Tag: Current events

46. The Fights that Need Fighting

46. The Fights that Need Fighting

by scruffyrube ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

Just about all the oxygen in any news space for the last two weeks has been sucked up by the American Presidential election.

That is with good reason. Everything ties back to the person picked to run the biggest economy, biggest armed-forces, biggest diplomatic-force, and most influential culture shaper on the planet. Yes, there is unrest in Central Asia and another spike in the Coronavirus disease, but the President of the United States is uniquely situated to handle both in the same hour.

That is, if they choose to.

Dear Boys,

One of my favorite lines from one of my favorite writers is simple: you don’t fight the fights you can win, you fight the fights that need fighting.

Actor Martin Sheen delivered the line…and is awesome

It comes from a movie about an American President (conveniently enough, titled, The American President) as the chief of staff tells a re-election minded president to stop strategizing and start doing what must be done.

I think about that a lot, because politics has become a place where the fights you can win, and the fights that need fighting are getting confused over, and over, and over again.

To step away from global affairs for a minute: this election has been ridiculously divisive. Not just between different parties, but between friends within the same party. Two men I deeply respect, both of whom I’m happy to have worked with, both of whom I’m happy to talk to, descended this week into an absolutely irrelevant fight over which hypothetical candidate would have done better as a presidential candidate and how their differences reflect a classism/ignorance that disgusts the other.

This is not a fight that needs fighting.

Debating what our goals out to be is fair, reviewing your personal biases is worthwhile, but dying on a hill over a hypothetical situation is ridiculous. It’s like saying that, if Asamoah Gyan had made his penalty against Uruguay, Ghana would have won the World Cup and he’d be winding down his career as a Juventus legend right now (rather than suiting up for Legon Cities).

Yes, that’s possible. But we have no way of knowing. And what’s more, it simply isn’t important enough to castigate those who disagree with you.

That’s anathema to our current president. A man who has never held back from a fight he didn’t need to fight.

To him a petty insult on social media is a ten alarm fire. A half-assed attempt at social consciousness is a Category 5 catastrophic disaster. An apparent personal failure is a clear and demonstrable sign that the end times are nigh, so take arms good Christian soldiers, take arms!

He is the king of fighting fights he can win, regardless of whether or not they need to be fought. He promised “so much winning” and to the eyes of many he’s delivered. (Despite the fact that the victories are pyrrhic at best, and–more often–totally invented.)

So, of course, he is fighting another fight that doesn’t need to be fought now.

He has been defeated. The experts who judge elections say so. The officials who tabulate votes say so. Behind closed doors, his friends and family say so.

But he’s fighting anyway. Unfortunately, he’s fighting what doesn’t need to be fought: imagined voter fraud, make-believe master-conspiracies, and totally valid critiques of his awful performance as president. He’s fighting all these so that he can continue fighting pointless fights he can win from the comfort of a presidential motorcade.

Robin Lod and fellow Loons couldn’t win, but it deserved a fight
(Pioneer Press)

In soccer, the game isn’t over until the final whistle. It’s thrilling to see teams hustle, and sweat, and strive to win. The Loons stealing a tie when the result didn’t really matter. (Harry Kane pipping a win for the premier league team I try not to talk about). Heck even Cukaricki getting a questionable winner to deny our friends in Vozdovac. Those are great moments, because playing with pride is a fight that’s worth fighting.

Protecting your ego, diminishing someone else, scoring a point on a hypothetical argument you can never prove: not worth it.

Fight the fights that need fighting boys. And if you’re not sure if it needs to be fought, just ask: would Donald Trump fight this? (If yes, then step back boys, step back.)

39. Notorious

39. Notorious

by scruffyrube ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

A week ago, you were cuddling on the couch. Immersed in the hugs of your mom, and grandma, and auntie. Then they stopped, stared at their phones in horror, and tried to explain why they felt so sad.

Dear Boys,

I can’t add to what they said, because while the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg affects me and will affect you, it means something else for women. Also, much of what I’ve drafted has been deleted as it sounds like a man telling young men, “here’s a quick guide to feminist ideology and contemporary sexism”.

RBG was an icon. A diva who turned into a rock star. An idealistic ideologue who made time to share appreciate the passions and of her rival jurists.

