This is a football blog. Football in the European, continental sense, meaning soccer for Americans (like me). It's just easier to write football and stick to it, I think.
In any case, this is a blog about football. I am very far from an expert on the sport; I wouldn't even classify myself as a fan, per se. I don't have a team, and I don't live and die by the sport. Caring deeply about sports is kind of silly, I think, and so I'm aware of the frivolity that serves as the roots for this blog. All I am is an interested observer, one who enjoys the sport as a newcomer, as an amateur, as somebody who kicks the ball around once a week with inconsistent accuracy.
That said, here we are. The blog will talk about European football. I live in Luxembourg and am studying French, so most of my writing here will cover Ligue 1, with possible glances to Belgium, the Bundesliga, Ligue 2, and even Luxembourg's league (I live a 3-minute walk from a "top-flight" club here). As mentioned, the blog comes with no specific allegiances, though when checking scores or choosing games to watch, I pull for Nancy in Ligue 1 and Metz in Ligue 2 because they're the closest teams to Luxembourg, Standard Liege in the Jupiler League (ditto), Borussia Dortmund in Bundesliga (they play an exciting style), and then a weird mix of historically important franchises that I'd like to see resume their place (Paris St. Germain, e.g.) and unlikely successful squads threatening to overturn those historically-entrenched hierarchies (Montpellier, Rennes, e.g.).
As for the title and overall aim of the blog: the most interesting thing about football is its difficulty and ineffable qualities that often lead to boredom. In other words, it's really hard to control the ball well enough to get a clear shot on goal against an opposing team of professionals who are more or less as good as the other team. To then make that clear shot a goal means beating a professional keeper who can use his hands, who knows all the opposing players' tendencies, and who has cat-like reflexes. This all becomes very hard, which leads to low-scoring games and an endless amount of quotidian, quixotic, and seemingly useless running and effort. Sports is best viewed as entertainment, and football's entertainment value - when so few outcomes turn into meaningful moments (i.e. goals) and we live in an outcome-based world - can often plummet to numbing levels.
And yet, when things do come together, when even the most pathetic, unjust goal marks itself on the scoreboard, the rewards are more than satisfying enough to make up for the depths of the rest of the sport. And in those goals, so much of the slog that came before somehow, some way, manifests itself in an ultimate success. A fullback's effort playing on both ends of the pitch wears out his opponents, leading to the space in the 70th minute for a midfielder to step into and connect. A hard-fought win for the ball off a goal kick leads, after a few reversals, to a nice half-counter and a goal-scoring opportunity. Or a striker cuts across the box and to a wing, taking the attention and perhaps movement of one of the center backs with him, creating space for his teammate to make a run, collect a well-placed cross, and one or two-touch it into the back of the net. The rewards can be justified, well-earned, and fitting, or just as well illogical, lucky, and against the flow of play. Much like in life.
As such, I'm planning to train my untrained eye (as you might have collected from some of those awkward football descriptions in the sentences above) on watching the ways in which the boring, drab stuff leads to the exciting, life-affirming moments. That, and to have fun, and provide fun for anybody who might come across it.
First real post will be up after the weekend. Welcome, and come back for more if you enjoy!
In any case, this is a blog about football. I am very far from an expert on the sport; I wouldn't even classify myself as a fan, per se. I don't have a team, and I don't live and die by the sport. Caring deeply about sports is kind of silly, I think, and so I'm aware of the frivolity that serves as the roots for this blog. All I am is an interested observer, one who enjoys the sport as a newcomer, as an amateur, as somebody who kicks the ball around once a week with inconsistent accuracy.
That said, here we are. The blog will talk about European football. I live in Luxembourg and am studying French, so most of my writing here will cover Ligue 1, with possible glances to Belgium, the Bundesliga, Ligue 2, and even Luxembourg's league (I live a 3-minute walk from a "top-flight" club here). As mentioned, the blog comes with no specific allegiances, though when checking scores or choosing games to watch, I pull for Nancy in Ligue 1 and Metz in Ligue 2 because they're the closest teams to Luxembourg, Standard Liege in the Jupiler League (ditto), Borussia Dortmund in Bundesliga (they play an exciting style), and then a weird mix of historically important franchises that I'd like to see resume their place (Paris St. Germain, e.g.) and unlikely successful squads threatening to overturn those historically-entrenched hierarchies (Montpellier, Rennes, e.g.).
As for the title and overall aim of the blog: the most interesting thing about football is its difficulty and ineffable qualities that often lead to boredom. In other words, it's really hard to control the ball well enough to get a clear shot on goal against an opposing team of professionals who are more or less as good as the other team. To then make that clear shot a goal means beating a professional keeper who can use his hands, who knows all the opposing players' tendencies, and who has cat-like reflexes. This all becomes very hard, which leads to low-scoring games and an endless amount of quotidian, quixotic, and seemingly useless running and effort. Sports is best viewed as entertainment, and football's entertainment value - when so few outcomes turn into meaningful moments (i.e. goals) and we live in an outcome-based world - can often plummet to numbing levels.
And yet, when things do come together, when even the most pathetic, unjust goal marks itself on the scoreboard, the rewards are more than satisfying enough to make up for the depths of the rest of the sport. And in those goals, so much of the slog that came before somehow, some way, manifests itself in an ultimate success. A fullback's effort playing on both ends of the pitch wears out his opponents, leading to the space in the 70th minute for a midfielder to step into and connect. A hard-fought win for the ball off a goal kick leads, after a few reversals, to a nice half-counter and a goal-scoring opportunity. Or a striker cuts across the box and to a wing, taking the attention and perhaps movement of one of the center backs with him, creating space for his teammate to make a run, collect a well-placed cross, and one or two-touch it into the back of the net. The rewards can be justified, well-earned, and fitting, or just as well illogical, lucky, and against the flow of play. Much like in life.
As such, I'm planning to train my untrained eye (as you might have collected from some of those awkward football descriptions in the sentences above) on watching the ways in which the boring, drab stuff leads to the exciting, life-affirming moments. That, and to have fun, and provide fun for anybody who might come across it.
First real post will be up after the weekend. Welcome, and come back for more if you enjoy!
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