Reaction to FIFA World Cup in U.S.

Not much. We seem stubbornly insistent upon not embracing your football above the high school level. Kids play much soccer here as part of growing up. But that doesn't seem to translate into any desire in the professional level.

One thing I'm seeing over and over in the various websites is how the penalty-kick format for resolving a tie is simply atrocious. One commentator wrote:

The traditional, and therefore right, way of dealing with draws/ties was to replay the match on another day. In the English FA Cup, Fulham once played 12 matches over 6 rounds. Sadly, the demands of TV schedulers have triumphed over this equitable solution.

This writer's name was Iain Murray, and he's from England. So I assume he knows something of football.

I greatly admire the athleticism of football players. They seem to have an inexhaustible supply of burst stamina. But I know nothing of the strategy, and to my eye it looks like hockey -- the advancement of the ball in the general direction of the goal, then anarchy, then the ball gets booted back upfield. The cycle then starts again.

To your eye our baseball must look equally as foreign; like to my eye cricket is inpenetrable. Interestingly, I have a co-worker who plays cricket here in the states. He's of Indian origin, and there is a big community in the Hartford, Connecticutt area.

Another consensus -- or so it is reported here -- is that France had the better team, but Italy prevailed. Do you agree with that?