#fuck you maradona

[meowmeowmessi]

also you can just tell by the way these stannies talk about messi that they only started watching football after 2018 (or worse: 2022)

#unless they're an outright hater (read: cr kelly stans) ppl generally talk abt messi with a sense of awe #football pundits and the greats like pele cruyff etc etc regarded him as the best of the best #and here you have these kpop stans on twt calling him washed while propping up their starboy #like you just /know/ the ball knowledge is zero #when ppl talk abt leo they compare him to maradona and cruyff meanwhile their point of reference is fucking ronaldo 😭 so embarrassing 😭 #sry my head is so hot rn i really shouldn't be letting the opinions of some 15 y/o on twt get to me #but elon has been testing my patience for quite some time now

[neptunianashes]

Europeans always saying the best football is in Europe with the exception of Brasil and they are always shitting on Argentina. Brasil has 5 world cups, Argentina has 2 even tho we reached the finals many more and lost them only in the final 5 minutes of the match or less and there were questionable referees. When you see the scores between Brasil and Argentina it’s crazy how evenly they are it’s always a 50/50 the data 42 victories to 41, whereas germany won 5 matches against Brasil and lost 13. So, if Argentina vs Brasil it’s always head to head why europeans are still always trashing us, this is not only france Mbappé trashed Argentina a lot this year but he is not alone, belgium and germany do this all the fucking time too. Brasilian best players in the history of this sport like Pelé, Neymar or Ronaldo are never alone in the top, and they are always being compared to whom? to ARGENTINES and not fucking europeans, they are always compared to Maradona, to Messi. stfu europeans challenge you ain’t shit.

[cant-get-no-worse]

I mean Messi and Ronaldo both won lots of ballon d'or young but wasn't it just because there wasn't any other good player around? like Messi was good, but not a young prodigy like Erling or Mbappé. He became very good after a few years though. Ronaldo too he was alright in United but only became really good at Real Madrid, meanwhile Erling for his first season at City broke every record and Mbappé is considered amongst the best while still in PSG. He won the world cup at 18 I mean!!

Why... are we having this debate, again? It makes it seem like I have a beef with these players when in fact I don't. Love Erling, like Kylian as persons. But buckle up because I won't stand for career revisionism of the two grandads, even Ronaldo, cause ain't no fucking way the football world held ten years of obsessional, insufferable rivalry for youngsters to barge in and say oh, actually, were they that good?

I don't know a whole lot about Ronaldo because I only followed him through the Clasicos/RM era. But he wasn't "alright" in United. He was, at 18, compared to G. Best, David Beckham, etc. Was already decisive in finals. Won his first Ballon d'Or there at 23. There's a reason his transfer to Real was costly and such a show; he was way more than "alright". As much as I despise the guy's guts — I liked him alright when he was younger, but the traits that irked me at that time that I could dismiss as youth are now still present and even worse as a grown ass man, and I can't stand it — he was a fantastic football player. Will of winning, his work ethic, his football. He was absolutely lethal to play against.

Messi, well. I won't ramble on it because you can find that anywhere, really. Before he reached 20 years old, he was considered amidst the world best players. At 18 years old, Maradona said of him he was "the player who will inherit my place in Argentinian football". Ronaldinho (at the time ballon d'or winner and viewed as best player in the world) said he "wasn't even the best at Barcelona", refering to then 18 years old teammate Leo. He was seen as one of the key players carrying a failing Barcelona team while being fucking 18/20 years old or something. I haven't got words for him. Genuinely. He's a magician, a genius with the ball, he embodied football. At 18 just like as 25 or 33 he was making you shake your head in disbelief at the sheer insanity of his goals, assists or playmaking.

Both Messi and Ronaldo being 36/38 now kind of make new football fans think they're just those washed versions of themselves and overrated. I assure you. Those fanboys, medias, pundits, coaches and ex-players were not obnoxiously talking about them h/24 for nothing. 18 - 28 years old versions of Ronaldo and Messi would make an utter mockery of any current player in the world, and I'm weighting my words.

