Status Updates From Soccer and Philosophy: Beau...

نویسنده‌ی اسپانیایی و جوانِ یکی از فصل‌ها، یادی از احمدی‌نژاد می‌کنه و اینکه چطور با بی‌شرمیِ تمام، شهروندانِ کثیری که به نتیجه‌ی انتخابات اعتراض داشتند رو با هوادارانِ تیمِ بازنده تشبیه می‌کنه و معتقده که اونها معترض به تقلب توی انتخابات نیستن و فقط کونشون سوخته...چیزهای دیگه‌ای هم در ادامه می‌گه به عنوانِ شوخی.
آدم نمی‌دونه باید شرم کنه یا بخنده.

همه‌ی گستره‌ی جهان را گشته‌ام و در ورزشگاه‌ها دست‌هایم را برای کمک خواستن دراز کرده‌ام : به خاطرِ خدا؛ یک حرکتِ زیبا لطفا!

-ادواردو گالئانو

آرژانتینِ عزیزم حذف شد؛ که من ریدم توی فوتبال و فلسفه-اش.

برخی از مردم اعتقاد دارند فوتبال بازی مرگ و زندگی است. من برای این نگرش بسیار متاسفم؛ فوتبال خیلی خیلی مهم‌تر از این‌هاست.

-بیل شنکلی، سرمربی فقید لیورپول

وقتی پپه سامیتیر در سال 1972 درگذشت، هواداران چنان بزرگداشتی از او به عمل آوردند که معمولا برای یک جوان ناکام برپا میدارند. این حقیقت که سامیتیر آشکارا یک فرانکودوست بود مورد چشم پوشی قرار گرفت: او در عین حال بسیار به بارسلونا وفادار بود و موفقیتی که به عنوان بازیکن بارسا به دست آورد، مهم‌تر از جزئیاتی مثل عقاید سیاسی او بود. سامیتیر بارسایی بود و بارسا بسیار مهم‌تر از سیاست است.

تا اینجا فوق العاده بوده . من البته انتظار داشتم یکم تاریخچه بیشتر از فوتبال و مثال های بیشتر بیاد که تا اینجا زیاد نبوده ولی به نظر میاد فصل های بعد این روند بهتر میشه

Chapter 20 - "Tell me How You Play and I'll Tell You Who You Are" - The title is a quote from Eduardo Galeano, and the chapter has little that might be called 'philosophy' in it. It is all merely a reflection on mythmaking in football related to regional identities--the Basques, Barcelona, Hungary, and Dynamo Kiev in particular.

Chapter 19 - "Villa till I Die!" - Uses the Ship of Theseus metaphor to explore the nature of a football club, like Aston Villa, applying Baker's 'constitution' theory to resolve the dilemma.

Chapter 18 - Playing the Derby - Not sure how this made it into the volume. There's no real philosophy here, and only a shallow bit of sociology in an article explaining the passions of the derby game to the, presumably, already initiated (which I assume for the intended audience).

Chapter 17 - The Evolution of the Football Fan and the Way of Virtue - Being a football fan can fulfill certain identifiable needs for a healthy life, mentally, socially, and even physically.

Chapter 15 - Embellishing the Ugly Side of the Beautiful Game - That was the most bizarre chapter from any of the '... and Philosophy" series I have ever read; not necessarily bad, just bizarre.

Chapter 10 - He Had to Bring Him Down! - Is it possible to commit a philosophically good foul? Yes, but only in a very limited situation.

Chapter 8 - What's Luck Got to Do with It? - A classic example of how academics can analyze ANYTHING! And at first, it seems really interesting. Yet by the end, we see that it is also a classic example of how academics can OVER-analyze anything, even to death. And end up saying almost nothing interesting.

Chapter 7 - The Hand of God and Other Soccer . . . Miracles? -- A classic example of the philosopher trying too hard and ending up saying nothing of any value. (Oh, and Maradona is nothing but a cheat, like most Argentinian soccer players.)

Chapter 6 - Can Robots Play Soccer? - How would you have to tweak the rules of soccer to ensure a "real" soccer match between robots and humans? Intriguing...

Chapter 5 - Plato and the Greatness of the Game - The author attempts to teach Platonic thinking through soccer: first, he uses "the soccer player Form" to show why Pele and Maradona were 'great' soccer players, then he uses the four cardinal virtues to explain why Beckenbauer and Zidane were (usually) 'great' soccer players.

Chapter 3 (Nietzsche's Arsenal): Makes a case for Nietzsche choosing Wenger's Arsenal as his favorite team.

Chapter 2 (May the Best Team Win!): Explores those cases where the "better" team doesn't win... started with promise, but in the end failed to fulfill.

Chapter 1 (Why is Football so Fascinating?): "Nothing compares to this incredible variability and the unpredictable mixture of ability and chance in the beautiful game--apart from life itself."