The "World Cup" is over

and there have been cries of joy in this Downunder household.
Yes, I know it is called "the world game" and "the beautiful game" but it bores me.
I am bored by the prominence given to it every night in the news. It is not important. It should be nothing more than a game.
Instead it seems to be about lying, money, cheating, money, injury, money, drugs, money, war, money. Yes, international sport seems more like drug-ridden warfare to me. It seems to be directed by rich and powerful individuals - some with morals lower than a snake's navel. I don't like it.
I do not for one moment doubt that the athletes who competed in the ancient Greek Olympics tried every trick in the ancient scrolls to gain an advantage too. Anywhere there have been competitive games people will have tried to gain an unfair advantage. It is human nature to do that. They do that at the modern Olympics and they will do it at the Commonwealth Games and the Tour de France - and in every other competition of any note.
Nor do I doubt that the last few weeks have been bliss for sports junkie couch potatoes. There has been so much sport on television that it would have been impossible to watch it all. I even know someone who has recorded things he was not able to watch. He knows the results but he will still watch. Why?
More people use public libraries than go to football matches but we give libraries scant attention. We spend far less money on libraries. We pay authors far less than footballers. A professional footballer will earn far more in one match than an author will earn after a year or more of writing a book - a book that is there long after the match is over and forgotten and which may have far greater impact.
Somewhere along the way we got our priorities wrong. Of course sport has a place but it should not be the only place.
I wonder what would happen if we insisted that everyone who plays sport each week also has to read a book each week?