Those two hags both embody the exact meaning of young prodigy, and I'd say Messi even more so. Personal preference, I leave it up to people. The fact that they were considered as such before they won any international trophy such as the world cup as, as you pointed out, Mbappé won with the French NT at 18, answers your own question and tells you stricly everything you need to know. They were the best players in the world all seasons long, from when they were 18/20 to more than ten years. They were absolutely ridiculous. Hope we can enjoy such rivalry with Erling and Kylian, but it's not the same, since it's all about stats and awards now, football is taking airs of NBA. It's different. It's not style versus style. That 2007 - 2020 decade was wild, and as much as I dislike this saying, you just had to be there.

So yeah, they were that good. They were even better than that.

#anon ask #<3 #messi #ronaldo #football

[mariki33]

PART 2

The Nordmark pod interview translated SWE-ENG

I have left out Per Nordmarks moments of reminiscence..

Please excuse things lost in translation and lack of knowledge in the English language 🙈

I also want to say that translation from spoken words to written can be quite challenging at times..

Enjoy fellow Ghostie's 👻🖤🇸🇪

T: -For my part it's very important. It was this, that was so fucking hard on that tour, i didn't get to have my days off. Days off,, you don't need them because you don't want to play, but to break the repetetiveness. On the level we are, in my regim and the way i want to do it i really feel we should do that. Mainly because we aren't 19 anymore. We are, we must keep up, we have to stay in shape to make it work. So when on the road there isn't much party and no more than to see to you're in shape and been sleeping enough. Stuff like that. A really good way to get out of shape is to get wasted drinking. It really makes you feel like shit.. It's fucking awesome a couple of days and the it's -Oh Fuck! But instead it can be really good to, it's gold when you have TWO days off, Then we always do it like this, the few times we have two days off. It doesn't happen often but when it does we always have a tour crew party. The first day so everyone get a day off after. It's very important.

……

…

T :No people tend to think it's like travelling. Like a vacation. And it isn't', It really isn't, and i believe, when you're not in a touring band or a professional like that. I think you have a vision that being a professional musician and touring a lot ,is like, creative,, -And it isn't. It's kind of repetitive. There are creative periods..-And of course you can have creative moments when ever. And I, I come up with ideas all the time, building for the next step or figure out something new. But the "work" in itself is repetetive.

….

N: Its not like, write a bunch of new songs on tour.

T: I can't do it like an obligation.

…

T: I think one may do yourself a disservice.. Have you ever brought a book to read on tour and ended up not reading it? It's classical and i've done it so many times, and eventually figured out, -I won't do that. I pack lighter and simplify things. And in that same fashion i plan my days now. It's based on me,, all the time, is here to work. The, my days off now.. One thing i do, and i like really much, when i have free time, and come to cities i've been to for several times, and especially when you have mate there, then the best thing is to visit them in their home. Or, just hanging out with someone "sightseeing" with someone who knows the town. Or, have a friend flown in and make a "tourist thing" together, a side step.

Because then you'll Moon walk in the the next day and -Fuck Yeah! Let's do this!!

…

…..

One thing! I give can you a tip. Now, someone who do professional soccer or Soccer in general. Correct me if i'm wrong. But, one thing i always do, especially if i feel a bit down in the dumps for some reason. It's like, in the dressing room i put You Tube on. And put on a video with something you're sure of made you want do to what you do. You know..Like: " Let's spend the night together".. Queen live, you know, Wembley -85/-86. Like that! Something that makes you OUUHAHH !!! Then i remember my dream and how far i am. And i've thought of this when it comes to soccer or hockey, or whatever. Like -"Do you ever play a compilation of"… Well, kids of today what do they like, closest to it gotta be "Zlatan".. Because, our generation it would be "Maradona" or.. "Don't you play a compilation of his greatest goals"? -No, never.. -"Why not!! It's ga ga ga, It's that, that is the dream. Damit! Like "Iniesta" scoring the last goal, last second, and wins the whole thing. That's the whole idea with this. I believe! ( "who never played soccer").. Or Freddie Mercury Wembley -85 or -86 It's the whole idea with why i want do this. So you have to remind yourself of the of the dream.. -Then i'm back on track.

