson at his most indulgent, performance at the Super Bowl World Cup Final Half Time Show.

A wax works like Madonna flanked by what appeared to be Ali-G and Harvey Price were also in the mix alongside some blokes faffing about on stage and the yodelling inanity of the mystifyingly popular Shakira.

Add to that the "Let's get Ready To Rumble" guy being outdone by his Latin American counterpart and Infantino's white trainers and suit combination bookmarking the game, and you have a spectacle for the ages.

The Septics simply don't do restraint or subtlety and it was clear that they seriously misjudged the public's appetite for vapid elevator music and cringe inducing performances that offer nothing new.

And as if that wasn't enough we had the BBC's latest commercial justifying the license fee to contend with. A blitzkrieg of vanity and inanity featuring the now ubiquitous Romesh Ranganathan

It was one of those nights when I half expected a comet to hit the earth hurling us all into a new ice age, and it would have been well deserved.

All of this remarkably, actually took the focus away from the orange tyrant who was booed on entering the field of play to hand out medals to both sets of players who probably think the same about him as most sane people 

The game itself? Spain's victory was well deserved as they were far superior to Argentina in every conceivable category (including sportsmanship) and in the end I think overall football was the winner of this contentious tournament.

The one person who quite possibly summed up all the extraneous bits of American showbiz on display was Wayne Rooney when asked about the half time show; "I thought it was crap" Well said Wazza

ENGLAND HOME OR AWAY

Tonight it's England v Argentina. A classic World Cup match up in Atlanta Stadium and of course there will be recollections of the match in the iconic  Estadio Azteka, between these two protagonists when Diego Maradona scored 'those' goals

For some there is a decision to be made  whether to go out to watch it and join fellow fans in celebration or commiseration or to stay at home and be accompanied by the pundits of the BBC. To help you make that decision here are the negatives about going out to watch the World Cup:

Performative Plastic Pint Throwing . Absolutely moronic behaviour. Buying an over priced pint and then throwing it in the air to drench other people that may not want to be drenched is simply idiotic. I wish they would stop

Sweet Caroline blaring out at full volume. A song that is ubiquitous and need not be repeated

Communal singing of Wonder Wall. A song that is ubiquitous and need not be repeated

Filming the game on the big screen with your phone. Why?

Pre booking tables in pubs. This should not be encouraged. Pub rules say "first come, first served"

Endless betting company adverts. On the screen, on the wall on beer mats in the toilets.

Face paint. Yes, call me curmudgeonly but face paint should be reserved for children's parties 

Plastic glasses instead of glass. Regular who visit the pub or bar suddenly have to put u with plastic glasses that make the drinking experience unpleasant

Increased pricing on a game night. A liberty, but when you have a captive audience you can take liberties if you are driven by commerce

Smoke flares. They contaminate ones clothes for days

Loud “experts” loudly giving their loud expert opinions to anyone who will listen, or anyone who doesn't want to listen for that matter

Couples taking up valuable seating space while nursing a coke and tap water for two hours

Staying in? sounds good now doesn't it?

ARGUING IN AN EMPTY ROOM

 

If you say it is so, it is so. If you say it's bad, it's bad. If you say up is down and down is up, you're right.

An opinion, in the modern communication landscape, is now a fact, a fact that will be defended and argued about with no room for compromise. It's that sort of thing that is standard when discussing faith with many people; their view is embedded, but that's quite a deep and personal issue. The problem is that being entrenched is something of a default these days over the most trivial of things.

Example: I overheard a man in the pub the other day being asked if he had been in the previous night having an argument which he swore he hadn't, but that was not good enough for the questioner, he was adamant that it was him, and round and round they went. They were still at it when I left.

Then there is the case of when I know for a fact that a certain film starred a certain actor and the person who asked me about said film is convinced that I am wrong. It's not abut takig someone's word about it, its about being incapable of saying "Oh, I must be wrong then, thanks for clearing that up". Oh no, why agree when you can argue!

Naturally, Social media is the Ground Zero of arguing about opinions, its not only the Ground Zero, its the Eye Of The Hurricane it's the Monty Python Argument sketch of arguing.

Opinions aren't facts necessarily, that's simple enough isn't it? We are all entitled to our opinions from sensible to downright inane and healthy discourse is exactly what it says it is; healthy, but when we as a species cannot reach accord, use empathy or simply agree to disagree then we are in trouble, and maybe because there is so much information that can be accessed everyone thinks they're an expert.

The irony is that generally the louder the discourse the less the speaker has to say that has any meaning. Then again, maybe I'm just too old for arguing.