Sam Morales

[Sam Morales @S_morales77]

I don’t see the fascination with signing 36 year old declining defensemen until they’re 40. But that’s just me

[Sam Morales @S_morales77]

@HonusBandicoot @icecoffeallyear @JackMac @CaptainCons Agreed. We have a top 15 squad despite soccer being one of the least popular, and by far least lucrative sport option for men. All the incentives go towards football, basketball, and baseball. Hell, college has the CFP, March Madness and college World Series. Soccer doesn’t.

[Sam Morales @S_morales77]

@Coyredsbcfc @SebSB Yall didn’t do this for Qatar, but a incorrect red card being remediated is what would cause this? Europeans are wild.

[Ellen Carmichael @ellencarmichael]

The most interesting part of the red card saga isn't the ruling. It's how differently Americans and Europeans process the idea that they might have been wronged.

Europeans are fundamentally different from Americans in one particular way: they expect life to be aggravating and at times unfair. It's just a fact of moving through the world. I joke that in Europe, the customer is always wrong. You didn't read the fine print. The only pharmacy in town is closed every other Tuesday for three hours, and even if the times weren't posted, that's still your problem. Too bad if you want the bill, because the waiter's on his union-mandated half-hour smoke break, and you're just going to have to wait.

To quote the great Mark Knopfler: sometimes you're the windshield, sometimes you're the bug. There's something freeing in that. Things are less in your control, so there's less angst in managing your expectations.

In America, things couldn't be more different. We simply can't accept a wrong left unrighted.

The flight attendant sneezed handing you a drink on your one-hour flight? 15,000 frequent flyer miles. Didn't like your appetizer? A replacement is on the way, and the whole course comes off the bill. There's a reason our interstates are lined with trial lawyer billboards.

Europeans have turned complaining into a continental pastime with no expectation that the universe owes them a remedy for their grief. You gripe about the train being late, your friends nod solemnly and everyone goes back to their apéro. In America, we launch a full-blown investigation of the train system, sue the government (and its contractors) that allowed for the tardiness and hold a Congressional hearing on the state of national infrastructure.

So to an objective observer, the red card shouldn't have happened, and VAR was a travesty. To Americans, our star player shouldn't be unfairly banned from a match we couldn't afford to lose for a card he so obviously didn't deserve.

Who cares that FIFA used a little-used reversal to fix it. Who cares that other people are mad about it. We. Were. Wronged. It was unjust. It must be corrected. We would accept nothing less.

Europeans waxing poetic about the sanctity of the game are, of course, talking about a governing body whose last tournament host was decided via confirmed cash bribes — one that imposed dress codes on women, shrugged off widespread allegations of modern slavery and reconfigured the entire tournament calendar to suit the host country. Which is exactly the point. If you've made peace with all of that, at least enough to watch the tournament four years later, a probationary suspension isn't actually a scandal.

Maybe that's the real divide. Over millennia, Europeans have made peace with being the bug. Americans have never once considered it, and apparently, we're not about to start now.

[Sam Morales @S_morales77]

@avergesportsfan @PFF You’re off on literally every point other than needing a defense still

[Sam Morales @S_morales77]

@tradwife29 @break_for_it See, this is where you lose me and instead sound like you just want to create scandal. No, “pretty much all” parishes are not openly LGBT. You’re creating a problem that doesn’t exist for clicks all because your own group had decided to become Protestant. It’s sad frankly.

[Sam Morales @S_morales77]

@ItsCaspius @Acolyte83349490 @PopePiusIXStan I think you fundamentally misunderstand the vocations crisis if you think it’s caused by women being allowed to be altar servers.

[Sam Morales @S_morales77]

@GibbsInForSix @Destiny2Team Lore accurate thundercrash

[Swaggy Unc, IQ 267 @swaggyunc]

Eating in Mexico coming from England or Scotland has got to be a transcendent experience. Like seeing colors for the first time

[Britt | 🌟 @SlavBritt]

I think the worst part about this whole FIFA thing is that they didn’t even allow people to experience an American Tailgate.
What do you mean they don’t get to experience free hotdogs grilled by Bob while he slams Bud Light out the back of his F-150?

[Sam Morales @S_morales77]

@Brownsideisup The best part of America are the people. The worst are the politicians

[Mike Beauvais @MikeBeauvais]

This World Cup is giving us phrases never uttered before in human history and I think that’s beautiful

[☈ Chris Jackson ☈ @ChrisJacksonSC]

Imagine if this World Cup was happening in America before social media.

Like imagine @FreddyLA7 going back to Germany and explaining to his friends and family that he saw Messi score a goal shortly after the Americans released a trained Eagle to fly around a college stadium with 90,000 people in it.

Or hearing @elsathora describe the “ranch sauce” to her circle of people.

I’m not a soccer guy at all, but I’m 100% loving the timeline right now with people genuinely enjoying the real American Experience for the first time.

[kofie.substack.com @Kofie]

World Cup travelers watching Joey Chestnut

[nazzo @nazzobetweeting]

i’m so mad at fifa for banning tailgates at the world cup. these euro tourists would’ve lovedddd getting free hotdogs and beers shoved into their hands by an overweight dad named bob

[Sam/FIFA Brit @FIFABrit]

Things Europeans have discovered in America since my last post

-the SEC
-Buc-ee’s
-eagles
-hot dogs
-the state of Indiana

[Austen Allred @Austen]

I’m creating a list of all the accounts traveling to (and experiencing) the US for the World Cup.

Follow along + let me know who else I should add.

https://t.co/8Z9Oqua7LF

[Louis @HoopsTalk13]

I’m telling my kids this is Christopher Columbus.

[Dean Ammi @AlgerianFooty]

🗣️ “I want to say thank you to Algeria for choosing Lawrence, Kansas.” 🇺🇸

The locals in USA are all getting behind Algeria. 🇩🇿

[𝕿𝖍𝖊 𝖕𝖍𝖎𝖑𝖔𝖘𝖔𝖕𝖍𝖊𝖗 🫯 @philosopher14_]

@FreddyLA7

[🥤Soda🥤 @soda_xbt]

@FreddyLA7