Überraschend, die grenz- und zeitzonenübergreifende Parallelität in der Magazin-Welt: Im New Yorker berichtet Nick "Fever Pitch" Hornby über die vergangene Fußball-Weltmeisterschaft. Zum deutschen Final-Einzug: «They reached the final, typically, unstylishly and infuriatingly, by winning their three knockout games 1-0.»

In der New York Review of Books präsentiert Tim Parks Fußball als A Matter of Love and Hate

Und die London Review of Books bringt John Lanchesters WM-Tagebuch A Month on the Sofa. Und begründet mit grammatischer Sportanalyse ein interessantes Untersuchungsfeld:

«While I am spouting mad theories about national characteristics, I would like to expound here my theory that German sides' tendency to win big games right at the end, and often unjustly, is connected with the way German speakers have to wait for the main verb at the end of a sentence, thus developing habits of patience and concentration. That characteristic German goal in the 80-oddth minute is a verb.»

Zum Spiel gegen Deutschland gegen Südkorea bewegt sich Lanchester in historische Komparistik:

«25 June. South Korea go out 1-0 to Germany in a major snooze of a semi-final (unless of course you're German or Korean). So the list of teams beaten by Germany on their way to the final is as follows: Saudi Arabia, Cameroon, Paraguay, USA, South Korea. In terms of overcoming difficult resistance it's not exactly Operation Barbarossa.»

Zur Finalbegegnung: «Also, in this case it's the most attractive team in the competition against the most boring. It's your classic, never out-of-fashion clash of good v. evil.»

Lesenswerte Lästereien! [via Perlentaucher ]