…..

..

N: Did you ever doubt if you ended up in the right place?

T: Eh, ahh,, In connection to being part of "Crash Diet" (or the Crash Diet that we were part of, that was something different than it became later) my world opened up. I grew up with, with very melodic music like . Ehh, i went, it was a mix and came from a mixed, but everything have always came out of rock. But A lot of Pop radio and all that it was in the eighties, and like, the legacy of the seventies eem, Then it was my brothers music. He listened to everything from Hard Rock, Ee. to punk and synth, and a lot of stuff. And then there was my moms sixties influence. So when i had been digging around in death metal and black metal in almost ten years,, -Yes when i was 22 i'd been doing death metal since i was 12. So for ten years nurturing a dream. If I'll be completely honest with my dream for Repugnant it was to,, It was "old school death", but i thought i somewhere, it would be possible to make it a "thing" or something. I thought, if [Tobias mentions a couple of band names, can't hear what i says] can do it. Or Pestilence or the fuck, others. I thougt we'd be signed with Road Runner going on tour supporting Slayer. Like, i wanted to become a real band. There were so many bands before us that had made it.. And i couldn't understand why we were ..But we was so extremely out of date, we didn't work in the era we where in, in the end of the nineties. So, in the beginning of the twenties, i was about 20 then, it started to show up a lot of "rock stuff" Both in Sweden, it was sort of rock, its hard, to without sounding harsh but i don't mean anything by it, but like action rock, easy rock and all that. In 2000-02 And there was the strikes and Frans Ferdinand and all that happened. So i went like, -The fuck, wait! Like i also want to play melodic music too. Because i have it im me. Eh mm.. And it was like tricky in the beginning. I met David Hellman, or Dave Leppard. Ehm..and he also wanted to play rock eeh.. and then it showed he wanted to do sleezy rock, While i was more like…My sleeze taste, i definitely don't mind the seventies glam rock, and i like Guns 'n' roses, but, but Aeeh, and Skidrow will do, But then There are a lot of stuff definitely! don't like. And he really wanted to go all in on Poison, Some of Stryper and a lot of other stuff and shit that i absolutely didn't like. So i felt in someway that i can't do this. This is not. And on top of that, it was his band and i .. Nope, fuck it!.And then i strarted a pretty long experimental phase of not really finding my way home..

…..

…

N: Asking about Onkel Konkel..

T : No, it was only three gigs

N: How did that happen?

T: Thomas the drummer from Repugnant, and at the time also Crash Diet and Subvision. Thomas was one of my best buddies and we played in several bands together. I remember it something like this -Thomas, you right me if i'm wrong. Because i might be. But i recall it something like this. Bengtsson, all ours Bengtsson from Cafe 44, came up to him like -"Du you want to play in Onkel Konkel". And he told me this story. And i , what the hell .. I also want in. So, well, Thomas told them i said that -"So you can come to the next rehearsal" And they probably just done one before. And then Bengtsson had put together a band for Håkan. Who then would act in these three gigs that were booked

N: And that was the only gigs..?

T: Yes, the only gig before that was in Hultsfred -93

N: Was there a gig before "Sondtrack of our lives".. bc one of the gigs were on " Nalen"

T: Yes, its very possible Soundtrack played the day before or after..

N: I've heard somewere you're in to horror movies. Old horror movies.?

T: Yes, Yeah

N:,Have you been inspired by film music aswell?

T: Very much, absolutely. And, well i don't know how to elaborate that, umm, To me, besides me liking, i'm interested in cinematic in general. But i got stuck early, for different reasons, for different horror movies. Once again I'll have to explain it by me having a pretty liberal upbringing. A very liberal home where there weren't any actual rules, more like guide lines. But you know it was the eighties,, And it worked with just a note from my mom to show at the video store. And then i could rent anything i wanted.

…..

…. ….

T: I'm VERY afraid of the dark. Regretfully i am, and i was so early on.

….

… ..

