It’s been a little over week since World Cup 2010 came to a close, and there are precisely 1,418 days until the next World Cup. Here are just a few of the things I’m doing in the short term to keep the momentum going:

• For starters, I’m planning on watching the MLS All-Stars vs. Manchester United match next Wednesday. Hope to see something reminiscent of the fan activity that I saw during the World Cup at whatever bar I end up at (MLS vs. Manchester United, July 28th, 7:30 EST)

• I’m going to read Soccernomics. Been told that it’s perfect for fans of Moneyball

• Going to attend my first MLS game, and it should be a good one I’m told – LA Galaxy vs. NY Red Bulls, August 14th; Henry vs. Donovan

From there, hopefully I’ll find myself at a few choice NYC bars – Central Bar, you’re a fantastic soccer bar – for some EPL games, which I’m told mostly happen in the early morning EST. I’m not opposed to starting off my Saturday (or my Wednesday) in this manner.

It’s no exaggeration, thanks to the World Cup I became a newly co-opted soccer fan. Special thanks is deserved to the folks at Verizon who hooked me up with a Droid Incredible to go around and take pictures of World Cup as it was happening in New York City.

Check out the full digest of pictures on Flickr, and some of the real time updates I was making on Tumblr at: 8000MilesAway.com.

Here’s the best of the best of the 15 games, at 12 different locations, that I took in during the World Cup…

Enjoy, and as my buddy Dave, who’s taking me to that Red Bulls game, told me: If you save $3 a day, you could go to Brazil in 2014.

8000 Miles Away: Best of World Cup: Part One

8000 Miles Away: Best of World Cup: Part Two

Thierry Henry stopped by for a three minute segment with Fallon last night. Jimmy conducted a short interview in which he proceeded to remind Henry what a nightmare the World Cup was, then Jimmy got in goal…

Soccer Star Thierry Henry Takes Shots on Jimmy

Supporters of Amy tipped me off to this, so make sure you vote for her…

This is Amy, and from her picture alone I can tell that she is by far the most talented of the bunch.

Over the weekend, 100+ dancers showed their stuff at Madison Square Garden with the hopes of gaining a spot on the prestigious New York Knicks City Dancers team. In a matter of days, that list has been carefully widdled down to 30 , and now you get to vote for who moves on to the next round.

Not exactly, Fred Astaire. The masses are picking who gets immunity – only the top vote getter – to go on to the next round. If you’ve watch a minimum of 8 seconds of NBC Primetime in the past decade, you understand what’s going on here.

I’ll look into it, and we’ll have a more in-depth report on the Survivor process for this year’s NYK dancer auditions. The important thing is that you go vote today before it’s too late!

VOTE IN NYK CITY DANCER IMMUNITY POLL

Well, I mean I do have time right now to post a few photos…

nyknickscitydancers.com

Well, it proved to not be a bad way to spend a balmy Saturday afternoon.

I met the task master himself. I asked Goodell what he thought about the Stafford contract, to which he responded, “Lot of money, good kid.” I detected a bit of seethe in those few words.

Newbie Stafford’s guaranteed money ($41.7 mil) trumps that of the highly-accomplished Ben Roethlisberger’s ($36 mil).

The spread in the VIP lounge, impeccable – penne ala vodka and phenomenal finger foods. We ran out of beer by the third pick. But they remedied that pretty quickly.

For a fleeting moment, I thought we weren’t going to get a boo barrage when the Jets took Sanchez…then we learned the details of the trade (the Jets gave up their first-round pick, their second-round (No. 52), and defensive end Kenyon Coleman, safety Abram Elam and quarterback Brett Ratliff), and it was much worse than booing; I heard ‘rape!’ being uttered, a lot.

In my opinion, the most intriguing moment of the first round came when the Ravens took  Ole Miss OT Michael Oher, the young man profiled in Michael “Moneyball” Lewis’ book, The Blind Side. A book about the behemoth of a gifted athlete who has everything in life working against him (homeless at one point). While at the same time being compared to Anthony Munoz and Orlando Pace, two guys who were instrumental in the left Offensive Tackle becoming the second-highest paid position (to QB) in the game.

Speaking of QBs, Cassel inked his deal today. He almost got Stafford money.

I stuck around until the Pats picked traded down twice. Thanks to @tarametblog and Pepsi for hooking me up with the pass.

Check out the rest of my photos from the Draft on Facebook.

My good pal Jake who writes for this blog sent this to me yesterday letting me know that Joakim Noah’s dad and former tennis great Yannick Noah may have, as it’s been rumored, in fact at one point in his life been legitimate musically. Why else would Central Park have added him to the list of artists playing Summerstage, right?

Yannick the tennis phenom went pro in ’77 at the age of 17. Among his feats of tennis prowess include becoming the first Frenchman to win the French Open in 37 years when he did so in 1983 (dropping only one set throughout the tournament). During his career, Noah won a combined 39 singles and doubles titles and was inducted into the Tennis Hall of Fame in 2005. He also played on the French Davis Cup Team for 11 years. In 1991, Noah captained a French team which won its first Davis Cup title in 59 years.

That same year, Noah released his debut album Black of What. Apparently, after winning the Davis Cup, he led his player and the whole stadium in a rousing rendition of Saga Africa, his breakout track off of Black or What. (Wikipedia – Yannick Noah)

Did I mention the show in Central Park is free?

I’ll admit, I didn’t love it when I initially learned that all roller girls competed under the guise of nicknames. It breaks a cardinal rule of sports integrity: don’t unnecessarily associate yourself with pro wrestling.

That was before I read any of them however. I believe it was Spinal Tap who said it best when they said, “there’s such a fine line between stupid and clever.” These are clever, in the 80′s porn star and metal groupy (two professions that survive – if not, thrive – today) sense. It’d be an appropriate time to mention that this poll is co-presented by Rafer Alston (formerly Skip 2 My Lu, from And1 Mix-Tape) and Brock Lesner.

I’ve nominated eight fierce, cleverly monikered, Hell on Wheels competitors below for you vote on, one from each of the teams that competed at last week’s WFTDA Roller Derby National Championship. Feel free to write-in other votes in the comments below – whether you’re a roller derby girl, or have a flair for low-brow creativity.

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