(final) mente | 2.19.25
This season would have ended in late September of last year. But it is of even greater importance that across all 27 episodes of this show, we have not dedicated a single post to celebrating the life of someone whose sheer importance to humanity itself has always extended beyond an ever-changing form of art that we continue to love.
While Sócrates would have been 71 years old today, there remain countless glimpses of his words made real against this shared state of contemporary football which has always seemed to exist. Published eight years before the height of his career, Geoffrey Green's book "Soccer in the Fifties" had already documented various proclamations of the game's lack of individualism, footballers being overcoached, and the game itself not being as fun as it used to be.
Even in a world that has continued to blossom with interconnection, a deep admiration of our most essential differences is constantly clouded by a form of judgement that is about as detached from the beautifully distinct reality that Sócrates spoke of in his life, which continues to take shape in equally weighted triumphs beyond football's greatest victories - whether that's a newly-promoted club finishing 3rd for the first time, or a last-gasp strike marking a beloved stadium's passionate farewell.
However many iterations of its art will pass us by, the imponderability that football provides us with will always be more priceless than the glory it has chased after since the game was first conceived. That a footballer's greatest victory has already been won when the context of their unique resonance to its art has been fully realized.
Those who only seek perfection in this game seek to conform, and each reinvention of it represents an abundance of opportunities for those who seek magic. For those who watch the space have made use of it for themselves, and in ways that show the world who they really are. Such is the wonder in art, but even greater is the beauty and essence of its gift to embrace change.
A special thanks to all who supported this show to the very end. We might return with something new, but until then, always watch the space.
for the kids 026 | macht den spielern (7.2.24)
If the champions of the previous season are any indication of this show's penchant for unique triumphs, then our final episode elevates Napoli's specific notion of conquering superstition. It is one thing to achieve the impossible, but to say that Bayer Leverkusen have embodied it completely is an understatement to this day. What's more, they've opened their account into a new season the only way they know how.
Prior to the 2023-24 season, there was an unspoken acceptance that all Bundesliga clubs were perpetually associated with the impossibility to unseat Bayern's superimposing dominance. In all fairness, the last decade of Bundesliga action had been tiredly sold to the masses as the nation's two-horse race. Nevermind that Spain's own had far more eyes on it around the world.
Enter Germany's prime development academy - a springboard for winning alumni in Hakan Calhanoglu and Toni Kroos, and, prior to last season, one of the emptiest trophy cabinets in Europe's top flight. However many times that Dortmund have failed to clinch a title berth, none of their most recent shortcomings are as painfully looming as Leverkusen's treble loss of 2002.
So how did a club so synonymous with failure craft the absolute team to beat?
This week arrives as Leverkusen have crowned themselves unique treble winners, snatching every domestic trophy in record time to remain the first German club to do so undefeated. Watching one match alone is enough to grasp a spirit that honors the power of the players, and their dynamism that outpaced Bayern's laboured exploits to the top.
There are so many things that people wish to see in a team, and wish to have in society at the moment. One of these is a joy that fuels Leverkusen's resilience, and their refusal to settle for victory is something to live by, for every win they've engineered has always been nothing short of well-earned.
For 51 games and counting, Leverkusen continues to hold the world's attention. And it always starts with the players themselves. If success can look like this, then why wouldn't you watch the space?
oto no mirino: sounds from the viewfinder | 8.1.24
at the very beginning of this show's third season, we left a sidenote on @darnell_duckworth 's impending immersion into east asian pop. seven months and seven episodes later, our beloved host has only managed to live up to that with all but one episode so far (however inconsistently they've been released).
at this rate, they continue to shrug off consecutive inclusions of red velvet songs like it's nothing. perhaps they've been unconsciously celebrating the group's tenth anniversary this entire time, but much like the fate of several groups they've grown to love, the reason for this sudden change may as well be shrouded in mystery for years to come.
this week's mix arrives in what has been the busiest and most difficult period in our host's academic career. the excessive fiddling on virtualdj is all you really need to know about the sounds and songs that have scored this period of endurance - which also happens to specialize in that same vein of escapism that the art of football has provided for many people the world over. it's a constant act of oscillation between sheer admiration for the craft and equally palpable hesitation for the systems that develop these unique forms of entertainment.
regardless of our awareness of the monopolies at play, we tune into j-league matches at 3 am for the same reasons that almost every walk of life across the pond flocked to the nearest television to witness the biggest girl group perform their latest hit on a helipad 15 years ago. unfamiliar as these two things once were, it turns out that we hold reverence and preserve a fondness for these intersections of culture more often than we think.
then again, their reach alone helps us understand the value of the bigger picture before its impact is ultimately set in stone for future audiences to become enamored with. they're only two ways of cultivating an undying curiosity for life itself, but it's more than enough for us to keep watching the space.
