Forget the Superbowl...

...and forget its commercials. The 2010 World Cup--which begins in South Africa this Friday--is the occasion for rapacious multinational corporations like Nike to pull out all the stops in order to get nearly a billion people to watch, cheer themselves hoarse, and spend money. And boy, do we ever:



I was obsessive over the World Cup in 2002. Possibly because it took place in South Korea, possibly because to the classic showdown in the final between Germany and Brazil, but mostly, I think, because of this awesome commercial:



Tossing around an oblong brown stitched faux-leather ball in American English just can't visually compete, I guess.