Even though I abandoned what I was doing with Armchair Linebacker, I'm still more of a football (soccer) fan than American football fan at this point. I have many opinions for you on this subject that I don't really share online because I've been building source material for a World Cup preview I'll release next spring that'll be sort of like the Football Metaphysics NFL preview ebook I did, but for real football when the World Cup happens in Brazil. I am still trying to convince myself that somebody will pay me to go cover that, but as capitalism crumbles slowly before our eyes, it's hard to see that necessarily happening.
There are sociopolitical undertones to the world's football more than any other sport, and I know most of you are Eurocentric assholes who are probably like, "The Champions League just finished. It was that game between the two German clubs at Wembley." Well, you are right but also wrong, you colonial fuckface. The African Champions League has just entered group stage (two groups of four clubs, and unfortunately my team - TP Mazembe - were eliminated by the stupid Orlando Pirates, probably using albino witchcraft of some sort). And even more exciting, in South America, the Copa Libertadores just last week got itself narrowed down to the final four. Unfortunately, Tijuana - the last Mexican team, got eliminated on away goals by Atletico Mineiro, who have Ronaldhino and are probably the favorites, though hell man, who can be the sole favorite in a tourney like this? Copa Libertadores has been very different than the UEFA Champions League, as there have been deaths in the crowd from fireworks, melees at the end of games, and fights between players and police. And to the Eurocentric/Americanized eyeballs, this may seem like chaos and horrid backwards lack of economic development, but honestly, fuck economic development. Fuck capitalism. Fuck money. That shit is not sustainable. Anyways, last night I read this about Argentine soccer...
THE BEAUTIFUL GAME from Outside Magazine
In short, Argentine football is ruled by gangs, literally. It's not a stadium scenario friendly to women and children. All of this is bad in one sense, yes, but also refreshing because honestly, do women and children really give a fuck about football? Also, for me - and I will be perfectly honest and admit I am being biased - the European industrial model of football is not nearly as great to watch as the South American artistic flourish style. And I know Lionel Messi is touted by everybody as the greatest, but he is someone born from that artistic style who has been industrialized into a Euro-machine. I feel sad for him actually, because he has grown into a man without a home. He's not truly embraced by Argentines, because he is so European now. But he'll never be completely embraced by Europeans, because he's not one. They will love him as long as he scores goals, then turn on him once he becomes old. Look at Diego Maradona though - with all his abundance of faults and fissures - he is a God in Argentina (with the hand to prove it). There is a beauty in that which behaving properly according to these civilized standards can never achieve. Sure, Lionel Messi will sell a lot more corporate boxes and have a fatter endorsement check (although realize that the endorsers make tenfold what the endorsee does - Nike will be wealthy beyond belief long after Michael Jordan's riches have been frittered away either by himself or his heirs), but what does that matter? Seriously, why is that better? And I'd actually compare that to actually winning games as well. I think we're seeing the last decades of capitalist industrialism, as people are realizing it's unsustainable, and are also spiritually hungry for something that an endless parade of cheap crap and flashy gadgetry is not fulfilling. I would imagine in the coming decades this will mean more quality African football teams hopefully snagging a couple more of the World Cup spots. South America is already maximizing its potential with regards to that. Maybe Asia continues to improve, and really what's going on in the Middle East with crazy football academies and super leagues popping up, that combined with the spiritual sustenance of Islam may ferment into the next fifty year's biggest football surprises. But this upcoming World Cup, I expect, will still belong to the industrialists, and some sort of machine like Germany or perhaps Spain with its liberal application of the artistic flourish within the industrial gamesmanship will still reign supreme. I'd like to see Brazil or Argentina or oh man an African team win the whole thing, but I'm not sure it'll happen.
However, even the concept of keeping score and having clear winners and losers is somewhat a capitalist industrialist notion, chasing superior numbers. And football is the one sport where a draw is allowable, so that the industrial notion that one must be superior can sometimes get sidestepped. That's the thing a lot of Westerners hate about football, but it's also a little seedling of revolt against Western culture. I imagine I will enjoy the Brazilian and Argentine teams more than Germany or Italy in next year's World Cup.
Anyways, this is an interesting article about the craziness surrounding top club football in Argentina. Get yourself footballed up in preparation for the 89 World Cup qualifiers that'll be happening over the course of the next two-and-a-half weeks starting tomorrow. And while I am rooting for the United States, because it is my home, I also hope for failure of our industrial capital ways, along with the European teams which have claimed colonial dominion over the World Cup.
