Yes, it's Boxing Day, which my soccer mad teenager reminds me is a day the English set aside to watch endless amounts of "football." We're just through the second of four games -- an exhilarating draw (yes you've got that right) Arsenal 2 and my son's beloved Aston Villa 2 (after hitting the post three times in the first half). I continue to appreciate the complete absence of stoppages in play and commercials during the course of these games. All clock in at just under two hours and nary a mention of our newest foreign policy weapon, Viagra.
One thing I am continually amazed at is the ability of my indifferent student tenth grader to remember the names of teams and players all over the world. It's become a pretty good pedagogical tool as well -- my son noted yesterday that the taxpayers of five nations, including our own, are now indirectly acting as official sponsors of big time soccer teams via the nationalizations in the finance industry -- the U.S. of the world's most famous team, Manchester United,* through its bailout of AIG, England with its control of Northern Rock, sponsor of New Castle United, and Belgium, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands with their control over Fortis Bank, sponsors of Feyenoord in the Dutch League. Perhaps Franklin Foer is right and soccer truly does explain the world. Or at least is a good way to explain it to a 15-year old.
So in that spirit, my favorite gift I got for him is a red hat inscribed in black with the words "Futbol Revolucion" and below it the images of Che Guevarra and former Argentine great, Diego Maradonna, scorer in one game of both the most famous and infamous (the "mano del Dio" or "hand of God" goal) goals in World Cup history. I am not quite sure how Che fits into the beautiful game, but if it pisses off a right-winger it can't be all bad.
*Yes, FC Barcelona is also an acceptable answer -- and vastly my preference.
