The World Cup football matches have ended. Most Americans are unfamiliar with the largest sporting event in the world. (These are the same people who follow a baseball tournament between North American teams called the World [sic] Series.)

And so it is that Everett was confounded by news reports that ten seats at each of the sixty-four games were reserved for blind fans. He summed up his argument thusly, “How can they be spectators if they can’t use specs?”

I know the answer to his rhetorical question, even though I’ve never been to a football game. I have, however, enjoyed living in England, where I occasionally walked within half a kilometer of a football stadium during a match. Even at that distance, the sound of tens of thousands of inebriated fans chanting, cheering, and booing in unison was a guttural, primitive experience that any blind person could appreciate.

Having said that, the sounds themselves aren’t all that inspiring. One Italian football club’s supporters have adopted the dark chorus from a popular Detroit musical duo’s song. And as for the words, my favorite football chant remains,

All my life a Magpie Ranger,
Only live for sex and danger.

Haway the lads!

Copyright 2006 David Rinehart. Reprinted by permission. Read more of David's insightful scribblings at www.stare.com.