Is it a small cow or is it far away?

The grieving process in New Zealand for the All Blacks crashing out is pervading every part of every part of everything. It's everywhere. The TV news leads with stories about when the team will fly home, follows up with tales of tragedy for those with now redundant travel plans for the semis and final, jumps back to speculation about which ABs won't wear the black shirt again, shows interviews with counsellors and psychologists to help people in the grieving process, before finally ending with news of three people dying in a car crash. Er, I know it's big and everything but, hello, a bit of perspective anyone?

I fully expect to see telephone and on-line polls dealing with the question of whether the English ref should be extradited to face charges over here.

I've tried to compare it in my own mind to the situation when the England football team lose an important match or go out of the world cup or European championships or something. But it just doesn't compare. Maybe it's because the English expect our national team to lose eventually. There's no true belief we'll win the tournament. Everyone expected the All Blacks to win. It was so much more than even just a belief that they'd win.

Speaking to a few people at work and playing touch tonight (didn't wear my England shirt as I thought the red rose would make a pretty decent target) and at the parish prayer meeting it seems that most of the hype is down the media. As Ryan put it "they hyped us up beforehand telling us we could win and now they hype it up telling us how disappointed and depressed we should be." Even the Beeb is in on it.