Soccer SuperFans

By: Ghislain Courcelles, Winnipeg, MB

With kick-off mere days away, it's finally time for the world to catch the disease (fever being too soft a word) that is the World Cup. A time to ride the highs and suffer the lows as we watch (endure?) our nations trying to hoist the holy grail of football.

This time around, South Africa becomes the first African country to host the event, but will it lead to success for the continents' teams? Or is it time for the Spaniards to finally climb the mountain? Do the English have what it takes? Would we ever hear the end of it if they did? And, most importantly, is the world ready to see Diego Maradona pull a Lady Godiva on every TV in existence if, God forbid, Argentina manage to, err, pull it off? You can be sure everyone and their dog from Anchorage to Zanzibar will be tuning into the festivities, with an expected audience of over 250 million.

Salutations everyone! My name is Ghislain Courcelles and I am the SUPERFAN of just about everybody's favourite head-butters and hand-ballers at the tournament - France! And while the great Zinedine Zidane is no longer lacing up his boots, it should still be a strange and topsy-turvy time for l'Equipe de France, just the way we like it. I am a 32 year old Franco-Manitoban born and raised in Winnipeg and on soccer. I've had it in the blood since I could remember, and other than basketball, remains my main sporting passion, though the body sure isn't as willing as it used to be!

My favourite memory still remains the 1998 World Cup win over Brazil behind Zidane's two headers and a cherry-on-the-cake from Emmanuel Petit.

Now THAT was a party afterward...let's just say I ended up commemorating the occasion (the cup win, not the party) with a tattoo! And then, to top it off, the buggers went and won Euro 2000 as well...

Ah, but that was then, and this is now. I am a big Olympique Lyonnais fan as well and follow and watch quite a bit of Ligue 1 as well as the usual assortment of the English Premier League (go Arsenal!), the Spanish League and some South American games as well. TV has definitely improved in Canada over the years as far as access to the games. And the odd online stream in Arabic when you just need to watch that certain game that's not airing here is nice too!

This time around, I'll be blogging during the entire World Cup about Les Bleus with pre and post game blogs, so check it out and let me know what everyone thinks. I'll be hanging out in the heart of Winnipeg's French Quarter, Saint-Boniface, during the games and will be on Twitter too! Until then, I'll leave you with some additional evidence of my qualifications as France's SUPER FAN with this picture from the front page of the Winnipeg Free Press, dated July 13, 1998...ALLEZ LES BLEUS!