Let The Games Begin!

As you can tell by my enhanced sidebar at right, it's World Cup time baby! The biggest single sporting event on earth will dominate my (and most of the rest of the world's) next month as we see if the Aussie Socceroos can score their first World Cup Finals goal, if the USA can live up to it's inflated world ranking, if England can live up to the hype without Rooney, and if Brazil can live up to expectations.

It's gonna be a rollercoaster my friends! Remember, this event has some big implications for national pride. Footballers have been shot dead for missing penalties, and two nations went to war over a match (El Salvador and Honduras).

Here's a World Cup tidbit to whet your appetite:

Estimates put Super Bowl betting at nearly $600 million and wagering on the men's NCAA Basketball Tournament at close to $4 billion. The global nature and tournament structure of the World Cup generates more betting than any other event - British bookmakers *alone* expect to receive over $1.89 billion on the 64-game tournament this year.