All politics and no mazy sportswriting makes Conor a dull guy: Years ago, when I was living in Barcelona and trying very hard to immerse myself into being a fully authentic FC Barcelona fan, I couldn’t help but idolize Puyol. He had none of Ronaldinho’s sultry gloss, nor was he one of the blaugrana’s vaunted … Continue reading
I’ve posted an essay defending inequality (?!?) over at the League. Don’t get mad yet—I’m talking about athletic inequality. Here’s a sample: All of the resulting fluidity often prompts complaints about the transfer market’s lack of fairness. These come from fans of big and small clubs alike, for we are all democrats now. We need parity … Continue reading
Jeremy Lin is the best player ever. Also the best person.
Is the NFL socialist? Well……..
I’m a trained political theorist. In layman’s terms, that means I’ve spent years of highly esoteric, formal training learning to make things up without getting caught at it. My brother, meanwhile, is a trained economist at MIT. He works in facts and counterintuitive arguments. So: if you’re looking for a break from my wild ruminations, … Continue reading
Yesterday Barça thumped Real Madrid again, 3-1—in Madrid. They’ve made such a regular habit of pantsing the “merengues” (which, come to think of it, isn’t a particularly intimidating moniker) that it’s getting hard to think of them as rivals anymore. Since José Mourinho arrived to head up the Castillian squad, “The Special One” has beaten … Continue reading
Memo to the White Sox, Twins, Indians, and Royals: ALL YOUR AL CENTRAL ARE BELONG TO US (Don’t get it? Look here.). And there it is once more. All of a sudden—baseball is redemptive again! Until 2006, the Tigers had been awful for my entire baseball-aware life. They faded as the 1980s ended, just in time … Continue reading
On the heels of Wednesday’s soccer post over at The Run of Play, I’ve just published another soccer column in the Washington Post. This one’s part of a back-and-forth that I proposed to their sports editors as a run-up to this Saturday’s friendly between FC Barcelona and Manchester United. Here’s an excerpt from “Why you … Continue reading
I have a new piece (my first) up this morning at The Run of Play. It’s about how European soccer tempts American fans to look past the field of play for deeper existential meaning. Here’s a small snippet: So on one hand, soccer-as-proxy is healthy. It diverts ethnic conflicts and solidarity around community identities into … Continue reading
