"The world is a smaller place now."

Photo by Elizabeth Shaw

Link to Elizabeth’s gallery of the match

Racing v. Wave 4-19-25 — Fleur-de-lis FC

Stolen The Wire Epigraph

“The world is a smaller place now.”

For those of you who haven’t seen The Wire, it is basically just a 60-hour commercial for Mint Mobile.

You can think about the reference above in multiple and maybe opposite ways. Here is how I am thinking about it. When Racing joined the league in 2021 the league was in a much more insular, and as it turned out, really bad place. The pool of coaches and available replacement coaches wasn't great. The roster rules frankly limited teams (although based on who some of the coaches were that was actually a good thing).

Now the world is smaller. You can get better and more proven coaches to relocate to America and coach teams. You hopefully don’t have to hire as many dirtbags (although you never know). You also don't have such draconian and antiquated roster limitations. You can call this the world being smaller or the world being bigger, based on your perception. You can’t deny that the NWSL world is different. In this world Louisville is a dinosaur. We all know what happen to them.

Losses like this tend to bring out the blame game. THAT game is rigged (also a The Wire reference from Season 1). I think plenty of people have seen The Wire and moved on with their life with their perception unchanged. (I really enjoy writing my “The Wire is” bits. Obviously, it isn't really a Mint Mobile commercial although there is some truth in that one.) The Wire didn't change my perception completely, but it did alter it and make me think of problems and issues as more nuanced things. The blame game treats problems as binary things. They aren't. Problems are often difficult, amorphous, unframed, complex and rapidly evolving. Racing has a problem being meaningfully competitive at this point. It is the fault of no single person, group of people, collection of groups of people, or single factor (environmental or self-inflicted). Solutions are the way forward, not blame.

If you follow this space, you surely know that my (not quite, actually) favorite quote from The Wire is “deserve got nothing to do with it.” That quote originally came from the Clint Eastwood movie Unforgiven. I think about that quote all of the time. To me it is a reminder that the things that happen to us are sometimes (mostly?) not based on our value as a person.

On The Wire Michael Lee questions Snoop about what Junebug and his family did to “deserve” what happened to them. Snoop’s response was the quote above. Michael Lee was about to meet the same end. He didn’t “deserve” what Snoop was planning to do to him. However, Michael Lee was smart, prepared and committed to do what he had to do to avoid getting something he didn’t “deserve” and turned the tables on Snoop.

Essentially for me it means this: You can’t operate based on what you think the world owes you, because there are too many factors beyond your control that contribute to your circumstances. For example, if you feel like you “deserve” to follow a winning or even halfway decent team, just because…that’s not the way any of this works. The world hasn't nor will it ever be “fair”. Sometimes you just end up on wrong side supporting the wrong team.

When we ask, “what have I/we/all of us done to deserve this?” The answer is this: something, nothing, or loads of stuff. I don’t think there is much comfort in that, and I am not sure any of us gain insight. It is a loaded question and the wrong one to ask. Instead, a better question is, “how do we move forward?”

…

To paraphrase one of my favorite dead comedians Bill Hicks…jokes are on the way, please relax.

Post Match Moment of the Match

Bev came to the post match press conference and took her lumps. She was franker and more honest than usual, but you would have to be, wouldn't you? The players we interviewed were Pikkujämsä and DeMelo. I can’t decide if this was a cowardly or smart decision, but all I can tell you is that I didn't want to ask anything to the players who started the match. Let's go with this: It was a kindness to those players from Bev or the communications staff who made the call. Anyway, because I can't seem to help myself, I once again asked a player to basically advocate for more minutes. I think both Sav and Elli said that they would like to extend their minutes to the point of their individual restrictions. I get the sense that Elli’s restrictions are tighter that Sav’s but can’t really give you a quote to back that up.

There wasn't much humor in this section either I guess. In honor of Elli…Why do Finn's put bar codes on their boats?

To scan da navy in.

Stink-O-Meter

It wasn't bad, but the general aroma of Butchertown did creep thought from time to time. At varying times, smells overshadowed “Eau d’Abattoir” including burnt popcorn.

It probably hit a 2 out of 5, but it was very manageable.

0 for 3 home matches with extreme offensive odors…

On the pitch, things stunk to high heaven, so 5 out of 5 on that front.

It's not easy being green

Green at home, again. Did you know that every time that Racing wears a dark green kit at home, a child loses their favorite toy? Just to rub it in San Diego wore my absolute favorite NWSL kit ever.

In protest of wearing green again at home you must now learn another useless fact about me. DO NOT SCROLL PAST THIS. THIS IS YOUR PUNISHMENT.

The above image is from the BBC comedy The Young Ones. I was an early anglophile. This show and Monty Python's Flying Circus are significantly to blame. As a 10 year-old, I shouldn't have been watching either, and I am sure I didn't get all of the jokes. However, I do believe watching stuff like this helped my ability to figure our things through context clues. Some adults still have never learned this. The pic above is from the Episode “Bambi”. It includes a “live” (actually mimed) performance of “Ace of Spades” by Motorhead.

