Requiem for Match of the Day (and The Sanctity of Unspoiled Endings)
There’s a wonderfully prescient exchange in Whit Stillman’s 1990 film, “Metropolitan,” wherein the know-it-all main character is interrogated on all the works of literature he can’t stop referencing. “You don’t have to have read a book to have an opinion on it. I haven’t read the Bible either,” he reveals, by way of defending himself. “I don't read novels. I prefer good literary criticism. That way you get both the novelist's ideas as well as the critic's thinking.” Befitting Stillman’s cinematic meditations on the [...]
England May Have Wrexham AFC (Est. 1864) … We Have the Baltimore Blast
Americans have developed a soft spot for expertly produced, soccer-centric docuseries and “Welcome to Wrexham,” in particular, has engendered a specific appreciation for futbol clubs older than dirt. As a sporting culture, we have traditionally struggled to give a fig about this concept. The Chicago Bears, for example, don’t make a big deal about having been established in [...]
GZ Audio Book Now Available!
DOWN ON PAPER PRODUCTS? NO TIME TO READ? NO PROBLEM! LISTEN TO GENERATION ZERO — OR OPT FOR THE E-BOOK
The print, audio and eBook versions of Generation Zero are all available right now! Click here to purchase.
Book of a
lifetime!“It’s taken my entire lifetime for soccer in this country to move from obscurity to the status of big time sport, and over those decades, Phillips was the journalist I knew who stuck it out and followed that fascinating ascent. Now he is ready to share the story with sports fans everywhere.”
‘Masterly’
“Hal Phillips has done a masterly job of celebrating the players and ’80s era that set the foundation for today’s American soccer culture. He has produced a valuable history of the players, who despite no pro league and myriad frustrations kept the game alive, and he pulls back the curtains on how they came together to create a national team that today ranks among the world’s most noteworthy.”