T: But if one should try looking at it with a " the glass is half full"l perspective. It's probably all about having a vivid imagination. And the critical thought in it all would be one watching to much and that it started it all, but I'm not sure .. There were a heck of a lot of delusions long before horror movies was a thing. Like, read "All the creatures of the woods" That people have made up totally uninfluenced by horror movies. So i believe one have a relatively elastic mind. And just aswell as one can come up with a funny joke or something, one also have the possibility to go down the dark corridor, make it something creepy.

Even if realistically i understand it probably isn't something out there, in the woods…

….to be continued

#ghost #the band ghost #tobias forge #rock #interview #impera album

[misguidedasgardian]

Separate the person from the artist?

I'm kind of opening up a debate

Do you separate the artist from the person?

I stopped listening to Chris Brown (it was hard, I still have "International love" on my playlist)

I hate Maradona because he was a creep, and it was hard for me to watch him being almost canonized, no matter he won my brothers a world cup

Woody Allen? the fuck? his movies are boring as f*ck, and I'm never watching one again!

Tom Cruise? and the weird cult he belongs to and what he had allegedly did to Katie Holmes?

I'm talking about a wide range of "artitst" and their "persons"

But I'm just wondering?

Now listening to Ariana Grande brings a sour taste in my mouth, from the scandal with that married guy, and his wife coming up saying she wasn't a girl's girl, or sm, its a whole other level (lower than the others), and the evidence that it had been speculated that she broke up couples in the past... but still...

#misguidedsays

[tinynebula]

fucking hell this feels like a mythical story or something winning the world cup could bring happiness and joy to the entire argentinian people and arguably the entire lationamerican continent we have nothing else we've been beaten down again and again and again and most days it truly feels like there is no reason so believe in anything anymore and the fucking french couldn't give less of a shit if they lose they'll be happy if they win but if they lose it's fine but if we lose i have no idea how we're going to recover because winning after decades of defeat after defeat a simple game of kicking the ball in the worldwide stage a game we know how to play since we're able to stand a game that's a part of our dna at this point, that will be a symbolic victory. winning against france it's not just that it's a symbol. it's like maradona scoring against the english with his hand and calling it the hand of god because that's how you fight imperialism, with symbols. fuck. i don't anyone deserves this victory more than messi.

[ikram1909]

Since the topic came up about good footballers who are bad people, I’d like to bring up Kyle Walker. Obviously nowhere near as terrible as what Maradona did, and also comparatively is in the norm for some footballers, but apparently he’s gone and cheated on his wife again. He posted something about it on Instagram story. He also allegedly cheated on his wife with this same woman before and apparently has fathered two children outside of the ones he has with his wife with that same woman. His has reportedly dumped him now, but it’s really depressing the shear number of top footballers who’ve gone on to cheat on their significant others who’ve been with them for years.

Football players who don't cheat on their partners are a dying minority atp because wtf? Like I'm not even surprised by it anymore. I honestly don't why get married or be in a serious relationship if you're not ready to settle with one person only? Just stay single and fuck however many people you want. Him having children on the side too is crazy like do his kids even know they have siblings and how do the kids with his mistress must feel not being able to be seen with him in public... Like that's a lot of trauma he's inflicting on those children too 😒

[wordspin-shares]

Waiting at the airport in Napoli for the flight back. Things I've learned during my stay here:

Italians (or at least the Napoletani) are some of the most "I don't give a fuck" drivers I've come across

Crossing the road here is an adventure in itself

The people are very friendly

Diego Maradona and football are their gods

Going some ways off from the main streets and piazzas, you see a different side to the city

Napoli is a city that grows on you

I would definitely come again

#effie speaks #travel musings #napoli

[uniteds]

napoli should be ashamed of themselves. reducing your best player since diego fucking maradona who won you your first title in 30 years to a racist caricature as soon as he hit bad form is sickening. it’s sickening regardless of who he is, but it just highlights how conditional acceptance is for black players that they went from chanting his name to being so openly mocking and racist within months just bc he’s had a few bad games. they would never do this to a white star.

