I read a lot of sports articles. I used to read most of them on ESPN.com, but then they lost Pat Forde. (And since he now supposedly works for Yahoo Sports, I looked him up and finally found The Dash reinvented.) So I've moved over to Grantland for now, a spin-off from ESPN, writing about sports and pop cluture (ooh, ahh..).
This is a small excerpt from this weeks article that I just happen to love, and I love it a lot because it's so true, and because I love soccer. (I love soccer more than I love football in general, but not as much as I love college football specifically.)
Letter to a Coach
Coach Saban,
First off, let me say you have a fine, fine football team. The running game and the defense are just fantastic. I'll make this quick because you're busy. Tuscaloosa probably has a part of town where Latinos are concentrated. If not Tuscaloosa, then certainly Birmingham. In that part of town there will be a makeshift soccer field, or maybe even a real soccer field. On this field you will find children of all ages for whom kicking a ball is easy, second nature, and who haven't lived lives steeped in American collegiate football lore and therefore wouldn't be super-duper nervous if asked to kick a weird-shaped ball through uprights that to them would seem a gaping target. After you've chosen your boy, explain that he will receive a college education at one of the top 100 state universities in the nation if a few dozen times a year he kicks the weird ball through the uprights for you. There may be a moment of confusion when the boy thinks he has to actually hit one of the uprights with the ball, and then when he realizes he merely has to kick it anywhere between the uprights, both of you will laugh, and laughter knows no borders.
It's true. And speaking of soccer, my own Real Salt Lake lost to the stars of the LA Galaxy last week, which means the Galaxy will be hosting the Houston Dynamo (what's a Dynamo again?) for the MLS cup next Sunday (Nov. 20) I believe it will be broadcast on ESPN or ESPN2 for those interested.
