Set piece

When Joyce joined Hungarians 'in the middle'
Why has a 1937 alignment of literary stars not featured in Vienna in the European Championship's cultural program? Vladimir Nabokov lectures in a Parisian literary salon and espies James Joyce "sitting, arms folded and glasses glinting, in the midst of the Hungarian football team."
POSTED IN Language & literature | Hungary

The run of play

Ukrainians unite!
At any given time, an uncountable number of football universes exist in parallel. Such was the case in late May when Ukraine United and Shakhtar FC faced each other in a friendly match, not in the motherland, but on an artificial pitch at the 25-acre Ontario Soccer Centre.
Permalink | Comment

Other voices
BBC, ITV and Sky have mounted garish, glowing sets for hosting Euro 08 coverage, writes StrangeHarvest. BBC, in particular, stands out for the pundits' desk, the geometrical outcome of "a fight between an oval and a triangle." ... Described in the Globe & Mail as a "serial non-fiction author," Alan Twigg has written about his Vancouver-based over-50 squad's negotiations with aging and its trip to Spain, where it did not lose 8-0. The title of the book is Full Time. ... In the New Statesman, Robin Stummer writes that the "shadows, secrets and whispers" characterizing WWII-era Vienna still pertain to Matthias Sindelar, the so-called Paper Man who died mysteriously at 35 without the "chocolate-box glorification" afforded other Austrian heroes. ... How strongly should one draw comparisons between Boca's Juan Roman Riquelme and the charismatic Eva Peron? They both have represented the people, and have suffered for it, but Riquelme never changes his haircut, says Clarin's Cronicas Argentinas. ... The Link TV series Latin Pulse/Pulso Latino examines the Latino passion for futbol across the Americas, including a conversation with filmmaker Mylene Moreno on her new project, Fanaticos, about Chivas USA supporters. ... The thralldom to Toronto FC - "like a sheltered small-town adolescent who has just discovered gangsta rap and hash," writes Leah McLaren in the Globe & Mail - and the flirtation with yob culture threaten Toronto dwellers' "bland politesse."

Heard on the terraces

"I can still recite the entire lineup of the 1959 Fenerbahce team like a poem. Of course, it has something to do with identifying with my father. We always sat in the main stands next to the VIPs, who looked like capitalists from a Bertolt Brecht play. Throughout the match they smoked cigars, a sign of great wealth at the time, and because a breeze from the Bosporus was constantly blowing into the stadium, the smoke made my eyes tear up." (Orhan Pamuk, "Football Is Faster Than Words," Spiegel Online, Jun 4).

Available at the interval

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It has 'mugness'
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