After all these sacrifices (see note here), it transpires that what the plucky Brits really care about is not so much creating a fairer society, but playing golf and visiting garden centres. FFS. I give up. As Ian Rush is said to have commented about, um, living in Italy, it’s “like living in a foreign country”.
Anyway, following the recent moratorium (welcome to many, no doubt), as sport furtively reappears like a cockroach from behind the fridge, here’s a little roundup of some highlights from the sport tag—not least, connections with ritual, and with feminism.
Snooker—starting with 5’20” of inspired fluency from the great Ronnie:
Daoist football https://stephenjones.blog/2017/09/28/daoist-football/
Football: among many posts,
- Daoist ritual and football (including ancient Chinese women’s football, and men moving the goalposts—”Typical!“)
- The Zen of football
- Confucius referees a match between German and Ancient Greek philosophers
- more women in sport: Belated recognition, Letters from budding feminists, and Lionesses, YAY and hmm
- Roy Keane and a fine headline
- Jesus jokes
- Jesus of Benfica: a cautionary tale
- How to waste time (yet more from Jesus)
- Brazil: the national anthem spurs the team to artistry
- as does the Italian anthem
- Tango for Messi!!!
- Folk cultures of Europe—inspired by Euro 24!
- An improvisation for the qin zither inspired by a brilliant goal by Michael Owen
- Zidane: Script to an iconic head-butt, and Real and Zidane
- Futbol in Turkey, then and now
- Football in Stalinist Albania
- An imaginary Norwegian centre-forward in the 1959 Cup Final
- Spot the Ball competition.
Rugby:
- Ritual and sport: the haka (also featuring Morecambe and Wise, Morris dancing, and The Rite of Spring)
- A sequel: Rugby in Paris!
- A guide for bemused rugby fans
- Rugby balls and violin strings.
Tennis:
- Cocomania
- Naomi Osaka: Enough already
- A playlist for Emma and Leylah
- A tribute to Roger Federer’s divine backhand
- Ogonek and Til—inspired by grappling with the pronunciation of Iga Świątek
- Wimbledon:
- Line judges! and an update!
- The purgatory of the tennis circuit.
See also
Not forgetting
- The great Katelyn Ohashi
- Pierre Boulez and darts
- Archery contests in Bhutan
- Masked ritual ice-skating in Tuva
- Inter-faith ping-pong.
And even
Stephen Jones: a blog 