Greetings Syndicate Brethren,
The hour once again draws nigh. Earnest and heartfelt friendships shall endure. So shall a tradition every bit as earnest as it is illogically irreverent. ; ) Deep in the heart of Europe sits a lowly Shadow Scholar/Amateur Bookie with a heart so large that he’s willing to invest every last morsel of his increasingly sparse free time to keep a simple book among treasured friends both old and new. Gentlemen, welcome back to “The Syndicate”. ; ) You’re cordially invited to partake in a friendly betting circle now entering it’s thirteenth year and nineteenth chapter. Welcome back, brothers. Consider yourselves activated. Prepare the snarky comments, the puerile jokes, and (of course) the gambling spreadsheets!
The forthcoming World Cup will mark the fourth time that
we’ve all gathered for mankind’s grandest spectacle. We began in 2002 with a
few wagers traded over LSU Campus Bandwidth. We convened again during the
enchanted summer of 2006, via both long-distance electronic communication and
hardcore proximate partying. We congregated once more in 2010 with an
inordinate amount of text that kept everyone engaged. You may be forgiven for
failing to check in during some of the Syndicate’s more obscure chapters, but
you absolutely CANNOT be excused if you allow your mundane life, pedestrian
job, or inherently annoying loved ones/colleagues to distract you from the most
exhilarating party the planet has to offer.
Thirty-two nations will soon embark on a month-long
international adventure. Over the course of thirty days, more than 650 players
will compete in 63 matches. All of this will take place against the backdrop of
the full vibrant spectrum of color, the pulsating pinnacle of global passion,
and all the cold hard cash you wish to lay on the line. :) I reiterate that
you’re perfectly justified in skipping the more tangential Continental
Championships (and for that matter the next four paragraphs), but you
cannot, CANNOT miss this!
It’s now been two years since the Syndicate moved from
sloppily scrawled e-mail addresses in a series of well-leathered black books to
the so-called “Blogosphere”. The impersonal nature of such a platform irritates
your friendly bookie only to a certain point. True, the very notion of a
wonkish text-based blog is an anachronism in this day and age. Who the hell
needs a “Geocities Throwback”?
I felt compelled to endow our Syndicate with a slight
aesthetic augmentation. Er……the fact that I wished to tell you that I inserted
some basic graphics into the blog and the first thing that came to mind was “a
slight aesthetic augmentation” tells you everything you need to know about the
one with whom you’re dealing. ; ( Apologies. The overworked eccentric mind
conjures up incomprehensibly complex vicissitudes, the core nature of
which……Dammit!! I’m doing it again, aren’t I?
Okay. Let’s start anew. Your friendly bookie has added a bit
of color to your Syndicate. Flags and banners now allow you to better “quick
reference” all of the 1600+ pages
of material for the country that interests you. A newly created index may
further aid those mildly curious about the past. If anything, the index draws
attention to the fact that the 2013 Syndicates included some very worthy
tournaments like the African Cup of Nations, the World Baseball Classic, and
the UEFA Women’s European Football Championship.
Sifting through all of those pages is not recommended. Your
friendly bookie would much rather call you attention to the amazing experience
that we shall all soon share.
Let’s get together and feel all right.
Let’s get together and feel all right.
“Whether you plan to play, read, watch, or have no interest
whatsoever, please consider stopping by and hanging out with us during the
month-long football holiday, even if you can only stay for a drink”
Alles Gute,
Vicey
