Broadening My Horizons

Readers of this site will know that basically the only sport I get interested in enough to really pay attention is cycling. Sure, I’ll watch pretty much any sport on television, but that’s usually only because Chris is watching and I’m multi-tasking (otherwise known as napping). Imagine my surprise, then, when I found out about my new employer’s World Cup Blog – and discovered I actually like it.

Nevermind that I don’t understand all of what’s going on, or that I don’t know all the players (and by “players” I mean the people involved in the whole World Cup thing, including – but not limited to – the actual, well, players). The World Cup Blog, written with wit and humor by Bob Kellett, is colorful and inviting (these things are key to a sports neophyte, especially a female one), and offers plenty of information about the sport and the tournament, as well as travel tips for those making the trek.

Another cool element of the blog is evident when you first get to the site – at the top of the page, there’s a tiny flag representing each country in the tournament, each of which has its own blog page. Certainly, the big football powerhouses are represented well, but what makes this blog special is that each country has its space – including eight teams making their World Cup debut – even those who aren’t thought of as contenders. As Bob points out, you’d be hard-pressed to find information elsewhere on the web about, for instance, Saudi Arabia’s team. There's even a referees blog!

The only thing I wish were different - and this is coming from simply a laziness perspective - is that the tiny flags appeared on each page, so one could navigate between the team pages without having to go back to the main page. It's a small thing, but this lazy web-surfer noticed. Otherwise, the site is incredibly well-organized and thoughtfully laid out. It's one of the newer blogs in the BootsnAll Travel Network, and it looks great.

(As an aside, I've found out that Bob is also a cycling fan. The other day he said something about the World Cup being the biggest sporting event in the world, and I could have sworn I heard the same thing said about the Tour de France once. Statistics are evil things, so I'm sure - in some way - both statements are correct. It'd be interesting to know what the heck each statement was actually measuring, though.)

As the tournament gets closer, I’ll probably have to pick a team to root for (it’s a sports-mad office I’m working in). Maybe it’s because I’m a girl, but I love to cheer for the underdog. Italy, however, will probably end up winning my allegiance – regardless of how they might actually do in competition (my NCAA bracket this year is a testament to how little I actually care about a team’s chances before I decide whether to pick them) – because, after all, they’re Italian.

Full disclosure: World Cup Blog is part of the BootsnAll Travel Network, my new employer. As I learn more about the various resources in the Network, I’ll post information about them here.