We don’t intend the title to insinuate we believe that the USA will be bringing the actual World Cup home…we hope that is the case, of course. Nor do we reference our recent bid to bring the World Cup tournament back to American soil in 2022. The title refers to an entertaining and wildly educational blog post from The Unlikely Fan wherein the author, one Brendan Hunt, equates each of the 2010 World Cup sides to the American sports team they most closely resemble…in style, history, colors or fan base. It is a fun read…and makes picking the teams that will (most likely) advance from group play much easier. That said, there is always a Valparaiso.

Cameroon is the new Boise State. Irrepressible charisma, mandatory viewing and impossible to root against. Most of that I made up…but The Unlikely Fan does have Cameroon as BSU…which will make hard to root against them if they play the USA in the semis or finals. Not that hard, I guess.

Either way, we suggest boning up on a little ethnocentric edumacation that speaks a language the casual/non fan can appreciate. I mean, can you really see the New Jersey Nets getting over on the New York Jets?