The other side of the World Cup

The other side of the World Cup

JAKARTA (JP): Go go go, Alez alez alez. Like fingernails on a
blackboard, those lyrics stop me in my tracks every time.

The soccer epidemic is, thankfully, almost over. All we have
to get through is the semifinals, third-place playoffs and the
finals. Like a fever that peaks before the infection is fought,
so we have get through this week.

Of course, after the finals there will be the painstaking,
time-consuming analysis of why this team lost, or that team
managed to get goals or why the final elite 11 beat the odds to
clasp the cup in their hot little hands. But at least we won't
have that song played again and again, over and over, seven days
a week.

I can actually feel sorry for Ricky Martin. Having a song so
popular it makes people cringe can't be good for the ego. But
then maybe that's what ego is all about. Unfortunately, there is
always that threat that if you make a song so popular people are
either going to go into raptures over it or feel like throwing
the radio/television out the window. When I commented to a friend
that I couldn't wait for the finals to be over, she said: "But
have you seen the film clip? Have you watched him sing it? When
the camera swings around to get a back view of him?" No buts
about it, she likes the clip.

It's for this reason that I have never seen Bodyguard. First
we had the song. Whitney Houston bellowing soulfully away day
after day after day about how she'll always love him. By the time
the movie was released here, I couldn't imagine anything worse
than sitting through Bodyguard anticipating when I Will Always
Love You is performed. Give me Dolly Parton's version anytime.

Then, of course, there is Celine Dion, femme fatale of love
songs. Just as with Bodyguard, I have not been able to bring
myself to watch Titanic. Sacrilegious as this may strike some,
Leonardo DiCaprio just doesn't fit the majestics of the what the
theme song seems to mean; and, near and far, of course it also
has been played to death.

It makes me wonder about the mechanics of PR companies. Is
there such a thing as getting too much of a good thing for them?
Obviously not, if you look at soccer fans. All the television
stations here, state and private, regaled us with the opening of
the World Cup. Did it really need to be on all channels? Couldn't
they decide that, "OK, you lot telecast the opening and you lot
put good movies on for people who don't like soccer." You might
think that sounds petty seeing that the opening was more of a
fiesta than a soccer match, but surely not everyone wanted to see
it.

Then, of course, we get the matches telecast live every
evening. Just when I'm ready to sit down and watch my favorite
show (which I must admit there are not many of) its spot has been
taken over by a soccer match. It's the same when the local
television awards are on. This exacts its own pain, from
embarrassment as the artists try in vain to emulate their
American cousins.

I guess with the soccer matches it is unavoidable that they
are shared among the various stations; there are so many of them.
Unfortunately for people who don't like soccer, these matches
have been in abundance while the teams cull the herd to prepare
for the final week of semifinals/playoffs/final.

And let's not forget the telequizzes. Telecom must be making a
fortune. After my last phone bill I know I've banned the kids
from calling the quizzes. Indonesia is in a crisis, where is all
this prize money coming from? Surely the money could be used for
worthier causes than soccer quizzes.

But I guess what it all boils down to is your personal soccer
threshold. Love it or hate it, it's going to be in our face for
the next week, with extra time for the soul-searching and earnest
postmortems. Which begs the question: Do you really want it?

-- Martina Haller