Futbolera: Writing Soccer

“Stick to sports,” the faux-apolitical dictum that tainted ESPN and asphyxiated the sports website Deadspin, is dangerous. A myopic focus on scorelines, plus a willful ignorance of social contexts, portends unchecked corruption, racism, and inequities in athletics. Moreover, it risks enveloping sports’ artistic coverage, with no one set to lose more than soccer fans. From Eduardo Galeano to Nick Hornby, the beautiful game has inspired some of the last century’s most passionate prose. Soccer sparks wonder and rumination—it’s unsurprising that Nabokov and Camus were goalkeepers—and also outrage: The U.S. Women’s national team is suing for equal pay, while fans throughout the world lob racial slurs at players with impunity. “Futbolera: Writing Soccer,” a discussion featuring visiting authors and scholars Brenda Elsey and Grant Farred as well as Duke’s Laurent Dubois and North Carolina Central’s Joshua Nadel, will explore the sprawling canvas the game provides to explain modernity. The conversation might start with sports; it shouldn’t linger. —Lucas Hubbard