LONDON — The words many football-loving married men in Britain would love to hear from their wives today are: "I have some bad news for you. . . . an old school friend of mine is in town. . . . I said I would see her tomorrow to catch up on things. . . . I'd ask you to come along but we'll be talking about old times. . . . You don't mind, do you?
Suppressing delight would be as big a challenge for the home-alone husband as making his "of course not" reply sound genuine.
Tomorrow is one of the Super Sundays of the season, time to become a couch potato for seven hours of back-to-back football.