World Cup open thread

REUTERS/Albert Gea
Swedish fan looks as if dog was murdered by
satanic cult


AP Photo/Martin Meissner
Soca Warrior fans celebrate, Scotland rejoices

Sunday, June 11, 2006
TIME	HOME		AWAY	MATCH	VENUE
Jun 11 09:00 ET	Serbia & Montenegro	v	Netherlands	Match 6	Leipzig
Jun 11 12:00 ET	Mexico	v	Iran	Match 7	Nuremburg
Jun 11 15:00 ET	Angola	v	Portugal	Match 8	Cologne

Here's what I don't get. During baseball season, I root for the Mets, during football season, I root for the Giants and Jets. During the NCAA's, I watch college basketball.

So, when the World Cup comes around, I watch soccer. I am capable of watching more than one sport. I watched T&T hold off Sweden, then I watched the Mets win tonight. Why do some people (read Keith Olbermann) feel the need to mock soccer, but go apeshit when people do the same to baseball. They sit around with their rotissere and their sabermetrics and say soccer is boring. You can't even explain baseball to people who didn't grow up in it.

My mother, who, bless her soul, was looking for the daily lottery numbers on the local ABC affiliate.She tracks the numbers but rarely plays. But today, she watched the T&T-Sweden match. She follows the Mets and the Knicks, but that's about it.

But she enjoyed the game. Maybe it was the crowd, maybe the excitement, but she got it.

The World Cup is a party, and only the grumps seem to take a perverse pride in missing out on it.

You know, you can watch soccer and still like baseball, I do.