Idiot football commentators
Well, the Euro 2008 championship has finally arrived, with the first matches last night. I wasn't too bothered who won the match between Switzerland and the Czech Republic, but I must confess I was being driven to distraction by John Motson and his sidekick, whose name escapes me, continually mangling the names of the players - mostly Czech ones, but surely even Motson knows enough French to realise that Ludovic Magnin's surname isn't pronounced "MAG-NIN"?? Will someone please tell him that the Czech captain Tomáš Ujfaluši's surname isn't pronounced "oodj-fal-oosi" but something like "ooee-fal-ooshi", and the Czech goalscorer Vaclav Svěrkoš isn't "Vak-lav Svur-koss", but "Vats-lav Svi-er-kosh"? The Czech language isn't that difficult to get the hang of pronouncing (once you've conquered the surname of Antonín Dvořák you've got the toughest sound), even if like me you're clueless of the grammar. Or preferably just shoot him and put us all out of our misery! :)