The World Cup: Final Thoughts

Not having a TV in France meant that I missed most of the knockout stage action. When I left, there were 16 teams still in contention. When I got back, only Uruguay, Netherlands, Germany and Spain were still kicking around. I assume I missed a lot of awesomeness, along with a whole bunch of people falling down for no reason. It's sort of like the Festa.

Andrés Iniesta goes down easier than the sluttiest girl you know. It looks like he's playing soccer blindfolded on ice out there. My brothers claim he only played like that in the 2 Spain games that I watched and didn't fall down every other play, but I didn't see it so I have to assume it didn't happen. Stay on your feet! You look like Derek Fisher out there.

I wanted the Netherlands to win the final, and they didn't, which means they got hosed by the refs. English Ed Hochuli really let this one get out of hand. Actually, I don't know if he really did a bad job, but I think the Netherlands should have one. They didn't play better, but they had cooler uniforms. That should count for something. In the few times that I play FIFA games, I base my entire uniform pick on the awesomeness of the colors. It's sort of like Mario Party; after the game, extra points are awarded at random.

In 4 years, the World Cup will be in Brazil. That means I can watch the games at a more normal time. Right now, I can't tell if that is going to be a good thing or not. I kind of like waking up and watching soccer. This will have to be addressed in 2014, which will probably be somewhere around post 562.

Are there vuvuzelas in Brazil? I can't deal with another World Cup of people whining about them. Nothing any sportswriter says is going to make hundreds of thousands of people give up their noisy plastic tubes. Especially if it's Rick Reilly.

-Jon