paperpools

Beckham belongs in Italy. That’s all I’m going to say about that. Sorry. I mean, I love L.A., but the guy is still a great footballer. He should be playing in Italy.

Mark Sarvas has an interview of Joseph O'Neill, author of Netherland, over on the Elegant Variation.

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4

I found Netherland a baffling book. There are some things I don't know. Is it irrelevant if a book about a sport conveys nothing of what people interested in the sport find interesting in it?

[originally had long discussion of cricket as followed by fans I have known, but in the cold light of day it strikes me as so riven with wild generalizations that I have consigned it to the mass grave that is the Drafts Folder - anyway, the thing that seems odd is that O'Neill succeeds, in a single offhand remark, in sounding like someone with a genuine interest in football (Am. soccer), whereas neither the narrator of Netherland nor the other cricketers really sound like people interested in the game.]

[reminiscence. I worked as a copytaker at the Daily Telegraph in 1992; once picked up the phone and got Imran Khan phoning in a piece. The thrill.]