Whoa! Go Senegal! I don't know much about the team, but I'm always ready to see a feisty upset in the first round. And, though I do enjoy the French team, defending champs, by definition, deserve to have their tartines cast upon the cafe floor. Alas, poor Scotland, nowhere to be seen. I was thinking of adopting the Irish (who could likewise be counted on to fold before the going gets tough), but then thought perhaps I should follow an African team. I had my eye on Cameroon, for their jaunty name if no other reason (the Indomitable Lions), but perhaps now Senegal has earnt themselves some new hooligans. Just one question: uh, what's with their little shirt dance?

It just adds to the fun that the majority of the Lions play in France, their coach is French, one of France's stars, Patrick Vieira, was born in Senegal, and of course Senegal was a former French colony.

I sure wish my French were better so that I could read the reactions in the French and Senegalese media.

Gosh, I just can't wait for all those free kicks to settle scoreless games. Can't wait for all those endless penalty kicks, those 1-0 barnburners, 2-1 shootouts, all those men in knee-highs kicking a ball around - unable to TOUCH IT WITH THEIR HANDS! How gripping, pardon the pun.

Good thing the World Cup is on during the graveyard shift - insomnia shall have a temporary cure.

The only exciting aspect of "the world's game" happens off the field. Check out Bill Buford's 1990 classic "Amongst the Thugs" for the fun side of soccer.

Thank God it's "the world's game" and not America's. I'm waiting for September - and real football. They get to actually touch it with their hands.

First Half

It's always been my experience that, for the most part, people don't like sports they don't understand. This was definitely true for me with soccer. (And golf, come to think of it, another sport where you don't get to touch the ball with your hands.) That long camera shot on Univision, panning back and forth, back and forth. What's fun about that?

Then, four years ago, I watched a lot of the World Cup with my former boss, who is British, and some friends who played the game. With six or more cameras covering the action, including on-the-field shots and reverse-angles, you could see the game as it really is. Suddenly, I had a totally different perspective on how hard it is to play, how much is going on (even when goals aren't being rung up wildly), and the real skill and artfulness of these international players. Sure, some games end in 1-0 scores, but the same can be said of hockey, and anyone who understands what's going on during a hockey game knows it ain't boring. (Hockey is another one I didn't "get" for a long time, until I saw a live game and was introduced to the subtleties that you don't see on TV.)

Second Half


We prefer games we're familiar with and, particularly here in the U.S. where a lot of kids play Pop Warner and high school football, we value skills like hitting people real hard. (Though, again, it's a mystery why fans of aggressive gaming don't adopt soccer more readily: it's intensely physical on the field; for example, my boss, who played in a city league in Seattle, had his eye socket crushed and had to have a plate put in his head after one game because he couldn't touch the ball with his hands; all those pads in American football really take the edge off.)

After watching the World Cup in 98 (including an unbelievable semi-final round and a huge upset of favored Brazil by the French on their home turf), and the Women's World Cup the following year, I had a whole new respect for people who can actually run that huge field for 90+ minutes and build these amazing attacks on goal. When you see a couple of strikers tearing down the field, shifting their positions at full speed, passing the ball between defenders, and getting an unbelievable shot into the back of the net, you start to realize there's a reason billions of people love the game. In 98, I'd go down to one of the British pubs in Seattle and settle down for an early-morning pint with 150 rowdy partisans, all pulling for teams they or their parents grew up with.

The World Cup is a great chance to learn about an awesome sport. Here's some good coverage on the state of the game and a list of the best matchups in the first round. Only the die-hards will be watching them live, but catch a highlight reel on ESPN sometime and see if you're not surprised.

Also, just for the record, extra points to you, Trip, for your inventive "hidden" score reveal trick. It's always the low-tech stuff that works best.

Hey, Ishbadiddle was a pioneer in the use of ColorMask technology. We're also working on the use of Yes-N-Know pens and a new scratch and sniff HTML tag.

I concur lack of familiarity breeds indifference, and I admit ignorance to the minutae of soccer strategy. I also humbly admit that I do have a semi-encyclopedic knowledge of American football strategy (yet still find myself humbled in the presence of those involved in the game at the college and pro levels). True to your thesis, then, it predictably follows that I like football a helluvalot more than soccer. I'll also give you this: 3 years ago I hardly knew lacrosse existed, but after watching parts of several playoff matches on TV - TV! - I'm now a fan. But football and lacrosse still have what soccer doesn't: scoring, speed, and all four limbs. I know many will argue that soccer has plenty of speed, but you can't tell that on TV. The field's too big, the ball has too far to travel, and rarely gets where it's supposed to go. And the free kick thing to settle ties is not just the worst play in all of sports, it saps all meaningfulness from the previous 90 minutes of play.

I remember getting interested when Gemany played in the Cup Final in - what was that, '94?. We all went to a German club and watched with 300 screaming krauts. It was fun - until the game ended in a tie. The Vaterland's free-kick victory turned me off and I still haven't recovered.

But my hat's off to the drunk and rampaging fans who make soccer the world's most exciting off-the-field sport.

The much-loathed shootout is one area, M-----, where I think almost everyone is agreement. Players hate it, fans hate it. Probably a billion people hate it. Hundreds of millions, at least. I believe it only comes after at least one sudden death overtime, but there is still a long-raging debate with the people who want the games to end with a definitive winner (which we could live without, I think, based on the league points system in hockey; always tricky in a final, though) and to be suitable for TV. Which, you point out, isn't always soccer friendly to begin with.

My alternatives at present being a foregone NBA finals, mid-season baseball, and the World Beer Games on FX (hmm, that actually sounds interesting), I'm sure I'm going to break down any minute now and catch a very un-American-like chunk of the World Cup. Is a Germany-France finals possible? Now that war between them is so yesterday, I'll watch all 90 minutes if they're going at it - even if the World Beer Games finals is on at the same time.

"But my hat's off to the drunk and rampaging fans who make soccer the world's most exciting off-the-field sport."

Hmm. Like these guys?

"June 10, 2002 | MOSCOW (AP) -- City officials banned the broadcast of World Cup soccer games on big outdoor screens after thousands of fans rioted during Russia's loss to Japan, setting cars on fire, smashing windows and fighting police and each other in violence that left two people dead."