You've got to hand it to FIFA.
Soccer's world organizing committee certainly has milked the World Cup draw for all that it's worth and then some.
What began as a group of men sitting around a desk determining the schedule of a 16-team tournament has been transformed into a 90-minute worldwide must-see (at least for soccer fans) television event. If you really want to get technical -- and practical, for that matter -- about 10 minutes is probably must-see TV deciding where, when and against whom for 32 teams.
But instead, FIFA has opted to draw it out over an hour and half, with quick features on the venues, performances from singers or musical groups dispersed in and around the actual draw itself. And even the draw isn't entirely soccer as celebrities outside of the sport have been known to help out as well.
For the 1990 draw in Rome, tenor Luciano Pavarotti entertained and entranced the audience, belting out an operatic tune. He was followed by a pair of Italian rock stars who sang the official Italia '90 song in public for the very first time.
Comedian Robin Williams stole the show at the '94 draw in Las Vegas. He called then FIFA secretary general and current president Sepp Blatter, "Sepp Bladder." Before he pulled a colored ball out of one of those many brandy snifters, Williams put a white surgical glove on his right hand. He then notcied the big, colorful electronic board that listed the groups and teams. "Look! The world's largest Keno board!" Williams exclaimed.
This year FIFA has promised us Colombian rock star Juanes, the Young German Philharmonic, Hans Klok -- billed at the fastest magician in the world -- and German sports presenter Reinhold Beckmann and super-duper model Heidi Klum.
And there are rumors there might be some soccer thrown in as well.
In more innocent times some 20 years ago in Mexico City, four-year-old Luis Javier Barroso Canedo, the grandson of Mexican World Cup organizing committee president Guillermo Canedo, picked the first yellow ball of that draw.
The draw was only an hour in those days (although we had to get to the Televisa complex 90 minutes prior to claim some of the few precious media seats).
I remember interviewing several coaches, including Denmark coach Sepp Piontek one-on-one. Piontek also went crashing through the Azteca style backdrop and stage, which was more for show than practical standing.
Today you need special passes to sit in the same room and mixed zone passes for the area where all of the post-game interviews are done to get words of wisdom from the various coaches and players.
Way back when, former New York Cosmos president Clive Toye, probably best know for signing the great Pele (the Brazilian great most likely be part of the show on Friday), managed to crash the draw without a ticket or credential.
In these more security conscious times, everyone not only needs some sort of credential, but each member of the international media has been checked out by police and security organizations weeks prior to the event to make sure he or she isn't dangerous or a subversive.
Prior to Friday's event I've attended 10 draws through the years, including qualifying draws and the Women's World Cup draw in 1999. Some of my colleagues have wondered why I have gone to so many in this day and age of the internet, where quotes can be so bountiful and ripe for the taking (hopefully with attribution).
Well, not all quotes wind up on the web. And there's nothing like being there live, watching some scenarios play out or witnessing Blatter dance through another press conference with loaded question after loaded question.
Sometimes some behind-the-scenes intrigue steals the headlines, like when Pele was banned from participating in the 1994 draw because he was fighting with Brazilian Football Confederation president Ricardo Teixeira, the son-in-law of then FIFA president Joao Havelange.
And besides, no World Cup draw would be complete without several Bora Milutinovic sightings as the former U.S. national team coach (throw in Mexico, Costa Rica, Nigeria and China in there as well) looks for another team to guide in Germany next summer to enhance his reputation as a miracle worker.
Of course, someone is bound to bring up the fact that the draw is somehow fixed, because the process is so convoluted, although no one has been able to prove it.
You can see it for yourself.
If you have time at work, are off on Friday or just curious, ESPN2 will televise the draw at 3 p.m. ET. and mercifully will show only the last hour of it. Most of the action you want to see is expected to be in the last half hour.
At first and last glance, the World Cup draw looks like one big shell game.
Using recent draws as a barometer, this is how it's probably going to unravel at the Leipzig Congress Center:
They could use as many as 14 snifters filled with various colored balls. There usually is a bowl for the four groups (eight teams apiece), a bowl for what group they will play in (A through H) and another for what position in the group (one through four).
For each country, a ball is picked from the team bowl, followed by the group bowl and finally the position bowl (Who knows? Perhaps this year FIFA will add a few more bowls to confuse the audience).
A different celebrity, usually from soccer -- Pele, Franz Beckenbauer, Michel Platini, among others -- is called on to select balls from the various snifters (yes, they have had rehearsal draws, with some intriguing results).
Hopefully, the 90 minutes will be quick and painless.
Nothing against culture, but let's face it, this is a soccer show and about 98 percent of the audience wants to know where and when their favorite national teams and favorite players and see if England and Argentina will wind up in yet another confrontation for the third consecutive World Cup.
Me? I would settle for a good half-hour draw - all soccer.
But in this day and age in which the powers that be think that bigger is better, I wouldn't be surprised if the South African draw in four years time is a two-hour spectacle.
Michael Lewis covers soccer for the New York Daily News and is editor of BigAppleSoccer.com. Entering Friday's event in Leipzig, he has covered 10 World Cup draws. He can be reached at SoccerWriter516@aol.com.
