Today is the start of the World Cup and my dad is already going crazy.  This morning, he was frantically searching the Verizon Fios guide to find out when the first match would be on.  He’s German, you know.  They aredie-hard soccer fans.  It is is their blood.  While I never played soccer as a kid - my brothers got that privilege (I had to go to German school instead - a fair exchange, don’t ya think??? Ha!) - I was still brought up on it.  My dad continued the tradition with my boys, teaching them how to kick a soccer ball as soon as they could walk.  So this week, we’ll all be cheering on both the German and US teams.

If you are not up on your soccer facts, check out the awesome World Cup cheat sheet that Daily Candy put together or hit the FIFA official website.

For a full schedule of matches and on which channels you can watch them, head to the ESPN Soccer website.

If you are looking for some World Cup gear, check out the FIFA store.  I bought the boys shirts so they could surprise my dad (OPA) this morning.  CheezWaster got this one and The Destroyer got this one.  We also picked up my dad an early Father’s Day gift - this hat.  He’ll be proudly wearing it this weekend (along with the Germany shirts I got him for his bday back in April) as he and all the other crazy German soccer fans head down to the German club to watch Germany face off against Australia on Sunday.