Caught World Cup Fever? Been watching the games? Have you been immersing yourself in terms like "Total Football" or "Catenaccio"? We ourselves have been totally obsessed about the Cup since it began. We've watched games when we could, TiVo'ed others. We've read World Cup blogs, live blogged, snuck peak at live feeds at work, and have been reading far more English newspapers than we ever thought we would. We've been so obsessed with it, in fact, that even though there's two more games left, we are already mourning the end of it and have vowed that this time, this time!-- we will continue on with our rediscovered love of soccer and start paying more attention to the Premiere and Champions Leagues. Hell, we have already marked Euro 2008 on our calendars (June 2008). ...

More folks than we'd ever expected mentioned the January 16th New Yorker article about Bunkerd Faphimai and his gym, Fight and Fitness to us, perhaps because our favored male companion trains there. "What's it like in there?" they'd ask us. "Is it scary?" "Well, no" we'd say, right before they'd remind us that the love of our life spends a lot of his free time choking and beating people, so maybe our perception is......

Our fevered dreams of watching Barry Bonds hitting the game-winning home run against the Dominicans in the World Baseball Classic as fireworks explode below soaring eagles, all to the strains of "God Bless the U.S.A" will sadly go unrealized as Barry has announced that he has dropped out of playing in the WBC. On his Web site, the Barry claims that with his knees being what they are, it would be in the best interests of his "family, the Giants, and our fans that I sit the WBC out." And yes, apparently he let the world know not the customary way of calling everyone up-- like Bud Selig or the people running Team USA-- but instead by letting them know by posting on his blog. Hey, how else is he going to get people to go to his Web site? It's either this way or saying he's got the Britney/K-Fed sex tape. ...

While it's very hard to encapsulate an entire year, here are some the things that stand out. GOOD STUFF Sports: Swimming star Michael Phelps. He could have entered fewer races to help ensure better results in his best events, but he didn't -- he participated in every event in which he had a shot, putting it on the line for Team USA. He also gave up his spot in the 4x200-meter relay finals to give......

It's finally time to get off the couch and get back to work. That's right, the Olympics are over, nothing went horribly wrong, everybody was smitten with being at the sites of the original games, and Team USA cleaned up (with medals - EssEffist knows what you're thinking). And as you all know, we here in the Bay Area love our weird Olympics sports - and the not so weird ones, too. First of all, EssEffist would like to point out that we've been rooting for Andre Ward since day one, when no one gave him a chance against the powerful boxers from the former USSR. He'll be bringing back the first individual gold for Oakland since 1968. We've also highlighted the story of Tammy Crow, synchronized swimmer, recently convicted of vehicular manslaughter - with her help, the team managed a bronze, remarkable considering she'll soon start having to serve her ninety-day sentence. All told, Olympians with Bay Area connections managed to win seven golds, five silvers and four bronze medals - tying host Greece for 17th place in the medal standings. EssEffist would like to point out that San Francisco has never had the opportunity to host the Olympics. Come on, International Olympic Committee, we have a great climate for athletics, all the facilities for watersports you could ever want, and we love Santiago Calatrava! I'm looking at the members of the National Social Register, EssEff chapter, to come up with some of that bribe money for 2016....

Well, here’s a weird Olympics story. Team USA synchronized swimmer Tammy Crow, based out of Santa Clara, will be competing on tonight’s taped telecast. (No, we won’t spoil it for you, but just to warn, some of the articles linked here might). However, after Crow gets back, she's doing 90 days in jail in Tuolomne County, right by Yosemite. Her sentence starts on October 25....