Applebee's and Y Ddraig Goch

Last Friday 5pm local time found me frantically chasing around the neighbourhood in a vain attempt to find a bar which had cable and would show the Wales v. France match on TV5 the French channel. Not a chance. Football (or soccer, for my N. American readers). If you want to see a football game you'll find any street corner shibeen will sure to be tuned in to any championship from around the world. The Brazilian ESPN channel programme schedule reads something like this:

14:00 Futebol: Campionato Inglês
16:00 Futebol: Campionato Italiano
18:00 Futebol: Campionato Espanhol
20:00 Futebol: Campionato Alemão
22:00 Poker (Poker ?? A freaking SPORT?? PUH-LEEEEEZZ!!)
22:15 Futebol: Campionato Inglês (highlights!)
23:00 Futebol: Campionato Sub Sahara
00:30 Futebol: Campionato Outer Mongolia.

ad infinitum, ad nausium

Upshot was I missed the game on Friday and had to make provisions for a second chance, 7pm Sunday evening on ESPN International, the trick was to try and avoid all homepages which would show the result. Failed miserably.
Still, St. David's Day evening came round and I was in a very smart bar watching the game and explaining what was going on to a curious barman ("NO, it's NOTHING like AMERICAN FOOTBALL!!").