It is about over. I've tried -- again, after many other attempts -- to learn to like soccer. I am a hopeless case. The game is dull with the most exciting moments being when an invisible "offsides" occurs. Also exciting are the fake injuries (I was pleased to see a Swiss player get a red card for it). I don't know why FIFA puts up with it them. More red cards seem like a good idea. I think the tournament was great for the USA (and Mexico and Canada). Kansas City really enjoyed it.  Me? I'll go back to my writing. The players can go back to their acting lessons. 

When I was a kid in the 1960's, the great Pele came to Kansas City (where I grew up) in the first of innumerable attempts to get Americans to adopt soccer. Our family went to see him (which is why this episode of The Simpsons  is so funny to me) at old Municipal Stadium at 22nd and Brooklyn. This was before Kauffman and Arrowhead Stadia were built.  Today's weather should be great. The first KC World Cup game is tomorrow at 8pm CDT. Our next tornado warning shouldn't be until Wednesday, which is an "off" day, so weather will be okay soccer-wise for the first game.  And, for the benefit of everyone beyond a 100 mile radius of downtown, Arrowhead Stadium is in Missouri , not Kansas. If your GPS tells you otherwise, it is incorrect. For the tournament, FIFA says it must be called "Kansas City Stadium." Don't ask me why. For locals: I have been to three restaurants since Thursday and all were less busy than usual. Jack Stack and 3rd St. Social have imp...

The NWS's job -- and only job -- should be to provide outstanding forecasts and  storm warnings for the public-at-large, which pays their salaries.  With the National Weather Service falling apart , the last thing they should be doing is redeploying meteorologists -- when they are already badly shorthanded -- to World Cup cities to provide weather security for the matches.  Kansas City World Cup ticket prices. These are the  least expensive tickets for each match.  Addition: These are prices for the Denver games. The price is for a pair of tickets. You want to tell me to believe the  organizers cannot afford a few thousand dollars for an  expert commercial meteorological service?! The FIFA (World Cup organizers) should take the revenue from just a few of those tickets and pay a commercial weather company -- which after all specialize in this type of assignment -- to do the weather security. This especially true since NWS meteorologists' training in han...

With the Olympics and with the World Cup coming to Kansas, I've really, really tried to learn to like soccer the past six months. While I love watching my grandchildren play, adult soccer can't be any more boring. And, yes, many years ago I was one of the fans in the stadium when Pele played in the United States.  Now, I realize this is heresy to soccer fans. That's okay.  But, as evidence, I offer this off-air photo I took of NBC's coverage of the U.S. women's gold metal victory yesterday. It is a cutaway while the game was in progress, not during a medical or other break.  I rest my case! Just like I enjoy watching television meteorologists when I visit other cities, one would think Germany's soccer players would have been enthralled by the 1-0 game.  If you like it, that's great! Enjoy! Just, please, stop trying to convert me. Soccer is boring.