Let's talk about boring

Straight up, I love the World Cup. FIFA's premier tournament played every four years. Unfortunately there are others who don't. And of course they have to come out with the obligatory "Why I'm not watching the World Cup" post. Most of the time they talk about how boring soccer is. So in response, let's talk about sports and boring:

One of the posts I read last week talked about how you could go away, make a sandwich and come back with nothing of importance happening. Ok, name me another sport in the US where that doesn't happen? NFL? you might miss two plays that go for 2 yards. NBA? You might miss a three pointer (not to mention that everyone knows the game isn't really on until the last two minutes). NHL? A couple of rushes (and really what's the big difference between hockey and soccer?). MLB? A couple of batters.

The fact is that all sports can be "boring". They are even more boring when you don't understand the concepts behind the play. Once you "understand" the game, it goes from boring to exciting. Once you understand the various situations in a game you gain an appreciation for what happens during play.

Unfortunately too many people won't take the time to understand the game. They do however take the time to describe how much they find the game they don't understand boring. Kind of silly if you think about it. I guess they are just looking for their 15 minutes of fame...

World Cup Fever

TWO DAYS! Yes I had to scream that out loud. The World Cup starts in two days. Last December I made my picks for the group stages and gave a list of the five teams that I thought would win it all this year.

I have since made bracket picks and looking at those I have the following winners from the groups:

• Group A
• Winner: Brazil
• 2nd: Croatia
• Group B
• Winner: Spain
• 2nd: Holland
• Group C
• Winner: Colombia
• 2nd: Japan
• Group D
• Winner: Italy
• 2nd: England
• Group E
• Winner: France (although no Ribery could derail this one)
• 2nd: Switzerland
• Group F
• Winner: Argentina
• 2nd: Nigeria
• Group G
• Winner: Germany (although no Reus could allow for a first round exit)
• 2nd: USA

I did pick a second bracket, but not a lot of differences. I have either Germany or Brazil winning it all in the bracket. However, my December picks didn't have Germany as one of my top 5 to win it all.

The madness (to borrow the term from NCAA March) begins on Thursday and we will see how things pan out. I'm sure I'll be tweeting about the matches and what's happening all along. I mean after all, I am kind of obsessed.