mccullochblog

Spend it like Beckham

English football is one of the few things that ever makes me think about leaving California. I was wondering today whether David Beckham sometimes feels the same way.

With Mark and his son, David, we ventured to Oakland last night (see video below) to watch his Royal Beckhamness playing for the LA Galaxy against our local team, San Jose Earthquakes. As I said to Emma at half time: "It's clearly not the matches that are maintaining his fitness".

Compared to the full-throttle intensity of the Premiership, or perhaps even La Liga, Beckham really is in semi-retirement, no matter what he tells Fabio Capello. LA Galaxy crushed San Jose 3-0 and Beckham rarely broke into a canter. Despite frankly looking disinterested at times, Beckham's deft passing was still miles above the level of his team-mates and opponents. He made the first goal and was at the heart of everything of high quality that the Galaxy did. That said, I would still liken the match to him making a guest appearance for a pub team.

Still, what does America care? The Earthquakes switched the venue of last night's game to the much larger Oakland Coliseum especially for Beckham's visit. They've averaged an attendance of 10,000 at home this year. Last night 39,000 paid an average of $45 to watch.

And for one million dollars per week,you can't really blame Beckham either!

Farewell to a televisual gem.

In the seven years I've been in the US, television has not played a major part in my life. Sure, I watched CNN on 9/11. Univision's overzealous hispanic commentators got me through the early mornings of the 2002 World Cup and I'd be struggling without ESPN Classic for Euro 2008 right now.

Overall though, I've found most US TV and most US TV presenters to be ...shall we say, uninspiring? American Idol may well pull in a gazillion viewers, but Ryan Seacrest has no great talent as a presenter. Reality TV shows similarly draw huge audiences, but it's impossible to form any attachment to each successive gaggle of mindless/pretty people. You might argue that the delightful Katherine Heigl of Gray's Anatomy is an exception...but even I must concede she's just another Sandra Bullock / Meg Ryan / Kate Beckinsale waiting to be replaced on the Hollywood conveyor belt.

All of this made it all the more tragic that the American people prematurely lost Tim Russert today. For me, Tim Russert was the only broadcaster with both a brain and primetime slot on American TV. I will concede that his programs were the only ones that provoked some actual thoughts during the average TV viewing week. Meet The Press was the only program I never missed. If an episode of Dallas somehow pushed MTP off the TiVo...oh, there was gonna be trouble....

Sadly, after Russert's untimely death today, Sunday mornings will never be the same again.

(For my British readers, Russert was a sort of Des-Lynam-meets-Richard-Whitely-meets-Jeremy-Paxman, without any of Paxman's many unpleasant characteristics. A legend amongst meer pundits!)

Brilliant Orange!

I can vividly remember the sick feeling I had sitting in Nick Catton's flat in 1996 when together we watched England put four goals past Holland at Euro 96. Being half-Dutch by birth and mostly Dutch at heart was glorious in 1988 and then very tough for many years thereafter. It's a bit like being an England fan really.

Anyway, as I leapt up from the sofa after Arjan Robben scored a ludicrously wonderful goal in Holland's 4-1 whacking of France today, you can imagine that I desperately wanted to find a Frenchman to...ahem....console. Here's the wonder moment for you to enjoy too!

(UEFA/YouTube unsportingly removed the original video clip - but take a minute to listen to the hysterical laughing in this commentary (in Dutch) for a sense of the occasion!)

Oh, and Emma pointed out this little headline to me too...one for the scrapbook for sure!

We interrupt normal blogging...

...to bring you one of the most fantastic examples of total football in years! Surely, this second goal in Holland's dominance of Italy (sorry Luca) was one of the finest counter-attack goals of all time?

Oh, and here's me celebrating in front of the replay! You can take the boy out of Holland...

Birthday Surprise!

When I got home from work last night (at the end of my birthday!), Emma forced me to sit in the spare bedroom with a blindfold over my eyes and an iPod in my ears.  (Don't worry, this doesn't get kinky....well, not very kinky.)

After ten minutes or so, she came into the room and told me she was ready to walk me (still blindfolded) to the car whereupon there was a forty minute drive (yup, still blindfolded).

I tried for a few minutes to follow the left and right turns of the car and to guess where we were going, but soon got confused by the pained lyrics of Leonard Cohen songs still playing in my ears (I wasn't allowed to HEAR where we were going either!) and gave up.

It was only when we finally arrived and the car door was flung open allowing a rush of cold sea air in that I realised we weren't in San Francisco for a surprise dinner!

No folks, my lovely wife sprang quite the surprise on me and treated me to a romantic night away at the luxurious Ritz Carlton Hotel at Half Moon Bay. Ain't she sweet? Well, you can see for yourself here....and after you've seen the vid, answer this question:

What's the best birthday you ever had and why?