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收集球星卡 摇身一变成专家

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2014-06-05 17:19:42

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收集球星卡 摇身一变成专家
 
哈德利·弗里曼展示她的世界杯球星卡。摄影:琳达·尼林德(Linda Nylind,《卫报》)

"Hey, do you want to go to Brazil in June?" the sports editor asked on the office stairway.

Did I want to go to Brazil? This seemed a slightly random question for a rainy March afternoon. But then, I often get asked pretty random questions in the office: "What should I buy my wife for her birthday?" "Why do you work on the fashion desk when you dress so badly?" "Why are you reading Grazia when your article is two hours late?" Questions, questions.

But sure! I'd love to go to Brazil, in the same way I'd love to go paragliding, or learn how to make decent pastry: it's another entry on the list of things I've never done that I'd quite like to do one day.

"For the World Cup," the sports editor elucidated, seeing my somewhat blank face.

"Oh wow! Yes, great!" I squealed.

"Great, I'll email you later," he said. I made a thumbs-up sign, waited until he was around the corner and then hurried back to my desk to Google what kind of sport the World Cup in Brazil involved.

I am not a sports person. I don't like playing sport and, as far as I know, I don't like watching it (I've never actually tried because watching sport on TV makes about as much sense to me as riding a stationary bike. I make an exception for Wimbledon, of course, because that, as my friend Marina explained to me, is sport for people who don't like sport, and she's right.) I pretended to have my period for five years at school to get out of PE. So, predictably, news that I am going to Brazil for the World Cup sparked much amusement among my friends:

"You're going to the World Cup?"

"You're going to the World Cup?"

"You're going to the World Cup?"

The emphasis is always different, but the implication is the same: me going to the World Cup is about as funny as sending a vegan to a country that only eats meat. I know nothing about football. Nothing. I have a disability, you see, that means all discussions about football turn into vague white noise in the space between my ears and my brain. It was only relatively recently that I realised the football stadium that is walking distance from my flat is not actually called "Arsenal Stadium" (I did wonder why so many fans of Emirates Airlines congregate in my neighbourhood on Saturdays). I'm also, I should add at this point, American, and in America, soccer is something you're forced to play once when you're 10 and get sent to summer camp. And then you never, ever think about it again.

But I'm a professional journalist. I can totally get with this World Cup thing, disability and nationality hurdles notwithstanding. Also, even I am aware that going to the World Cup in Brazil is a massive privilege and I should probably learn to appreciate it instead of making wisecracks. So I do what I always do when I need to improve myself: I turn to my friends.

My friend Tim gives me a Panini album, which at first is something of an anticlimax as I assumed he was getting me some kind of sandwich. But when I realise it involves sticker collecting (my kinda sport) I perk up. My friend Esther recommends a book called Futebol: the Brazilian way of life by our former colleague Alex Bellos. Other people make recommendations that range from the sarcastic ("Maybe start reading the sports pages?" – A Guardian Sports Writer) to the vaguely useful ("Seriously, start reading the sports pages" – A Guardian Sports Editor).

Then, something weird happens. I start enjoying my research, and when I say "research" I mean buying stickers. While I may not be a sports fan, one thing I do share with sports fans is a nerdy love of amassing pointless collections. As a kid, I collected stamps, because that's all I was allowed to collect. As an adult, unhindered by my parents' moderating hands, I collect everything from children's book illustrations to ticket stubs to books about John Belushi. I join the Guardian sticker-swap group and, within a week, exhaust my local newsagent's sticker supply. Within two weeks I am driving the Guardian sticker-swap group wild with my constant demands for more swaps. But I don't care, because I am only one sticker away from completing France and some things are more important than workplace relationships.

Last week I ran into the sports editor in the office and he asked how my preparation was going.

"Great!" I reply, waggling my sticker book in his face. "I've pretty much memorised which teams are in which group and who the main players are and – "

"You know you won't actually be writing about football, Hadley," he says. My sticker album slips a little in my hand.

Tchuh. What does he know? I bet he hasn't even completed a single Panini sticker team yet. Meanwhile, I've done France, Ghana and Ecuador and I'm just one off from completing Spain. I think we know who's the World Cup expert now.

 

《卫报》专栏作者哈德丽·弗里曼(Hadley Freeman)说自打夏令营结束以后就不曾踢过足球,或者说是英式足球,可是我手上有巴西世界杯的门票,还有一套尚未集全的帕尼尼(PANINI)公司制作发行的球星卡。

“你想不想6月去巴西?”我们的体育编辑在办公室楼道里发问。

我想去巴西吗?在阴雨连绵的三月午后,别人不经意间随口一问。从那之后,我总在办公室里被问到这样那样的问题:“老婆过生日我送什么礼物好呢?”“你在时尚版块工作为什么还穿得这么邋遢?”“交稿时间都过去两个小时了,你怎么还在这里看《红秀》(Grazia,女性时尚杂志)?”

