Barcelona

There is nothing like a well-timed loss. Right before the international break, FC Barcelona went to visit Real Sociedad, all pomped up after tonkings of Bayern Munich and Real Madrid, knocking four goals past each of them, an orgiastic exorcism that could only be more complete with dead demons and exultant clergy. La Real wasn’t… Continue reading The ‘Gulp’ factor and why Barça is still just fine

Beauty isn’t supposed to make sense. It is just supposed to exist so that we can marvel at it. In thinking of Andres Iniesta, who today announced that he is retiring from the game, the only thing that comes to mind is that something beautiful and extraordinary is departing the game, in a diminutive colossus… Continue reading Iniesta is leaving, with all of his beauty and illogical magic

Optimism is weird. Optimism is infectious. If you’re a properly indoctrinated culer, optimism is not to be trusted. Put another way, four people are at an ice cream parlor in the middle of an ice arena. The four wait staff skate over with perfectly made sundaes, the cascade of ice flecks as they skid to… Continue reading So … um … don’t look now but … is that something good?

In the quarter century that FC Barcelona has held my heart, it is difficult to think of a more grossly mishandled, heartless, incomprehensibly unprofessional situation than the dismissal of Xavi as manager of the men’s first team. It sits at the pinnacle of a mountain of unpreparedness, ego, stupidity and naked ambition, amid a world… Continue reading Xavi is gone, but the stench of failure remains

I let you down again / What’s another harmless lie between friends / Now you can’t be disappointed / I thought I gave you just exactly what you wanted These song lyrics, from “Exactly What You Wanted” by Helmet, are so apt in thinking about the suddenly ongoing tenure of Xavi as FC Barcelona manager.… Continue reading ‘Baby, please go,’ aka Reconsideration and ego

Football is old, sometimes seeming timeless. Then as now, pam-pam-pam-pam, ball to boot. The leather boots of the past have been replaced by space-age microfiber things, but football is the same. Another timeless aspect of the game is hope. Supporters, even as they know their team is set for another season of … not success,… Continue reading Xavi, respect and modern times in an ancient game

Being a returning hero is hard. It isn’t just the burden of expectations. That in and of itself is hard enough. When a hero returns to an institution that he essentially helped raise to glory, the burden can be Sisyphean. For what seemed like eons, for club and country, Xavi was the best midfielder anyone… Continue reading The ‘Inevitable’ Xavi makes an inevitable decision