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Last week, German goalkeeper Robert Enke committed suicide by stepping in front of an oncoming train near his home in Hanover. He was, by all standard metrics, a successful professional athlete: once a promising youngster, he had spent time abroad for clubs like Benfica and Barcelona; a consistent contributor to the national team, he had earned a roster spot for next summer's World Cup; he was a star and crowd favorite for his current team, Hannover 96. But he was also apparently a very depressed man still haunted by the death of his two-year-old daughter back in 2006. There was a service for him in Germany this week, and his devastated, World Cup-bound teammates--from whom he hid the depths of his illness--composed this deeply moving letter:

"Your death for us is still omnipresent. It has made us all speechless, stunned, helpless ... We were not able to put our grief into words ... We could not simply go about business as usual. We have long sat together and thought of you. We have been silent together, cried together and searched for answers together, but in fact found only more questions - agonising questions of 'Why could not we help you? Why did you not want to talk to us about your problems? Why is it that, in our competitive society, it is not possible to express fears over such illnesses?' It is for all of us a painful thought that you felt so alone and in need, even if you were with us. For you there was so much more at stake than for any other of us. Your death is so bleak. But we will do everything we can to carry on in your memory, play good football to be successful. And we will do our best to ensure that stigma and prejudice have no place in football"  (via the Fiver)

As a lover of stuff and things, I find people like David France absolutely fascinating. For the past twenty years, from his home in America, he has patiently assembled one of the most comprehensive collections of soccer memorabilia in the world. The collection, which consists of some 10,000 items, details the early history of France's cherished club, Everton FC, as well as English football as a whole. The EPL Talk podcast has an interview with him here, and it's fascinating even if you could care less about the Toffees. France recently entrusted his massive collection to Everton (with stipulations being that it is never broken up and that the whole collection stays on Merseyside) and there is a beautiful site devoted to it here. (An Everton supporter's perspective here.)

France's collection began after he had relocated to the United States, when his mother shipped him a collection of his boyhood mementos from England. His account of his collecting days is charmingly straightforward--he pursued home and away programs and team ledgers soberly and almost dispassionately, as though he were running a business, though one without any ultimate goal, it seems.

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What compels the rest of us to collect or acquire or hoard compulsively? I'm eager to read this forthcoming book, which ventures into the psychology of obsessive compulsion to answer this question of why stuff offers us meaning. (I thought it was capitalism.) In the meantime, there's 20 Ltd, an edition-fetishist's dream.

Unbelievable. Egypt needed to win their World Cup qualifier vs. Algeria by exactly two goals to none today in order to force a sudden death playoff between the two national teams this Wednesday in Sudan. Oh, and it was a rematch of the November 1989 "match of hate." Egypt went up 1-0 early, and the score remained unchanged, until the 95th minute...

Be back soon with a more substantial update, including a long post on music criticism. For now...

Looking at/Watching:
+These incredible images of QSL cards over at Cantab

+"Tough as old boots" - a tour through the Alden shoe factory

+A guy brushing his teeth during last weekend's (unjust) Chelsea-Manchester United match

+An animated short about Dock Ellis tripping balls and tossing a no-no

+Engrossing tour of producer RJD2's

Listening to:
+The legendary Andrew Weatherall's "London Belongs to Me" audio tour

+Funkineven and Mr. Wonderful's Cosmix! outer-space-boogie/fusion/disco mix

+Even outer space: Dam Funk!

+Spooky Fever Dream Field Recording micromix over at Bradford Cox's (Deerhunter/Atlas Sound) blog

+Funky16Corners anniversary Beatles mix

+Everything all at once: a live mix from Optimo

Reading:
+Suite 2046 asks: is Bored to Death simply Stuff White People Like in televised form?

+Respect game, 2012: a primer on famous not-quite-apocalypses

+Are too many students going to college?

+Related, in a weird way: the intriguing case of Latavious Williams...

+A preview of Luc Sante's incredible new book, Folk Photography

• Returning to South Korea after he won the Super Bowl a couple years back, Steelers wide receiver Hines Ward (African American father, Korean mother) is sometimes credited for single-handedly changing Korean attitudes about race. At the very least, his visit was occasion for conversation, public and private, about a rarely-breached subject. A similar thing is happening in China right now with Lou Jing, a mixed race contestant on China's pop idol show, the regrettably named Go! Oriental Angel.

• At the Numero blog, a record clerk's nightmare: do I file a tenderloin under "T" or "P" (for pork, of course)?

