The only post on the World Cup from me, ever.

This is for Matt. You should all check out his blog, Stitched Up. I've already posted on illegal immigration in Arizona today, so I might as well post on another subject close to Matt's heart.

In the opening match of soccer's World Cup Friday, German midfielder Torsten Frings scored an amazing goal from 40 yards out. The ball started off straight and then tailed sharply to the right in the last 10 yards or so. It was an unstoppable shot, but with a different ball it might have been a simple save.

A scientist has explained why a new ball being used in this year's World Cup is frustrating goalies.

The new Adidas Teamgeist football, as it is called, has 14 panels instead of the 26 or 32 that traditionally create the hexagonal pattern.

Fewer panels means fewer seams, which will make the ball behave more like a baseball, says Ken Bray, a sports scientist at the University of Bath in the UK.

[emphasis added]

Okay, I'll be honest. The only reason I posted this is because it compared soccer with the only sport that would be worth keeping if all other sports were to disappear: BASEBALL!!!

Soccer is fun. I played it for a year. However, I was forced to choose between baseball and soccer. Sorry, but soccer doesn't hold a candle in the wind to baseball. It's America's pasttime. It's the only sport in the world in which at any point in the game you can feasibly win, right up until the game is over with. It's the only game in which you can have a 10-run comeback in the bottom of the ninth. You can't have a 10-point comeback in basketball with 10 seconds left. You can't have a 10-goal comeback with 5 minutes left. It just doesn't happen.

Baseball is the best. Period.

(But read Matt's blog anyway. He's still got good stuff to say, even if he is a World Cup fanatic.)