Will someone write an article about what language(s) are being used at the World Cup? By the announcers? The referees? The players? English, Esperanto, German, I need to know.
In order to rationalize watching just about every game of the World Cup, I’ve been painting woodwork while I watch. Now that I’m in the bathroom, I have to move TVs around, and to do that I have had to…
The Times today features a top of the front-page story on the making of soccer players in Brazil, from the slums of Rio”the unpaved road to excellence.” Combine this with Henry Kissinger’s critique that American players are too suburban and…
Afraid of the leftwing insurgency against Joe Lieberman in the Connecticut Democratic Party, the pro-Israel lobby is rallying to the Senator’s side, so reports the Forward. This is further evidence for my political hobbyhorse: That the Israel lobby is one…
The first two knock-out round games show everything that’s wrong with soccer: 1. Trench Warfare. Almost all the scoring was early, four out of five goals in the first twenty minutes or so. The next two and a half hours…
The Forward strikes a blow for inclusiveness, and calls David Beckham “probably the greatest Jewish soccer player ever.” It does so (because he is a star, yes, but) because he has 1 Jewish grandparent, and probably too because he and…
A reader, John, has nailed me on a recent soccer post, where I echoed Kissinger’s statement that U.S. soccer needs “minorities.” Not sure if you’re agreeing fully with Kissinger here — I hope not, because his comment is effectively racist….
The Ghana victory over the U.S., catapulting their team into the second round, is of course big news in Africa. The Accra Daily Mail is calling the upcoming Brazil match “the mother of all matches.” And from the South Africa…