Soccer

Defeated. :(

I haven't been following World Cup 2014 as closely as I would like, but saddened today by Belgium's victory over the USMNT.

Humor helps, however. 

Also, today over at First Things even Colin Garbarino shared his thoughts on soccer.

I’ve heard so many Americans complain about soccer being boring. I’ve also heard those people complain that soccer players flop too much. Flopping, especially in the penalty area, might be the cure for boring soccer. . . . A “flop” is when a player tries to convince the referee that he was fouled. Players have to convince him because in soccer it’s nothing until the referee says it’s something. Referees have authority to interpret both the rules and the events on the field pretty much however they wish. I know that makes some of you football-instant-replay fanatics uncomfortable, but if you just accept that there’s no objective reality in soccer, I know you’ll be much happier.

LOL!

Modern Life and Football

"You might imagine sports being developed on farms or in country towns, but pro football was popular in big towns from the start, its field following the contours of two things that define modern life: the city block and the TV screen" (Rich Cohen, Monsters: The 1985 Chicago Bears and the Wild Heart of Football, 295).

Chicago is America

"New York has one foot in Europe. Los Angeles is a collection of suburbs. Miami is cafe con leche. New Orleans is drunk. Seattle wears flannel. San Francisco is beautiful vistas and empty streets. Boston is ancient. But Chicago is America. The '85 Bears seemed to symbolize the city in its resurgence, the reawakening of the beast after a funkadelic slumber. It was not the fifteen wins--it was how they were achieved, the smash-mouth style that seemed to capture the spirit of the town" (Rich Cohen, Monsters: The 1985 Chicago Bears and the Wild Heart of Football, 227-228).

Football

"More than any other sport, football is about the coach, the general with the god complex who wants to map every sequence, prepare for every contingency" (Rich Cohen, Monsters: The 1985 Chicago Bears and the Wild Heart of Football, 17).

Team as Nation, Team as Destiny

"Your team is a nation and on game day your nation is at war. That's what my father understood when he tried to dissuade me from following the Cubs. He believed that a Cubs fan will come to accept defeat as the inevitable end of all earthly endeavors. A Cubs fan is fatalistic: he rends his garments and cries, Vanity of vanities, all is vanity! The ultimate implication of my father's words was left unstated: a Cubs fan has a greater likelihood of leading an unfulfilled life. Pick your team carefully, because your team is your destiny" (Rich Cohen, Monsters: The 1985 Chicago Bears and the Wild Heart of Football, 11-12).