And for the Fifa World Cup Finals 2006, a few random thoughts and general observations (most of them my own)...

• Like, one does not know whether to be sad or happy at the imminent departure of the ‘bootiful’ game from our 24x7 television screens.

• Like, the more I watch football, the more I am convinced that human beings are genetically programmed to function as tribes, each with its distinct body markings, rituals, taboos, and mating calls.

• Like, what is the point of Fifa’s Organising Committee outlawing the consumption of illegal drugs in its stadia if it cannot do anything about the most potent drug of them all — football?

• Like, there is more emotion packed into this one event than probably anything Ektaa Kapoor can conjure up in a billion years (and that goes for chest beating, finger pointing, screaming, sobbing and full-lung-capacity-wailing.)

• Like, say what you want about the men with golden feet who take their salaries home in dumpster trucks, but without the billion-odd fans from across the world who watch their antics, this would have been a no-show.

• Like, given this reality, should Fifa not present a ‘Golden Posterior’ award to the viewer who spent the most hours of his/her life couchpotato-ing his or her way through the World Cup?

• Like, shouldn’t Fifa also institute a Golden Globe award for the Best Actor of the Tournament, going by the increasing number of feigned injuries on the field?

... contd.