three hundred and fifty something...

For a blog that claims to be a countdown to the FIFA World Cup, I'm not doing a great job at pinning down the details.

By means of a leadup to tonight's showdown between defending European Champions Spain "La Roja" and defending ... USA, I'll first mention another less- known sporting event happening in the Cape Peninsula this week: the O'Neill Cold Water Classic surf extravaganza, tackling the sheltered shores of Kalk Bay today. My friend and I drove down the beachfront road to St. James Municipality to see what all the fuss was about.

To preface this contest: as of Monday severe weather warnings had been flooding the airwaves and net as the Cape battens down for a baddie this week. Apparently no storm surge huge swell warnings could deter the crazies determined to battle for victory off the rocky coast in False Bay. So with high expectations of coastal flooding and gale-force winds, I was surprised to find mildly enlarged swells and moderate waves at the contest spot.

If you've never witnessed a surfing event before, let this be a warning to you: they're not as exciting as they seem in the movies. My friend and I joined a huge group of 20 something messy-haired hoodie-sweatshirt wearing naffs huddled along the railroad tracks at the coast. Not to stereotype, but these guys, if they were old enough, did not show any signs of being employed and if not, didn't appear to be in school. They just fell out of the Muizenberg woodwork to watch the world's best attack the surf (and attempt not to be attacked by the huge masses of kelp popping up along the beach). We joined them to eagerly watch four indistinguishable specs of red in the water pop through and along waves, occasionally taking them in what was admittedly impressive form. But underwhelming, generally, and to a layman's perspective this silly cold sport reckons at most a 6 out of 10.

But to get back to the real sport and purportedly the real reason for this blog: today, the US of A face off against an inarguably better, more experience, and more technically trained team, hoping to repeat what was an impressive victory over beleaguered Egypt only three days ago. I agree with my friend Colin who predicted, "We're going to get smashed."

I reminded him we've got better chances against Spain than Bafana have against Brazil. Rio, here we come!