I'm just not a serious person...

Akinfeev hoping Capello has PATIENCE and gives him a chance to SHINE in the other games pic.twitter.com/O1y1lLcaGj #WorldCupLookalikes #Barlow

— Richard Jude (@RichardJude) June 17, 2014

 Me being a serious person... 

For much of my life the fact that I don’t take myself very seriously has been a blessing. It’s definitely harder to be offended by a joke (or a question or insulting observation) if you’ve either already thought it yourself or simply appreciate the humour. For the first time I’m beginning to question the use of this trait.

I often observe people posting things on Twitter, and am simply left wondering why they’ve felt the need to write those things. I think it ultimately comes down to them taking themselves, their profile, their opinions and their careers seriously. I won’t mention any names, and I’m not making any accusations, but when I see people with only a few hundred followers just reporting facts about global events I have wondered why they bother, but the fact is you have to start somewhere, and there are plenty of people with seven followers and an egg for a photo, speaking with just as much authority.

To play devil’s advocate with myself, even if they provide the information to one of their followers, that is one person who may well think to themselves that this person is now a useful source of information…

My problem is that with just shy of 200 followers, and having made no substantial attempt to expand this, I’m confident that nobody is following @RichardJude for breaking news. Frankly I think most people are probably there out of sympathy, loyalty or simply feel they have no choice.

What I have chosen to do, rightly or wrongly, is make my Twitter account an extension of me, the person who doesn’t take himself too seriously. So far during the World Cup the most insightful observations I have made have been highlighting potential lookalikes. I was particularly proud of Nico Kovac and Joseph Gordon-Levitt, one that Paddy Power spotted a few days later.

#WorldCupLookalikes: Short-haired Luka Modric - A young Vladimir Putin & Niko Kovac - Joseph Gordon-Levitt
— Richard Jude (@RichardJude) June 12, 2014

If you ever see me just report fact (rather than opinion or my own brand of ‘humour’) you have my permission to point this out to me, and I’ll join you in deriding me for my outrageous hypocrisy. (Unless I have actually learnt to take myself seriously, in which case leave me be…)

Maybe now the fact I choose not to take myself particularly seriously is proving a weakness, but I’d rather that than be the 9 millionth person to make a list of things we’ve learnt during the World Cup, that simply contains nonsense, inanity or the bleeding obvious.

N.B. An alternative take on a World Cup list that I did enjoy exists here, but frankly I’d have been more inclined to list the reasons I hated it before England went out… I’m just that bloody negative!