COMMENTARY: Five points on what’s wrong with soccer in general and the FIFA World Cup in particular.
KRAKOW — I usually find the quadrennial FIFA World Cup aggravating for the five reasons enumerated below, plus one other: my students here in the Tertio Millennio Seminar on the Free Society are sometimes so obsessed with the competition that it becomes challenging to keep our community of learners focused on the seminar’s deep dive into Catholic social doctrine.
But as we have few students this year whose countries even made it to the tourney’s knockout stage, interest is somewhat more muted than in the past. And I’ll admit that it’s been a good thing that World Cup tourists at the American-based matches are getting a taste of American friendliness and hospitality that (despite presidential interventions) nicely contradicts the country’s image in much of the world press and on social media.
Nonetheless, duty requires me to note what’s wrong with soccer (a.k.a. “football”) in general and the FIFA World Cup in particular:
1) Soccer seems not to understand that God gave us opposable thumbs for a reason. Opposable thumbs allow us to throw, catch and hold a bat or
