Gooooooooooooooooooal

Scott Hardie | June 15, 2014
What are your thoughts about the World Cup currently underway?

I'm rarely into soccer, but I think I should get into it. Seeing World Cup matches on TV at public places twice this weekend has demonstrated to me that soccer is a fast-paced and exciting and very watchable sport, even if I would struggle to find on a map the two nations playing each other. I have long disliked the frequent delays of play in baseball and football, which is why I prefer the more active sport of basketball, and soccer possesses that same quality of non-stop excitement. (So does hockey, but personally I find the puck too hard to follow on a small screen.)

A reporter recently studied the history of the word "soccer" and found that, contrary to popular belief, we didn't come up with it: Britain did, and they have since stopped using it because we favor it so much.

Samir Mehta | June 15, 2014
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Erik Bates | June 16, 2014
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Scott Hardie | June 29, 2014
To anybody who's just trying to hop on a trend and seem cooler for liking soccer, shame on them. But some people are legitimately enjoying the cup despite not having occasions to be interested in soccer before (it's not a water-cooler topic very often), so good for them for getting into it.

I'm enjoying how many different ethnic restaurants we visit that have it playing on screen, and the staff keeping up with the action on TV while doing their jobs. The commercials are pretty good too, creative and amusing, if repetitive.

Google has really gone overboard with the World Cup doodles these last few weeks. I can't believe they're going to miss marking the 197th birthday of Joseph Dalton Hooker tomorrow!