World Cup Final ! ! ! !

Howzit friends? (local slang for. -yup,  you guessed it- 'How's it going?)

Let me introduce you to the 2010 FIFA World Cup Final on ABC. (11aPT).   FIFA, these are my friends.

This championship game features Spain vs The Netherlands.

Fiery Red vs the Orange. 

Bullfighting vs speedskating on frozen canals.  

Sangria vs Amstel. 

Picasso vs Rembrandt.  

True, the game will be played on the pitch by 22 men, but in the larger picture it is clash of cultures.  Team strategy, style and reputation is a reflection of the country.  This is most evident in the Samba style of Brasil (though not so much under coach Dunga), the artistry of the Dutch, the bullfighter intensity of the Spaniards and even the multi-ethnic teamwork of the USA. 

Each game is a chess match. For non-futbol fans, it's sometimes hard to watch, but if you pay attention to the passing triangles and the off-the-ball movement you will see the art of sport.  Watch Spain today, as Xavi controls the ball outside the penalty box, he will pass forward to Iniesta.  At the moment of the pass, Pedro or Villa will be making a run into the box, expecting a pass from Iniesta.  (vote for Pedro) Multiple things happening at once, it's how the game meant to be played.  Netherlands will play the part of the Opportunist, with counter attacks and goal scoring when you least expect it.  Not just one superstar, but a collection of athletes playing as one.  The concept of a team as living amoeba with an undefined shape.

It's The Beautiful Game with a Mozart track. It's the individual dribbling artistry of a Stanley Jordan guitar riff.  It's the power of Metallica playing defense. It's the seize-the-moment style of Garth Brooks.  It's the psyche-your-opponent out mindgame of Queensryche. It's the free-flowing teamwork of the Phish. The grit of Springsteen. The innovation of herbie Hancock and the attitude of Ice Cube.

That, is why I love this game. 

Clear your schedule, grab some drinks and snacks- PreGame start at 10:30aPT.  Sit back and join the 90,000 fans in the stadium and a worldwide TV audience of over 700 Million for this biggest of sporting events on the planet....maybe the universe.  (no TV ratings or attendance numbers were released from Tatooine's Pod Races).

Tech stuff:

In case you were wondering, our EVS edit system (like a Tivo with more buttons) has 3.6 Terabytes of storage. Four EVS XT2+ with another 4 IP-Director stations as ingest = more than 28 TB of HD video storage. At about 60 hours of HD DVCPro100 capacity each , that's over 760 hours of memory! If sleep were not an issue, you could watch soccer, Julie Foudy's Voices of Africa segments, Sal Masekela cultural features and every one of our sponsored, scenic billboards for an entire month straight!!

ESPN, Bristol also brought over 100 removable drives at 1 TB each.- roughly 280 hours.

As a bonus, Bristol can use their two IP-Directors to scan our network and File transfer to the in-house Quantel system.  As a young Chicago-an once told me as I was shooting his fine city with a fancy, new Sony D35 Betacam, 'Technology, it's the wave of the future".

huh?

Music stuff.

Recently, I was introduced to the music of Johnny Clegg. His themes of racial harmony match his eclectic style of music. He has perfectly blended English lyrics and Western melodies with Zulu musical structures.. As an anthropologist/musician, he has earned the French nickname Le Zulu Blanc – the white Zulu.   http://www.johnnyclegg.com/

I also look forward to checking out his sons work. http://www.jesseclegg.com/

 IBC Stuff.

There is a great buzz around the IBC today. The pace has picked up, the vibe has changed. All 113 broadcasters here are ready.  What was once some sort of theme park called 'Pleasureland', has been transformed into a Worldwide TV Production facility.

All the networks and HBS are spread among nine halls, each about the size of Salem's Jackman Long Bldg. OK, for non-Salem-ites, it's somewhere around 200X400 yards-ish, plus or minus another 100 meters. Could I be more vague?

The central courtyard is an open plaza and a fresh grill restaurant.  Kinda feels like a college campus- reminds me of Cal State Dominguez Hills next door to the Home Depot Center.

Captain Research, aka David Satlin, is ready for a Spanish victory this eve!

But there are divisions among the crew.

Our Queen of Replay Media, Esther Van Huystee will be in the stadium rooting on her homeland.

Security forces are in place for tonight's match.

Be sure to stick around after the game for our 'rollout'- a visual/music montage encapsulating the entire tournament of this Beautiful Game, sure to make you cry.

On yet, anther random note, here's a good laugh for ya.

http://io9.com/5583937/car-full-of-zombies-crashes-in-portland-baffles-police-and-onlookers

Food stuff.

I can't wait to get back to Dave's Killer Powerseed Bread with fresh ground Almond butter and Lori's home-canned raspberry jam!

In the meantime, we are subjected to Albany bread and Yum Yum peanut butter.

(any Sundlings out there ever heard of this?)

I wonder if they use water from the Hudson??