How do I love thee, World Cup 2010? Let me count the ways (in no particular order):

  1. Overhearing strangers in public talking about the World Cup,
  2. Collecting World Cup Panini stickers,
  3. Listening to the national anthems of the 32 countries in the World Cup,
  4. Striking up conversations with complete strangers who were soccer fans and, as a result, making new friends,
  5. Watching World Cup games in public at local sports bars,
  6. Switching on ESPN at any time of the day and seeing World Cup news or games on television,
  7. ESPN pundit (and former Swansea City manager) Roberto Martinez,
  8. Watching World Cup games on-the-go with my FLO TV Personal Television,
  9. Puma’s incredible World Cup TV commercial that I never saw on TV but only could watch online,
  10. Ian “Cult Hero” Darke commentating, perhaps, his best tournament ever,
  11. Being stunned by the eyepopping TV ratings numbers for World Cup coverage on ABC, ESPN and Univision,
  12. Listening to the World Cup Buzz Podcast during my daily commute each morning,
  13. Watching World Cup games on ESPN3.com and using the montage feature to watch two games at once,
  14. Unlocking World Cup badges on Foursquare, Gowalla and Miso,
  15. Watching Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s goal for Netherlands against Uruguay over and over again,
  16. Chuckling at Special 1 TV’s episodes from BBC 3,
  17. Playing EA’s FIFA World Cup video game with my 6-year-old daughter and seeing her fall in love with the World Cup,
  18. The tears of joy that rolled down my cheeks after Landon Donovan scored that goal against Algeria,
  19. Seeing the headlines on the front pages of U.S. newspapers nationwide talking about soccer,
  20. Hearing the “BP Sucks” chants from US fans aimed at England supporters at Wowies,
  21. Meeting EPLNFL and Johnathan Starling for an EPL Talk Chat reunion during the England against USA game,
  22. Seeing how Twitter and Facebook were the perfect mediums for soccer fans,
  23. Watching an Argentina team (and their supporters) who were so proud of their country and how they played with such passion,
  24. Wearing a soccer jersey for practically every day of the World Cup tournament,
  25. Explaining to soccer newbies – who seemed genuinely interested – about how the sport works,
  26. Seeing a team such as Spain who thoroughly deserved to win the trophy despite their low-scoring,
  27. Being pleasantly stunned by the artistry of Uruguay and how I fell in love with them the more they played,
  28. Asamoah Gyan,
  29. The Ghana players running around the pitch with their nation’s flag in their hands,
  30. Seeing Nike’s World Cup ‘Write The Future’ TV commercial which never got old no matter how many times I watched it.

What about you? What things did you love about the 2010 World Cup that you’d like to share with the readers? Please post them in the comments section below.