Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.

The quadrennial festival of kvetching about the new World Cup ball is in full force again this year, but the LA Times reports that this time the kvetchers might have more of a point than usual:

“It’s very weird,” Brazilian striker Luis Fabiano said. “All of a sudden it changes trajectory on you. It’s like it doesn’t want to be kicked … like someone is guiding it…. It’s supernatural.”

Teammate Julio Cesar was more succinct. “It’s horrible,” the Brazilian goalkeeper said….”It moves around so much … this ball can go anywhere,” said Marcus Hahnemann, the backup U.S. goalkeeper. “You can’t judge it. And it’s taking the skill away from the game…. You can’t pinpoint a pass anymore.”

….”The ball’s terrible,” U.S. goalkeeper Tim Howard said. “You’re going to hear that now, you’re going to hear that next week and next month.”

This sounds great! I can hardly wait until some pipsqueak team like, say, the United States, ends up beating Argentina on a bizarre fluke play where the ball suddenly starts acting like Sean White on a halfpipe and dives into the net a full body length away from the astonished goalie. Sounds like great TV.

DONALD TRUMP & DEMOCRACY

Mother Jones was founded to do journalism differently. We stand for justice and democracy. We reject false equivalence. We go after stories others don’t. We’re a nonprofit newsroom, because the kind of truth-telling investigations we do doesn’t happen under corporate ownership.

And we need your support like never before, to fight back against the existential threats American democracy faces. Fundraising for nonprofit media is always a challenge, and we need all hands on deck right now. We have no cushion; we leave it all on the field.

It’s reader support that enables Mother Jones to report the facts that are too difficult, expensive, or inconvenient for other news outlets to uncover. Please help with a donation today if you can—even a few bucks will make a real difference. A monthly gift would be incredible.

payment methods

DONALD TRUMP & DEMOCRACY

Mother Jones was founded to do journalism differently. We stand for justice and democracy. We reject false equivalence. We go after stories others don’t. We’re a nonprofit newsroom, because the kind of truth-telling investigations we do doesn’t happen under corporate ownership.

And we need your support like never before, to fight back against the existential threats American democracy faces. Fundraising for nonprofit media is always a challenge, and we need all hands on deck right now. We have no cushion; we leave it all on the field.

It’s reader support that enables Mother Jones to report the facts that are too difficult, expensive, or inconvenient for other news outlets to uncover. Please help with a donation today if you can—even a few bucks will make a real difference. A monthly gift would be incredible.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate