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GIVEAWAY EDITION
Did you hear? _____ is coming to MLS! (sigh) It’s been a slow month for those of us without a MLS team to fret about or who would rather read a story like this from ESPN than this from our best soccer reporter Steve Goff. Freshly freelancing Ives Galarcep claimed yesterday as “a busy day in the MLS world as the news is permeating throughout the league,” yet I’m still left looking for something worth reading beyond the headline. Even my mainstay crate digger du Nord hasn’t found much more than transfer rumors and coaching moves the last few weeks. It’s like we only have reporters, not writers (but now with a blog!), and they have devoted their lives to extracting every bit of rumor that spills from the industrial machine. So we get 746,283 tid bits and not a single story. For the first time in my life, I’m glad The Worldwide Leader is poaching feature writers from places that obviously have forgotten their worth. The boys from Bristol have produced some of the best (and only?) long form sports journalism in the last few months.
But I have had plenty to read lately. In a nice coincidence, I was introduced to the editor of the 900-page book (thank god for the index) The Ball is Round by David Goldblatt which can only be described as ‘the once and for all history of soccer on this planet.’ And I got my hands on a couple extra copies of the book, which I’d like to send to two lucky readers who may be feeling my - What, Who Is Going Where!?! - pain. So starting today and running through next Friday, I welcome you to write a comment on this post or e-mail me with your favorite written story from the last year. It can be from anywhere on any subject, on-line or off, a book or news short. Two participants will be selected at random to receive a copy of the book.
timoteo
on Jan 11th, 2008 - 3:02pm
Adam,
Know what you mean….
Hey, there’s always some good books. Let me turn you on to a couple I think you’ll really like:
Brilliant Orange: The Neurotic Genius of Dutch Football by David Winner.
Great book that explores the origins of and influences on and of the “total football’. It is an exploration of Dutch society and soccer. Well written.
An other one I’m reading now is Barca: A People’s Passion, by Jimmy Burns. It is obviously about the history of FC Barcelona and its meaing to the Catalan people. So far its been a good read.
One book that I had mixed feelings about was Soccer in the Sun and Shadows, by Eduardo Galeano. It is a “history” of soccer written through vinettes or snap shots of soccer and some of the players. At times I really enjoyed it, especially as when he descibed a player from the 40’s or a game, I went to You Tube and found video snippets of what he was describing (not always completely accurately). However, he uses the book to bash the United States over and over, in his “setting the world political scene” for each vinette, which really got annoying and superfluous to what he was supposedly trying to accomplish with the book. It almost seems he wants to use soccer to seduce readers who might not read his other books into his political philosophy. Anyways, it got to be obnoxious and ended up lessening a book that I would have otherwise found enjoyable.
P.S. Didn’t see the bottom of the post, before I wrote the above part. I gotta tell you, chasing chinlone and some of your other posts were the most thoughtful and and well written that I saw over the last year. Keep up the good work. You definitely have found a niche in the on line soccer scene.
In one of your other posts, you talked about starting a magazine. What I love about a blog, or on-liine magazine, is that you can link to other multi-media like Video, Music, etc as I did while reading your Chinlone article.
sidenetting
on Jan 11th, 2008 - 3:16pm
hmmm…I like a good complaint now and again but this sounds a bit whiney. We’re very lucky that Ives has gone 24/7 now with news and half news and whatever hits his mind. Sure we need more long form writing, but that will come. Thanks for the work you do but I couldn’t be happier that there are multiple posts a day - even if many just try and 1up the other. Who cares. I love soccer and anything written about it.
timoteo
on Jan 11th, 2008 - 3:27pm
Below is a link to a radio article on Operation Ultimate Goal, a Marine’s attempt to bring a soccer league to youths in Iraq, done by The World on NPR.
http://www.theworld.org/?q=taxonomy_by_date/1/20080111
Adam
on Jan 11th, 2008 - 4:32pm
call it whining, but be clear this is not an indictment or even a criticism of Ives, Goff or whoever. We need those guys doing their thing. But we also need guys to write investigative features.
Andrew
on Jan 11th, 2008 - 5:02pm
With this year being the year of MLS expansion rumors (at least through my lens… I’m from St. Louis) my favorite story has got to be Commissioner Don Garber’s interview in Portland concerning MLS expansion.
http://blog.oregonlive.com/timbers/mls_portland_expansion/
Bob S
on Jan 13th, 2008 - 1:00am
Although I think a great deal of my favorite stories from this year have come from this site it would be a disservice to provide your readers with just another link to your site. So I present a much different story, one of mourning and sorrow. I’ve never fallen in love with Serie A but the story of Gabriele Sandri really hit me and the tale of the unification of fans throughout Italy meant a lot. So from an Italian point of view I present spangly princess’ commentary on his funeral. Hopefully its a piece that will never need written again.
http://spanglyprincess.blogspot.com/2007/11/un-aquilotto-nel-cielo.html
Ian P.
on Jan 13th, 2008 - 10:12pm
Funny you mention the book, I saw this book and wanted to buy it at Books-a-million. But the Chinlone articles(especially the videos) provided me with a good incite of the sport, which is pretty amazing. I also enjoyed the fighting back fear article. It provided those that want to play at the collegiate level incite to what its like and the challenges you will face. Thanks and keep up the good stories!
