Everything Is Fine

Category: Sports

Posts about sports

  • The World Cup is fine

    So we’re through the group stage of the 2026 World Cup. It’s kind of hard to be patriotic at the moment, what with the everything going on and also the fact that a good number of the USMNT members are shitty people, but it’s still okay to root for your country. (It’s also okay to root for other countries!)

    And sure, FIFA referees were blocked from entering the host countries for various reasons. And the Iranian team is allowed to play games in the US, but not stay overnight, so they have to commute back and forth from Mexico every game day.

    And yeah, FIFA is a terribly corrupt organization, for requiring New Jersey to charge over $100 for train rides that cost $15 other times, and for awarding a “Peace Prize” to someone who then went and started a war (and then basically surrendered in that war, leaving everything worse than before it started), and all the graft that came with hosting past World Cups. Oh, and expanding this year’s cup to include 16 more teams so that there can be more games so there could be more ticket sales and more TV money, but in exchange for bringing in teams that never should have qualified and have no shot at beating anybody ever.

    But some of those “terrible” teams got to make a showing on a grand stage. Curaçao came in ranked #82 in the world (in a field of 48), and of course didn’t win any games, but did score a goal in their opening game against Germany. (A game they lost 7-1, but Brazil, with 5 World Cup championships has also lost 7-1 to Germany before.) They also managed to draw with Ecuador, who’s ranked #23.

    Cape Verde made their World Cup debut, scored 3 draws in the group stage, and plays in the knockout stage against Argentina. (Where Lionel Messi will probably score like 5 goals against them, but still…)

    The stories from Boston of the Scottish fans experiencing tailgating and Red Sox games are also beautiful. (I mean, “beautiful” in the sense of “hey, both countries really just love drinking beer and watching sports”, which probably isn’t the *best* way to form international camaraderie, but I’ll take it.)

    And the stories of people from other countries discovering Americana like barbecue and ranch dressing and whatever is… whatever. I mean, barbecue is good, so I’m glad more people get to have it, but also, a lot of these “hey, see, people from other countries like America!” stories are just to try to cover up just how shitty things are and how poorly we treat foreigners.

    But hey, major sporting events mean more opportunities to gamble! (I’ve won about $200 so far!)

    So watch some soccer (or football), root for a country (that may or may not be the United States), maybe bet a little money (actually don’t – gambling is generally bad to do, but whatever), and celebrate the world watching together.

    It’s fine.

  • Formula One’s 2026 season is going to be fine

    Last weekend, we finally saw the first race featuring the new 2026 F1 cars that people have been complaining about since pre-season testing began. The cars are too slow! (Granted, they are I guess a few seconds a lap slower than recent years under the old regs.) They’re not as powerful! (They still put out about 1000 horsepower.) They’re too hard to drive! They’re too easy to drive! (Yes, generally, driving them requires more attention to more things, like the battery and when to brake versus lift and coast, and they do have a little less downforce, but some drivers have said that the actual racing is easier since the cars aren’t as fast as they’re used to.)

    But you know what? We had multiple lead changes in the opening laps. We had virtual safety cars due to reliability issues (and not collisions or cars in the barriers – at least during the race. Oscar Piastri binned his McLaren during the reconnaissance lap and Kimi Antonelli smashed his Mercedes up during FP3 and (due to a lucky red flag in Q1) managed to have it put back together to run qualifying.) letting teams make decisions around pit strategy. (And Ferrari appears to have made the wrong ones, per usual.)

    Mercedes looks like they’re back. Ferrari looks… competitive? There’s less of a gap between Red Bull and junior team Racing Bulls. The rebranded Saubers (now Audi) did ok with the one car that started the race. The new team, Cadillac, was there!

    We’ll see how it goes – right now, there’s basically one team in front and the rest battling for the podium, which isn’t great, but that’s F1. Last year, it was McLaren, before that it was Red Bull, and before that, it was Mercedes. Now it’s Mercedes again, but with McLaren using their power units, we’ll see if they catch up. We’ll also see if any in-season upgrades close the gaps, or if there are any driver shakeups.

    As I’ve said before, the “drama” in F1 isn’t who wins each race, but all the other nonsense up and down the field and between the races. It’s fine.