Slow News Day Means Desperate Times

So the Toronto sports scene has more or less dried up with both the Leafs and Raptors currently enjoying the spring weather on the links, and the Jays in New York, learning why they're called the Bronx Bombers (17-6? What the hell is that?).

And so it is, that we here at 63 Years and Counting, for the first time in our admittedly short history, turn our attention to that beautiful game, futbol. Desperate times call for desperate measures.

No, no, I kid. I've always been a soccer fan. But being a soccer fan in North America is not always an easy task, especially when one is separated by one ocean and five time zones from the premier soccer leagues of the world.

The Premier League, Serie A, the Bundesliga, the Spanish Primiera; all great leagues we're sure, but totally unfeasible to follow. The games are all found on Saturday and Sunday mornings, and while we'd like to pretend that we give a damn about Crystal Palace against Bolton United, the fact is, we don't. We don't know a single player on either team, and we don't see that changing anytime soon. (We do note however, that Chelsea have won the Premiership title for the second straight year, and that manager Jose Mourinho is in the front running for the "Biggest Sore Winner Ever" award, after this)

Thankfully for all us North American soccer junkies, there's the Champion's League, which pulls all of Europe's best teams into one conveniant tournament. It's down to the finals now, with 63 Years' favourite team, Barcelona (formerly AC Milan, until we realised that they were owned by Silvio Berlusconi) against the English side Arsenal.

We don't mean to expose our bias or anything, but we predict a 8-0 win for Barca, with a double hat trick for Ronaldhino.

Though, we are thankful for Arsenal, if only for having elimanted Villareal, who's nuclear yellow jersey ranks only slightly higher than Juventus' pink atrocities on our list of all time least favourite jerseys.

And of course the World Cup begins in June, cleverly scheduled to distract us from as many exams as possible. The field is so deep (Brazil), and there are so many teams capable of winning (Brazil), that we hesitate to predict a winner (Brazil). Germany has a lot riding on it this year, but 63 Years doesn't see it panning out for the home side this time around.

And with the old mother country (Greece) sitting this one out, despite being European Champions (the first one who says "fluke" gets a bottle of ouzo smashed over their head), we are at a loss at who to cheer for. The Netherlands have are a strong candidate, as are the Czechs. We will see though, we will see.

Oleing It Up,

Jason