I don’t know if I’ve stopped smiling since I woke up. I swear I even heard Ian Darke’s melodious voice in my sleep last night. It’s finally here. In just a few short hours, all that will matter will be soccer. For a few hours each day, we can all sit back and watch the best theater there is.

My plan as far as content goes for the World Cup will be as follows. In the morning, I will post my predictions and preview and for that day’s games (see yesterday’s post for the Brazil-Croatia preview) hopefully by 9 or 10 a.m. eastern time. If I have time, I will write a second article in the evening after the games, offering my analysis on what has occurred. If I don’t have time, the analysis will accompany the next day’s morning predictions. I might add other content to these posts, but that is what you can expect going forward.

However, today is not only about soccer in the sports world. One of America’s best events, the U.S. Open, also begins today. I don’t claim to be the world’s biggest golf fan. Nor am I the best golfer for that matter. But there is something about the U.S. Open that gets me every year. It’s not that it makes for great television necessarily, or that it’s incredibly impressive athletically, but rather it’s the tradition involved and the grace with which the event is held that make it stand alone.

Golf won’t be my highest priority for the next few days, but I will make sure I don’t miss it. Especially if Phil Mickelson is in contention, the U.S. Open deserves attention for being such a classy event.

And that’s not all today. After you’ve had your fill of golf and soccer, we head to Miami for game 4 of the NBA Finals. Tonight could potentially mark the beginning of the end of the big 3 era in Miami should San Antonio pull out the win. For a 3-1 lead would be nearly insurmountable for the fragile Heat. If things don’t go their way early, LeBron might very well have to win tonight’s game on his own. His teammates have not been holding their weight lately, and it makes me wonder whether LeBron will look elsewhere sooner rather than later.

Tonight’s key for Miami has to be Chris Bosh. That he only touched the ball 12 times on the offensive end in Game 3 is an embarrassment for both the Heat organization and Bosh himself. Chris Bosh is a great player. There’s no doubt about that. But his legacy is on the line as this series winds down. He needs to show that he rightfully deserves to be mentioned alongside Lebron and Dwyane Wade as a lead in their story. Should he disappear again tonight, people might forever think of him as merely a sidekick. His contributions to the previous championships will be written out of the story and replaced with tales of the disappearing acts when his team needed him.

It is in the best interest for LeBron to get Bosh going early tonight. Because LeBron can’t win three games on his own. He can take over one or two more, sure. But not three. He needs his teammates to start playing like champions. And Chris Bosh is the key.

I’ll be at Fenway Park tonight to see the Red Sox take on Terry Francona and the Indians – if I’m lucky the Red Sox might score a run tonight – so I won’t have time to do analysis of the Brazil game until tomorrow. Have a great day watching sports, everyone. If ESPN doesn’t get turned off all day I won’t blame you. Enjoy it. I know I will.

Thanks for reading, and please offer your comments on NBA Finals, golf, or whatever else you find interesting.