HeyJaredThink Outside the Ball
Soccer. Sports. Why the games happen and feel the way they do.
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- Sep 2, 2026
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- Jul 14, 2026
Latest issues
Tottenham’s summer of intent was actually an abandonment of ambition (opens the original)
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Tottenham Hotspur spent £394 million this summer and blew up their wage structure, handing out contracts that were long unheard of at the club.It makes for a brand new day at Hotspur Way. A statement of intent, sign of ambition and a true commitment to compete with the top clubs in the Premier League.At least that’s presumably the thinking inside the club. And the cope that Spurs supporters have had to tell themselves because the reality is far more bleak.Tottenham spent ungodly sums of money to
Kansas City showed complete contempt for democracy in approving the Royals’ new stadium (opens the original)
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This post is not about soccer and it’s not targeted at the general, wide audience for whom I usually write. I live in Kansas City and this is about local politics, but it is still sports-related and I think might be informative and relevant to other American cities, so I’d encourage you to read on. If not, thanks for clicking and I’ll see you next week with more soccer content.Democracy is messy and complicated, obviously. It is a system that depends on people who disagree being cheek-to-cheek a
Infantino has his worst, most corrupt idea yet, so will UEFA stop him? (opens the original)
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Gianni Infantino has his newest idea on how to extract more money from world soccer and funnel it directly into his pocket and the pockets of those who vote to keep him in power.The FIFA president wants to create a new for-profit company that will hold all the media and commercial rights of the organization, sell 21% of the company to private equity to bring in a cash infusion that would immediately be doled out to FIFA member nations and then split up the rights to the remaining 79% among the n
World Cup Day 40: 26 (+1) thoughts to wrap up the 2026 World Cup (opens the original)
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And just like that, the World Cup is over.Spain are champions of the biggest tournament ever. Instead of soccer all day, every day, we will have to engage in other interests and maybe even consider feeling not dictated by 11 men running around in short shorts.I started this World Cup with 26 thoughts about the tournament and a commitment to write to you every day. I have done that with nearly a book’s length of words. It wasn’t always, or really ever, the very best of work. After all, they were
World Cup Day 39: Ranking all the World Cup final kit matchups (opens the original)
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The World Cup final is upon us. A game so big that calling it the biggest sporting event on Earth undersells its reach. It is the single biggest occasion in the world for four years.Thanks for reading Think Outside the Ball! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.<div class="fake-inp
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