  Readers, S&T is feeling a wee bit gloomy at the time of writing. England, S&T’s national soccer team, has just been dumped spectacularly (or should that be unspectacularly) out of the UEFA European Championships (aka EURO 2008) through ‘messing up’ in the qualifiers, meaning that an entire soccer-obsessed nation will be left twiddling its thumbs next June. (S&T might even be forced to start watching tennis/take up knitting/leave the house. Shudder. Germany is also in mourning according to one of S&T’s Berliner readers: “How shall we win against England if you don't even play?” he selflessly points out).
Analysts are already estimating that £2bn ($4bn) will be lost in the UK economy due to the team’s failure to qualify, through loss of revenues in pubs, restaurants, travel firms, bookmakers, sponsorship/advertising and the like. Shares prices are already down at the time of writing for sporting goods manufacturers such as Umbro.
Closer to home, S&T’s beloved soccer team Exeter City, still recovering at the time of writing from our first loss at home all season, will also be affected by a lack of national representation in the tournament (and let’s not forget that Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and Ireland also failed to qualify). According to Exeter City chairman Denise Watts, the club’s coffers could end up being down by as much as £100,000 through not being able to show England games on the big screen in the club bar – traditionally a time of eating, drinking and general conviviality on non-match days at the Real St James' Park. That’s a lot of money for a club at that level to lose, and if you multiply that by all the other smaller clubs affected around the UK, many of which are financially challenged to say the least, there are gloomy times ahead indeed.
S&T may be partially to blame for both Exeter City’s recent thumping at home and England’s exit from the EURO 2008 qualifiers because during both matches we were not wearing our lucky Kevin Miller socks. The former lack of woolly footwear (which we won in a recent auction as part of a full playing kit that belonged to the former Exeter City and Watford goalkeeper, S&T’s favourite ever player), was because we spent the weekend trudging through the Atlas Mountains near Marrakech (a city that is currently hosting the International Festival of Humour; erstwhile England manager Steve McClaren might want to have a quick sojourn there). The latter dearth of fleecy goodness was because we forgot to put them on. What can we say? Our central heating is just too effective.
Since S&T has started wearing to games the aforementioned socks, Exeter has won 3,1, 5,1 and 4,0. That’s an incredible 12 goals witnessed by the socks, or indeed six goals per sock. S&T did of course promise not to have any superstitions this season following the loss of our lucky bracelet at Wembley Stadium in May (thus ensuring Exeter would not gain promotion back into the Football League), but these babies are staying firmly on our tootsies, at least until we lose next. (And yes, they have been washed).
A case of too many cooks?  One of the games witnessed by Kevin Miller’s mystical yet warming feet covers mentioned above was the 3,1 trumping by Exeter of Ebbsfleet United. Formerly named Gravesend and Northfleet, the Blue Square Premier rival of Exeter City has been in the news recently due to its purchase by fans' community website MyFootballClub.com. The 20,000 MyFootballClub members have each paid £35 to provide a £700,000 takeover pot and they will all own an equal share in the club. In a landmark scenario for English soccer, members are set to vote online on player selection, transfers and all “major decisions”. The deal is expected to be completed in a few weeks time after due diligence and the website will purchase a 51% controlling stake, while also having the option to buy the club outright in the future.
Exeter City is one of a few soccer clubs in the UK already effectively owned by the fans, due to being set up as a Supporters’ Trust, following a period of near bankruptcy due to some very infamous shady dealings indeed.
As a shareholder via this process in Exeter City, S&T does not however get to influence managerial decisions and/or select the squad/choose the sandwich fillings in hospitality – a proposal that is being mooted regarding Ebbsfleet (apart from the sandwiches we think, but who knows). S&T isn’t convinced that having 20,000 decision makers will create a harmoniously run soccer outfit, but certainly we are loving the fact that this takes the concept of social networking to a whole new level…. “Anyone for an online sacking?!” “Fancy giving the team the day off?” “Can I be manager this week?” “Free Beers in the club bar”. Ooh, what fun on the message boards there will be!)
