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Yesterday I watched the World Cup finale, France against Italy. For those unlucky enough to talk to me on a regular basis, I have been pretty vocal about my lack of interest in the World Cup. I find the idea of a world competition exciting, but find this particular sport boring to watch. But armed with three friends and an afternoon free of children, we headed to a sports bar near Fenway and watched the game.

I hate to admit this, but it was awesome. First, we went to Game On and headed to their downstairs bar. We entered upstairs and I was a little worried. The TVs were kind of small, the place had huge windows and with a sunny day, I thought I would get distracted. But downstairs, oh glorious downstairs bar, was more my speed. It lacked a single window and was dark. It had HUGE HD TVs, and it was mobbed. I would say it was 50/50 between French and Italian fans. My friend's wife came over from France in her 20s, so we were routing for France. So we found a good spot, ordered 4 beers and got to watching.

On the way there I said "I hope it's a low scoring game", in jest, and after the first 15 minutes or so it was tied 1-1, a run away scoring fest for most soccer matches. And it got better from there.

- First, it's much more fun watching with hundreds or thousands of strangers. If I sat down in my living room to try it, I would have switched over to the Sox game in about 45 seconds. But when you have people screaming at players, cheering at plays and drinking at 3 PM on a sunny Sunday afternoon, it adds to the fun.

- I now understand why some people like the lack of action. Whenever the ball got close to the net, or there was a shot on net, the tension is so freakin high from NOTHING going on the rest of the time, fans go wild. It's probably like Ted Kennedy hitting a bar after a weekend in Utah. I remember this one play where one team headed the ball off the cross bar and the place went nuts. The let down was like the Red Sox in the 1986 World Series.

- Penalty kicks, the way this game was decided, are one of the strangest things in sports. So here is what happened at the game. France scored first on a weird penalty shot. Italy scored next on a header. Then nothing for hours. Finally after regulation, they went into 30 minutes of overtime, which, of course, ended in nothing. So then each team gets 5 penalty kicks and who ever has the most, wins the game. Simple. What I never realized, even after watching penalty kicks before, is how freakin easy it is. The goalie guesses and dives one way to the ground. The player can kick it in anywhere they want. To be honest, all they have to do is kick it right at where the goalie was standing. It looks so freakin easy. But one guy on France hit the ball on the cross bar of the goal and Italy made all of theirs so that was that. France missed one, Italy didn't, so Italy wins.

- Here is the thing with the penalty kicks at the end of the game. The pressure is not on the goalie. The goalie is not expected to even have a shot at saving them it's that crazy. So the players, one at a time, line up and take a shot. The pressure on the players to NOT eff it up is huge. It's like bases loaded, game 7 of the World Series, tying run on third and you are pitching to Big Papi. Or one free throw wins the championship. Or Phil Mickelson needing a par to win. Pick whatever pressure packed theme you can come up with and that is what it is like. Now, for most professional soccer players, it's just a give-me shot that they can probably make it blind folded. But one French player choked and I have no idea what it's like over there but lets hope it's better than Columbia.

- The thing I didn't like is the amount of flopping by the players. I think the Italians were worse than the French, but there was more over acting than my high school senior play. They should be given a yellow card for flailing their arms and making a face like a bit was being drilled into their skull after tripping on their own feet. Pathetic.

- The players are aggressive. I kind of think of soccer players as Nancies, but these guys were hitting each other hard. And the one French star, as I am sure anyone who watches Sports Center knows by now, head butted an Italian player near the end of the game. It was great! Finally, some freakin action.

- The stadium was beautiful. Those Germans I guess can build pretty nice stadiums. The weird thing is they never cut to the fans in the crowd. At least not when I was watching. I like to watch drunk hardcore fans make fools out of themselves. Or show a fight, we hear so much about soccer hoodlums, show a little to the international TV viewers. Give us something.

- Boston is known for its Irish population. Huge. But the North End is known of its Italians. So watching the evening news I got to see anyone who has a last name ending in a vowel cry on TV that THEIR team won. Give me a break. Something tells me most of these yahoos have never watched a soccer match and couldn't name a single Italian player. But then again, if Germany made it to the finals, I probably would have proclaimed victory for the motherland. Who knows? But the North End must have been fun. Thousands of hot, sweating Italians crammed together in the sweltering humidity drunk and singing Frank Sinatra songs. Good times.

- The 45 minute halves are running time. The clock does not stop. The last 2 minutes of an NBA game lasts 4 hours. The final 2 innings of a national league MLB game last 3 hours. Football takes an eternity. One half of a 45 minutes soccer match lasts...45 minutes. I loved it. And they have stoppage time at the end of each half but it's only a couple of minutes. They didn't have fake time-outs for commercials and any of the nonsense before, during or after the game like they do with the Super Bowl. It was about the game, for the fans on TV, and that was it. To the point - a virtue I like.

So I'll admit I liked the game. It probably had to do with the beers, being in a window-deprived sports bar with hundreds of people, and getting out with 3 friends on a Sunday afternoon. But still, it's a big step for me and I might watch in 4 years. At least I have a better understanding of what the big deal is all about.