Our lives are richer because she was in a powerful position to affect our world. As she said

Vitally, Ginsburg frequently argued before the Supreme Court prior to joining its ranks as a justice. She held, as did the renowned Title IX law, that:

No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any education program or activity receiving Federal financial assistance.

Title IX of Education Assistance Law (1972)

Too often, sports becomes an exclusionary place, especially in terms of gender. Too often, we fixate on the men of the sport and isolate women’s games to the fine print, or ancillary commentary.

Title IX challenged that notion. It insisted that young women have access to all the athletic programs that young men accessed by default. While college football and basketball are big business; women’s sports have brought in a more diverse and equitable student body.

Without Title IX, there likely wouldn’t be the bevy of young female soccer players in the US. Without that market (and corporate sponsorship that goes with it) there likely wouldn’t be the women’s game around the world as we know it today. Without that international competition, I wouldn’t be reporting breathlessly on the Rosenborg Kvinner, or the Grizzly Soccer team, or Freiburg, Emelec, and Grenoble.

Without Title IX, without a firm and emphatic belief that no person should be excluded from activities, including sports, on the basis of sex, our world would be poorer, our experience, more shallow.

Title IX is a droplet in the ocean of Ginsburg’s work. But the ripple effects of it crash ashore each and every day. We make mistakes (my ignorant titling of weekly MVPs at the start of this year is but one of my many). But with the challenging, strident, and invaluable contributions of women, especially those like RBG in places where decisions are being made, we grow.

35. Black Lives Matter

35. Black Lives Matter

by scruffyrube ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

I mean, I could write more, [and I will, it is my way to process] but really that’s it. That’s the thing I want you to learn this week.

Dear Boys,

Black Lives Matter.

I had other things to write about today, but again it seems insignificant. Like professional athletes across the country from Antekokounmpo to Zusi, sports are just a game, this is about life. It’s about serious things that at 2 years old and 9 months old you may not fathom. But you should.

Earlier this week, Jacob Blake was returning to his car. He was looking at his sons in the backseat. Boys not much older than you. He saw them, and he was shot seven times in the back. Jacob Blake’s life matters.

Blake has survived, he’ll see with his boys again, but I don’t know if I’ll ever buckle you in again without feeling the privilege that comes with just being white. Or without recognizing the privilege you have in being white. The trauma those boys witnessed chills my blood. Black fathers’ and sons’ lives matter.

They matter here.

Two nights ago, officers surrounded a man in downtown Minneapolis. A few miles from us. A few blocks from where I used to work. Right outside a Dairy Queen I would take the cross-country team too after races. The man was a suspect in a homicide, and rather than face arrest, he shot himself.

He did so next to five teens. Teens like my students who would congregate in the same spot. Teens like the ones who love every post I share of you two. Teens who were laughing, flirting, checking their reflection in the shiny marble. Teens who now have that trauma over their heads every day. Their lives matter.

We say that black lives matter not, as some pretend, because we think other lives don’t (looking at you fascist Vozdovac supporters). Not because we are being trendy or “woke”. We say it because it is true, and it bears repeating.

Mason Toye of MNUFC (Pioneer Press)

We repeat today when victims of violence suffer.

We repeat it tomorrow when the news-cycle moves on.

We repeat it in a month when the mourning stretches on for the community while others wonder why they’re so emotional.

We repeat it in a year when the bystanders confront their trauma without supports that taxpayers decline to fund.

We repeat it in a decade when those involved and those associated and everyone who has seen and feared and worried about injustice have faced it again and again and again while an ignorant and ambivalent country glides by.

Black Lives Matter.

30. Out of Many, One

30. Out of Many, One

by scruffyrube ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

Dear Boys,

We’re in a strange state.

It feels like I say that every week, but every week of this project finds our country in an increasingly strange state of affairs.

In the midst of a global pandemic, the United States has relapsed into a worse rate of infection than we had before. Other countries are getting better, we’re getting worse. And there’s a very real possibility that our one saving grace: a low rate of people dying from the disease, may not last much longer.

Why is this? There are plenty of possible answers but the one that makes the most sense to me is this: a team of competing individuals can lose, competitive individuals together on a team cannot.

It comes back to the national motto: “E Pluribus Unum”, Latin for “Out of Many, One”. Out of many states, from many different interests, from many unique positions: one national society.

It’s a nice motto. It captures who we are and who we aspire to be. It is good both for a diverse nation and a typical sports team.

It’s just doesn’t reflect us that well.