Not-so-Lazy studio tour  One place that Kevin Miller’s lucky socks enjoyed visiting recently was Iceland’s capital city of Reykjavik, home of the children's television phenomenon LazyTown which promotes fitness and healthy eating for the young (see www.lazytown.com). S&T can tell you now, the LazyTown puppets were the only ones legless in Reykjavik that week with those alcohol prices! Yikes! It’s a good job we’ve been teetotal since July.
S&T was in town to participate in the ‘Playing the Game’ Congress, which was all about anti-corruption and governance in sport, plus us speaking about technology in a random scheduling moment. The organisers kindly laid on an excursion to the famous geysers, as well as a beautiful waterfall and crater, among other natural delights. Well, apparently they are beautiful - it was hard to see much through the blizzards and/or while sliding down icy mountain passes to cries from the guide of: “Be careful, there aren’t any railings; three tourists died here last week” and the like. Nice.
Because the excursion to LazyTown seemed slight less arduous and didn’t ostensibly offer the threat of serious injury, and also because S&T’s nieces and nephews (and husband) had literally begged us to get lead super hero character Sportacus’ autograph, we scuttled off to the set of the globally popular kids’ show, with a slightly less scared spring in our step.
For S&T readers unfamiliar with the LazyTown concept, think Sesame Street meets Batman and Robin. Puppets interact with human characters (both good and evil) while munching on five portions of fruit and veg per day in a bid to motivate children into following healthy lifestyles. A carrot for example is described as ‘sports candy’ in the LazyTown Christmas Special that S&T watched purely for research purposes. (Note to readers: That Robbie Rotten is creepier than the Rat Catcher in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang!; Parents, don’t watch this alone.)
We were greeted at the state-of-the-art studios by Sportacus himself, aka Magnus Scheving, who also happens to be the creator, CEO and co-founder of LazyTown and was simply the most hyperactive, yet charming, chappie S&T has ever met. Scheving claims to have reduced childhood obesity in his native Iceland by 16%, through the programme, on which he works five days a week, 15 hours a day, all year around, and you can’t help but believe him. Thank goodness his wife works there too else the poor dear would probably never get a cuddle. “It’s dark when you get to work and it’s dark when you leave, so recently we’ve started working on a higher floor than the basement so we can see daylight occasionally,” explained Scheving, in between back flips and bounces (not really, although he did leave a Superman-like trail of mist when dashing between production rooms on our whirlwind studio tour).
 A moustached vision in blue lycra (while playing Sportacus at least; unfortunately he was wearing regular clothes when we met him), Scheving is twice a former European Aerobics Champion. He performs all his own stunts (which involve a lot of aerial somersaults), and is an ambassador for healthy living, often speaking at conferences around the world on the subject.
As for the technology, nothing has been done by halves by jingo, with the LazyTown studio being one of the most advanced High Definition Virtual Cinematography facilities in the world. “We built it within 43 days,” says Scheving, who of course actually turns out to have built most of it himself, as well as his own house. And probably the majority of Reykjavik. And Iceland. A super hero who is both DIY-gifted and knows how to whip up a decent fruit salad as well. Swoon.
According to Scheving, high definition has never been used the LazyTown way before. The backgrounds to the sets can be changed immediately, whereas in most studios the backdrop is a green screen with effects being added in afterwards. “The camera positions change 13 times per day and we are the most expensive TV show in the world – costing $600,000-$800,000 per episode, but we are also the fastest-selling show in history reaching 96 countries within nine months.” That’s one helluva baby he has created!
As S&T is now officially exhausted after remembering the LazyTown tour, we are heading off to wash our lucky socks and stock up on carrots in advance of the festive season. Well, if they are good enough for Sportacus………Now where did we put that lycra catsuit?
Do you think LazyTown is the best ever children's television show ever? Or are you more of a Bagpuss fan? It goes without saying that it would be stunning receiving a missive from you, no matter how inane, so please send all your comments and stories to the editor (rchurch@sportandtechnology.com) as soon as poss, or certainly before we break the lycra out and give someone a heart attack.
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