THE WORLD CUP IS STARTING!!!! Open Thread

This is the moment we have all been waiting for!

Shut up, tWBS!

The wait is finally over and the real non-friendly games begin.  We are starting at the ripe time of 4 AM Pacific because the Opening Ceremony to the 2018 World Cup begins at 6:00 AM Pacific and we need time to properly prepare ourselves.

The details of the Opening Ceremony have been kept relatively secret, with only a few details leaking out:

• Apparently, there will be a strong Opera presence
• There might or might not be people on stilts
• The ceremony will focus heavily on Russian culture and history
• As is tradition, the Official World Cup Song will be performed:

so my guess is that Will Smith will be in attendance as well as Nicky Jam, whoever that is, and that girl with the weird past tense name.

Editor’s Note: Apparently,  she is Albanian/Kosovar and got famous on YouTube via this song:

Don T Note: ¿¿Cómo es posible que no sabes quién es Nicky Jam?? ¡Es un Dios en el mundo del Reggaeton!:

Balls Note: I do apologize.  I really should have known Nicky Jam (really dig the song) and I’m shocked SHOCKED I tell you,  that I did not know of a blonde that wears skimpy clothing and dances suggestively. 

I am, however, hoping the Russian Mafia takes advantage to get some easy kidnapping/ransom money for Will Smith.

The Ceremony and the Opening Game between Russia and Saudi Arabia will take place in Moscow’s beautiful Luzhniki Stadium:

Coverage is as follows (all times Pacific):

English Language in the US (Fox)

7:00 AM – FIFA World Cup Live – Pre-game Show

8:00 AM – Kickoff

10:00 AM to 10:30 AM – FIFA World Cup Today – Post-game Show

***

Spanish Language in the US (Telemundo)

5:00 AM – Opening Ceremony coverage

7:00 AM – Hoy en la Copa Mundial – Pre-game Show

8:00 AM – Kickoff

10:00 AM to 11:00 AM – Hoy en la Copa Mundial – Post-game Show

***

English Language in Canadia (TSN/CTV)

7:00 AM – Pre-game Show

8:00 AM – Kickoff

10:00 AM to 11:00 AM – Post-game Show

***

French Language in Le Canada (RDS)

5:30 AM – Direction: Russie

6:30 AM – Le Monde Du Sport Gillete

7:00 AM – En route vers la Coupe Du Monde 2018

7:30 AM – Avant-match

8:00 AM – Le Match

10:00 AM à 11:00 AM – Après-match

***

As you can see,  Fox coverage suuuuucks.  Add to that the fact that only two of the six Fox broadcast teams are in Russia.  The rest will broadcast games out of the Fox studios in West LA and let’s see if they can avoid traffic to get there on time.

The only thing they have going for them is Kate:

As far as Telemundo is concerned,  they are sending all their broadcast teams to Russia and are partnering up with Google and YouTube to provide over 1000 hours of additional online content on top of the games being live-streamed on the Telemundo app.

Yeah.

The French coverage in Canada,  for some weird reason, also seems to be superior to the English-language coverage.

My suggestion,  therefore,  is to pretend you are on vacation in a foreign land, wake up at a time different from normal,  and watch TV in a foreign language.

Add a beer or two and it’s the cheapest vacation ever.

Except you can also comment here!