#ssc napoli #victor osimhen #he should sue the shit out of them

[swaggypsyduck]

for the ask game: Free-kick

Free-kick: Do you consider football as a sport, an art or an entertainment ?

another depends answer lolol. i think id switch the word sport w stress tho. bc how do i allow 22 men to give me stress acne every fucking week. do i never learn??

but on a real note football being an art form depends on the players playing it. bc u watch maradona, ronaldinho, zidane, thiery, messi, and neymar and say "that's art. you cant call it anything else. how dare you call it anything else". there's this epidemic of boring straight cut football that makes me so sad. where is the fun? where is the technical skill? it's heartbreaking to see. but it's also entertainment. it's watching stressful games and yelling at the tv w ur family. it's banter w ur friends who cheer for rival teams. it's cuddling w ur dad on the couch from a bad period day and watching the ball teleport from ronaldo nazario's feet in between the goal posts. it's taking a ball to the park/street and having complete strangers join u and laughing at getting nutmegged by said strangers. it's entertainment in the way entertainment brings us together as a community.

i like to think it's called the beautiful game for so many more reasons than it's surface lvl sport appearance.

so yah... that's my answer!

#its the game of the ppl #u as a brazilian know this better than most🫶🏼 #ask game #moots🫶🏼

[bettercostume]

"he is partially so appealing simply because he IS an untouchable mini mangod"

it's fascinating to me that so many people have used the exact word "alien" to describe him ever since he was a teenager, how does that affect a person and how we view him

but also, who is Arwen in that scenario, ney or kun?

u are not wrong!

(ETA: sorry this is so long but you came to my house so i am assuming you're fine with the following!!!! SORRY! BUT ALSO NOT!) I have like an entire wine-fueled musing (tm) locked and loaded about messi: the alien phenom, and it meanders over the following discussion topics that always come to mind whenever i see stuff like that: 1. why the fuck did they choose alien?! insane ability surpassing that of a human, but also being terrifying, unreal, exotic, unnatural, off-putting. both building up and explaining and dismissing and celebrating all in one breath: the little alien! I have no idea when it was first used, (I think very shortly after his debut?) but it was likely also reintroduced as fuel to the big CR7 vs Messi debate: cristiano was loud and proud and meanwhile messi was...just some guy who was very good at football. Emotionless, one might say. I think combined with his very well-known soft spokenness and the height thing, it was an option for setting up these opposites as the undesirable freak and the sex god. Whatever, I dropped out of journalsim. anyway. Eventually it becomes more of a positive connotation. As a complement, it sets the bar pretty high, but I think it's also a reputation every single person who watches him play is intent on upholding, even if they're opponents. I think in its most generous interpretation, in alien leo we as a collective sporting community are trying to hold on to something emotionally resonant without calling it that.

Every single thing that makes a match so exciting in the moment also has the power to puncture an idol's career just as easily. So it is frankly insane to have been able to watch his whole career thus far and be cognizant that we are supposed to be watching something incredible and for it to be sustained, by his performance and our baited-breath goodwill. A PR wet dream, if I am being real with you. And the success also increases the aptness of this moniker, so he's not freed from it, it just becomes more and more of who he is. So in a less generous reading: this would have become a curse in other circumstances.

I would love to do some sort of media analysis on how messi was described vs maradona vs pele vs ronaldinho vs every other south american phenom who has made an inedlible mark on football and the world. I think the arc from freak (negative) to freak (affectionate) is helped a lot by the fact that he has no personality* and played for the same team for twenty years. But jesus look at me go! ANHYWAY.

I also think that "alien" implies a kind of longevity that no one should have pinned on him. You can grow out of being a freak or a savant, but you don't grow out of being an alien. You adapt but are eternally strange. So that's weird, right. And it has morphed over time into something more affectionate, but it still has this forever separate suggestion that is a little haunting, if I am being honest!

2. why leo. i think about that a lot, actually, how like neymar did insane shit with his feet as a teen that i cannot believe but he's brazilian and he dances and he kissed the girls and made them cry, that's primo ace footballer narrative right there baybey! no need to call him an alien, we have the narrative set! (and messi already existed, and there could not be another yet.)