Out of our many positions, we have many societies. From our many interests, we have a competition to see which one stands supreme.

Prima donna superstar Babe Ruth.

It stands out in sports as well. While we might think that out of many players comes a team, or from many teams a champion, the way sports is sold makes it more likely that from many players comes several players you love or love to hate. It’s not so much about this team or that, it’s about Brady, or LeBron, or Giannis, or Bellicheck. Even sports without transcendent superstars are talked about in terms of where the next star is. Baseball is still looking for the next Willie Mays, hockey the next Gretzky.

Totally humble Yankees Owner George Steinbrenner (Sports Illustrated)

Some people will tell you that’s because the players are prima donnas, playing for themselves and for contracts rather than a “love of the game”. But it’s on us too. Owners (like Comiskey, Steibrenner, or Cuban) have long looked out for their own bottom lines not the interchangeable players or communities. Fans also talk about their wins, their trophies, their bragging rights, dismissing players’ humanity.

Distance Shmistance (National Post)

So, it can’t be too surprising that we, as a nation of individuals, look for ways to compete and win and beat others both in sports and in life. In the context of American sports and individualism, it makes sense that many people would rather go to a party for themselves than wear a mask to protect a bunch of others they’ll never know. If we care so much about being “winning”, we will accept that many of our neighbors have to lose. So long as we get what we want (a vote, a haircut, a return to the way things were), it’s okay for others to lose (a job, a loved one, a home).

Part of the reason I love soccer is that it defies these transcendent players and narratives. Lionel Messi can’t be goalie and creator. A team that waits for its star to save the day, isn’t likely to be champions (just ask Zlatan-era Los Angeles teams).

Waiting for Messi (La Marca)

So while there’s a steady thrum of questions like: “where’s the American Messi,” or “when will the US Men’s game find their own Megan Rapinoe”? I think that is part of the problem.

It’s not about that competitive individual, it’s about several individuals, coming together to compete for a common purpose. Where’s the American Liverpool? When will the US Men’s game find a partnership like Julie Blakstad and Marit Clausen? How can I help myself, and my neighbors, and total strangers I don’t expect to see today?

We are competitive. That’s a strength, not a flaw. But as long as we are competing with each other rather than for each other, it’s just going to get stranger and stranger, until, from many, we are many more.

27. Looking for Leaders

27. Looking for Leaders

by scruffyrube ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

Dear Boys,

You’re too young for it now, but you will in time become obsessed with Star Wars. So it has been for me, your mother, your uncles, just about everybody at one time or another. While I don’t love it like I used to, I will always remember one key line.

(Magic Quote, from Star Wars IV: A New Hope by George Lucas)

That scene pokes fun at those who doubt and deride others without taking up the mantle of leadership themselves. But it applies to lots of us, every day, in different ways. In these uncertain times, we look to leaders for guidance. But how do we know leaders from fools?

Leadership without accountability is just authority.

I think you can see this illustrated in two of our favorite clubs.

First, there’s SC Freiburg: the Baden-Wuttermburg based workhorses of Germany. With little capital and only a light dusting of history, they have become genuine contenders to represent the best that German football has to offer. And at the center of that is the coach, Christian Streich.

Streich in stride (Daily Mail)

Streich doesn’t cut a striking figure or command attention. He leads through honesty, and introspection. He thinks big thoughts and asks big questions, not just about X’s and O’s but of how he and soccer contribute to modern challenges, and what they can do to address them.

Streich could, like other coaches, fixate on the next game and shut out everything else. But he doesn’t. He invites dialogue, not obedience. He questions his place, and the place of soccer as part of our world: not life/death, not all/nothing, just part of the whole. Being accountable as a coach, and a person breeds the trust that builds a team and begets leadership. He models accountability beyond the sideline, and in life itself.

Then, there’s Eirik Horneland. He who was given the keys to the kingdom at Rosenborg Ballklub and promptly dropped them down the garbage disposal.

Horneland heads home (Dagblad.com)

I mock, but truthfully, Horneland is the other side of accountability. Things have not gone as Rosenborg wants or expects. Horneland could have done many things. He could have deflected. He could have huffed, puffed, and thrown players, management, or officials under the proverbial bus. He could have, but he didn’t.

