It's coming...........

Tomorrow marks seven days and counting until 2010 FIFA World Cup. You will soon be aware that I go FIFA World Cup BANANAS every four years. Once every four years I shut down my fandom of baseball, basketball, and bathing, and dedicated every waking and non-waking moment to this glorious international competition. I have been known to hang tournament draws and banners at my desk, and have become the unofficial "water cooler" for the casual non-soccer fans curious about the competition.


Truth be told, I only follow soccer during the World Cup. I cannot get into league play, and IMHO the talent gets spread pretty thin with all the available leagues. This is the opportunity to see the best of the best representing their country and playing styles. This is the opportunity to see crazy haircuts, flair fires, chanting fans, drums, yellow cards, red cards, and an international spectacle like no other.


And I go to the nines. I WILL watch every single minute (minus potty breaks) of every single game (though mostly on a tape-delay basis, and through the beauty of DVR technology). I will think it, speak it, and inevitably purchase a World Cup video game that I will suck so bad at that I will never play it one moment after the Cup ends.


The time zone gets a little tricky. The last World Cup was mostly ruined due to the fact that most of the games ran during the morning of my work day. People knew that I was following along so they would run up to my desk and ask me my thoughts on a game that I had not seen yet, or blurt out a score...mostly accidental, some just to get under my craw!


How to avoid this in 2010? Going covert. You will not see a single banner, bracket, group schedule or wallpaper at my desk. Black ops. As far as they are concerned, I am just another lousy baseball fan :)


Much more to come throughout the month of June regarding World Cup. You've been warned.


Okay, now to reward those who have stuck with my rambling thus far...TOMORROW I will be announcing the "JD's Wildcardz 2010 FIFA World Cup" contest! This is going to be run very similar to my Winter Olympics contest in which I will randomize all 32 World Cup teams, the first 32 readers will pick a number and be assigned a team and that team will earn you entries towards an outlandish prize!

I am finalizing the rules in my noggin at the moment, but will have it all sorted out by the 'morrow, so be sure to drop in and get yourself in on the action. And if you think that even a contest won't get you interested to watch World Cup, remember that we all watch BASEBALL!

Speaking of World Cup...Today, by incredible timing, my little boy Jacoby is due for a haircut. Man, is he ever due. He has adopted the wavy curl of my wife's hair, and when it gets a tad longer it starts to wave a bit. Really though, he wears it quite well, he kinda looks like he should have a surfboard in one hand and a bikini babe in the other. A lady-killer at 18 months I tell ya.

I had always joked about getting Jacoby "prepped" for World Cup with a soccer-style haircut. Talk about impeccable timing. For your viewing pleasure I have gathered a sampling of possible Jacoby haircut styles....