i had reason today to refer, yet again, to sepp herberger's words of wisdom regarding the nature of football, which i first became aware of in the opening sequence of the film lola rennt. this in turn lead me to Nach dem Spiel ist vor dem Spiel which, if anything, i have recourse to even more than the latter at work. (should i be giving the impression that german football is some sort of repository of wisdom you can find ample evidence that this isn't the case here).
and i can't really leave the french out, which inevitably leads to camus and his tout ce que je sais de plus sûr à propos de la moralité et des obligations des hommes, c'est au football que je le dois. this was much favoured by a friend of mine many years ago, who was also a goalie but not french. handily, it being football you can get this quote on a t-shirt. you may scoff but any garment manufacturer who does a product quoting nizar qabbani as a means of drawing attention to what's going on in the middle east and north africa is okay by me.
all of which is a roundabout way of not reeling out a bunch of cycling quotes prior to the start of this year's giro on saturday. am i excited? oh yes! the tv may gave fallen out of all favour in the swiss household but it remains solely on the strength of the cycling coverage from eurosport. the classics this year? excitement on a stick. i can't wait!
which isn't to say i'm neglecting the bike. i was out yesterday with family man g and noticed that last week's exertions had definitely done the job on my legs. abounding with energy i went back out with the tuesday squad in the evening for what turned out to be a brisk thirty miler around lochs we wouldn't normally go near if the weather hadn't been so dry lately. having not been on the mountain bike for ages it was a great lark. i was feeling it a bit on the way back but still gave my compatriots a proper beasting on the hills. doing a bit of road work they asked. you could say that i replied. how many miles they asked. lately, i said, about a thousand. heads were shaken but we all know that it'll soon be my turn to labour sometime soon!
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6 comments:
In his review of Lola rennt in The Nation, Stuart Klawans had a field day with the Sepp quotation. It was quite striking, because the phrase is so worn-out in German that NO German reviewer of the movie would even have noticed it.
i suppose in that sense it'll be like the famous english line - they think it's all over...it is now!
that said, maybe there is a difference, a certain playfulness with language. even in scotland we like that line. and, for a sport you're more keen on, if someone says 'oh...i say' there is, and can only be, even if we don;t know who he is, dan maskell
Ok, I was at school roughly 2 days out of every five so here goes! The german first...'All play is for(e)play'?
Now the French..'everything that I know about morality and the duty of man I have learned from Jackie Charlton'?
sory i should have made it more obvious, all the translations are in the linky dinky but - after the game is before the game.
your french i believe is perfect...
And, of course, Quand les mouettes suivent le chalutier, c'est parce qu'ils pensent que des sardines seront jetées dans la mer. :)
coincidentally back when all those shenanigans were going on we tried to get the man himself to a performance at the festival, seeing as he had time on his hands. i wrote a lovely letter to his agent and everything!
didn't happen in the end to given the atendant media interest when they got a hold of the story it was maybe just as well. i have a cartoon of me somewhere from the sun!
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