World Cup Mania

I'm not into sports, but The World Cup is something special. Here's an event that is truly international. All over the world, people are insane about football - and yes, that's what it's called. :-)

In France, Pizza Hut is doing a booming business, since everyone is in front of the TV (the link will take you to Pizza Hut's French World Cup advertising - it's pretty funny). Here's an evocative description of watching games in Burkina Faso. And take a look at the photos from yesterday of the hoopla surrounding the England - Paraguay game. I especially enjoyed the one of kids at a British school in Asuncion.

In the country where I live (which, sadly, does not have a team in the event this year), Brazil is the favorite, and there are Brazilian flags everywhere. Some people like Argentina, so you see some of those flags too.

Four years ago, when the games were played in Japan, people here got up at four in the morning and we could hear gunshots all through the neighborhood when goals were scored. The best part about the World Cup is that we get electricity much more than usual, because of course, even though there isn't enough current to go around most of the time, football must take priority. And apparently, in some countries (this article is from Paraguay), crime rates even go down during the World Cup.

You won't get any information on the games themselves from me, but don't despair, because the BBC is blogging the World Cup, and the site has links to an unbelievable number of other World Cup blogs.