When is a blowout a blowout?

I wasn't sitting where I wanted to be. I was stuck in a courtroom with no air conditioning. Conservation persuaded management to turn off the air conditioning over the long July 4th. Unfortunately when the facility team went to turn them back on, nothing happened. So the sweltering courthouse felt just as uncomfortable as a squirming witness under intense cross examination. It wasn't quite a scene from "Twelve Angry Men," but everyone was a bit out of sorts with the old-time working conditions. When Tuesday came around and there was still no change, the constant heat simply beat the motivation out of you.

But it was more than the heat that was under my skin. No one had checked the World Cup calendar when we scheduled the hearings for today and even if we had, there was no way of knowing that the host nation of Brazil would be confronting the machine-like German squad. This was destined to be a match that you didn't want to miss. But instead of meeting up with friends to watch the game, I was sitting in court not knowing anything about the game. Just after halftime the Court took a recess and one attorney asked for about 15 minutes before we proceeded. With that amount of time I navigated to espn.com to find out the score.

It was already 5-0.

When I mentioned the score, my colleagues and the courtroom staff all guessed that it was Brazil who held the commanding league. When I told them that it was Germany in charge of the match they were surprised. Fortunately, the good folks at ESPN had already put together a first half highlight reel. It is only a slight exaggeration to say that the highlights lasted almost as long as the half. What an incredible show of offense.

Curiously, that lopsided outcome meant I didn't regret that I missed the game. Even when I see a team I am rooting for, I prefer a comfortable lead, but I've never found the blowout interesting. So tonight we had dinner plans with friends and I was almost late because I was watching a Cincinnati Reds game. The Cubs had already scored four runs and because this was the nightcap of a double header, I didn't think the Reds had the bench to salvage the game. This prediction seemed even more certain when my friend advised me that it was 5-0 by the time we ordered our food.

Because we maintained a no phones rule during dinner and because I assumed the game was a lost cause, I enjoyed the food and the company without distraction. But this time the apparent blowout didn't happen. When dinner ended the Reds had tied the game and as we walked out of the restaurant my friend showed me the alert that announced Cincinnati scored in the bottom of the 9th inning to win 6-5. It's that very uncertainty that keeps me coming back for more.