Match 1 of the World Cup was today. Germany and Costa Rica. Germany won 4-2 in 90 minutes. No one was broadcasting the opening ceremonies except Univision. I watched it in Spanish, and understood perhaps 1/3 of what was going on. If I’m correct, then as each country was introduced, children from that country escorted former team members from that country, and the children were holding signs with the year of that country’s World Cup win. It was really cool. And the children were in their football uniforms. It was great. There was music, dancing, and these women in masks with elaborate dresses, too. They were dangling from the ceiling of the stadium. Yeah. Dangling and waving their arms about. Quite strange, really. They probably symbolized something or other, but I couldn’t understand.

You’d think the World Cup would at least be something to put on TV, right? I suppose I can understand the networks not wanting to “waste” precious air time with regular matches, but come on! This is the World Cup we’re talking about here. Anyway, I watched most of the match, but missed the winning goal because I had to track down the cat to give him his medecine, and of course, he was sequestered in the back of the closet. I heard “GOAAAAAALLLLLLL!” and the eruption of the crowd. The cup matches are in Germany this year, so with Germany winning the first match, you can expect that it was truly glorious for them.

The rest of the schedule can be found here, if you’re interested. And you should be. I’m probably going to get some flack for this, but the World Cup is way better than the World Series. At least there are other countries participating. And don’t even try to say that it’s an international even because the Blue Jays are in it. The US and Canada do not an worle event make. And the Cup is cooler looking than the Series trophy.