“er det naturlig at jeg som øverste sportslig ansvarlig i RBK må ta ansvaret for manglende sportslig fremgang,”

It is natural that I , as the top sports director at RBK, must take responsibility for the lack of team progress

Eirick Horneland

That is everything. Horneland was held responsible, and he held himself responsible. He was held accountable, and he accepted it.

If the world was perfect, you boys would always be Streichs. You’d work hard, do well, and, by all accounts, deserve to be rewarded. But that is not the world. Sometimes, you will work hard, struggle, and, by all accounts, deserve to lose what you work for. You will have times when you are Hornelands. You may be full of hope, ideals, and exciting opportunities. But it may all wind up in that garbage disposal.

(Clay Bennett, Chattanooga Times Free Press)

I say this because, right now, America has a leader without accountability. A leader who sees everything he does as right, and every critique of him as cruel. A leader who insists on dividing our community as we cry out for unity. In short, we have a fool. A man who likes the authority of his office, and eschews the accountability.

So, absent that figure in our public consciousness, I bring up these two coaches, both of whom lead, both are held accountable, and both respect that they don’t just have a position of authority, they have a position of leadership.

26. Silence the Roar

26. Silence the Roar

by scruffyrube ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

Dear Boys,

In soccer, as in most things, the rush of a crowd’s support is a special type of thrill.

Professional athletes know this. There are plenty of trite claims about the roar of the crowd or effect of the fans like an extra player. But it’s true. An audience can inspire greatness. It does it for amateurs and in other arenas too. My biggest audiences–a couple dozen parents at ten year old soccer finals, a few hundred at a school play, thousands of neighbors strung along a 26 mile marathon course–certainly had an effect on me. I felt bolder, braver. Every kick or joke or stride brought a jolt of excitement and purpose.

Marathon Sunday (from City of Minneapolis)

But we must do without crowds in the age of pandemic. It is strange to see players playing their trade in front of a sea of empty seats. Many leagues have turned to ambient match sounds to replace the cavernous echoing thump of cleat against ball.

Still there’s something to appreciate in the absence of crowds and something to avoid in their presence. Despite the excitement that comes with being the center of attention, never confuse a crowd’s approval with your virtue.

Think of Vozdovac, where fans have been back at stadia for three weeks (despite serious health professional opposition–because Serbia).

Racist symbols at Rad (from Linglong Superliga Youtube)

In the three matches where fans were present, we have several highlights of fan sections adorned with far right racist symbols: Celtic crosses, Confederate stars and bars, Reichskriegsflagge. While I loved seeing those behind the confederate flag go silent after a goal, I know that Vozdovac’s Invalid section use similar imagery.

That makes cringe. It also reminds me that crowds create corrupted logic. The entire stadium is a crowd. The fans use the flags. The club tolerates them. The players build affinity for supporters and their symbols. It all creates a vicious circle.

The acceptance by all parties at a stadium makes it okay to wave symbols of hate, which makes more people fly it, which makes it easier to accept. The crowd has created a mass delusion that racist symbolism is fine, because its theirs and the crowd validates them.

Those same cycles occur in our own neighborhoods as well.

Hundreds of protesters have torn down monuments to vile, bigoted, people. Statues that honor those who pillaged, murdered, enslaved, and belittled people of color deserve to come down and I’m glad they did. However, the image of toppling statues to cheers can invite a generalized belief that such grand actions do good on their own. Across the St. Croix river, Wisconsinites angry at an unjust arrest tore down sympathetic statues. They didn’t have reasons why. The anger of the crowd vindicated these illogical actions which incite more anger, which leads to more illogical actions.

These muddled motivations are nothing next to those who defend the racist symbols. That includes our president who called statues of slave holders, military bases named after traitors, and symbols of racial animosity “our beautiful heritage.” (Just to make this clear: Serbian football fans aren’t advocating for a more agrarian society and decentralized government…they know it’s a racist symbol, that’s why they like it.)

If all you want is applause, what you do to get it says a lot about you. (From the Oklahoman)

Again, the crowd corrupts the logic. A group that wants so badly to be different than the protesters ends up defending an indefensible target. A man who thrives on the applause of others lauds the inane logic, breeding more distrust and enmity because the cycle of cruelty, to a cheering crowd, to cruelty continues without end.

A group of politically engaged citizens, protesters, or soccer fans is not, by itself, a dangerous group. But confusing the collection of people with the confirmation of righteousness is dangerous. Crowds aren’t bad. What we do to join, to animate, or to earn the praise of a crowd is.

