Adam Kadlac
@ajkadlac.bsky.social
I teach philosophy at Wake Forest. Author of The Ethics of Sports Fandom (Routledge, 2022) and The Magic Kingdom and the Meaning of Life (Polity, 2025). www.adamkadlac.com
Strong "Cosmopolitan Fandom" vibes in @jonathanliew.bsky.social's piece here (complimentary). www.routledge.com/The-Ethics-o...
The Ethics of Sports Fandom
Fans largely regard sports as an escapist pursuit—something that provides distraction from the cares and concerns of
routledge.com
Jonathan Liew@jonathanliew.bsky.social · 2w agocolumn on the world cup and the fragility of nationalism www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
One of my fundamental sports beliefs is that referees don't care who wins the game, and that it's really better to watch sports this way.
Sometimes people tell me soccer players would just all be nba stars if they were born in America.
NBA Stat@nbastat.bsky.social · 4w agoKylian Mbappé, leading scorer at the World Cup, with Wemby. Sweet mother of God! 😳 #NBA
This is something I've grown to appreciate (even love?) about American soccer culture. It would be great if the USMNT program could figure out how to use our weirdness to its advantage. (No, I don't know exactly what that looks like.)
Jason Davis@davisjason.bsky.social · 4w agoAmerican soccer culture is weird and dislocated and I think that makes it really hard to know if our men's national team punches at or above its weight.
Hard agree. Playing poorly isn't the same as lacking heart.
Ryan Rosenblatt@ryanrosenblatt.bsky.social · last mo.And the USMNT didn't lose today because they lacked heart. They were overwhelmed by the moment, but still played incredibly hard. Still gave it their all. And their heart was a gigantic reason they started the tournament so well. On the whole, this was a standard USMNT World Cup. As it should be.
I immediately looked up when the Crew play again. (It's July 22 against NYCFC.)
SickosFC@sickosfc.bsky.social · last mo.I know we’re all exhausted, but can I interest you in the first qualifying round of Champions League tomorrow?
Yes. Apparently, it's "Country Roads" as long as the USMNT keeps winning. 🤷♂️🤷♂️🤷♂️
Emily Nussbaum@emilynussbaum.bsky.social · last mo.Is there a song of the summer yet
This is the right take (but obviously too much for some people).
Jason Davis@davisjason.bsky.social · last mo.Can we just say it's cool to root for your country's national team if you want your country to be better than it is but it's also understandable to see the USMNT as an avatar of the bad stuff and root "against" them or whatever? Or is that too much
You can stay at my house in North Carolina for half that! (Easy flights from Greensboro to Sea-Tac for the game will still save you $$$)
Jay Willis@jaywillis.net · last mo.If you are coming to Seattle for the Round of 16 game you can stay at my house for $10,000
I don't make predictions, but the Belgium matchup is decidedly #notbad for the USMNT.
Jason Anderson@jasondcsoccer.bsky.social · last mo.Got a couple replies about worrying about Belgium and I feel like those people are clearly diligent workers who were on the clock earlier and didn't see the first 84 minutes against Senegal
Sports stresses ranked: 1. NCAA Tourney Stress (Basketball is the most stressful sport for me to watch.) 2. World Cup stress. (This should maybe be #1, but my history with basketball is longer.) 3. NFL Playoff stress. (What am I going to do with my weekend in January if the Packers lose?)
I didn't watch the USMNT with a few thousand people in a college stadium, or buy a pay-per-view and pledge my life to Conor Casey, or drive six hours to watch Jeff Larentowicz try to run a midfield, for some goobers who hate my guts anyway tell me I can't enjoy this team anymore
macamps.online@macamps.online · last mo.I’m not letting a bunch of assholes that did nothing but make fun of soccer not-stop just have it. Fuck that shit dude.
Biggest day for this since the USWNT's gold medal game. Stay strong, use your group chats when needed. We can get through this without amplifing the worst soccer take anyone ever saw, I believe in us
Jason Anderson@jasondcsoccer.bsky.social · 2mo agoWith today's USMNT friendly marking the informal start of Drive-by Media Takes on Soccer from People Who Never Otherwise Think of Soccer season, I urge all of you actual soccer people to really consider whether the take is worth engaging with
Not just this, but 17 players on their roster hadn't played a club match in more than four months when the World Cup started because the league was suspended after their country was bombed. What these players have had to overcome is remarkable, and shameful.
Jeff Rueter@jeffrueter.bsky.social · last mo.Not sure we fully appreciate that about Iran. One of the two earliest World Cup qualifiers, advanced from AFC qualifying as efficiently as Japan. Best chance yet to reach the knockouts for the first time in history. Forced to play an entirely different tournament, logistically. Such a shame.
“Scots discovering tailgating” could be a real Prometheus stealing fire moment
If they really wanted to make this a home World Cup for Canada, there'd be a break at 30 minutes and at 60 minutes and we'd skip halftime altogether
Here's my review of Boykoff's "Red Card". It's an excellent book and I highly recommend it. Also, it is short and incisive, so you still have time to read it before the World Cup kicks off! FIFA and the World Cup is sportswashing Trump’s America idrottsforum.org/wojjak_boyko...
FIFA and the World Cup is sportswashing Trump’s America
Published on the eve of the soccer World Cup in the United States, Mexico, and Canada, Jules Boykoff’s concise, power-packed philippic Red Card: The 2026 World Cup, Sportswashing, and the FIFA Greed M...
idrottsforum.org
"Which is to say it was a perfectly normal morning, no better or worse than any parent of any kid might have. Normal is not what we would have predicted in those first 24 hours. But normal is what we have." This is one of two messages on this. I wrote about #DownSyndrome and prenatal testing.
Perry: An influencer couple had an abortion, then spread misinformation about Down syndrome
Last week, YouTuber Jesse Ridgway (McJuggerNuggets) and his wife Ashley announced she had an abortion earlier in the week after a prenatal diagnosis of Down's. But the debate that followed was full of...
startribune.com
Pitching has also significantly exceeded my expectations to this point in the season.
Adam Kadlac@ajkadlac.bsky.social · 2mo ago12 runs on 17 hits. Only one HR. I'm allowing myself to believe the Brewers are good again.
12 runs on 17 hits. Only one HR. I'm allowing myself to believe the Brewers are good again.
“A deep love of country can coexist with ambivalent feelings about how the national team performs on the field. If patriots can disapprove of their country’s military adventurism… there is nothing fundamentally unpatriotic about not wanting the U.S. to do well in the World Cup.”
As an American, should you feel guilty about rooting against the US in the World Cup?
It’s one thing to pull for your national team when patriotism feels uncomplicated. It’s quite another when you aren’t feeling very proud to be an American.
theconversation.com
The World Cup starts next week, and some Americans may have ambivalent feelings about rooting for the USMNT in this political environment. I wrote about that tension for The Conversation.
As an American, should you feel guilty about rooting against the US in the World Cup?
It’s one thing to pull for your national team when patriotism feels uncomplicated. It’s quite another when you aren’t feeling very proud to be an American.
theconversation.com
