Observations from The First Round of the Group Stage
Does Goalkeeper Kit Color Influence the Results? After the Cabo Verde keeper Vozinha played an incredible match to hold FIFA #2 ranked Spain to a goalless...
On Joyful Resistance Through Sports
First, an update on the visa situations The Somali referee who was denied entry, Omar Abdulkadir Artan, had multiple posts criticizing Trump on social media....
On World Cup Broadcasting
If you look through Bluesky, and probably some other social platforms, you will find many US-based captives of Fox Network’s FIFA deal complaining about the...
It's World Cup Time: 2026 Edition
Have you been expecting me?
An Ode to a Big Weird Ship-thing
In which I resist the urge to tell you every number I can find about this very weird, very big ship-thing.
Feats of Mediocrity
I’ve drafted like, four dispatches in the past week, only to dump them halfway through because they feel trite or boring or vague. So you’re going to get...
A Fully Objective Ranking of the Stadia on my Trip
I visited 9 different stadia on my trip, and this gives me a unique opportunity to do a little middle school level compare and contrast, in which I promise...
What's next, then?
There’s no match today, but there are trains, so you get a dispatch. My flight isn’t until 5:30pm local time, so instead of revisiting the WaPa while I...
Bad Supporter Behavior and Other Bummers
I woke up feeling completely better, once I took a hot shower and cleared out my sinuses. I went back to a coffee house that I’d gone to a few days earlier...
Saturdays Are For Lots of Football
I woke up late in the morning feeling a little better, no longer feverish, but with a sore throat still. I got myself breakfast before catching the train...
One more time for Stoke City
My match for today wasn’t until the evening, so I thought about taking a train to somewhere on the south coast, just for kicks, but decided to spend the day...
The Next Great Footie Pundit
Last night, I woke up at 2am and was utterly and completely awake. All done with sleep. I’m sure it had nothing to do with the Red Bull from the Chelsea...
Did you say mail rail???
It's a train! A train for the mail!
This is what it feels like to be champions, I hear
Something lovely about my trip so far is that every match has been different, each providing a different experience. The match for today ended up being very...
When the vibes are more rancid than a forgotten Easter egg in June
I’m a little behind schedule, due to setting a highly unrealistic schedule for myself, fully problems of my own making, but here we are. As of the day I’m...
Rail Replacement Buses and Parked Buses
What a peach of a goal
Finally, seeing Stoke City live in-person
I was there
Well. I’ve had a hell of a start to my trip! Let’s rewind. First of all, the train count is now at seven, if we include locals: London Underground Piccadilly...
While I was flying...
What an interesting morning to be jet-lagged and trans!
Exploring WaPa, my least favorite neighborhood
Waiting in the airport and/or the WaPa