I know, I know......"What World Cup"?
Believe me, I used to be outside of the US on business a lot before 2000 and the World Cup is HUGE. Way, way, WAY bigger than the "Super Bowl". I was in Jesus de Otoro, Honduras, in the late '60's when the World Cup was on. There was no electricity in town back then. All they had in the village for people to watch on was a beat-up, 12 volt, 14" TV, powered by a succession of kids on a bicycle/alternator setup. As long as a kid was peddling, we had a picture (although sometimes someone had to hold the antenna and wave their arms around until the signal/sound got better, then they would have to stand in place to hold the signal).
The time I was there, Honduras was already considered out of the running, so everyone was cheering for Guatemala - the border was only a couple of hours away - swigging Cheecha (a wickedly potent, fermented drink made from peaches), yelling at the TV and having a great time. They didn't speak much Spanish out in the aldeas (boondocks). Their local language is "keshua" (I spelled that phonetically for you) which was the lower-middle level Inca language, still prevelent in Central and South America. It sounds a LOT like Swahili with a lot of clicks and pops. None of that mattered, though. All that mattered was that Guatemala was beating the Ivory Coast in their mid-round. I expected to be in the village for an hour or two - ended up staying the night after the game. After all that Cheecha I never would have found my way home, four hours away, anyway. Given how they make the stuff, I'm lucky I'm not permanently blind. The headache on the way home the next day was Life-force-taking
Anyway, I just started watching the USA vs. Ghana in my nice, comfy, family room on my high def TV and drinking a wine.....sure wish I had a beer from Cerveseria Imperial in Honduras, about now. Even better would be some Cheecha!! Just a little better here, than in Jesus De Otoro. 
We got our first goal in the first 30 seconds - Whammo!
HOLY CARP!!! Talk about a punch in Ghana's face!
And I love the US's Beckerman with his unruly Dredlocks. In fact, the USA teams always look to be the most internationally diverse of any other nation (Well, maybe excepting England).
OK, so all of the talking heads say that USA doesn't have a chance in this World Cup. They also said that about our Olympic hockey team in 1980, when we beat everyone, including Russia in the final, remember that?
WATCH THE WORLD CUP!! IT'LL BE WORTH IT!!!
Like every other World Cup, this one will be a thrill ride! WATCH IT!!!!!!!
