Sports: The Forever World Cup

A once-in-a-lifetime confluence of events has conspired to make this World Cup feel both ever-present and endless.  Of course, the U.S. is hosting this edition along with Mexico and Canada, but this summer is also America's 250th birthday and also the first time the qualifying field has been enlarged from 32 teams to 48 teams.

Practically speaking, that means there has been daily, wall-to-wall World Cup soccer for almost a month, with at least three matches televised a day.  If you have even a passing interest in association football, there have already been moments of high drama (underdog Cape Verde moving on to the knockout stages), shocking upsets (Germany bowed out after the group stage on penalties), and, in perhaps an effort to appease American tastes, a whole lot of goal scoring. The U.S. is scheduled to take on Bosnia and Herzegovina tonight in prime time, and time will tell whether this is the start of a generational run for the USMNT, or simply another disappointing early exit.