Its been an awesome couple of weeks, actually make that a month. Work has been reduced to a trickle as has most forms of exercise. Its been much, much better watching others excel. It seems so long ago that we gathered in our bright yellow Bafana Bafana colours to watch the kick off the 2010 World Cup. And the fever hasn't stopped. Now I am usually unenthusiatic about soccer as my time as a sports administrator gave me an intense dislike of the powers in that sport. The problem is, when you are passionate about sport, you get sucked in and despite prejudice, you begin to offer opinions, ride the emotional rollercoaster and follow teams with intensity. I watched all the Bafana Bafana warm up games and despite all the prophets of doom, even I could see the improvement and dreamed that they might do the miraculous. They didn't but they punched well above their fighting weight. I loved the fact that South Africans were still proud of the team and are prepared to support them once again. We attended the match versus Uruguay and froze in the stands. We went to the new Nelson Mandela Bay stadium (Port Elizabeth) to watch Chile vs Switzerland and watched fans celebrate with vigour and we enjoyed the smooth organisation. At least I will be able to say "I was there!" But the pride doesn't stop there. What hosts we have been. As a nation, we have produced a superb event with its own character and memories and the final script is still be to written with the last couple of games. Then of course, it is the annual riding of the Freedom Challenge (Race across South Africa - 2300km) - the event that I did last year. I hadn't really got all that interested as my head was elsewhere but I had a friend riding it as a novice and I suspected he could win. Alex Harris is an andventurer in the true sense of the word and I re-lived the race vicariously albeit ta a much faster speed than my attempt. And even now, the final riders are still trickling in. So when I wasn't watching football, I was locked onto twitter of following themountain bike race on the forum. 2011 entries are open if you're interested. I know some of riding buddies from last year are toying with the idea. Me - I have another idea gestating (such a word?) and I hope to persuade them to buy in too. This will also force me to get back on the bike with a lot more vigour. As the football rush subsided and more non-game days made their appearance, it coincided with the start of the Tour de France. So I don 't expect to have a post World Cup hangover - there's plenty to keep me occupied and away from work.
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