Mas que un club

In the aftermath of the World Cup, Italy's mild victory, Portugal's sad tumble from the heights I'd hoped to see it reach, and the halting stop to Germany's unexpected advances—not to mention all stars with anger-management problems—I bring you a bit of soccer wisdom...

A dear friend gave me a lovely present, the paperback version of New Republic editor Franklin Foer's How Soccer Explains the World. I've been tearing through it in my brief respite before work picks up, and it's really exceptionally well-written. As Slate puts it on the back cover "It's as if Nick Horny, author of the brilliant soccer book Fever Pitch, commandeered Tom Friedman's laptop." I couldn't say it better myself--Hornby, of course, of High Fidelity and About a Boy fame, and Friedman the NY Times columnist and author of The World is Flat and The Lexus and the Olive Tree. Now I'm not a huge Friedman fan and Hornby can be a bit of a lite read at times, but this is still great stuff, for lack of better adjectives. Soccer runs in a strong vein through part of my family, and I've got quite a few European football fan friends. I've enjoyed the odd game I've seen, but the strategy always eluding me, as I lack the trained eye.... but this book helps bring the game to life and to light. Furthermore, it explains the deep historical nuances and often ugly and painful histories of many of the world's "great" clubs.

So, as I read through the last leg of the book, I realize I have found a team to which to pledge my allegiance. I quote:
"If you have liberal politics and yuppie tastes, it isn't easy to find a corner of the soccer firmament that feels like home. The continent has too many clubs that have freaky fascist pasts bleeding into a xenophobic present. And this is only the first obstacle to finding a team. You could never accept clubs with a cloud of virulent racism trailing after them. (Remove from the list of potential favorites, then, Paris Saint-Germain, Chelsea, Glasgow Rangers, Red Star Belgrade, and almost half the teams in Italy.) And for the sake of the underdog, you couldn't possibly abide the multinational conglomerates, like Manchester United and Juventus, which buy championships every year.

Barca elegantly fills this vacuum. Over the course of its history, it has self-consciously announced its sophistication. The Barca museum houses paintings by Dali and Miro. Outside its front gate, it displays modern sculpture, ranging from Donald Judd-like minimalism to neo-futurism. A disciple of Le Corbusier designed the roof of its old grounds..." It goes on.... and perhaps I have found a sports home.