World Cup and the DVR

World Cup fever has hit the Waugh household, but thanks to the DVR we haven't had to call in sick in order to watch the games (although my wife seredipitously fell of her horse, hurting her tailbone, and was advised by her doctor to stay home for a couple days).

I'm a little bummed that the US didn't play better, but I guess that's to be expected. Now I get to root for some other teams, like Ghana, Italy and England.

And even if I'm not pulling for Brazil, it's still fun to watch them play. How can you not like a team where all the players are superstars and are known by a single name, like Madonna or Sting? I get to ponder such questions as "Is Ronaldo getting a little beer belly, like the president of Brazil suggested, and is it affecting his play?" or "How does someone like Ronaldhino, who hit every branch on the way down when he fell off the ugly tree, attract a supermodel?" or "How does someone get the unfortunate name of Kaka?"

Speaking of supermodels, my wife thinks Italy has the hottest players. Someone asked her if I felt threatened by her crushes. Well, being that they are on another continent and they all have supermodel wives and don't speak her language and the dogs don't like new people, I guess I can rest easy. (Note to self...avoid Italy when on vacation).

But I digress. I really wanted to talk about my DVR. It has allowed me to watch every game that I care to. I remember 4 years ago, we didn't even have cable and the Cup was in South Korea. To catch the games, I would wake up before dawn and follow the action online. The US did pretty well, but my excitement was dampened by the fact that soccer is not a good sport to watch online, where the action is described in short text sentences. Imagine it. The only fun part was when a local pub opened at 5am in order to broadcast the US-Germany game. It was more exciting, but, of course, that's the game we lost.

Well I'm not missing anything this time. But there is a problem, a problem caused by technology, where the ability to have instant access to information runs headlong into the ability to capture time in a bottle.

I started by recording every game and watching them, which works on the weekends. But my enthusiasm was such that at work I had to get the scores. So when I'd watch the games that evening, I already knew the outcome. This worked for a while when my soccer fever was just setting in, but after taking in the first games, I found that knowing the outcome kind of ruined the pleasure. So when it came time for the first US game, I told all my coworkers not to tell me what the outcome was, so that I could get that rush of uncertainty. It was like living in an alternate universe, walking around with blinders, with tunnel vision, avoiding computer screens. I was like the emperor with no clothes; everyone knew something that I didn't. Well, my coworkers were good and I made it home ignorant, but as soon as I openend the door wy wife exclaimed "I can't believe they lost 3-0!" Aaargh! I didn't even bother to watch it because I knew it would upset me.

So I went back to getting the scores and using that to separate the good games from the boring ones. I was able to watch the second US game live, during my yard sale. And I admit that it was better that way.

The DVR is great for American football games, because so much of the game has no action, and lots of commercials. But soccer doesn't have commercials, so that benefit is lost. In fact, here is my theory on why soccer is not more popular in America: there are no commercials.

By the way, I like the Adidas commercial. Check out the auditions for Jose and Pedro.