As a counterpoint to Serbian Hooligans and racist dogwhistles, consider Vincenzo Grifo from Freiburg. He has long been a top tier player, thriving on big Bundesliga stages, and appearing for the elite Italian national team.

Now, even in empty stadia he continues to do his best. Among all the empty stands, he know who he is and loves what he does. He doesn’t need a crowd to spur him on, and one goal suggests why.

Grifo (from SempreInter)

Consider the curling wonderstrike against Hertha Berlin. At a moment where many players might use the crowd to urge them on, the absence of support might mute your performance. Not so Grifo. He stands tall, delivers a great goal, and then runs to the nearest camera. He screams a greeting to his family and hometown. Even with an empty stadium, the inspiration and encouragement exists in his heart, his history, something far beyond a few thousand fans on a Friday night.

Grifo doesn’t need a crowd to do great things, and neither do you. By all means, enjoy a crowd, revel in the roar. Just don’t conflate a crowd with correctness.

24. Stick to Society

24. Stick to Society

by scruffyrube ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

Dear Boys,

Over the last few weeks, I’ve been focused almost entirely on talking to you about the serious work to be done confronting systemic racism, and working to dismantle it. And yet, I also work in references to and lessons from sports.

That might seem incongruous. Serious issues deserve serious consideration, and sports is anything but serious. These are children’s games being played for the amusement of the masses. Some wonder if the distraction of sports would allow us to pursue the change we have to make.

They have a point that Nancy Armour sums up well. Too often we flip past the dire news of death, destruction, and dehumanization in favor of a quick recap of the days scores and highlights. We shouldn’t be consumed with sports.

Always smile when I think of George and Timothy Weah.

But we also need to remember that without solace, entertainment, or amusement we wouldn’t have the capacity to keep working as we do. Taking a break from the protest, even for five minutes to talk about who scored a screamer or how to contain a problem like Bayern Munich, isn’t selfish, it’s a momentary act of self-care, one that can lighten a heavy heart and give us a new way to see things. Some people find that in art, some in music, and you can see it in sports too.

Of course, there are those who bemoan using sports for anything more than the distraction it provides. There are people who want to safe-harbor of sports to shield them from the stormy world beyond. You’ll recognize them groaning every time an athlete says more than “you know, you gotta play as a team” or “we just gave it our all.” If they have the temerity to speak up, or speak out, there’s major frustration all encapsulated by the phrase “stick to sports”.

But sports have always been political because life is always political.

Sports were political in 1936 when Adolf Hitler tried to assert the dominance of the white race only for Jesse Owens to crush the Aryan champions and the world records.

Jack and the Little Colonel

Sports were political in 1947 when Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier and Pee Wee Reese stood beside him in front of every hostile stadium. (As well as in 1901 when Charlie Grant tried to play, only to be abandoned by manager John McGraw when things got tough.)

Tiny little green armbands incurred the Ayatollah’s anger

Sports were political in 1968 when when Tommie Smith and John Carlos held up black power fists to show their pride after winning medals, and in 1972 when terrorists attacked Israeli athletes at the games in Munich. It was political when countries boycotted competitions out of political animosity, and when players who came out as gay were blackballed from competition. When Charles Barkley said, “I am not a role model”, and Michael Jordan said, “Republicans buy sneakers too,” and we all rallied around the New York Yankees after 9/11, and when players on Iran’s national team were briefly banned for supporting democracy, and when North Korea’s team reported torture after losing in the world cup.

Sports are political because life is political. Asking athletes to not share opinions and simply amuse you is like asking people to shut off one part of their humanity. Asking anyone, especially people of color, to stop being human is absolutely the problem.

So, don’t stick to sports. If you stick to sports, you succumb to the distractions and abandon the work we have to do. If you stick to sports, or demand that athletes do the same, you are complicit in dehumanizing others.

Stick to society. Share sports in a society, where we unite and cheer and are inspired to get back to work. Use sports as a tool to understand society, dig deeper, and explore our common humanity. In particular, remember that those who play, and amaze, and engage our sports-loving minds, aren’t just there to amuse us. They don’t serve us. They’re part of our society. Listen to the opinions they share, and go from there.

22. Screw Systemic Racism

22. Screw Systemic Racism

by scruffyrube ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

“The fault,

Dear Boys,

Lies not in our stars, but in our selves.”

