I have to admit when this thing started I had very little (OK actually zero) interest in the world cup.

That changed pretty quickly, I don’t know if it was the USA being involved in exciting games, knowing a couple of people who were there, or just speaking to people every day who were knowledgeable about the game, and were able to explain some of the finer points, but in the end I got interested in the World Cup.  I doubt I will be watching much soccer (and yes it is soccer not football, in my vocabulary football means this, and starts in the fall) when this World Cup wraps up, but I will definitely be interested when the World Cup arrives in Brazil in 2014. Meanwhile, here are some of my observations after watching a number of games – Soccer is a tough game, these, these guys get hit, tackled, stepped on, kicked, and just keep going.   – The game is incredibly fast paced a 45 half takes about 48-50 minutes to play including the stoppage time added. (where a 60 minute Football game takes around 3 hours) – Goals are incredibly hard to come by, I can’t believe how many 0-0 and 1-0 games there were – I don’t like tie games, there were way too many of them in the first round, they should really play until someone wins (think NHL Playoffs where the game goes on until someone wins or they all drop from exhaustion) – The officiating has way too big of an impact on the game, I think they definitely need to add more officials on the field, and consider instant replay.  For the most part I like the way the NFL has implemented instant replay, I don’t want to see replay in Baseball, but from what I have seen Soccer really needs it based on all the controversy and missed calls that I saw watching a few games.  I also wonder why they don’t just RFID tag the ball, and automatically track if it is over the line. – I though baseball was the only sport that once you left the game you could not return, now I have learned Soccer is the same, with only 3 substitutions per game that means most of the players are playing the full 90 minutes (someone told me they run an average of 10-11 miles per game) – The players are all actors, diving, and otherwise acting like they were injured to influence the referee to make a call – Yellow Cards have a huge impact on the game, I find it hard to believe that a player can be forced to miss an entire game (especially in the elimination rounds) and that a team can wind up playing a man down for a good portion of the game. – I hope that the Vuvuzelas is not the next craze to sweep through US Sports stadiums, though someone already tried. – I am not sure I understand the timekeeping, is there a reason they don’t stop the clock like in other sports? This seems to be another area of the game where the referee can impact the game by arbitrarily deciding how much additional time to add at the end of each half, and when to call the game over. – The game stops for nothing, when a player is down and stays down they immediately bring in a stretcher and pull them off field. – The off sides rule is complicated, in Hockey off sides is basically about the position of the player, the puck, and a fixed line, in Soccer is is about the position of the offensive player, the ball, and the defensive players. – For the most part the players show true sportsmanship at the end of the matches win or lose, I like how many players swapped jerseys with their opponent at the end of each game. – ESPN is doing a terrific job broadcasting the games, as well as streaming them all live, with no tape delays or time zone issues (NBC and the Olympics wake up and take note please). I know the World Cup is not over yet, but the tournament really seems to slow down at this point, by the end of today 56 of the 64 matches will have been completed, and it will take another 12 days to play the remaining 8 games.

I am in Boston this week for Admin 2010, I presented my session this afternoon on building custom TDI Scripts to populate Lotus Connections Profiles, and customizing Profiles….. but before all that Carl came through on his long time promise to take me on a flight in his plane. Here is our takeoff This is the plane And here are some images from the flight This is the New Hampshire Motor Speedway This is (still snow covered) Mount Washington, and the weather station that sits on top of it When we got back to the airport Carl did a touch and go which you can see here in this video before we landed for the evening. Finally here I am safely back on the ground after almost 3 hours of flying There are more pictures in my Flickr Set, and I will add even more when I have a chance to get through them all.  Thanks Carl for the flight, I had a great time.

The NFL released the 2010 Schedule this evening.  They made a big deal about it, with a live show on the NFL Network to announce the schedule (teams opponents for the 2010 season were already known, this was just the schedule). With all this going on I guess you can see how a small detail slipped through the cracks.

I am not really a fan of The Tonight Show in fact those of you who know me, know that most of the time I am fast asleep by the time it starts.  I did however watch the clip of Conan O’Brien signing off the show for the last time.  In his final words he included this thought

To all the people watching, I can never thank you enough for your kindness to me and I’ll think about it for the rest of my life. All I ask of you is one thing: please don’t be cynical. I hate cynicism — it’s my least favorite quality and it doesn’t lead anywhere.

Full Text and Video is available here Conan O’Brien’s Last Show: His Final Words For NBC And For His Fans

Enjoy this one minute clip from the most famous episode of WKRP in Cincinnati “Turkeys Away”

For a little more context around the episode you can read A Thanksgiving classic: ‘As God is my witness, I thought turkeys could fly’ Happy Thanksgiving!