It’s pretty great to have soccer games back again.

And yet, there are plenty of people who scrunch up their faces and share frustrations too. The players aren’t at their sharpest. The bigger clubs can just exploit their size and depth, replacing any millionaire starlet who falls sick with another one. Matches in front of empty stands are an insult to fans who supported the side, and without whom there would be no club.

It’s really easy to undercut appreciation what a thing is with critiques about what it is not. So I hope when given the choice, you boys appreciate what a thing is, including its faults, rather than wish for what it isn’t.

Japanese art has a concept called Wabi-Sabi. Simply the idea that beauty lies in impermanence and imperfection. A totally perfect Bonsai tree is unattainable, but one with a scraggly branch is perfect in its own way.

So it is with other art: The Princess Bride (which I finished reading aloud to you this week Owen) has some issues with how it shows women, but it’s also a perfect piece of fantasy adventure with romantic guts. The pointillist works of George’s Seurat seem smudgy in spots. Sections of Camille Saint-Saen’s Carnival of the Animals (your current favorite music Alex) seem to overlap and repeat rather than invent. Zootopia (the movie y’all cant stop watching) has some pretty big honking plot holes.

None of that means they’re ugly, worthless, or garbage. Smudges tell a story, repetition reminds us of unity, even plot holes help support the broader themes of the movie.

Of course you can critique things. You can offer opinions and suggestions any time anywhere. I just hope that your criticism doesn’t come at the expense of appreciating what is done well.

To be sure, there are bones to pick with an outclassed Freiburg defense. There is an argument to be made that the ref deserves glasses when he final goal was disallowed for uncertain millimeters of an elbow. There’s even a challenge to management to prove they know that fans can’t be replaced by amplified generic crowd effects.

All of that can be discussed, but in the moment of soccer’s much needed return, let’s appreciate the way things are. The teams are back, playing with pride, playing with passion, playing their best. I don’t care if they’re not at their best possible level: I’m grateful to watch them cut, run, pass, tackle, shoot, and save.