EURO 2008!

Admit it. You like a cocktease, or else you wouldn't even be reading this post. This is a pre-preview just to start to whet your possible appetite at the notion that the Euro 2008 is about 50 days away from kicking off.

Yeah, qualifiers aside, we're less than two months away from what is arguably the best soccer tournament on planet Earth. It's like the World Cup only without the AFC and CONCACAF filler, of course that comes at the expense of no Brazil and Argentina, but if somebody at UEFA wants to grant the latter temporary European status and swap them out for the Austrians I don't think a single person would complain... outside of the other teams in Group B that is.

So, while we're drawing lots to see who has to cover Turkey here's some virtual crowds and tourist attractions to start to get you in the proper mindset as the EPL, La Liga, and the Eredivisie are pretty much wrapped up (man, that hurts to admit).

Click here for some cool panoramas from the last World Cup. They are shots from cities around the world of crowds that have gathered to watch matches (QuickTime needed, but they are true VRs in that you can pan around 360 degrees).

The best might be Munich. The Olympic Park setting is pretty sweet, but even better, you can see the hillside soccer field posted on the Failblog in the background.

If not for the outcome of the match—and I'll argue until the day I die that the early yellow card on Gooch had more impact on the US's World Cup than any other call—I'd pick this one in Prague. Having been drunk near the Orloj more than a handful of times, that shot has a huge nostalgia quotient.

The weakest might be the final. You really couldn't find any place better than Balitmore? Isn't that the STD capital of the U.S. And I don't even see anyone fucking in that picture. At least the timing is good so that it's easy to distinguish the French and the Italian fans.

Finally, if you are actually making the trip, A) Lucky bastard and B) Hope you already have tickets because those stadia are fucking tiny. If not, enjoy some virtual Vienna. Just click on a spot on the map and the pans come up (try the zoo).

Again, all of this is just a tease. There is actually soccer talk about Euro 08 coming—and none of it will be as gay as the pic at the top of the post—and it's coming sooner rather than later, because, well, we have problems thinking about baseball to keep us from losing it prematurely.