In case your office didn’t completely shut down at 4:00 PM, and you didn’t hear a lot of silent gasps emenating from the cubicles around you so you didn’t hear, the World Cup started today. FIFA likes to take it easy on day one, scheduling only the opening ceremony and one game. That game, featuring hosts Brazil against Croatia, wasn’t half bad. Here are the things I most enjoyed about the day:

• Tree People! The opening ceremony was full of them.
• Jennifer Lopez’s outfit. That Brazilian lady‘s outfit. Also, my girlfriend would be sad if I didn’t mention Pitbull and his traditionally tight pants (Dalé!).
• Brazil’s sluggish start.
• Marcelo‘s own goal on what would have been a goal anyway, and the horror it caused among the crowd.
• Neymar‘s equalizer… he didn’t quite get all of it, but the Goalie didn’t seem to see it.
• Hulk‘s shots way over the crossbar and Brazil wishing they’d added Bruce Banner to the roster instead. They didn’t like him when he was angry.
• Ian Drake and Steve McManaman dismissing 75% of the fouls called by refs. “Just a tap, that was.”
• The fact that Brazil has a guy named Fred on their team.
• That questionable penalty on Fred.
• Croatian goalie Stipe Pletikoza getting two hands on Neymar’s penalty and still not saving it somehow.<l/i>
• Brazil’s continued sluggish defense… like they felt they would just outscore Croatia no matter how many goals they scored.
• Brazil continuing to score on a nice drive by Oscar after yet more defensive and goalkeeping lapses by Pletikosa.
• No vuvuzelas? No Vuvuzelas…is that good or bad?
• Croatia’s missed opportunities.
• The collective sigh of relief when the final whistle blew and Brazil had won Game 1.
• The feeling that Brazil, despite playing poorly overall, will soon click and become the true favorites they are.
• Everyone in my office working late to make up for not doing anything for two hours.

That’s about all I can think of for now. In all, it was a pretty fun day. It’s hard to believe another four years has gone by, and that we’re underway with another World Cup. Now all I have to do is make it through one more day before Uruguay kicks off on Saturday. At least there will be plenty of action to watch tomorrow…

Featured image courtesy of: Felipe Dana/AP