KEY POINTS:
Having bellyached on about the soccer not being on the telly I discovered it was live on the TVNZ site. Great.
TVNZ's website had a picture of Ryan Nelsen, and the promise of pictures. Visions of standing in front of the TVNZ building with a sign repenting my sins ruled.
Then it got exciting, but not for the right reasons.
Clicking on the picture to see the game got the site flashing. That's not just flashing. It's angry, raging flashing, up there with strobe lighting. Visions danced of acne'd men with thick glasses in the TVNZ basement cheering 'We got one! We got one!'
The site was so insistent I felt I ought to walk out, hands visible, to lie on the footpath, assume the position, and meekly allow myself to be taken somewhere to be given the right kind of help, wanted or not.
Clicking the 'go away' buttons didn't work. The only way out was to reach around and pull out the plug.
The site said I needed a plug in. I fired up the computer and moused off to get it.
The plug in - whatever that is - downloaded, 29 megabytes of software, squeezing to death the thousands of emails promising me cheap Viagra and quality Rolex watches.
Righto. Race back to TVNZ to enjoy the pictures.
Huh! Once they've got you they don't give up that easily.
This time the site laboured mightily and wheezed to a stop.
My computer is supposed to be up to this. It's a six months old Intel Mac.
But, nope. Then, the killer.
A notice came up. It said the plug in I had just downloaded was likely the problem.
I gave up, and lumbered off to the radio.
New Zealand 1-0 until three minutes out. China scores. It's a draw. That's good. The rest wasn't. You get nights like that.
Denis Edwards
Pictured above: China'a Weiwei Yuan, right, battles for the ball with New Zealand's Jeremy Brockie during their Olympic's soccer tournament preliminary round group C match at the Beijing 2008 Olympics in Shenyang, northeastern China's Liaoning province. (AP Photo / Martin Mejia)