3. in its least generous interpretation, and to me the saddest: being some little kid from argentina sent across the world to spain for life-changing injections and being an outsider from that point on is a reality of this guy;s life. "messi's suitcase" did the rounds after the WC, but its useful to remember that he legit was what americans would call a legal alien, esp in the parlance of that time. i have zero idea how he felt about this personally, or how it would feel to see yourself called an alien, professionally, after devoting your young life to another country. but the narrative presented to us, the audience, from his birth as a football savant to present is that he wants to do it for Argentina or bust. So! one must assume that made an impact.

I think also with the arg natl team we are seeing players who already have this media-built image to grasp on to when they're trying to explain their feelings. I think, by the way, these feelings are beautiful and very real, and also objectively hilarious to witness when acted out on a man who is still just some guy. obviously they all, to some degree, are entranced by leo the legend, and whereas previous generations grew up playing with him, these fellas grew up watching him. so he's already at a remove.

Also Neymar would be Arwen, and Kun would be Boromir. Ney has the enchanting elfin personality, Kun would look great dying in Leo's arms.

* no visible personality. obviously he's bewitched every man he's ever been in a 10-foot radius of, snagged a lovely life partner and according to less giddy teammates he has jokes for days. he just has 0 interest in doing any of this publicly and hit the generational sweet spot of being forgiven for having no social media presence.

**Also, this isn't entirely true, it just seems like it is. He's rolled his eyes and been shitty and flopped face-first on the ground and spat and stuff, I am just as collectively bought into the whole deal! ITS ME, HI, IM THE PROBLEM ITS ME

#anon #this is not coherent at all but i don't want to do writing and this is juicy #he is after all just some guy!

[cant-get-no-worse]

Kay but. Imagine being Antonella. You’ve seen your boyfriend, then husband, and on all accounts love of your life struggle for fifteen years trying to fulfill the  legacy of Diego Maradona on his shoulders. You’ve seen him getting slacked, years after years, by his own country, called a Catalan, a pecho frio. You’ve seen him like nobody has. Imagine how confusing it must be for his kids, who just a few years ago were asking him why do they kill you in the streets, now standing in the middle of a stadium chanting his name, utterly adoring him.

Like, fucking hell.

#arg v panama

[neptunianashes]

Europeans be like: I didn’t want argentina to win the world cup because they played dirty dicks in 1986 when they did an illegal goal with a hand against England. For me they are cheaters and they should be ashamed about winning the game like that. meanwhile argentines:

Malvinas, FORBIDDEN to forget!!!! Argentina since that goal has gained a reputation for cheating, as if we were not robbed and cheated on by the most imperialistic country of all without us couldn’t do shit about it other than leaving us a ball and 11 players the only way we had left to fight back for our islands and dead kids. You can call any argentine for that and they will all answer with being the most proud cheaters on the planet earth, the “hand of god goal” was a political act on purpose. And even then we played better because after that goal, Maradona did the named “goal of the century” to show them that not only we could humilliate them with the hand but also to show them we were also better than them playing clean and real football on the pitch, to show them that we could humilliate them any way we wanted to that day. Europeans shut the fuck up challenge if you all don’t know we had a literal war against them just before that world cup. It was personal for us and we are proud about it.

[f0xd13-blog]

If you go for my maradona's cup aka my cousins cup aka me primo's cup I'll fucking kill you

[mcity-xe]

messi is the greatest footballer in the world your norweigan ghost will never touch him 😴 get back in the womb and stop worrying about a sport you didn’t know about until last year

Honey did you not read my last statement correctly? Are you blind maybe? Darling I never said that Erling was better them Messi, or as good as him because he isn't. But he sure as hell isn't a shit player.

"Get back in the womb and stop worrying about a sport you didn't know about until last year" sweetie I ain't worrying about shit. But you are, thats for sure, I have my own opinion and I am merely saying the stuff that is inccorect; I mean you're arguing with a fourteen year old, FOURTEEN. Like real mature of you princess.

Besides, thank fuck I've been watching football since I knew of myself and I'll sleep tonight with peace knowing that people get so butt hurt over actual facts.

