I have always maintained my belief that the most evil companies are telcos. Exorbitant rates for roaming, data and especially SMS have fueled this belief. Oh, don’t get me started on data roaming. You wanna throw away money fast? You don’t gamble, you go to a foreign land and start using 3G data roaming. Your rate of expenditure will be faster that way.

Getting the television rights to the World Cup 2010 for Singapore was a huge drama itself, with the media outlets speculating that Singaporeans might miss out on football’s greatest tournament. It is only on 29th April 2010, about a month and a half before the massive event starts, that channelnewsasia reported on its online portal that the rights have been secured.

Of course, the details of the deal will never be published. In propaganda-crazy Singapore, it usually means bad news.

Like any “good” journalist, a few figures were magically plucked out of the air and thrown into the article. It’s hard to believe when words like “according to sources” and “it is believed” are used. According to sources, it is believed that such words are only reserved for highly opinionated, misinformed and biased blogs.

But hey! Look at the bright side, we get to watch the World Cup! All of the matches! For only S$70.62 if you sign up before May 31st, and S$94.16 thereafter. If you have an existing StarHub Cable TV subscription. More if you dont’t.

Wait, what? A bit of googling around (because of my poor memory), StarHub only charged us $10 (for early birds) back in 2006.

I’m sure for most Singaporeans, $70 is pocket change. It’s probably the cost of one weekend, maybe lesser. Surely we can sacrifice ONE weekend of shopping to get all 64 matches. But what message will that tell StarHub? That they can happily charge exorbitant rates? That they can dilly-dally with securing the rights to a very popular event? That they can pass down their mistakes to consumers?

I’m a sucker. A huge one. But even suckers have their limits. As much as I would like to, I can’t justify the cost. Call me a non-hardcore football fan if you want.

At least the semi’s and final will be shown live over-the-air! For the rest, there’s always kopitiams, McDonald’s and the internet.

As seen last Sunday (May 3rd 09) before the match. Guess who is rounder?

This is some awesome sh*t! Previous record was 33 hours, so Bristol Academy & Leeds Badgers played a match that lasted 36 hours, with 98 minutes of injury time!

Final score: Leeds Badgers 285 – Bristol Academy 255.

Oh I would love to have participated!

Update on April 16th 2009: Wrong score was shown. Fixed.

[Record Breakers: The world’s longest football match ever]

It’s been too long since we trumped so hard over our fiercest rivals. At Old Trafford no less.

Ahh, the pleasure…

The goal was brilliant, a classic Bergkamp goal.

But definitely not THAT brilliant (no offense) until one can go nuts from it.

That is the price that Manchester City is rumoured to prepare to pay to pry Kaka away from the San Siro.

Recession? What’s that?

This single amount shows the ultimate financial muscle of the owners. With Roman Abramovich apparently mellowing on the transfer scene, having successfully proven that with enough money, you can put together a team to win the English Premier League (Yes, I said it. English, not stupid Barclay’s.). But not the Champion’s League.

Is there a price for everything? Of course, my ethical side will say, “No! Don’t join at any cost! San Siro is one of the best places to play and develop in!” But nobody ever offered me that much for my services before, so I can’t really comment now, can I? The Saudi owner seemed to be playing a real life game of Football Manager!

I am really curious to know if there is a saturation point for the English Premier League. At what point will the crazy ticketing and broadcast prices reach before the fans will call it quits? It is already a luxury in my opinion; if it’s not on a free-to-air channel, it’s a luxury. Don’t even talk to me if it’s pay-per-view.

Sigh. I miss the days when Roberto Baggio’s transfer from Fiorentina to Juventus at £8,000,000 is the world football transfer record. Also, the highest bid that one could ever do in Championship Manager 2, a 1995 DOS-era football sim, is a paltry £20M.

Hmm, a wave of nostalgia is sweeping over me. I should try to find that game.

[Man City attempt to break the bank to land Kaka, while Spurs target Adriano]

Update @ 19th Jan 2009:

Kaka turns down move to Machester City. Oh thank God!