I have set a new record for myself: Not only have I found the one sport which I am certain to enjoy for the rest of my life but also, I have become addicted. It was strange to have become hooked so suddenly while watching the 2006 World Cup.

Before it began, there was all the buzz, World Cup here, World Cup there. Of course, this isn't the kind of buzz you get from an upcoming Manny Pacquiao-Erik Morales game about which you hear in every news break on all the networks in the Philippines.

Nor is it the kind of buzz where almost every other person you meet and every other paper you read talks abouts the NBA finals: Miami Heat winning, who was top scorer in Game 6, how the Mavs were crushed, and so on. Rather, this is the rare kind of buzz, at least for me, living in such a basketball/boxing/billiards inflicted culture, where it seems like the three are the only important sports.

To say the World Cup is to always say something big -- whether in terms of the participants -- 32 countries from across the entire globe; the biggest spectacle in the sporting world.

I tried watching, not because everybody was talking about it but because my curiosity was aroused by the sport's magnanimity. It is the same question that gets everybody after chancing upon something new, and it got me: What is the fuss all about? My 'journey' started on the very first day of the World Cup, the opening ceremony. I tried watching on an old television set with cr**py reception with a newly-found interest, curiosity and open eyes.

Everyone who knows me will attest to the fact that I have never been a sports fan -- perhaps the biggest thing missing in my life. There were times when I tried to enjoy football, but to no avail. Though I had the occasional peek at some golf and pool tourneys, that was it. To actually attempt to learn the rules, to know who plays well and who's rubbish, to stay up until 5am day after day just waiting for the winner, to try to avoid making unnecessary noise that might wake up parents who would send me to sleep -- all that was new.

After watching several matches, I've already come to realise why I got hooked on football like never before on any other sport: A goal can come at any time, sometimes there aren't any. In some instances it can take an entire 90 minutes before a goal is scored, and on other it might take only a few seconds after kick-off. As time elapses, excitement ebbs and flows as the fans wait and hope that their team will be the one to score.

It is no wonder that when the ball ends up in the back of the net, the fulfillment is overwhelming. No wonder teams celebrate with such abandon after scoring. It must feel better than winning a lottery jackpot. The gratification found in football is just so much more than in basketball where almost every 15 seconds, someone scores a basket. While at some point, crucial shots are made, it is not as rare as coming back from two goals down to win with just five or 10 minutes to go.

The second reason why I've come to love football is because of the endless possibility of anyone to become a hero. You always expect your strikers to score and perhaps therefore any one of them would be an almost certain Man of the Match. But the beauty of this game is that anybody can score, it has an inherent buiilt-in unpredictability. A momentary hero can be made out of a single goal precisely because of the very nature of the game.

Third, while there is the unpredictability of scoring a goal, there is also the unpredictability of an upset. All of us, I'm quite sure, have been victims when we have seen how our team, the one touted to win, have come a cropper when they least expected it. We all saw how Brazil failed to even reach the semi-finals when they were favourites to win the trophy yet again. We saw how Ronaldinho failed to become a contender for the Golden Boot, we saw England's early exit. We expected them to go far, didn't we? 

Even more recently we saw how Manchester United were beaten by West Ham. Then there's Chelsea who faced their first defeat of the season in the second week against struggling Middlesbrough and there was also Manchester's defeat at the hands of Southend United in the Carling Cup, not to mention Charlton Athletic's loss to Wycombe Wanderers.

I am not saying that basketball is the easier sport, as I might have implied. It is a sport which requires a totally different set of skills. My point is that I find football more attractive for the reasons stated above.

Football or basketball? Which game do you prefer? Send your views to us at sportingo.com.