• For your next family vacation, why not consider Baltimore? Exhaustive Google Maps page on sights and scenes from The Wire. (And a related (?) Flickr page)

• Nabokov's notecards, finally ready. (Via Reihan)

• Did you know Barack Obama receives 30 death threats a day on average? Few via Facebook, one imagines.

• I had no idea this was such a revolutionary idea, but someone has created an "expense receipt generator" for these lean times.

You might be familiar with Nigeria's thriving "Nollywood" film industry. You might happen to know of the English Premier League sides Chelsea and Liverpool. But have you heard of Chelsea vs. Liverpool, the Nollywood movie? (via the Spoiler)

 

Cool trailer for upcoming Gavin Watson photo book RAVING 89:

The first in a series of guest posts about...whatever is on the guest's mind, pretty much. Today, Pete L'Official ponders the global, cultural and globo-cultural implications of the new Gossip Girl promo, and its bizarre reference to a dangerously tanned, illogically talented and deeply divisive young footballer famous everywhere but here.
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And to get you ready for the start of the 09-10 Premier League season: David Peace of The Damned Utd fame with his predictions.

As a sucker for print, I will buy almost any magazine at least once. I just came across Chimurenga, an excellent biannual (?) out of South Africa and I am at least one-dozen issues/three years late. It's a smart mix of fiction, reporting, essays, manifestos and art, all pegged to a vision of the pan African. In particular, the futbol issue -- which features fantastic interviews with Lilian Thuram and Diego Maradona (on his way to an anti-poverty rally) and intrepid reporting from throughout the continent -- and the "black technology" issue are excellent.

The Chimurenga Library is an astonishing resource. It collects cover images and selected article reprints from independent pan African print periodicals from around the world.

The magazine's website has a bit of content, but seek out physical copies for the artwork and photography. It's not terribly easy to find, but New Yorkers can pick up back issues at Other Music, St. Mark's and the New Museum.

Related: the Pan African Space Station sounds amazing

The Guardian asks: what is your goal of the season?

UK scientists: "Listening to football on the radio while driving is dangerous"

Incredible headline alert: "Culture of Bling Clangs to Earth as the Recession Melts Rappers' Ice"

I participated in a conversation on hip-hop in the age of Obama with a couple other Atlantic affiliates. The N.W.A. clip from the Arsenio Hall show that I link to on the last page is highly recommended.

Speaking of which: Rap Radar recently unearthed this incredible 20/20 special from 1981 on this new thing called hip-hop.

And I simply love Arshavin's description of Barca (though I reject his conclusion):

That is why I hope Barcelona beat Manchester United in the Champions League final. United look very solid but they play like machines, whereas Barcelona are dreamers, they are more creative. Sometimes United kill everything and I like Barcelona's football more.

Andrei Arshavin, on the upcoming Champions League final

(In case you're wondering, that lyrical jewel is from Kobe Bryant's best forgotten "K.O.B.E.")

Last night I read Grant Farred's Phantom Calls (part of the consistently amazing Prickly Paradigm pamphlet series). Farred situates the Yao Ming Event within larger discourses on race and globalization--I won't get into it here--but one thing that did stick with me was Yao's unironic self-identification as just another Chinese worker. Because, obviously, most Chinese workers--most workers anywhere, really--would hardly view Yao's position as equivalent to theirs.

Anyhow, I was thinking about this while watching the trailers for Spike Lee's latest documentary, Kobe Doin' Work, wherein Kobe's already-remarkable ego finds reason for further growth. (The film airs Saturday night on ESPN--free of commercial interruption!) Lee trained 30 cameras on Bryant for a single playoff game against the Spurs; he also received access to the Laker locker room before, during and after the game. There is certainly something sublime about watching the body control of an ace athlete, and to this end Kobe Doin' Work is as good a use of 30 cameras as any. But I was struck by this idea that the film was designed to offer a typical "day at work" for Kobe--that the behind-the-scenes access, all of the cameras which put us on the court alongside him, all of it somehow makes Kobe one of us, just another guy putting in a day of work.

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For me the sight of the red London buses is what my first thoughts of England were. My nieces and nephews would love to play on one, so I'm going to buy one for them.

- Cristiano Ronaldo (from yesterday's Fiver)

We tolerate the enigmatic when they leave us the option to condescend in their general direction. That's just "Manny being Manny." Even arrogance leaves us stunned, the guard with "no conscience" or the batter who grins and winks at the opposing hurler. But what of the petulant?
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