In less than 24 hours, perhaps my favorite sporting event, the World Cup, starts (click here for an excellent blog on the subject). Because of the time difference, the games are going to start in the early (that is, pre-dawn) hours of the morning here on the West Coast, so the only way to view the majority of the games is by tape-delay or VCR. Even if you're not what you Yanks call a "soccer" fan, the World Cup is still a kick (sorry) for the simple reason that it is the only authentic world championship in sports. Besides the Olympics, other sports have international titles; hockey has a World Championship (just won by Slovakia, by the way), and even basketball is going to have an event this summer that will be called the World Championship. But those events lack credibility because the sport involved is regional, and involves only a handful of countries with a chance to win (ie. hockey, rugby, baseball), or only one country (basketball). Because the competition is deeper in soccer (of all countries, Cameroon is considered a dark horse to make the semi-finals), and the talent more evenly distributed, the event itself is less predictable, and thus more exciting to watch. Or as exciting as any event that produces occasional scoreless draws, and allows penalty kicks to resolve playoff games.

In any event, Friday is setting up to be an epic day of frivolity once I can find an excuse to get out of the office. I'm hoping to leave the office by 5, watch the last two periods of Detroit-Colorado (Game 7), cheer on the Lakers in Game 6, then watch Ireland-Cameroon at 11:30 p.m. All of which shall be done behind the security of my home pub, Joxer Dalys, where the owner claims the World Cup games will be shown live (even the 4:30 a.m. games between Slovenia and Paraguay, etc.).