Roundabout Dubai

It's the Final Countdown!

There is a peculiar breed of creatures who are now awakening from a 4-year slumber, wild-eyed with excitement, and ready to enjoy their most riveting life span of four weeks, before they burrow back into oblivion once again. No, they’re not a local type of the North American periodical cicadas who spring to life from underground every 17 years to flirt by singing noisily for weeks, before they mate and die. As you may have guessed already, the breed I’m talking about here consists of humans united by their mad love for football; or to be more accurate, their unmatched yearning for the Football World Cup, the undisputed king of all mega events. With the games just 12 days away, members of this large cult, (certainly larger than any religious or ethnic group in history) are counting the days, discussing the venues, debating the groups composition, memorizing the games schedules, and reminiscing over brilliant flashes of history from previous championships (including ones they never watched but describe vividly and passionately as if they were eye witnesses!).

The FWC is so popular that it dwarfs every other team sport spectacle, including the Olympics. The final game of the 2002 (Brazil vs. Germany) was watched via live broadcast by an estimated 1.1 billion people worldwide. It’s probably impossible to find a corner of the world where people aren’t so transfixed on the games for the duration of the four-week tournament; and Dubai is no exception. I’ve been discussing with my friend D our “preparations” for the upcoming drama, namely the question of where in Dubai we should go to watch the most anticipated games, i.e. those featuring the world’s greatest football titans. So far the plan is to sample several of the top candidates and then decide on a semi-permanent location, though we’re both inclined in favor of Spikes at Nad Al Sheba. The place is almost ideal, with its layout, atmosphere, multiple screens, plus its relative accessibility and availability of parking.

But just like the outcome of the games themselves, plans and expectations can be easily foiled or disrupted without warning, and we won’t be surprised if we end up watching any number of games at the Aviation Club, Harvester’s, Aussie Legends, or the Red Lion. In other words, we may have a plan, but there’s no need for a back up plan, and it’s highly likely that we’ll just follow the prevailing winds of the football season. For one thing, we learned the lesson from the 2002 World Cup experience; even finding ourselves once (we still don’t remember how) watching a game in the Ajman Kempinski; and yes, the bar there, by the way, is called the World Cup Bar.

posted by bandicoot @ 9:58 AM