It was twenty-two years ago that Franklin Foer's bestseller came out....How Soccer Explains The World. I was only mildly interested at the time....and cannot remember much of the book....except when it tied soccer into globalization.....because globalization was a big topic back then....big tech having since then taken over as kingpin in this digital world.
I used to add a little bit of humor on this topic....but as far I knew it was true....that I had on-and-off watched soccer over my whole life....and never saw a goal. Obviously I would have only watched five minutes here or ten minutes there. The soccer team was not an option when our son was in high school because at the time it was a Sunday practice team sport....but today....'soccer mom'....is a commonly used term.
This present World Cup....even before Trump made another big mistake....has been dominating the news. I don't think that I have seen anything in the national news on baseball in the past few weeks. I've taken notice of the Norway team sitting down on the field....or pitch as they call it....and simulate rowing....and various special celebrations that teams and fans do....but what really is this sport....and this World Cup....and how does it affect the world?
Does it strengthen nationalism? Would the average English soccer fan rather have his home club win the Premier League championship....which lasts most of each and every year...or the World Cup which is a month and a half every four years? It seems that these local clubs are loaded with international players....and might even be owned by some oil nation billionaire.
This whole topic is just a passing thing with me....the sooner it ends the better....but today I saw in the news on my iPhone that Argentina was down 2 nothing....late in the match....oh well....so much for Messi....and fifteen minutes later....while checking the same headline news....saw that they were up 3 to 2! I turned on the television and witnessed the celebration....which had more passion in the players than I have ever witnessed in our own sports....and this wasn't even the final!
Ultimately....where does all of this fit into the problem of idolatry that America and the world and even Christians struggles with....and how might it fit into the cataclysmic dystopia that the world is heading into?
Two days ago I might have thought that after this World Cup....soccer would gain a much greater foothold in American culture....but after the Trump blunder....I would think the opposite....that the sport might take a hit....and we Americans might become even more isolated.
I would think that a month from now....baseball would take over again....and our football would be picking up where it left off in February. The most important thing that might result from this World Cup might be that Trump seriously blundered....again.....and that this blunder might hasten Europe's independence from the United States....and its own necessary uniting in order to defend itself against countries like Russia and China....who are non-entities in this World Cup....and it might further weaken Trump's poll numbers....and it might even wake up some of us in evangelicalism?
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Political Thought and the Christian
