With Spanish fans calling out their heroes with chants of “Otra! Otra! Otra!”Another! Another! Another! — and the Dutch faithful reveling in an Oranje Crush, two long-suffering sides will settle a World Cup final made for busting curses on Sunday in South Africa.
One team will be a first-time Cup winner. Another will add to their list of close calls. One team will claim the kind of bragging rights that carry for a lifetime. The other will be a runner-up.
And the world will watch.
When Spain dispatched Germany in a semifinal matchup on Wednesday, as many as 17.2 million viewers watched the game in Spain, according to the Hollywood Reporter. That’s 88.1 percent of people in Spain watching. In Germany, 31.1 million watched, or 83.2 percent of Germans, according to Variety.
Which leads to the question, who wasn’t watching?
In the Netherlands, for their semifinal victory over Uruguay, 12.3 million viewers watched the Oranje. Not bad, considering it’s a nation of just 16.5 million people.
More than 80 percent of people in Spain and the Netherlands were watching soccer this week. Compare that to the 44.5 percent of Americans who watched the Super Bowl in January, the most watched American event of the year.
In the U.S., 15 million people watched the Americans face Ghana in a knockout game on ESPN. The network recorded an average of just 14 million for the NBA Finals between the Lakers and Celtics.
In Denver, fans of Spain have gathered at the Ninth Door in LoDo for games. Dutch fans have been all over. Bars with a soccer touch regularly have been jammed in the past month during game times.
The Cup awaits.
AROUND TOWN
A new name on the trophy.
The prestigious and historic Colorado Golf Association Match Play Championship has crowned a who’s-who of the best players in state annals.
Now in its 110th year, the tournament’s past champions include Hale Irwin, Steve Jones, Brandt Jobe and Kevin Stadler.
They’ll add another name to the list today at CommonGround Golf Course in Aurora.
Gunner Wiebe of Cherry Hills Country Club advanced to the 36-hole final that tees off at 7 a.m. He’ll face Klinton Krieger of Ptarmigan Country Club.
Wiebe, a senior-to-be at the University of San Diego, is caddied by his dad, PGA pro Mark Wiebe. Krieger, who plays for the University of Denver, has dad Ken Krieger carrying his clubs. Ken was the 1977 CGA Match Play winner.
Check for results and info.
Gunner Wiebe blasts a ball from the sand during the Farmers Insurance Open on Jan. 29.
STAY ON THE COUCH
Battling the beast.
For professional golfers, Oakmont Country Club in Pennsylvania is like a walk on the beach — if the beach were on fire, with killer sharks storming out of the water and a tidal wave crashing down.
In 2007, Angel Cabrera won the men’s U.S. Open at 5-over-par 285. A pedestrian number worthy of most muni tracks nationwide.
This weekend, it’s the ladies’ turn. The U.S. Women’s Open will be contested on one of the toughest courses in the world, with third- and final-round coverage airing on KUSA-9 at 1 p.m.
The women will face two big changes at Oakmont, on holes No. 8 and No. 12. The first will be the longest par-3 in U.S. Women’s Open history at 252 yards. The second is the longest par-5 in the tournament’s history, at 602 yards.
Top-ranked Cristie Kerr told this week: “I played Oakmont twice, and I think over-par will win the tournament.
“I think it’s one of the toughest courses I’ve ever seen.”
GET OFF THE COUCH
Breaking out the disc.
Whether they started as off-the-cuff picnic time-wasters or backyard BBQ wind-downs, the disc golf players headed to Conifer and Bailey on Saturday and Sunday will be after a much bigger prize. The Colorado State Disc Golf Championships this weekend will crown the best discers (discos?) in the Rocky Mountains.
Played like golf, only with Frisbees, disc golf has been around since it was organized in the 1970s.
The Professional Disc Golf Association-sanctioned event will play out at Conifer Community Park and Bailey Disc Golf course, with a final round spinning off sometime Sunday morning. Check for info.
WHAT WE’D LIKE TO SEE
Forehands for good cause.
Netters from the Jensen-Schmidt Tennis Academy will help children with Down syndrome this weekend in Denver.
Founder Vince Schmidt will run the event at the Jewish Community Center from 9 a.m.-noon on Saturday and noon-3 p.m. on Sunday.
Children will participate in different drills, focused on balance and coordination skills. The drills range from stepping through flat ladders to fencing with special bats to work on hand-eye coordination.
The Denver clinic is suggesting a $100 donation, but no child will be turned away.
Shemar Woods, The Denver Post
