Wine is big in France. Of course. That’s well-known throughout the world. The French and their wines. Sure.

What is not as universally grasped is the French connection to cheese, or “fromage”, in French.

This is a country that produces at least 350 varieties of cheese.

(Americans over a certain age remember a youth with perhaps a half-dozen sorts of cheese ever consumed. American, cheddar, parmesan … and we’re about done.)

Not even the French can keep them all straight. And the rest of us? Overwhelmed by the choices.

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This is Day 2 of what will be at least five days without access to the worldwide web in the rental home where we are living, in southern France.

The local telecom, like all telecoms everywhere, is incompetent and probably instinctively evil and, after failing to acknowledge any problems for a week or two (“Have you tried re-starting it?”) finally made an admission yesterday that the issues probably are technical and made an appointment for … Tuesday.

Meantime, we plumb the depths of our internet addiction.

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In a 20-team soccer league, how often do the top four in the standings meet one of the other three on the same day — two-thirds of the way through a 38-game season?

We must assume someone involved with England’s Premier League, which is increasingly interested in American-style statistics, has looked up the answer to that question.

But for our purposes the answer has to be: “The top four play each other this late in the season … not at all often.”

It is a Sunday doubleheader almost as intriguing as the NFL’s conference championship doubleheader — though it will not automatically tell us who the top two teams will be.

Leicester City (first in the table) at Arsenal (third) followed by Tottenham (second) at Manchester City (fourth).

Some thoughts about those two matches:

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For a couple of days here, it was almost like Grantland never went away.

ESPN.com … just the regular ol’ website most of us go to for scores and boxscores … generated a pair of lengthy, NFL-oriented entries that are highly readable and worth the 20-minute (each) investment.

One (4,500 words) was an extremely clever/funny piece looking into the NFL’s future, and the other (6,100 words) was an exhaustive, behind-the-scenes report on the Rams’ move from St. Louis to Los Angeles.

Two fine pieces of writing, totally different styles (one whimsical, the other serious as hell), and neither the sort of thing we have associated with ESPN.com, over the years.

So, good for them. (But I’d rather have Grantland back, thank you.)

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Eating with American fast-food giant McDonald’s may be a bad idea, in terms of consumption, but I continue to be impressed by their schemes for trying to localize their menu.

To wit:

The McArabia, in the UAE.

The American Winter menu, here in France.

This is fairly ingenious.

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It is an unmistakable sound, though it may take a city boy a minute or two to place it.

The steady “tinkle ” or “clank” of domesticated animals wearing bells, maybe just the other side of a rise of land, and on the move.

A combined herd of sheep and goats is being raised somewhere near where we are staying, on the edge of a small town in the Languedoc, and while walking today we saw the group of 40 to 50 individuals — crossing the busiest highway coming out of the center of the town.

It was fascinating to watch from 30 yards or so away, and quite the operation, one that required four or five shepherds to pull off.

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During much of the Super Bowl, early this morning in France, I was complaining how awful it was.

It reminded me of the sort of game I associate with the first 20-or-so editions of the NFL’s championship game, which often were wretched spectacles — uncompetitive or poorly played, or both.

With turnovers, dropped balls, penalties and elite players playing like rank amateurs.

And we got those mistakes from the Carolina Panthers and Denver Broncos, during the latter’s 24-10 victory, and early in the game it annoyed me.

But then the a switch toggled inside my head, and I realized I was enjoying what I saw.

Why?

Because it was a rare instance when a half-century of steady movement toward dominance by the offense, characterized by the overwhelming importance of one man, the quarterback, was put on hold. On the biggest of stages.

This was a day for defense and special teams — and helpless quarterbacks. Which I realized I miss.

And I am reminded that I covered the most dominant defensive performance in NFL history.

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Luckily for me, a French music TV station has the free-to-air rights to Super Bowl 50 and will be showing the game live at 12:30 local time tonight/tomorrow morning.

Why does station W9 bother with the championship of American football?

The French sports newspaper L’Equipe asked that question, and others, of the director general of the station.

The short answer?

W9 has nothing else that can pull as many as 500,000 viewers in the middle of the night.

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The newspaper Le Monde is probably the most important (and august) daily publication in France. It is known for the density of its prose and the nuances of opinions expressed, but the newspaper is not so stuffy as to overlook the Super Bowl.

Perhaps it was 50 years of history or the game’s status as the biggest day in sports in the United States, but Le Monde no longer ignores it — as this well-done and comprehensive guide to tomorrow’s game would demonstrate.

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Winter weather in this part of France can be fluky, we are learning.

Yesterday, we were bundled up (well, by SoCal standards) during a walk to a nearby town — but were quite cold throughout because of powerful winds that took the wind-chill factor to 47 Fahrenheit.

Today? Bright sun. Very little wind. Temps cracking 70.

A beach day.

And we saw to it that it was just that.

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