On a completely unrelated topic, we have noticed that our favourite base-balling team, the "NY Mets" are the top of their group, having taken the most points in the round-robin play to date. (It should be noted that, for half of us our favourite base-balling squad is the ChiSox, whose pitch at Comiskey is revered. But we pay no attention to such internal arguments.)

We first got to see the NYs play when we had just come overseas after a life of watching cricket (which we're told base-balling descends from, rather like chimps from a banana tree) and football. The game, at first, seemed rather dull: Where was the scoring? In cricket, the batsmen are far more prodigious, and the bowlers throw much faster and harder. (This, by the way, is true: A cricket ball can travel at about 120 mph at peak because it gains speed off the turf and from a long run-up.) The players also seemed rather gaudy, and dare we say it: fat. Yes, like Ronaldo, they seemed to enjoy too many of what you called "doughnuts."

Anyway, the NYs were playing the Phillees, which we thought was an odd name for a base-balling club, but there you go. The NYs had a baller named "Lee Mazzilli" and he finished the game by hitting the ball out of the park. Unlike at home, no one threw it back, so the base-ballers just ran around the dirt and then we had to finish our popcorn and get back into the car, which was very hot.

We continue to follow the perplexing adventures of the NYs: We have seen them finish at the bottom of the group a lot yet not get relegated, which seems very unfair to the "Syracuse Sky Chiefs" - whatever that is - and in college, we saw a man named Bill Buckner 'throw away his career,' by incorrectly fielding a ball which allowed a man named Mookie to 'take a base.' And, we understand that as they are at the top of the group phase now, they can maybe make it into the knockout stage or, as my father says, 'collapse utterly like the Cubs.' (What are "Cubs?")

We also noted there is another team with a name close to the NYs, the "NYYs," which we thought was confusing until we noted that you use the same colour coding we do: The NYs are orange and the NYYs are blue, just as Dundee United and Dundee FC are. Very sensible, and now we know where to get good fish on Fridays.

Now, we've noticed a number of base-balling writers get apoplectic about 'foreigners' (or 'furr-inners') in the game of soccer. We've been under the impression that big base-ballers such as "Mariano Rivera" and Ozzie Guillen" are from other countries. Perhaps one of them could explain why it is OK for base-balling, but not for soccer? We don't get it.

Anyway, if we can figure out this "base-balling," we figure you can figure out soccer too. Enjoy the World Cup of Base-Balling in October!