With KO still better'n three hours away, I'll join the trip down Memory LOLane...
Archie's penalty The FA cup final has been terrible since 2005.
Saw my first in 2003 --'twas a PPV, but I was able to see it thru squiggles on the PPV channel that had it on
Hasn't done anything for me since --wish I'd seen '02 as it happened, and it's one of the "classic" Cup finals that FSC screen to fill time during the summer months ('71, '76, '77, '79 and '95 are particular faves, although it's maddening not to have a running clock on the screen during play)
Archie's Champion's League finals can sometimes be good.
Again, '03 was my first --lame stuff as two Italian sides come over to OT and play for a shoot-out from the off
Still think the Milan boys ought to've been lined up against a wall for chucking it away in '05
Archie's Of the WC finals I've seen, 90 was terrible but a bit controversial, 94 was atrocious, 98 ok, 2002 a walkover for Brazil and 2006 was only exciting because of Le headbutt. Many people will watch tomorrow but am not looking forward to it.
Too young to have any recollections of '74 and previous
'78 made the cover of
Sports Illustr7ed over here --
what a shotI think my first one was '82 when Italy beat the Germans, and IIRC CBS (free-to-air national network screening on local affiliates) had it live over here; I was in L.A. that summer, so it was on in the early afternoon
Missed '86 owing to obsessions with leisure alternatives and generalised self-absorption
Dunno what my excuse was in '90, but having checked the d7 and matched it up with what I was getting up to @ the time, I suppose it'd be fair to file it under "hellraising"
I did pay some attention in '94 --I mean, the whole thing kicked off six miles from my front door-- and Stevie Winwood announced the result of the final between numbers from the stage @ RFK Stadium in D.C. as Traffic opened for the Gr7fuls; I boo'd (but would, in good time, learn better --and I h7 Winwood in any case)
I remember watching Petit scoring l7 on in '98 and have vague recollections of having spaced out KO time and being very displeased --I was working in a footy-friendly architectural firm that summer with, among others, a Blackpool chap and a French intern kid, so I was at least casually interested and didn't want to miss the final
Got sucked in by the St7s' win over the 'Guese in '02 and stayed with it to the final, which was predictably meh
By '06, I was well and truly on the bus, as it were; haven't missed a match this time save for brief interruptions and eight of the ones that went simultaneously in the final phase of group play (note to seLOLf: you've got four years to get hands on a second TeeVee, son)