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PaperclipPerfector  1mo ago (text post)   2235 thread views

Friday Fun Thread for December 5, 2025

Be advised: this thread is not for serious in-depth discussion of weighty topics (we have a link for that), this thread is not for anything Culture War related. This thread is for Fun. You got jokes? Share 'em. You got silly questions? Ask 'em.

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Draw for the World Cup was held in Washington DC a couple of hours ago. Hilarious in a second-hand embarrassment way. FIFA are shameless, Trump was Trump, and since it's going to be split between three host nations (Mexico, USA and Canada) the possibilities for massive screw-ups are endless. 2026 will be fun!

(New account name since I moved everything to a new PC and managed to lose all my passwords. Yes, I'm an illiterate idiot).

Trump: "When you look at football in the US, soccer in the US -- we seem to never call it that, because we have a little bit of a conflict with another thing that's called football. But when you think about it, shouldn't it really be called football? We have to come up with another name for the NFL stuff." (https://x.com/atrupar/status/1997001519829242351)

Like said, this is Trump being Trump and Fifa, the corrupt institution that it is, had just awarded him the "Fifa peace prize" to sweeten the pot, but this is hardly the first or even the second or third time Trump has specifically sought to be associated with soccer teams or soccer in general. Trump apparently played soccer in high school.

I don't think the previous US presidents have gone this far in associating themselves with soccer. Googling mainly reveals them congratulating the USWNT when it has won something, or the like. Is Trump the first soccer president? If he is, it would probably be something hardly anyone would be prone to taking into account, American soccer fans still being stereotypically left-wing and Trump supporters probably falling into the "soccer is ghey crap for commie faggits" category.

It's fascinating to learn that he probably has a genuine interest in the sport, and may well even have known who some of the star players brought out for those mini-interviews were!

I think having three host nations for this is going to be a logistical nightmare, but there is some assuagement in the thought that we may find out who his favourite team (apart from Team USA) is! Will he be cheering for Croatia (given that Melania is Slovenian, and this is a neighbouring country)? Since apparently Barron is an Arsenal fan, will he support England? Given that both England and Croatia are in Group L, that may lead to domestic disharmony if he picks one side over another. Or is there some completely different team he secretly cherishes? 😊

EDIT: Depending on the result of the playoffs as to who gets the final slot in Group D, it could be Slovakia, which would then be Slovakia against USA. A tricky situation requiring diplomacy!

Normie red tribers do not think soccer is gay, they just think it isn’t for them- like basketball or bike racing or something.

My dad used to say soccer was for the sissies who couldn't play football. But this was Alabama in the 70s.

Maybe it's the social media and the presense of foreigners that draws out the sort of affected soccer-hating I often see.

The affected soccer hating is a joke. They don’t actually think you’re a homosexual communist for it. Maybe for other things, but red tribe normies find ‘caring about sports’ a point of commonality with Europeans, not something alien.

They think you’re gay commies for acceptance of nudism and high youth unemployment, though.

Yeah, it's the classic "blue tribe sees red tribe as redneck jock bullies because they can't banter" thing, and then blue tribers try to do it to foreigners on reddit ironically, etc. I was at a red tribe thanksgiving this year, and there was a Champions League match the day before that which I wanted to watch. Mentioned it to my host and he said "Well, first, we don't have cable. Second, I don't know or care which team is which, or even where they're from, but I will mildly support whichever team you want to win." Pretty representative in my experience of red American attitudes to foo- soccer.

The soccer hatred is very tongue-in-cheek. No one is giving crap to, e.g., the high school soccer team. It's just not a big spectator sport, is all. Overall pretty similar to lacrosse, or the track team.

He's also got a European wife, and seems very close towards Barron, who's a huge fan, has played for the U-12s of an MLS team, and by all accounts is pretty good (obviously being his height is a big physical advantage at that age).

Yeah, he's mentioned Barron's fandom as a reason for some of these, but I don't see Trump as the sort of a guy who would go to these lengths just to make one of his kids happy.

I suspect that, as with his mentions of technology, he may see Barron's interests as a clue into what the young fellas are getting into these days.

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