Futball??

If "Seinfeld" was a show about nothing, the World Cup is a show about nothing-nothing.

Obligatory soccer jab aside, I have to admit that I will be paying attention to what goes on in South Africa over the next month.

Not that I'll be able to hear much of it pleasantly, not with those vuvuzelas blaring. Americans hate soccer because there's little scoring, build-up play can have a glacial pace, and 90 minutes can feel like 90 hours.

But, like with any sport, when it's played well it's a beautiful thing to watch. My interest in soccer blossomed after I met a few Englishmen who came to the Midwest for a tornado chasing tour, and it was a frequent topic of conversation via email once they returned to the UK. Fox Soccer Channel became part of my cable package, and I started watching matches more out of a curiosity to see how the sportscasters described the game than anything else.

It's been background noise for many a Saturday morning since then. Along the way, I began picking up the nuances of the game and learned to appreciate well-played soccer. Or football, as it's more properly called. And I've learned enough about it that my commentary is welcomed by English soccer correspondents. I rather enjoy that.

My picks for this World Cup? Spain, England, Brazil.....perhaps Holland in the semifinals as well. Germany could surprise, with its bevy of young talent and history of always doing well. Italy, the defending champions, strike me as being too old.

The U.S.? It will need to play well to get out of the group stages, but if the Americans meet Germany in the first round of the knock-out phase, I don't like their chances. The defense has been too wobbly, and I'm not seeing enough threat from their strikers - though Altidore does show the occasional flash of brilliance that has tempted European clubs for a while now.

With the World Cup, however, the pagentry and spectacle are every bit as much of the show as the match itself - not unlike the Super Bowl.

And I was looking forward to it enough to finally break down and get a DVR. No more "taping" shows for me.

In one way, at least, I guess it took the world's game to drag me kicking and screaming into the 21st Century.