Saturday, February 25, 2006

All's Right with the World: Scotland Defeats England

In international football, be it soccer football or rugby football, our favorite teams, for obvious reasons, are Scotland and whoever is playing England.

So we are very pleased to note that the Scotland rugger squad today defeated the Auld Enemy 18-12 in the classic setting of Edinburgh's Murrayfield, under classic rainy conditions. The embarrassingly named Tom English, writing for Scotland on Sunday, summarizes:

THIS was a day to tell your grandchildren about, an 'I was there' moment if ever there was one.

Rugby, which when well played is undoubtedly the team sport most exciting for spectators, deserves better media attention in this country, especially when the Six Nations Tournament brings us the classic confrontation between Scottish Good and English Evil. But don't expect much. With continuous play through both halves, the game gives no opportunity for broadcasters to schedule revenue enhancement breaks.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Ah, if only this trend reflected historical reality. But nay, it does not. For this is why the Scots still sing "God Save the Queen!" though they may do so reluctantly. In the end there are many reasons to rejoice in the fact that my anscestors, the English, triumphed over the Scots. The foremost of these is a much more desirable system for the pronuciation of the english language although the English themselves produce notable exceptions (see opening scene of "My Fair Lady"). Beyond these superior verbal skills the English have introduced to Scotland trousers, a fact that has saved a great deal of embarassment for the whole of Western civilization. And, of course, England has David Beckham, the patriarch of the world's greatest game. So these three things remain; language, trousers and Becks, but the greatest of these is Becks