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Hello, all!
Today at the top is forward Rianna Dean, who scored ten goals in 18 games last season.
Ramble of the Day
I think very frequently about how football is an almost all-encompassing thing, either showing us or allowing us to experience so many different aspects of the human experience. I’m a football romantic by nature, but I spend a lot of time thinking about the things that make me laugh. I’ve developed a relationship with the sport where I more outwardly appreciate the funny things than the gorgeous things, and I think it’s because the sport is sometimes more funny than beautiful, except for the times I occasionally tilt my views to see the beauty in the ordinary. That said, I see beauty in the funny things, and enjoyment in the some of the excruciating things because there’s frequently something a little bit funny about them.
Let’s talk about own goals. They’re not supposed to be good; being a supporter of the team that scores one is awful, being the person who scores them is even worse. I can’t help but laugh at one that has something silly going for it, and that’s frequent enough because a number of own goals are the result of accidents. I definitely wouldn’t laugh if it was terribly costly — I have a heart, after all — but if the stakes are somewhat low and I don’t have a soft spot for either the team or the player, I’ll probably laugh. (Before you ask — I have laughed at Spurs own goals, so even teams I like aren’t exempt from my laughter.)
It stems from my interest in being entertained, and usually an own goal is that. It means I generally enjoy penalty shootouts, though the exception I recently discovered is when they come as I’m watching a game late at night, tired and sleep-deprived. They are harsh, and I do feel for the teams that lose them, but the entertainment is right there. Matches that get there aren’t inherently even, even if the scoreline reads that way, but advantages are almost entirely stripped out, and someone’s bound to do either a very good thing or a pretty bad thing. Hopefully, it’s more the first than the second.
There’s also something I enjoy about bad defending, so bad it’s almost reckless. It’s entertaining in its own right, much like an own goal can be. Bold choices aren’t to be made just by attacking players, and so I appreciate every player that tries something, even if it doesn’t pay off and occasionally leads to something disastrous. Whether it works or not, I’m thankful for the effort. In the end, I’m always just thankful for the effort as long as I’m entertained by it.
tl;dr: Just some random thoughts about how I like unconventional things about football, like own goals and penalty shootouts.
Stay informed, read this: Gianina Thompson defines and spotlights cultural appropriation in the fashion and beauty industries for InStyle
Links of the Day
The Ballon d’Or will not be awarded this year after the football schedule was dramatically altered because of the coronavirus pandemic.
The Spanish second division game between Deportivo La Coruña and Fuenlabrada was postponed after seven Fuenlabrada tested positive for COVID-19.
Former CONMEBOL president Juan Ángel Napout was diagnosed with COVID-19 in a Florida jail while serving time for his role in the FIFA bribery scandal.
Monaco hired Niko Kovač after firing Robert Moreno over the weekend.
Borussia Dortmund signed Jude Bellingham from Birmingham.
A longer read: Danica Kirka profiles Jermaine Wright, an NHS pharmacist and an influential figure for the Hackney & Leyton Sunday Football League who died from COVID-19 for the Associated Press