Posted on 06/29/2006 11:18:10 AM PDT by BJClinton
Thu Jun 29, 7:31 AM ET
BEIJING (Reuters) - A Beijing soccer fan refused to let the small matter of his house burning down disturb his enjoyment of Tuesday's World Cup match between France and Spain.
A fire broke out in a hutong in the center of the Chinese capital at 3am local time Wednesday -- kickoff time in Hanover -- and gutted the traditional courtyard dwelling, the Beijing Daily Messenger reported.
"When the neighbors shouted 'fire!', I took my little baby and ran out in my nightclothes," the man's wife told the paper.
"My husband paid no attention to the danger, just grabbed the television and put it under his arm.
"After getting out of the house, he then set about finding an electric socket to plug in and continue watching his game."
The anti-social timing of the matches broadcast from Germany, which is six hours behind China, has forced some Chinese fans to go to great lengths to follow the action.
One man quit his job in Beijing to return to his hometown Chongqing so he could watch the whole tournament uninterrupted.
State news agency Xinhua reported that the 23-year-old's boss at the IT company had offered him a pay rise, but he turned it down flat, saying the World Cup was more important than his job.
The Guangzhou Daily reported that local police were forced to release a thief arrested for stealing a mobile phone when the victim refused to press charges because he did not want to miss the start of a match.
Although there are also many female World Cup fans in China, one man in the southeastern city had to sign a contract with his wife agreeing to do all the housework during the month of the finals so he could watch the matches at night.
Another from Putian, Fujian province, took a less diplomatic approach, Xinhua reported.
When his cheers during the Argentina-Ivory Coast match woke his wife and she switched off the television, he locked her in their bedroom and settled back down to watch the game ignoring her loud protests.
aaah that's why your team did not tie against ghana ?
;-)
My Envoy creates a great vacuum on mini vans as it passed and cuts back into the lane in front of them. I love to watch their vans serve.
It doesn't appear on the radar of many people.
I think only 20% of the earths population are watching it.
But that's more people then any other event was able to attract including the landing on the moon.
And then there is this crowd of people hating football so much they have to post about it. There's more then 200 posts in a thread on why americans don't like football.
Yeah right - what an unrecognized unimportant sport it is.
I bet the argentinians would love to hide behind a suddenly felt dislike to football.
How can you feel anoyed by something that doesn't have a public ? You rooting for Ghana in a sport that is unimportant to you ? Yeah right :)
Come on - there will be better times - your guys will do it to the finals one day.
Since when do Americans care what the rest of the world thinks?
"I bet the argentinians would love to hide behind a suddenly felt dislike to football."
Failed analogy -- Argentinians are soccer crazy and everyone knows it; Americans are either soccer indifferent or antagonistic and the soccer-loving world simply can't believe it.
"How can you feel anoyed by something that doesn't have a public ? You rooting for Ghana in a sport that is unimportant to you ? Yeah right :)"
You misunderstood -- I was annoyed that the cable sports channel (ESPN) was, in an attempt to be "worldly," polluting the sports news with endless soccer crap. Now that the American team lost that's no longer a concern :)
Your country is about to be footballized - get ready to look away with disgust in your face.
(And secretly watch it under your pillow)
The same has been said many times before, and was really being trumpeted in 1994 (when we hosted the Cup). It never happened. ....and I doubt it ever will.
(And secretly watch it under your pillow)
Only to relieve insomnia. For that, I suspect soccer is quite useful :)
Seems like your where bored by some of the many games you watched recently...
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