必须的!我想去巴西就像我想挑战滑翔伞,想学做糕点一样。我已将其列入“心愿单”,我相信总有一天能做到。

“去看世界杯,”体育编辑对着一脸茫然的我说道。

“哦!这样啊,好酷啊!”我答道。

“好嘞,我一会儿电邮你。”他说。我冲他竖起大拇指,直到他走远了我才回到座位前用谷歌搜索巴西世界杯到底是什么比赛。

我不关注体育。我既不参加体育活动也不爱看体育比赛。(我从没在电视上看过体育比赛,那感觉就跟骑原地不动的健身脚踏车一样。不过我还是会看温网公开赛,按照我朋友玛丽娜(Marina)的说法,温网是给不懂体育的人看的比赛,她说得没错。)以前在学校,有五年时间我都以例假为借口逃避体育课。所以不出所料,我要去巴西看世界杯的消息一传开,便立刻在朋友圈里引起轩然大波。

“世界杯?你要去看世界杯?”

“你真的要去巴西看世界杯?”

“就你?也要去看世界杯?”

尽管他们的关注点略有不同,但是归根结底一句话,我去看世界杯就跟把一个素食者送到一个肉食国家一样可笑。我对足球一窍不通,一无所知。一切关乎足球的讨论在我看来不过是听天书。直到最近我才意识到我家附近的足球场并非“阿森纳球场(Arsenal Stadium)”。(过去我真的搞不懂为什么每到周六都有阿联酋航空(Emirates Airlines)的粉丝聚集在我家附近。)我必须要说,我是美国人,在美国,英式足球是我们10岁去夏令营的时候不得不接触的一项运动,不过夏令营一结束,也就抛之脑后了。

可我是个专业记者。我能够跨越足球盲和国籍的障碍接触世界杯。当然我也知道能去巴西看世界杯皆因工作之便,我得学会欣赏比赛而不是说些无关痛痒的话。像往常一样,每当我需要自我提升的时候,我便向朋友们求助。

我朋友蒂姆(Tim)给我一套帕尼尼公司制作发行的球星卡,乍一看我好失望,因为我把它当成三明治了。但是当我发现这是一套球星卡的时候我立刻兴奋起来。另一个朋友伊斯特(Esther)向我推荐我们的同行亚历克斯·贝洛斯(Alex Bellos)写的一本书,叫做《足球:巴西人的生活方式》(Futebol, the Brazilian Way of Life)。其他朋友也给出了或嘲讽或实用的各类建议。(一位《卫报》体育撰稿人说:“不如去看看体育版面?”而《卫报》体育编辑则说:“说真的,去看体育版面吧。”)

紧接着,不可思议的事情发生了。我开始爱上调研,我指的是购买球星卡。尽管我算不上是体育迷,但是有一件事和体育迷是共通的,那就是收藏各式球星卡。我小时候集邮,父母只允许我收集这个。长大以后,没有了父母的管束,我开始收集包括儿童读物的插画、票根和约翰·贝鲁西相关书籍在内的一切东西。我加入《卫报》球星卡交流小组,第一周,为了买球星卡我“扫荡”了周边的书报亭。第二周,我对球星卡的执着把整个小组都逼疯了。可我不在意,因为我只差一张就集齐整个法国队的球星卡了,而且比起职场友谊,显然还有更重要的东西。

上周我在办公室碰到我们的体育编辑,他问我准备工作进展如何。

“很好!”我一边回答一边拿着贴满球星卡的册子在他眼前晃。“哪个队分在哪个组有哪些主力队员,我通通了如指掌。”

“你知道你不可能被派去报道足球啦,哈德丽,”他说。我差点没拿稳手里的球星卡。

我的天。他懂什么?我敢保证他至今连一支完整球队的卡片都没集齐过。而我已拥有法国队、加纳队和厄瓜多尔队所有球员的卡片,并且只差一张就集齐整个西班牙队的球星卡了。现在不用我说大家也知道谁才是真正的世界杯专家了吧。

(译者 拉风_悦 编辑 齐磊)

 

标签: iNews 世界杯
编辑:许雅宁
 

Australia had a bumpy ride through the Asian qualifying groups, losing to Oman and Jordan, En route to finishing second behind Japan to seal a world cup place. >详细>>

 
 
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