I had to work until 8pm on Sunday. It was a terrible oversight on my part, the result of planning six months ahead, and requiring me to miss out on watching the USMNT take on Portugal in real time. Aside from Nani’s 5th minute goal, following an absolutely calamitous attempted clearance by Geoff Cameron, I avoided spoilers. I listened to nothing on the hour-long drive home and turned my phone off, lest someone assume I hadn’t made the terrible decision of trying to remain gainfully employed rather than watch a soccer game. As I approached my neighborhood, I realized...
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On Rooney and Suarez, Playing the “What If” Game, and a World Cup Day 8 Recap and Weekend Preview
Wayne Rooney scored his first ever goal for England in a World Cup yesterday, in his 10th match. He had four shots in that match: one was a header that struck the undersides of both the crossbar and the post and another a stinging point-blank shot directly into the keeper’s stomach when anywhere else would have resulted in a goal. Either of those could have been his first goal for England in a World Cup. He’s scored 40 of them in other competitions and friendlies while playing for his country, for a decent return of .42 goals a...
Continue reading...A Day at the Park, Statistics and the Day 7 Recap/ Day 8 Preview
I spent the afternoon at Fenway with my father yesterday, taking in a beautiful day and one of the rare Red Sox games that moved at a brisk pace, as they played ten innings in under three hours. In the middle of that game, with the Sox still hitless, my father said something I never thought I’d hear leave his mouth. No, he didn’t tell me he was proud of me: he saves that for special occasions, like my college graduation and that one time I didn’t cry after making the last out in Little League. Instead, when we were talking...
Continue reading...Whomp, You Do Not Sleep on the Fennec Fox – World Cup Day Six Recap and Day Seven Preview
Some quick hits today, since I actually have things to do. Day 6 Recap: Group H: Algeria actually showed some real determination and ability in the first half against a Belgium team that seemed to think a little too highly of itself. The first half demonstrated the two kinds of believing in yourself. Algeria came out with confidence and energy, convinced that they could fend off the Belgian attack and hit on the counter, which they may or may not have a history of doing. The Belgians, meanwhile, appeared to think the contest was a foregone conclusion and putting forth any effort was...
Continue reading...Anatomy of a Goal (and Day Five Previews)
Before we get to anything else, we need to talk about this: [this space used to be filled with a gif of a goal but sadly has fallen to internet rot] I know, it happened on Friday and there have been eleventy billion matches between then and now. But try to remember. Try to remember when Spain and the Netherlands were playing one another in a tense and competitive soccer match, rather than Iker Casillas’ nightmare and a “performance that sang of the glue factory.” Before this moment, it looked as if Spain was going to head...
Continue reading...We Start … From Here
Seventy years ago, the United States became a world superpower. Historians can point to any number of events that brought the US to that point, and its ascendancy was, if not inevitable, at least likely, long before thousands of its men washed upon the shores of Normandy. The war would devastate Europe in a way that it would not the US. China and Japan would take years to recover. The rest of Asia, Africa and much of South America would spend decades emerging from the colonial yokes under which they labored. Only the US, across a sea,...
Continue reading...World Cup, Bro …
So that happened. The action kicked off yesterday and in the 11th minute, there was the calamity brought about by players who aren’t used to one another. A cross through the Brazil penalty box (and it was a very dangerous cross that could have gotten results in any league against any team) whistled past a Croatian player and two Brazilians before Marcelo deftly flicked it in … to his own net. He hadn’t expected the ball to get to him, what with the ball having to skitter past two teammates to get there. It appeared that both...
Continue reading...The World Cup Trophy Is Not a Cup, and Many Other Words
Hi everybody! (Stranger danger!) I’m the writer formerly known as Ghost. In the first iteration of this here blog, I mostly stuck to sports and booze, dabbling in the religion and politics beats — which is essentially how I spend my real life as well. There’s a really big sports event about to start in a few hours, so I figured now would be as good a time as any to make the first of possibly many infrequent contributions. I am not good at “blogging” both because I do not post regularly and because when I do,...
Continue reading...John 14:27
I park the car behind the house, on the grass on the far side of the driveway. I come in through the back door. I’m expected. The back door leads directly to the kitchen, and nothing’s cooking. It’s only 11:15, so nothing would be. No one greets me. The long walk from the door through the kitchen takes years. I remember last week. I remember how frail she looked, how much frailer than the week before, and the week before that, and the month before that. My foot hits the threshold of the living room. It touches...
Continue reading...Things I Drink And So Should You: Ft. Snow and the French 75
I am not a winter person. I’m not. I hate it. Worse: I‘m one of those people who constantly reminds everyone around them that I hate winter and think it’s awful. If you are among the thousands of people I have accosted with my rantings against, of all things (really, of all things), weather, I apologize. I will do it again, and soon, but I am sorry for having done it. It is regrettable. I hate winter for so many reasons: all of the reasons. It’s dark all the time. It’s cold. It’s damned treacherous on occasion....
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