IT FEELS like only yesterday that I was invading this net space and ranting about the utter pointlessness of the Pre-Season Cup, labelling it as one of the most unproductive inventions in the history of man-kind.
Since then I've watched Megan Fox run around half-naked in Transformers for a solid 150 minutes and realized that some phenomena do indeed challenge the now extinct Pre-Season Cup for its title, though even the site of Fox - who no doubt was designed by some supernatural being for the sheer purpose of fuelling the sexual fantasies of every pubescent teenage lad on Earth and nothing, and I mean absolutely nothing, else - has failed to detract from the inescapable boredom of this pre-season.
It is rather amusing to see the FFA ditch the cup in an attempt to add some variety to pre-season, only to see A-League clubs continue to organize friendly matches amongst each other - in a ten team competition, do we really want to see Melbourne take on the Phoenix before doing it again three times over the next twelve months?
The attempt to lure out English Premier League clubs and give some much needed exposure to state league talent is encouraging though and a sign perhaps that there is a growing level of professional practices infecting the competition.
One can only hope for a day when the laborious finals format is ditched in favour of a traditional league structure, adding a much-needed sense of legitimacy to the competition.
Farcical as well is the current Asian Champions League crisis that has seen the Newcastle Jets add to the already sterling reputation Australia has in Asia with a 6-0 thumping at the hands of the Pohang Steelers.
That the last-placed last season managed to emerge from the group stages of the competition is a success - that they even entered the competition now and not last year is bemusing.
It is one of but a litany of administrative and organizational issues that the fledgling competition and its governing body must address in the future, just as the world at large must punish Michael Bay for having caused hour-long seizures amongst movie-goers with his autobot-decepticon battles, conveniently broken up for minutes at a time with unnecessarily scantily-clad women, abyss-like plot-holes, cringe-worthy one-liners and ghetto-speak alien life-forms.
Question of the week: Does anyone else think Fox is slightly overrated? (The tattoos are a turn-off, even if my better-half claims she would turn lesbian for her...)
