With the NHL and NBA Finals, the earthquakes in college football, and the ongoing baseball season, it’s easy to forget that the World Cup starts today when the despicable Mexican squad plays host nation South Africa at Soccer City Stadium in Johannesburg. Ha ha, just kidding. The baseball season could never distract from the World Cup.

But the fact remains that as Americans, we’re a little bit behind the rest of the world in playing skill and knowledge of the beautiful game. But that doesn’t mean we can’t enjoy the world’s greatest international sporting event (lick my nuts, Olympics). Even if you’re not a soccer fan, you should be able to support the notion of cutting out of work to go to a bar and drink while you watch sports for two hours. As our friend Alan Whickers noted:
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I went to an interleague game at Safeco last May. Giants at Mariners: Randy Johnson was looking for career win #299 in his final start in Seattle (he gave up one run in 5.1 innings and left to a standing ovation), and the game ended in 12 innings on Jose Lopez’s RBI single off the left field wall, but the most memorable part of the night belonged to Ken Griffey, Jr.

With the bases loaded and two outs in the ninth inning of a tied game, the 39-year-old Griffey approached the plate to the loudest I’ve ever heard a sports stadium — and I’d seen Griffey hit a home run in the bottom of the ninth to tie a game in the Kingdome some sixteen or seventeen years prior. For four pitches, we were all on our feet, refusing to stop screaming or clapping, generating electricity, doing everything we could do to will this aging hero to one more feat of greatness.

On the fourth pitch, Griffey unleashed that classic swing, hit a towering fly ball to deep center, and for a few breathless seconds, as I tracked the ball’s flight, I was a kid again, full of wonder at my childhood idol… until Aaron Rowand made the catch at the wall.

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The writers of this fine site have taken time to share with you, dear reader, some of the things for which each of us is thankful. Up now at the veritable podium is Matt Ufford, WL’s founder and original daddy, and one of the few cool white people on Planet Earth. He’s also The Man at Warming Glow, the TV blog that dispenses its own sultry brand of justice. Enjoy.

Aside from the simple joy of getting two days from work to gorge on too much food, watch pro football, and get drunk with family, one of the best parts about Thanksgiving is that most people take a little time to put away their selfish, petty gripes to appreciate what they have in their lives. And I’m no different.

BOOZE: I’m thankful for bourbon. I’m thankful for single-malt scotch. I’m thankful for rye. And gin. And tequila. And even boring-ass vodka. For well-made Manhattans and dirty martinis and Negronis. For St. Germaine, Campari, vermouth, and Grand Marnier. I’m thankful for beer! Cheap-ass beer at freezing Big Ten tailgates, Sierra Nevada Pale Ale from the tap, Guinness at an Irish pub, my dad’s home-made winter ale, and my favorite beer of all: cold and free.

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Pffft, act like you’ve been there.

As Real Salt Lake edged out the LA Galaxy in the seventh frame of penalty kicks in last night’s MLS Cup final — a nerve-racking finish akin to the seventh game of the World Series lasting 15 innings — I wondered, “How in the hell am I going to make this interesting for With Leather’s audience?”

And the honest answer is that I probably can’t. If you don’t like soccer, you’re not going to magically give a crap about it just because America’s league played its championship in front of 46,000 fans at Qwest Field, and you’ll probably make dismissive wanking motions if I tell you it was a genuinely exciting game. But you should at least be aware that your grumbling about low scores isn’t going to be relevant as Americans’ passion for the sport grows — because what I saw in Seattle over the weekend shocked me.

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Saint Andrew’s Net is With Leather’s daily link dump. Nobody reads it, nobody likes it, but we still do it every day because we’re masochists like that.

• God damn this is awesome. Kentucky coach Rich Brooks’s Twitter feed is written in clipped prose, so Spencer Hall made turned him into a noir protagonist. I need to go re-read a Raymond Chandler novel now. |Every Day Should Be Saturday|
• Warriors rookie Stephen Curry is blogging for GQ. Tell us about the groupies, Steph! |GQ.com|
• Ana Beatriz Barros (right) is part of Guyism’s crop of of sexy ladies born in 1982. The picture I almost went with is here. This one was too nipply. And this one would’ve gotten me fired. |Guyism|
• Glen “Big Baby” Davis wants to play in the NFL. Probably because he’s fat. |Second String Fullback|
• Now that Chris Cooley’s out for the season, the Redskins tight end has picked up pottery. It’s his second hobby, after nailing that foxy little wife of his. |Yardbarker|
• The Nuggets are exciting, imperfect, and emotional. So why does the NBA keep taking a dump on them? (Hint: David Stern is a huge dick.) |The Sporting Blog|

Got something you think we should see. Email it to stopwhoringyourblog@cram-it.net. Nah, just kidding. The real tips line is WithLeather-Tips@Uproxx.com.

Saint Andrew’s Net is With Leather’s daily link dump. It never meant to hurt Gunaxin‘s delicate feelings. Maybe we can take you to a viewing of “The English Patient.” Would that help?

• The single most astounding goal you’ll see this week. Bonus: it’s NOT an NHL highlight! |Asylum|
• A stellar look inside blogs that focus on a single sport, with wit and wisdom from your primary With Leather author Josh Zerkle (speaking as Monday Morning Punter from Kissing Suzy Kolber). |The Phoenix Pub|
• Ines Cudna gets photographed in a bikini. Hooray! |Guyism|
• Six great athletes who tried to kill their legacies. |Gunaxin|
• Get a Johan Santana ornament to remember the season he was on the DL for a historically disappointing season. |Legend of Cecilio Guante|
• By not becoming a part-owner of the Rams, Rush Limbaugh wins. Duh. |Rumors and Rants|
• Creepy picture alert! This is why you don’t become an arm-wrestling enthusiast. |The Sporting Blog|
• Hey, remember Mike Sims-Walker screwing your fantasy team last week? It’s because he was getting laid. |Shutdown Corner|

Got a hot tip for With Leather? Send us an email at withleather [at] gmail [dot] com. Just don’t try to copy and paste that email address.