And sure Messi could be the greatest footballer in the world, right now, but was he the best, 20, 30, 40 years ago? In the 80s, 70sy etc. ,in the time of Cafu, Maradona, Ronaldo (not Crostiano Ronaldo 💀), Zidane, Figu, etc.? No I dont think so and sure he is the best at the moment, I can say that much but he wont be the best ever. He never was the best player ever, and he wont be because times change and so do people.

#and once more thank you for the ask pičko ♡

[offthefieldsmau]

⚽ 3.282 💙💙💙

There was something to be said about the ingenuity of spiteful thirteen year olds. Ed had been explained (in many words, often overlapping one another) that the Knights were their arch rivals. Ed understood a rivalry; the Swasbucklers had their own rivalry that ran deep in the Australian football world (fuck the Wellington Baronets as long as he shall live).

The low-down on the rivalry between the Pirates and Knights was as followed:

It was a sort of “Mighty Ducks'' scenario. At tryouts for the Knights two years ago, many players were turned away due to skill level. And not just “thanks, you’re great, but we’re looking for more experience—”

As it was explained to Ed, there ended up being an all-out brawl at an indoor soccer field due to the harsh words the Knights directed at what would soon become the Mission Viejo Pirates team. Parents, coaches, and players alike hurled insult after insult, and it reached a breaking point.

When he first heard this, Ed didn’t believe the players. Teenagers exaggerate things! They once asked Ed if he ever played with Diego Maradona (whose career ended the year after Ed’s began, of course. He took much offense to this). It wasn’t until Ed asked Jim and Pete, that his jaw dropped to the floor.

Shockingly, they confirmed everything. Apparently the team dads were brothers and it all started because of beef they had with Stede? Back in the day, blackmail, boarding school nonsense that Ed didn’t pay quite close attention to. Of course, when it came time for the Pirates to play the Knights, Ed was ready. The team made it clear they wanted— needed a win.

And he was going to make damn sure they won.

Which brought him to right then — watching the Knights players arrive: single-file (like a bloody drill-team), enormous “C” on the captain jerseys (ego much?) and stupidly, annoyingly posh looking. Their gear was brand new, their uniforms shiny and—

Where the fuck were Ed’s players!?

Ed had been delayed himself (stealing Stede away with a little purchase he made a few weeks ago). It wasn’t like he was late— he had been at the park, just…in a different part of the park. In private. When it came time, Ed was serious — his phone was forgotten in his pocket and he wouldn’t touch it unless it was necessary.

As if on cue, his team appeared from around the building behind the bleachers. They marched in single file in an exact mirror to the Knights, who arrived not moments ago. Alma was at the front, followed by Maia, of course, but—

The entire team managed to get exact replicas of the Knights’ uniform. Alma wore the giant “C” on hers, followed by the team in shiny blue jerseys. Music played from the loudspeakers of the building they emerged from.

We Will Rock You. The first song Ed put on their warmup playlist. Fondness grew inside Ed (who laughed as he clutched his clipboard). The team marched to stand in front of him, waiting.

Ed got the hint, and straightened his spine. “About-face!” he shouted.

The team turned on their heel, in front of him with the cutest mad-dog faces he had ever seen. Thirteen tweens and barely-there teenagers looked at him expectantly, with an energy that Ed recognized.

Hunger — they craved a win. They craved respect—

They craved revenge.

Ed knew a thing or two about that.

“I’m not happy you’re late on the field,” Ed smirked, trying to be stern. “But, this is pretty funny. However—”

“Excuse me!” A red-faced man in a blue polo charged over to interrupt. “What the hell is the meaning of this!?”

Another man was beside him, identical in stature and expression. Two boys pushed between them, bee-lining for Alma and Maia.

“Do you think this is funny!?” One of the kids fumed. Ed recognized them as the boys who antagonized his players a few weeks ago at practice. “You have no right to wear that jersey! It— it’s sacred!”

“Yeah, sacred!” The other boy shouted. “This is—”

#off the field #off the field smau #otf smau #ofmd smau #chapter three #prose