I’ve been repeating a short phrase to you both. One that your grandparents would rather I revise, and one that some of my friends will scoff at for its timidity. Still, I want you to learn it:

“Screw you systemic racism!”

You are 7 months and 2 and a half years old. Your strengths are cuteness and innocence and your audience is indulgent. People listen to you because of what you look like. If they are going to listen, say something that means something: “Screw you systemic racism”

Make no mistake, systemic racism is why our cities are unfair, why our cities are in a fury, why our cities are on fire. It’s not because of some secret police conspiracy, or because of out of town instigators, or because of one cop killing one defenseless man. It’s because of systemic racism and all the people who play a role in sustaining it either through our words or our silence, our action or our inaction.

So say it again: screw your systemic racism!

While you do that, I have a lot to do. My strengths are privilege and power and my audience is attentive because of habit, not because I deserve it. People listen to me because of what I look like, not because I’m cute, but because I’m white, and a man, and often in a position of authority. I have done nothing to deserve this audience, but if people are going to listen I better do something that means something.

So you say it, while I do it: “screw you systemic racism”.

I am not going to post my thoughts and prayers to social media. Not going to complain or opine or theorize or joke. For too damn long I thought that was helpful, but it just echoes around my small circle, building a sound and fury while signifying nothing.

I’m going to disrupt the system. I’m going to talk with and challenge everyone: your great-grandma, your great-auntie, my cousins, our fellow citizens. I’m not going to document these conversations for the approval of others. I’m going to challenge them because for too damn long I thought that gradual references would soften them up. But that has just let them stay comfortable and let me be complacent and let systemic racism hold on longer and longer.

I’m going to listen with love to the unheard oppressed and to support and amplify their voices whenever I can. I’m not going to suggest actions, or turn their pain into my personal growth. It’s not about me, or you, or any of our stuff. it’s about the unheard, unappreciated, unaddressed concerns of our brothers and sisters who don’t feel safe, who know no peace, who can’t breathe beneath the knee of systemic racism.

I’m going to fight like hell, every day, however I can. I know education. I believe in education. I want to do what I can to fight for an end to systemic racism in education every day in my work. Through funding, through instruction, through student supports, through family communities, through personal interactions and public structures. This is my life’s work.

When work is done I’m going to fight like hell to avoid comfort, to push for inclusion, to amplify forgotten chapters of history, and to make even distractions and amusements meaningful. You may not know it, but you need it, and I need it, if it’s going to stop being words and start being reality.

And when you handle saying the words, I’m going to help you make a change too.

So screw you systemic racism.

Let’s go.

Week 19: I wanna play football with somebody…

Week 19: I wanna play football with somebody…

by scruffyrube ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

Scores

Corona-virus 3.9 Million – Hope 1

As well as Corona-virus has done, this past week there were some signs of a momentum shift.

Even though we haven’t had any more matches, many leagues had athletes return to training, Serbia announced they would be back on May 30th and most relevantly of all: Germany announced that the Bundesliga would return next weekend (behind closed doors). Notably for us with SC Freiburg facing RB Leipzig on Saturday morning.

If that weren’t enough, I just found out that former World Player of the Year and current President of Liberia George Weah also released a song to educate his citizens about the virus. And, as a former World Music DJ, I gotta say: it’s a solid afropop bop

News & Notes

Punjab FC on the verge of Promotion?

I never fuss too much with soccer business news. But there are some transactions in India that warrant our attention.

First, India’s governing body decided, like several other shallow leagues around the world to cancel relegation and promotion for the next few years. (Note: shallow leagues is a totally made up term of mine for leagues that are relatively new and don’t have a deep well of teams, fans, or wealth leagues like India, Mexico, the US, Ghana, etc.) As fans of lower level underdogs, like Punjab and Alebrijes de Oaxaca, that stings. As fans of top tier teams who still just squeak by with minimal support, like Ross County and Minnesota United, it makes sense to protect the biggest clubs from a double financial body blow of Coronavirus and relegation.