Alex
on Jan 14th, 2008 - 3:08pm
I loved several stories this year - your pieces on the Arsenal scout, Beckham’s trip to Harlem, and the fear in the mind of the youth soccer stud come to mind. I loved the stories on the Marines and the soccer balls in Iraq. The strange tale of upsetting Iraqi locals by printing Koran prayers on the balls was notable too…. But, I know it is an obvious choice, but the story about the refugee kids in Georgia and the local mayor’s ban on soccer really touched a nerve with me. I believe it will be a movie. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/21/us/21fugees.html
chuck
on Jan 14th, 2008 - 4:09pm
Another great book that combines politics with soccer is “How Soccer Explains the World.” It explains the pros and cons of globalization while invesigating the game in various parts of the world, a VERY interesting read if you like essays.
By the way, unrealted to the recent post but in tune with the “barometer” . . . who is this 6′4″ striker that is featured on Yanks Abroad (his name is Etchu Tabe)? Has he played for Camaroon yet? Who fell asleep at the wheel of the Men’s national team in looking at this kid? Does anyone know about him?
Timoteo
on Jan 14th, 2008 - 9:25pm
The following is probably my favorite post of the year.
http://blueandcream.blogspot.com/2007/12/anything-can-be-instrument.html
It might not have succeeded at all levels but I applaud the audacity. To paraphrase the poet laureate of True Believers, Ray Hudson , “Aw, this is such a shame, this was almost a heavenly goal from the kid. He’s hearing this deafening applause because they know brilliance. This is class in a glass, look at that attempt. Sees it, curls it. Aw, agonisingly close, brilliant on the pace, that’s beautiful. It misses and I love it.”
It really shows the possibilities and the power of the internet as a unique platform for the weaving of multiple forms of media: sound, images and the written word, to create a piece of journalistic art that could never have been done in a print magazine.
Dave
on Jan 15th, 2008 - 1:42pm
Not sure why, but the story of the Iranian-American who returned to Iran to lead an Iranian club team to the top of the Iranian table struck the biggest chord with me. (Can’t find the original article I read, but this is a nice summary:
http://www.evenison.com/blog/?p=91
I like it because it’s about football and international relations, and how one man can bridge the cultural and geopolitical divide. I’m sure there are a lot of really good subplots in this story to make an excellent movie some day.
Rob
on Jan 15th, 2008 - 5:27pm
Well, I know this won’t win, but this was the best article I read (non-soccer related) all last year.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/story/0,,2147663,00.html
Andrew
on Jan 15th, 2008 - 6:21pm
A good book: The Miracle of Castel di Sangro. This “miracle” took place in 1997 as the village team of Castel di Sangro somehow managed to win promotion to Serie B. This book, detailing their hardships as they struggle to stay afloat, is much more than a soccer book, though. It describes Italian life and culture through a series of brilliant vignettes as well. Certainly worth a read!
Kraig
on Jan 15th, 2008 - 8:04pm
This was really a great question - what was the best item I’ve read all year - and to be honest, I’m obviously reading too much crap to be able to filter out the gems.
Since this is a soccer blog - one of the most memorable soccer pieces I read (for content, not necessarily style or insight) was the story of the all-refugee team in GA that was struggling to find park space to play - it was a really great story - immigrants trying to succeed in the US and doing something they loved and the xenophobic mayor trying to prevent the kids from playing on public grounds. Its really a microcosm of issues that the US is facing on a larger scale. Here is the link if you hadn’t read it.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/21/us/21fugees.html?scp=4&sq=fugees
I’m having a much harder time thinking about non-soccer related best reads. If I think of something, I’ll follow up.
joejoejoe
on Jan 20th, 2008 - 3:08pm
I may have missed the deadline but my favorite piece in ‘07 was ‘The Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis and How Language Affects Our Understanding of Soccer’ by David Keyes at Culture of Soccer. Lots of fun, smart analysis of terms like libero, enganche, trequartista, and la plancha.
http://cultureofsoccer.com/2007/06/19/the-sapir-whorf-hypothesis-and-how-language-affects-our-understanding-of-soccer/#more-414
Nick
on Mar 20th, 2008 - 8:38am
I liked this article about Randy Lerner’s success in winning over the fans at Aston Villa: http://pitchinvasion.net/blog/2008/01/21/how-an-american-won-over-english-fans/
The Ball is Round by David Goldblatt: Read It | Pitch Invasion
on Sep 24th, 2009 - 12:20pm
[...] Update: if $16 is too dear, you can win a copy of The Ball is Round over at Adam Spangler’s This Is American Soccer. [...]
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