What Will You Miss Most About the World Cup?

A World Cup Final is one of mixed emotions. Elation at the prospect of watching a game between the two best teams in a tournament. Depression at the thought that after the last kick is made, we have to wait another four years before the tournament begins again. It’s far too long of a wait.

But looking back over the past 64 games and several weeks, what are the things you’ll miss the most? For me, there are several. I’ll miss the wall-to-wall coverage of the World Cup on ESPN. It’s extremely rare to get that amount of coverage of soccer on a mainstream sports TV network. It completely permeated the American culture for so long this summer. The other thing I’ll miss is hearing so many strangers talking about the sport. People who are obviously not soccer fans, but they’re taken a massive interest in the tournament. And last, but not least, I’ll miss the throngs of people I met at a local sports bar who came together to watch the beautiful game. Living in such a transient area of the country as South Florida, I’m so used to watching soccer in my home and rarely with other people. So it’s been a wonderful experience sharing the highs and lows of the tournament with the few thousand people who walked through the doors of Wowies.

So, tell me what you’ll miss most about the 2010 World Cup and post your reply in the comments section below. In the meantime, here are the answers from some of the tweeple that follow EPL Talk on Twitter when I posed the question Saturday afternoon:

“having a socially acceptable excuse to drink at 6:30 in the morning,” @7500_Kirsten

“getting off work to watch,” @The_Real_DA

“People talking about football anytime, the England squad, the Deutschland squad and David Beckham,” @harumipevensie

“having something to do at work. It’s kept me entertained through some long afternoons,” @jessiann16

“50% of the ESPN staff talking through gritted teeth about a sport they find boring but wildly popular (backed up by HUGE ratings),” @caryfc

“Watching US games of global importance (hopefully we’ll see some in 3 & 4 years’ time!),” @vaguehalfie

“The soothing sound of the vuvuzela! Seriously, it went from being annoying to being a welcome harbinger of a great tournament,” @mwfreel

“I will miss that every time there is a vuvuzela concert, an international soccer match breaks out,” @D_oubleD

“Sanni Kaita,” @MrEdgal

“Fernando Torres’ freckles!” @melly2508

“Will miss Diego Maradona the most…Next will b Larissa n Paul D Octopus!” @mansinghnepram