The first weekend in June brought increasing temperatures across Canada just in time for the start of the Stanley Cup Final. Most of the sports pages were filled with previews of the Edmonton Oilers and Carolina Hurricanes match-up with Canadian Football League exhibition games the secondary story.

So far coverage of the build-up to the World Cup has been limited although the National Post - one of the two national papers - had a number of different takes on the biggest and most important sporting event in the world. (It seems that this time around there appears to be a lot less North Americans trying to claim that other events such as the Summer Olympics or God save us - the Super Bowl - rate more highly.)

The financial section had a story by Jacqueline Thorpe that suggested that the World Cup was a "really impressive example of successful globalization of the First and Third World". There are the usual remarks that only North Americans seem to be able to make regarding the game - the ones that make fans cringe - but the article really misses the mark by giving too much attention to David Beckham's move from United to Real Madrid.

There is mention of merchandising, TV revenues, highest level of operating profits etc. With so much financial information you would have thought that they could at least mentioned the amount of money Real Madrid has saved in silver polish over the last three years. For all the apparent wealth, it fails to mention that Real Madrid over the last three seasons has won nothing.

Also in the financial section there is a warning to employers that employees may spend a lot of time following the World Cup on their office computers. Who could have thought such a thing? (Remember to log on to FOX Sports for full World Cup Coverage.)

Perhaps the most inventive piece was by Karen Burshtein that takes a look at each countries uniform. Unfortunately the article is locked unless you are a NP subscriber. However, here is a rundown of some of her likes and dislikes. Likes - Angola, Australia, Brazil, Germany, Ghana, Mexico, Poland, and Trinidad and Tobago. Fashion faux pas - Costa Rica, Croatia, Japan, South Korea, Paraguay, and Ukraine. 

The World Cup coverage actually extends to the sports page and Dan Stinson looks at Canada's single appearance in the Finals in Mexico in 1986. It also lists where the players are today and overall it is an enjoyable and well researched article.