Lost In My Football Obsession

Well, that is partially true. But I’ve been feeling incredibly run-down most of this month, and not too excited about updating here. We’ve had the hottest summer in memory and I’ve just been sapped of energy. I also might be sick. Think I’ll see the doctor next week if nothing improves.

As for the footie obsession, I found an amazing free online game called HatTrick, where thousands of teams compete against each other every week. It’s a tech geek’s paradise, too, because there are all sorts of plugins and statistics to help you get the jump on the other guy. I also picked up a copy of Football Manager 2005 on eBay. It’s almost impossible to find here (where it’s called World Soccer Manager 2005) but is hugely popular in the UK, where it outsells most other PC games by a wide margin. It also has a robust online community who contribute patches, skins, and roster updates to keep the game as realistic as possible. Both of these games have been instrumental in my ongoing education about the “beautiful game”, as has the excellent series History of Football: The Beautiful Game, narrated by the supercool Terence Stamp.