World Cup.

For soccer fans, this is Christmas. In basketball speak, the beginning of March Madness, in baseball speak, October... now, just imagine either of those only happening once every four years. That's right, now we are into Olympics territory here... I think you're picking up what I am putting down - high-level, extremely talented athletes, playing for country, three games a day. Sheer awesomeness.

But let's just say, hypothetically speaking, that you don't watch much soccer - and if you have come across it, you may have seen a bunch of people running around chasing a small white ball for an inordinately long amount of time, flopping on the ground, so many tattoos, and little to no scoring. You might think, "why should I care?"

I don't think I can even begin to explain that though because I love soccer. And so does the rest of the world. It's literally the world's most popular sport - in one article it referenced that, "at the turn of the 21st century, the game was played by over 250 million players in over 200 countries"; i.e., a lot.

However, I did listen to this podcast recently that helps set up why you might find this world cup phenomena interesting, even if you don't inherently understand and/or like the game. http://freakonomics.com/podcast/world-cup/

And if you need an easy reference to the schedule, here you go.

No, USA did not make this tournament. Yes, we will be hosting in 2026 (jointly with Mexico and Canada).

Better read up now and get pumped.

(I took these pictures in Spain when I went last year. No, the World Cup is not in Spain, and yes, I realize that these are clubs and not countries. But how many times can you say, and prove, that you've been there? Precisely.)

Source: Wikipedia, www.footy-boots.com; http://www.iuemag.com/nov2011/soccer.php