Thursday open thread: Who are you rooting for in the World Cup?

Thursday marks the eighth and final OTA practice for the Detroit Lions, essentially putting an end to the team’s offseason workouts before training camp begins in late July. That means the well has officially dried up. No more elusive Matt Patricia quotes. No more scrounging through photo galleries and highlight reels to pick out a single piece of information. Nothing.

So things are going to get a little more loose around here for the next month. We’ll still try to give you as much Lions news and analysis as humanly possible, but we’re also going to break out and do some out-of-the-ordinary stuff. Next week, the Name Bracket Tournament begins. The All-Time Legacy series will continue. And we also may feature some bigger picture articles, like looking at the state of the NFL.

To kick things off (no pun intended), we’re going to take a step away from football today, and talk about one of the biggest sporting events on Earth. The World Cup starts Thursday, and while the United States will not be participating, there will still be millions of people watching within our borders.

So today’s Question of the Day is:

Which team will you be rooting for in the 2018 World Cup?

My answer: While I won’t have the vigor and pride I would have if the American team was playing, I always find myself rooting for Brazil. There are a few reasons for this. First, when I was young Brazil was always one of the toughest teams in the world, winning both the 1994 and 2002 World Cups. As a kid, you tend to like successful teams. How I remained a Lions fans, I’m not sure.

Also, when you’re young, superficials things tend to win over your fandom. For Brazil, it was their flag, which I adore, and their uniform jersey scheme. While you’d think my inherent hatred of the Packers would be enough to turn me off from Brazil’s green and yellow uniforms, it didn’t. It somehow still works.

And, admittedly, I know almost nothing else about this World Cup. I can count the amount of players I recognize in this tournament on one hand. So if I have a rooting interest at all, it’ll be Brazil.

Your turn.