Opening day in the books, productivity tumbling

It is a horror that nobody should have to endure.  Wake up to your alarm clock on a Saturday morning after a great night before (read: malted hop frenzy) and think you're going to watch Argentina and Nigeria in World Cup action.  Instead, you find you're seeing the duller-than-dishwater Greece.  That's all you need to know, it don't matter who they're playing, that's a giant lunchbag letdown.  1-0 Korea though in the early stages, so that makes it a bit more palatable. Yes, Greece has a debt in this one too.

Those uniforms that the United States World Cup team will be rocking today were inspired by the U.S. team that had the biggest upset arguably in World Cup history some 60 years ago when they beat England.  Of course, the U.S will face England today kicking off at 2:30pm in what is expected to be the highest rated soccer game in American history.  The game will be played at a high altitude so it'll be interesting to see if the more worn down English players can keep pace with the U.S., who tend to be among the fittest teams in any competition.  Found out that the referees are having some special training to learn English swear words ahead of this one.  

Started a column to the right with the World Cup picks and record.  Be sure to toss your picks into the comments section.

UFC 115 goes tonight in Vancouver with a less than appealing main event of Chuck Lidell and Rich Franklin.  Maybe it is just me, but I find the Canadian UFC cards to date have been a little sub-standard relative to the cards you see in the U.S.  Cro Cop faces Pat Berry in the main undercard fight, and there will no doubt be a strong Croatian support in Vancouver for Cro Cop. Full card here.

Michael Davis was on The B.S. Report podcast this week talking World Cup and explained that there is a difference in the grass in the northern and southern hemisphere and that that has historically played into why teams from the opposite hemisphere don't win.  The southern grass tends to be longer, slower and thicker while the north tends to be shorter and faster, particularly when the fields tend to be watered pre-game leading to the ball sliding around the surface far quicker.  Interesting note: the South African fields have been designed to play more like the northern hemisphere.

The fashion crime of the World Cup day goes to France, where they were all wearing smedium shirts that looked more fit for the Tour de France than Les Bleus.

That sound you hear at World Cup stadia is the sounds of the "vuvuzela", a plastic horn that you blow and the effect you get is the sound of an IndyCar or F1 race.  GBVH offers up this site where you can blow your own.  Yours truly, in addition to using it as a funnel, once worked one in an Oktoberfest hall with a few friends that resulted in them being banned from Oktoberfest altogether.  Yep, we've got game.

A U.S. court ruled that urine samples that show Barry Bonds used steroids cannot be presented at his perjury trial where he said he didn't use steroids.  Make sense of that, if you can.

Enjoy the games.  Back tomorrow for a brief RM.