World Cup fallout: Does the prospect of pancakes (or even waffles) justify the scourge of soccer? And what about the scourge of Twitter?

Can the World Cup really be unreservedly evil if it leads to the possibility of pancakes (or even, hypothetically, waffles)?

by Ken

Let's dispose of the obvious questions about Matthew Barzun first.

(1) He's currently the U.S. ambassador to the United Kingdom -- or in fancier lingo, ambassador to the Court of St. James. So you can tell he must have raised a lot of money for President Obama's presidential campaign(s). Ding-ding-ding-ding! In the first Obama presidential campaign, according to Wikipedia:

Barzun’s small-dollar fundraisers were supporter-driven via online event pages, and replicated throughout the country.

In The Audacity to Win, author and political strategist David Plouffe describes Matthew Barzun’s grassroots campaign idea as “citizen fundraisers” that drove Obama’s connection with supporters.

That was good enough for a gig as ambassador to Sweden. In the Obama reelection campaign he served as national finance chair, after which he had to pack his bags for London.

(2) Yes, he is related to Jacques Barzun. A grandson.

Now, about those pancakes. As Washington Post "In the Loop" reporter Colby Itkowitz reports ("After World Cup loss, U.S. ambassador in London doesn’t waffle on bet with Belgians"):

As we reported a week ago, when a U.S. World Cup championship was still a long-shot possibility, Barzun sent Guy Trouveroy, Belgian ambassador in London, a handwritten note offering a breakfast wager. He’d pay up in pancakes if America lost, while Trouveroy would have to, of course, cook some Belgian waffles for the American staff if the U.S prevailed.

THE ORIGINAL WAGER (IT SEEMS THERE'S NOTHING
MUCH GOING ON IN THE U.S. EMBASSY IN LONDON)

[Click to enlarge]

Which, by the way, prompted a tweeted "joke" from Sen. Rafael "Ted from Alberta" Cruz:



Ha ha ha! Say, senator, have you ever thought about abandoning politics for the comedy-club circuit?


ANYWAY, AS COLBY REPORTS, "ON TUESDAY,
THE BELGIANS GOT THEIR FLAPJACKS"

Hopeful chants of “I believe that we will win” transition into a solemn instrumental as the score of the U.S.A. vs. Belgium World Cup game appears against a black screen. Then U.S. Ambassador to the United Kingdom Matthew Barzun appears at the embassy of his Belgian counterpart carrying the goods to cook “American pancakes.” Barzun measures and mixes and pours and flips in slow motion as the classical music soars.

You should probably just watch it yourself.

(Watch out! This is a playlist of "Uploads from USEmbassyLondon." Stand by that pause button. Unless you enjoy this sort of thing.)

Whoa, that's scary! Sorry, I didn't expect anything that alarming. Man, I'll probably be having nightmares for months. (I just hope there are therapists are on call for any kids who happen to view the clip.)

Still, they seem to have meant well, those U.S. and Belgian ambassadors stranded in London with, apparently, nothing better to do. And it shows that possibly some good can come of the World Cup, and of soccer generally, despite its general reputation as a worldwide scourge whose adherents are widely considered to be not merely insane but dangerous. (See my report last week, "There's good news about World Cup fever -- if it's caught early enough, a full recovery is possible.")

As for those Belgian waffles, well, thanks to those gutless wimps on the U.S. team, I guess we'll never know, will we? And as for Twitter -- the lurking villain in this sordid mess -- well, it appears there's nothing to be done.

#