Sports, the English & Winning don't Mix

Watched some of the US Open in Madison Square Garden with Jill 'n' Phil last night - it was nice to be out in the open while the nights are still warm, and nicer still to not worry about all the "will Tim Henman win?" crap that usually accompanies me watching tennis. In case you don't know, every time Wimbledon comes around at least one commentator (often John McEnroe) will say that this might be the year he wins the tournament. Following this, one of two things will happen; 1) Tim will get to the semi-finals and be soundly thrashed by Federer/Roddick/Agassi/whoever wins the whole thing, or 2) he'll get to the 2nd round and will have the crap kicked out of him by a 17 year old Eastern European guy whose ranking is triple-digits. This doesn't stop people from saying he might win it the next year though, all of which has made me at best a little cynical when watching England/Britain play sports.

Another example of this comes from the England World Cup qualifier last night, a 1-0 loss to Northern Ireland. Now, no disrespect to Northern Ireland - I didn't see the game but from what I've heard they played far better - but England has a better team and should be able to spank them on a regular basis. It's just that every English or British team comes with a provision that, every now and then, frequently in an important game, they will simply suck. Even normally talented players will suddenly play with all the intuition, grace and skill of... well, me. Once in a blue moon the opposite will happen and they'll play like nipple-clamps and a variety of impliments involving chains and pointy things await them if they lose, but otherwise they appear to be the eternal self-destruction team. None of this means I'll stop supporting them though, revealing a masochistic streak in me that I find confusing but somehow strangley compelling.

Then again, they might win the Ashes this week for the first time in forever, which would be fantastic as it would be another thing to tease Jen with. Go England!