The time difference between New York and Germany, site of the World Cup, is six hours. The time difference between California and Germany is nine hours.

And the wise folks at ESPN and ABC don’t care a bit. Every broadcast – 64 in all, starting today – will be live. Given the World Cup’s zealous following – you know who you are – it’s the only way to play it.

“It’s the biggest event on the planet, and we will televise it when it happens,” Jed Drake, a senior VP and executive producer for ESPN and ABC Sports, said.

As a television entity, the World Cup is being presented as the anti-Olympics. No tape-delayed broadcasts (or double delays, as happens on the West Coast). No pre-packaging.

ESPN Classic will rebroadcast games, but if you want to see your favorite country’s match live, all you have to do is get up and watch it (or, for those of us who are morning-averse, TiVo it).

Isn’t that the way it should be, especially in this day and age? Results of sporting events are available almost instantly on the Internet. You can follow almost any game online in “real time.”

World Cup fans aren’t the types who are willing to wait around all day, scoreboard-avoiding, for a prime-time broadcast. They’re passionate.

Can’t make it to a TV? No worries. The World Cup coincides with technological growth that enables fans to follow the action in any number of ways.

If you have a broadband connection, you can watch 52 matches on your computer via ESPN360. (I’m sure your boss will be thrilled.) Updates are readily available via espn.com and Mobile ESPN, the network’s new cell phone.

“The media industry is undergoing a major change,” senior coordinating producer Tim Scanlan said. “Sports fans will want this information no matter where they’re at and no matter what device they can get it on. This event demands a day-to-day following. It really does speak to getting your information wherever and however.”

And whenever.

If ESPN/ABC’s decision to show every game live is semi-controversial to some, so is its choice for lead play-by-play announcer – self-described “baseball guy” Dave O’Brien.

O’Brien is a novice when it comes to soccer, but fear not, futbol fans: He has been doing his homework.

“You should see my dining room table, because I haven’t seen it in five months. My wife is ready to throw me off to Munich,” O’Brien said last week. “It’s like learning a new language from the ground up. But I’m having the time of my life doing it.”

O’Brien already appears to have picked up on some of the subtleties of the sport. For instance, he knows you can’t call players by their numbers because they’re too hard to see. So he has been busy studying their physical characteristics.

“You must see the players in person – which striker wears green boots, who’s the bald guy,” he said. “It’s a whole different ballgame.”