Years ago, I had a podcast with my BFF at the time, and we ended that podcast with the question "What's buttering your bread these days?" and we would share something that was making us particularly happy over the past couple of weeks. Playing homage to those good ol' days with this ongoing series...
UPDATE: I was recently informed by my former partner in crime (@ljgolden) that the title of my blog series should be called "Melting my butter" not "Buttering my bread." I am humbled that my memory failed me but not changing it because mmmm... bread and butter.
There are only a handful of sports I loathe as much as I loathe "the beautiful sport" of soccer/football:
Lacrosse: I do love hockey, but lacrosse has always struck me as "hockey for rich people." Its brutishness, its violence, its attraction to Alpha-types. But off the rink, hockey players tend to be regular Joes and Janes. Off the field, lacrosse players tend to be the way they are on the field plus rich.
American football: hockey players plus the potential of brain damage.
Golf: Lacrosse players with even more money plus an excess of leisure time plus the idea that someone would want to watch them for upwards of 3 hours.
My loathing of soccer is rooted in the flopping, the dramatic reenactment of an injury that didn't occur. The writhing, screaming holding of their ankles in hopes that a penalty will be assessed on the players that barely brushed by them.
Worse still, players are taught this from a young age. Even (cough.) in high schools that claim a strict allegiance to their honor codes (cough.) which explicitly censure lying. Ever taught a star soccer player who is admired for his or her ability to flop on the pitch? The lying is the thing. The opposite of sportsperson-like behavior.
Thank you for coming to my TED Talk.
Oops, right, "Ted Lasso." I'm only toward the end of season one, so no spoilers from me or from you, dear reader.
If ever a premise of a show put me off it was this one: "fish-out-of-water bumpkin American football coach who knows nothing about soccer hired to coach a failing team and deal with his ice-queen boss and bullish players."
No one told me Ted was basically Mr. Rogers on cleats. That his boss was aspirationally icy cool. That many of the players were brutish jerks with good hearts.
It's so refreshing to watch a (barely about) sports show where the protagonist isn't an anti-hero coach whose tough love whips his players into shape. Ted is the opposite of steely and problematic. He has problems, but he isn't problematic.
The trailer for season one doesn't do it any favors. I have a friend who hails from a rural area of Kentucky who refused to watch the for a long time based on the fact that she figured the show made a mockery of Ted because of his accent and the fact that the trailer shows mostly Ted being flummoxed by this new culture.
She finally caved and loved it. It was when she came back with a positive review that I caved too. And I love it. I find myself looking forward to my "time with Ted" every day and I am rationing episodes so I don't finish it too soon. (UPDATE: I finished "Ted" on the same day I wrote this.)
"Ted Lasso" stands out as a good example of a show that needn't be binge-watched to be enjoyed. Give it a shot and I'm pretty sure you will "SCORE!"
Do they yell that at soccer games? I don't know.
(UPDATE: No, it's "GOAL!")
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