This is the first year that we have watched the World Cup.  My son was the first to get into the matches.  I am not sure how it came about that he would get up to watch the matches that would start at 6am in the morning , but then he got me hooked on them.   During the opening rounds it was pretty easy for myself to get up, after all Odie was waking up at 5am and then needs to go outside.   

Yes, we were disappointed that the US did not get out of the opening rounds, but I can only say that their play was no where near the eventual champions.   Today, I find it quite ironic that the only US matchI  was able to watch on TV was the US vs Italy.  After watching that match, I had to wonder what crazy idiot actually ranked the US 5th in the world.  Then my conspiracy theorist mind started wondering who US officials had paid off.  

My son was really disgusted with Zidane's behavior yesterday.  During the past several weeks and especially the US-Italy match, Zindane, Ronaldinho, Ronaldo and Ricardo were common names in our conversations.   My son had been rooting for Zidane to win the World Cup for his final game.  Today, my son still does not understand.  How could the journalist vote to give Zidane the Adidas Golden Ball?  Did this vote take place before or after yesterday's match?  I have to admit, Zidane is a great footballer, but does his antic need to be rewarded?

My son has voiced that he really admires real football.  His vocabulary has changed, American Football is now American Football and football is what Americans call Soccer.  We have had several discussions about why it is that football is barely shown on TV and gets very little press. 

1.  Football can not be played by the average person.  Most Americans could not run up and down the field for 90 minutes with no time outs and only a short half time.  Therefore, the likelyhood that the average American understands the rules of football is a lot lower.

2.  The matches are very low scoring.  The team with the best defense is usually the winner as opposed to the team with the best offense.  This is the opposite of both American Football and Baseball. 

3.  There is not enough time to get all the beer commercials in the short half time.  The most amazing part about the airing of the World Cup on both ESPN and ABC,  is both networks showed every second of play.  The only commerical brakes happened between  the halves, at the end of the game and between overtime periods.  That kind of television coverage would never be supported on a continual basis.  (I do have to say that I enjoyed the Adidas trilogy of commericals.)

Without the ability for alcohol companies to advertise their products during, before and after a sporting event, very few sporting events are shown on a regular basis.  I would hope that ESPN could figure out a way to show football match.  Now that I actually think I understand what offside is, I would really like to watch more matches.