Mark Andrews: The Tight End Who Became a Geopolitical Weather Vane By Dave’s Locker International Affairs Desk MUNICH—Somewhere between the Bavarian pretzel carts and the steins of overpriced lager, the name “Mark Andrews” keeps bubbling up in conversations that have absolutely nothing to do with American football. Last autumn, when the Ravens’ tight end collapsed…
Rashod Bateman and the Global Trade in Disposable Dreams Dave’s Locker, International Desk — 19 June 2024 Somewhere over the Baltic, a Latvian cargo jet is hauling 300 pounds of fresh seafood to Seoul. On the return leg, the hold will be packed with nothing more glamorous than a crate of game-worn purple gloves—Rashod Bateman’s,…
Mike Kafka: The Quarterback Whisperer Who Refused to Yell “Fire” in a Crowded Theater By Our Man in the Cheap Seats, somewhere between Reykjavík and regret If you squint at the NFL hard enough, it starts to look like the United Nations with shoulder pads: every autumn, billionaires in luxury boxes vote on the future…
**Malik Nabers’ Injury: When America’s Football Gods Fail, the World Barely Shrugs** The global village received earth-shattering news this week as New York Giants rookie receiver Malik Nabers sustained a concussion during Monday night’s theatrical production of “Millionaires in Tights.” While the incident barely registered a blip on international radar screens already cluttered with actual…
**From Budapest to Buffalo: The Curious Case of Matt Nagy and the Global Theater of Failing Upwards** *By Our Correspondent Who’s Watched Too Much Football and Not Enough Humanity* VIENNA—In a world where nuclear powers misplace submarines, crypto exchanges vanish like Argentine pesos, and the Arctic is available for rent (August only, utilities not included),…
Giants vs. Chiefs: The World Watches Two Mediocre Powers Trade Body Blows By our jaded foreign correspondent, still waiting for the apocalypse to RSVP GENEVA—In the grand coliseum of global affairs, where nuclear codes are swapped like Pokémon cards and trade wars are fought with the gusto of a Black Friday stampede, this week’s marquee…
**The Global Offside: How Jawaan Taylor Became Football’s Reluctant Diplomat** In the grand theater of American football—where grown men in spandex ritualistically collide for the entertainment of millions—few stories capture the absurd ballet of globalization quite like that of Jawaan Taylor. The Kansas City Chiefs’ offensive tackle has unwittingly become an international symbol of something…
The Glorious Commodification of a Tight End, or How Travis Kelce Became a Walking Sovereign Wealth Fund PARIS — While French pensioners protest the rise in retirement age to 64, an American man whose primary job is to catch an inflated leather ovum has quietly amassed a net worth north of US $70 million—enough, if…
KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI – Somewhere between the Missouri River’s lazy meander and the distant hum of NATO air-traffic control, the Kansas City Chiefs politely disembowelled the New York Giants 27-17 on Sunday. To a planet juggling heat domes, sovereign-debt brinkmanship, and the slow-motion collapse of social media civility, the box score looked almost quaint: Patrick…
Patrick Mahomes, the Kansas City quarterback whose right arm has been called a WMD by Texans who should know, is currently the most effective American export that doesn’t require a congressional waiver. While European governments argue over the price of eggs and Asian supply chains politely implode, Mahomes keeps flinging oblong leather into orbit and…
Globalization’s Favorite Wide Receiver: Juju Smith-Schuster and the Absurd, Borderless Theater of NFL Stardom By Our Correspondent in Five Time Zones Simultaneously Somewhere between a TikTok dance in Pittsburgh and a quiet endorsement deal in Lagos, Juju Smith-Schuster became the world’s most accidentally successful soft-power export since K-pop. The man has never filed a trade…
Kareem Hunt, the human highlight reel who once looked like the second coming of Gale Sayers, has become a sort of peripatetic morality play touring the world’s gridirons. While Americans debate whether he deserves yet another “second chance,” the rest of the planet watches with the detached curiosity usually reserved for U.S. primary elections or…