It also included one of my favorite dumb one-liner jokes told by Rick Mayall: “I’ve told you a million times, do not exaggerate.”

Anyway, if you condone Racing’s wearing of green kits at home you must watch Kermit the Frog sing “Bein’ Green” 100 times before continuing.

Instant “Un”alysis

Some of us are ignorant. Some of us are dumb. I am hoping that the folks at today's match were simply ignorant.

I get that everyone isn't a nuanced rules expert, but I am going make a call back to context clues. Several times in the second half., fans near me complained about the side official not raising his flag for an offside offense. Inevitably, if they would have waited 5 seconds, they would see that he did eventually raise it once the attacking action had ceased. This happened multiple times. After the first or second time you think people might get a clue.

If a league has VAR, the officials are INSTRUCTED to delay raising their flag for offside until the attacking action has ceased on any play that is even remotely close. They know the rules. You obviously don't.

I will say it again. Please do not yell at the officials when you are wrong. It cheapens when I yell at the officials, and I only yell when I am right.

Heel of the match

At one point right before Borges penalty, Savannah McCaskill stood directly on the penalty spot preventing Ary from placing the ball down. I yelled very loudly at McCaskill to get off the spot. I think it was so loud that she heard me, because she looked over to my section. I didn't want her subtly digging her cleats into the spot to make the ball come of the spot awkwardly. This is exactly the type of thing I would do if I was playing. Sometimes it takes a cheat to catch a cheat. I love McCaskill by the way and wish more Racing players had half her fire and grit.

Did the stadium have good food?

The club dining had a Mexican theme. I enjoyed what I tried. The vegetables and Mexican salad were my favorites. The white queso and chips seemed to be a hit too.

What do you call a dessert that likes to go exploring?

Adven-churros

I didn't try the churros. I am not a fan of cinnamon.

Quote of the match

“I thought we were supposed to have a chance. They look a lot better than we do.” - Rick Cotton, legendary Eastern High School Tennis coach

I told Rick before the match started that I thought Racing had a chance to win this match. Rick and his wife Susan are good friends of Elizabeth and me. We attend many U of L sporting events together too. They have never attended a match in which Racing has won.

The Kayla Fischer Honorary Yellow Card of the Match

Racing received two yellow cards in the match. One was measured and likely necessary. The other was rash and unnecessary. Guess who had the rash one? It was Kayla Fischer! If you guessed correctly, you win the chance to watch “Bein’ Green” 100 more times!

“Did you mean to humble me? So, you did it unsuspectingly!”

Couldn’t Bear to be Special/Swoon/1984

“I’m just an also-ran” - I told Rick that I thought Racing has a chance to win, but in my heart, I didn’t believe it. I really didn’t expect it to be this bad, but I forgot about Taylor Flint. This team without Taylor Flint is way too susceptible to good attacking teams consistently charging at the back four. At varying times, Borges, O’Kane and DiGrande were the last midfielder in front of Wright and Jean. None of them are half as effective as Flint at disrupting the other team’s flow. I don’t know if Flint would have changed the result, but I would like to think that she could have changed the score line.

The other thing nagging at me, was that San Diego has a legitimately proven coach. I think there were some grumblings that San Diego might be really bad this season (there is still time for that), but Jonas Eidevall’s fingerprint will be on this team, regardless. They looked and played exactly as I thought they would. They started two 17-year-olds and subbed on a 19-year-old at half. Folks, teams don’t sign teenagers that can’t play at this level. I do feel like the rules hamstrung Racing when they were in the position to sign younger players, so I acknowledge that. However, San’s Diego’s rookies left Racing’s in the dust in this match.

Seeing San Diego make this quick pivot is why I think Racing is a dinosaur set for extinction. They have always moved too slowly or not had the right pieces. I don’t discount the environmental factors either. The NWSL rules sometimes seem like they change or don’t change soon enough to specifically make things harder for Racing. The attendance was less than 5,000 again. This is a relatively small metro area compared to the other markets. There are dozens of other factors you could point to. Actually, I misspoke earlier. All of you really know what may favorite The Wire quote is. “All the pieces matter.”

“There’s a mile between the way you see me and the way I am” - I don’t think Bev will turn things around. I don’t think she should lose her job, either. I can’t imagine Soccer Holdings is in any position to hire somebody skilled enough to actually turn things around. Unfortunately, I think everyone here is stuck with the status quo. All that I can tell you is that if you weren’t prepared for it before now, and believe me I tried to prepare you, maybe now you are. This is going to be a long and painful season.

I get optimism, but as the English like to say, it’s the hope that kills you. I really wish the NWSL had relegation. Then Racing would have something to fight for. At this moment, it seems like they are just a name on some better team’s fixture list. You don’t have to abandon all hope, maybe just temper things with some realism.