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Who Should We Root For?

2018-03-13 · letter vlog · John · 3:37 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Sports · mode: Personal essay · tags: timely hook, fundraising ask, civic or action cta, community lore

After watching AFC Wimbledon beat Oxford United with Project for Awesome donors, John breaks the news that the US failed to qualify for the 2018 World Cup and proposes that people of the 179 non-qualifying nations pick a team to root for, perhaps for charity, arguing that football matters because it is shared and that caring is underrated.

What is said

The parts of the video and what is said in each (★ — how much it matters to the video).

00:00:00 — P4A donors greet Hank; AFC Wimbledon's 2-1 win over Oxford United lifts them to 18th

  • ★★ Project for Awesome donors joined John this weekend (10–11 March 2018) in England to watch AFC Wimbledon's 2-1 win over Oxford United, and greet Hank. — 00:00:02 · Project for Awesome, AFC Wimbledon, England
  • ★★ To stay in the third tier AFC Wimbledon must finish 20th or above; the win lifted them to 18th. (playful) — 00:00:09 · AFC Wimbledon

00:00:25 — Divergent news sources; the US men's team failed to qualify for the World Cup

  • ★★ His 27 hours in England reminded John that Americans get news from such divergent sources that they don't hear the same stories, let alone agree on them. (playful) — 00:00:25 · United States, England
  • ★★★ John breaks the news, from October, that the US men's national team did not qualify for the World Cup. (playful) — 00:00:48 · United States
  • ★★ The US lost qualifiers to Costa Rica twice, to Mexico, and to Trinidad and Tobago. (hedged) — 00:01:03

00:01:17 — Non-qualifying nations must choose whom to root for; the 2014 auction; a request for fundraising ideas

  • ★★ Italy, the Netherlands, Chile, Canada, China, New Zealand and many other countries also failed to qualify. — 00:01:17 · Canada, China
  • ★ John counts 179 nations that did not qualify for the World Cup. — 00:01:41
  • ★★★ John proposes that the non-qualifying nations band together as one bad-at-football world, pick one or a few countries and root all-in, perhaps selling their support for charity. (playful) — 00:01:45
  • ★★ In 2014 John and some nerdfighters auctioned their World Cup love and raised over $10,000 for sarcoma research. — 00:02:01 · Nerdfighteria
  • ★★ Auctioning support might still be best, but its downside was that rich countries donated the most, which took some of the fun out of it. (hedged) — 00:02:10
  • ★★★ John asks viewers to leave ideas in comments for raising money while deciding whom to root for. — 00:02:18
  • ★★ Viewers without ideas should read the comments and vote for their favourites. — 00:02:21

00:02:26 — Iceland and Costa Rica made it

  • ★★ Iceland, with a population smaller than that of Wichita, Kansas, made it to the World Cup. — 00:02:26
  • ★★ Costa Rica, which also qualified, just passed the US in life expectancy, as well as in soccer ability. — 00:02:31 · United States
  • ★★★ Those without a rooting interest in the World Cup need one, or face the yawning abyss of meaninglessness; John is not totally kidding. (playful) — 00:02:37

00:02:43 — Football is about community; we need to care about stuff

  • ★★★ Against those who call soccer the stupidest human activity, John says football is about community: it matters because we share it, and shared endeavors across divides remind us we are all in this together. — 00:02:59
  • ★★ Sport isn't the only way to feel that togetherness, but achieving it in sport helps us feel it elsewhere. (hedged) — 00:03:17
  • ★★★ John, not kidding, wants a World Cup team to root for: we need to care about stuff, and caring is underrated. — 00:03:23
  • ★★ Pope John Paul II (quoted): John quotes Pope John Paul II: of all the unimportant things, football is the most important. — 00:03:28 · first in: 2016-05-24, Easier Than IKEA: A Video in Two Parts

In the description and comments

  • ★ The description concedes the title should technically be 'For Whom Should We Root', but says language is alive and in the clarity business, not the rules business. (playful) — video description

Humor (significant)

  • John cites an 'old saying' about God closing a door — 00:01:09

    “But you know the old saying, when God closes a door how do you lose to Trinidad and Tobago?”

  • How could the US fail to qualify? — 00:00:57

    “I mean the United States is the richest nation on earth and FIFA is famously bribable”

  • AFC Wimbledon's win lifts them in the third-tier table — 00:00:19

    “And that win took AFC Wimbledon up to the dizzying heights of 18th.”

  • Going all-in for an adopted team means jerseys, face paint and chants — 00:01:56

    “weeping for joy and then sorrow and then joy and then finally sorrow.”

Threads in this video

Where the stories that moved here went next

Mentioned

Central: FIFA World Cup

Also: People: Pope John Paul II

Projects: Project for Awesome

Organizations: AFC Wimbledon · FIFA · Oxford United F.C. · United States men's national soccer team

Concepts: echo chamber · life expectancy · sarcoma · sense of community

Places: Canada · Chile · China · Costa Rica · England · Iceland · Italy · Kansas · Mexico · Netherlands · New Zealand · Trinidad and Tobago · United States · Wichita, Kansas

Also centred on FIFA World Cup: Mmmm....PARTS · You're Gonna Die · GOOOOOOOL!!!! · ALL THE SHIRTS (and some paths to community) · Your 4-Minute Guide to ALL 32 TEAMS at the 2018 World Cup · Sports are Dumb

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