Friday, July 2, 2010

Finally, for football fans!

I don't know if it's amazingly awesome or truly terrible. I love soccer. And I guess maybe you could say possibly that I might have watched a few games.

Let me be honest. I've watched every game. Every. Single. Match of the 2010 World Cup games.
I love watching European soccer, particularly. I remember in college when my roommates and fraternity brothers would make fun of me for watching hours of Serie A games or old Bundesliga matches, and especially the Premier League. So now that soccer is significantly more mainstream in the United States (albeit realistically a temporary interest), I'm definitely enjoying the ability to watch soccer on television, with live commentary.

I don't know where all of these sudden soccer fans have been hiding, but I've seen more soccer gear, more soccer parties, and more people up in the mornings en masse cheering for their "favourites" at bars and pubs across the country. For the USA/England match, you might mistake Finnhenry's in downtown Orlando for a neighbourhood pub in Islington. For the Portugal/Brazil match, you might mistake San Diego's Gas Lamp district for the bars nearest Stadio Olimpico and Foro Italica in the north of Roma.

And let me tell you, it is no easy feat watching World Cup live when you're on the West Coast. Whilst in California, the first matches of the day began at 4:30 in the morning! That is dedication.

And now, as if I wasn't excited enough for World Cup and soccer in general, those of us in the United States will now have the opportunity to continue on this exciting soccer fever, thanks to ESPN3. Beginning in August, more than 800 live soccer matches from the best European leagues will be available, streaming live. German Bundesliga, Italian Serie A, Spanish La Liga, Portuguese Liga, and Dutch Eredivisie.

And whichever executives agreed to this new offering, I say danke, grazie, gracias, obrigado, and dank u.

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