Rajit Bajaj celebrating
(Times of India)

However you might feel about that decision, one clear consequence of that call was to make Punjab FC founder and co-owner Ranjit Bajaj sell his shares to co-owners “RoundGlass”. According to Bajaj, without the possibility of promotion or Asian continental competition, there was little point to staying in the professional game. He’s turning his attention to continuing the Minerva Academy, with the goal of developing World Cup champion calibre players in the next thirty years. Leaving RoundGlass to run the traditional club with an academy. (Sidenote: RoundGlass founder and CEO Gupreet “Sunny” Singh got his masters degrees in Bozeman, Montana!)

Meanwhile, the India Super League is seeking to grow to 12 teams next year. But as I-League Champions Mohun Bagan of Kolkata merge with ISL champion ATK, there’s no clear team to move up, let alone two. If you believe much of the online banter Mohun Bagan’s rival East Bengal will be joining the league soon.

The 12th team is unclear. To be a Super League team, you would need a major population center and a wealthy benefactor. The two sides that seem to best suit those goals would be the Delhi based Sudheva FC, but as a smaller and newer side, they might be better suited to the I-League. But Indian sports vloggers say that the 12th team could well be our own Punjab FC as it represents a new territory and has a growing set of resources.

Calvin Lobo in Punjabi camo.
(The Bridge)

To be clear: this is all conjecture at this point. The entire season may fall through. The ISL might prefer to stay at 10 teams. With East Bengal raiding rosters around the I-League including Punjab’s own Calvin Lobo, Girik Kholsa, and Dilliram Sanyasi, it’s unclear how Punjab would build up the roster to the super league calibre. So time will tell, but it’s something to look to.

Man of the Matches

With training coming back soon. It’s nice to just appreciate the fact that players missed the games as much as we did.

Translation: “#Sometimes football is finally back”

We don’t know which player that is precisely, but we know that we feel the same. So thanks FK Vozdovac social media. You know us even when we don’t know you.

What’s Next

Wednesday, May 13

Thursday, May 14

Friday, May 15

Saturday, May 16

9:30–RB Leipzig v SC Freiburg

YES REALLY!!! A REAL ACTUAL MATCH!!!

Sunday, May 17

Monday, May 18

Week 18: Light in the tunnel

Week 18: Light in the tunnel

by scruffyrube ♥ 0 Leave a Comment

Scores

None…yet…

Jeonbuk Motors Revving up…

While Corona-Virus continues to run roughshod over the rest of the world and established institutions, there may be some reason to hope. Several countries have flattened the curve. Several more are carefully studying ways to return to something like normalcy. And most importantly, for our purposes and only our purposes, South Korea will start their season next weekend.

This is great news, especially after Mexico and France fully abandoned their seasons. While we don’t have a Korean side to root for, we may just be in the market for one as it would allow us to watch soccer without the bitter aftertaste of tolerating totalitarianism in Belarus and Nicaragua.

News & Notes

Making Ends Meet

We’ve seen record breaking unemployment claims in America and jaw dropping economic contractions around the world. Many people are in dire financial straights, and, so too are soccer teams.

The most notable case of this comes from Ross County, who has established “The Staggies Army” to create stabilized funds for the club when there’s no guarantee that they can even sell season tickets for the next campaign.

Love you too…Klara Buhl

This system neatly mirrors another beloved institution in our home: National Public Radio. But in lieu of a tote bag, this comes with a welcome letter and club shop discounts. (Seriously, anyone reading this who is interested, please contact me to go in on a membership)

Meanwhile, SC Freiburg found another way to make ends meet: sell off your star player. Klara Buhl, the wunderkind who bombed goals in for both Baden and the national team is off to Bayern Munich’s women’s team. Good luck Karla, thanks for the memories.

Women of the Non-Matches

As a teacher, I love National Signing Day, the day in the spring when high school seniors announce where they intend to continue their education (and often times, athletic pursuits). I love seeing my students find their future, and it is in that spirit that we award this week’s honor to the six future Grizzlies who will for sure have some classes next fall (and hopefully some matches under the big blue Montana skies).

Shout outs to you Elizabeth Basile, Reese Elliot, Alejandra Melendez, Meredith Udovich, Josie Windauer, and Camellia Xu. Equal shout outs to the parents, teachers, coaches, family and friends who backed you up throughout the journey.

What’s Next

Wednesday, May 6

Thursday, May 7

Friday, May 8

Saturday, May 9

SC Freiburg v. Bayern Munich. (Okay , probably not, but we’re not giving up hope until Angela Merkel shakes a disapproving finger at the guys before sending them back home)

Sunday May 10

Monday May 11