Soccer fever

1.
I am starting to succumb. Saw part of the two opening games today. Must confess, I cried when I saw El Rey Pele. I was seven years old in Mexico 70 and he was king and still is and always will be, forever. I liked the contrast of the former German soccer heroes parading like blocks of wood, and the Brazilians, who were full of emotion and joy, which is how they play. 5 time World Champions, I always root for them and their beautiful game.
2.
It is now the time to see a lot of mostly stupid soccer ads, with just a couple of good ones. (I have one on the air, and it acquits itself quite decently among the competition, but what can I tell you, it's my baby). I like the Nike ads, with the tagline in Portuguese. That's about it. The one about the Mexicans traveling with what looks like a long schlong is nicely done, but I can't remember the brand it's for. I wish somebody should have limited the amount of ads where you see employees of a company pretending to play soccer. Those make me vomit.
3.
The Univision sportcasters must have pledged to make us all deaf by the end of the Cup, but they are certainly much more fun, more human, and more excited and exciting than watching ESPN, who has some dudes who sound like they're drinking hot toddys in Manchester, England. Today, at Ecuador v. Poland, the Univision guys were unapologetically rooting for Ecuador, without the slightest pretense of objectivity. Good for them. Germany vs. Costa Rica was harder because everybody expected Costa Rica to get creamed.
4.
Next time have a more fun country host the games: something like Brazil, Argentina, Mexico, Italy, a Latin place where people really know how to party, not only to get drunk like cossacks. The opening ceremonies were excrutiatingly boring, a great contrast with those electrifying public rallies the Germans used to stage you know when. I guess they tried to keep that so low key, it was a snoozer.