You're called what?

Wow, you know you are having a good summer when you have to ask yourself "What day is it?" at least twice a day. This is how I have felt all week! And the main reason is the World Cup. I have been completely and totally sucked in. It's not that I didn't know I like to watch soccer- which I genuinely do, I don't just tolerate it for Jacob or feel obligated to be interested, I really love watching it- it's that I have been watching almost three games a day for over 8 days now and I find myself getting really into the stories of the teams, the nations, the players, rivalries, etc. (And also since I found out that Univision shows every game on a broadcast channel I get at my very own house, well, the indentation of my backside has been molded into my living room recliner quite nicely :)

One of the thoughts I had the other day while watching was whether or not all these national teams have actual official names or mascots. I didn't really think any of them did. But oh no, my friend- they do! And some of them are flat out awesome. So here are some of the best soccer team names from World Cup 2010:

Australia: The Socceroos (that would also make an excellent Wuzzle in my opinion)
Denmark: The Danish Dynamite (I am picturing some sort of bear claw with TNT in the middle)
Germany: Die Manschaft, which means "The Team" (I'm shocked at their logic!)
Japan: The Blue Samurai (it's easy to not use your hands when their holding a sword)
North Korea: The Chollima, which means "The Thousand-Mile Horse" (Huh?)
Netherlands: The Flying Dutchmen (Spongebob would be so proud)
Serbia: The White Eagles (not bad, but Nigeria has you beat)
South Africa: Bafana Bafana (mee, my mo man-uh, Ba-faaaaan-uh!)
New Zealand: The All Whites (I thought that was BYU basketball's team name...)
Cameroon: The Indomitable Lions (we just don't use that adjective enough anymore)
Algeria: The Desert Foxes (The Desert Fox sounds like some sort of African Robin Hood, doesn't it?)

And my personal favorite:
Nigeria: The Super Eagles (In your face, Serbia!)



See what you're missing?! So far in the tournament our dear USA has had two tie games and needs a win versus those sly Desert Foxes on Tuesday. We also need a very lame England team to beat Slovenia this next week. The stars are aligning, but in who's favor? I can't wait to see that for myself :)