Ssshhh...

Something struck me as I was walking around my local Safeway here in Arizona earlier this week; try as I might I couldn't see a World Cup promotional item anywhere. I can guarantee that in every supermarket, sports pub, and store in England, you won't be able to move for football promotions, prizes, giveaways and gimmicks. Not so over here...sshhh...don't tell anyone, but the biggest sporting event in the world is only 15 days and 12 hours away!

Admittedly the hype can get a bit much back in England - a bit like the fact that the run-up to Christmas now starts shortly after Easter! But a little retail enthusiasm would be nice! Yes, ESPN are promoting the arse out of the tournament, but I do seem to be missing out on the general excitement and eternal optimism that will be floating around stores and shopping malls back over the pond in the home of football about now.

Where are the beer promotions? Buy 16 cases and get a free plastic football worth 99p. Where are the piles of Coke and Crisps? These wonderful promotions promising me that if I put on 20lbs during the course of the World Cup, I'll qualify for a free (fake, knocked off) England shirt that won't fit me because I seem to have loaded up on carbs the previous 3 weeks!

Where are the Rooney face masks in the papers? I'd settle for a Landon Donovan one? Where are the posters to put on the wall and write in the results? The fun of tracking your team's progress and plotting who they might meet in the Semi-finals, if only Ghana were to beat Serbia, and Japan draw with Cameroon, meaning that Nigeria will finish above Greece and give England a chance of avoiding Argentina until the semis...you know what I'm talking about don't you; well you will if you're English...!

You see at this moment in time, everyone still has a chance! The USA still harbours hopes of winning; England could be World Beaters; even Wales and Scotland would still be excited, had they qualified! That's where the excitement comes from! Anything is possible until the first kick-off, when most of us will come down to earth with a bump!

So for now, I'm off out to explore and try and track down a flag, a pennant, a retail display of any significance that would indicate that the world is about to watch 64 Superbowls over the space of 30 days!