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PaperclipPerfector  1d ago (text post)   610 thread views

Wellness Wednesday for June 17, 2026

The Wednesday Wellness threads are meant to encourage users to ask for and provide advice and motivation to improve their lives. It isn't intended as a 'containment thread' and any content which could go here could instead be posted in its own thread. You could post:

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World Cup Wednesday:

I've been really happy so far! Many exciting games and for a variety of reasons! With most of the first round over the usual suspects seem to be doing well, although the absence of Italy is a scandal again. The US actually looks good? I feel like I'm seeing a lot of older faces I expected to be gone, which is a treat and sad at the same time.

Some Football Culture War:

The expansion in number of teams has been a point of controversy but I'm liking it. You see some teams with no business holding on and drawing or keeping games tight, at the same time it's obvious who the eventual quarterfinalists are likely to be. On the balance of it I'm happy to let some of these smaller countries get to the stage.

On a less positive note...the hydration breaks. Yikes. Putting aside the American obsession with ads, which is not ideal and against the spirit of the game, I am concerned about the clear momentum changes these breaks seem to be creating.

Real Culture War: (These ones have the possibility to get a little heated, please try and keep it to the spirit of the Wellness thread).

Everyone online and some in the media are criticizing America hard for handling of logistics and immigration, however from what I can tell Canada and Mexico have both caused more serious problems. Putting aside the anti-US sentiment, I do think it is interesting that despite our increasing sclerosis we are actually doing better than our neighbors.

Racism continues to be the "worst thing in the world" one of the new rules is that you can get a straight red for talking near an opponent while covering your mouth. Supposedly this is to prevent racism and other bad-talk. One thing that is not apparently to me is this - growing up in sports in the US homophobia and racism was the default and beloved by all, being close to some of the generations younger than mine they all affirm this. Has this changed now in the US? Was Europe always different? Is it just ethnic tensions?

Don't call them hydration breaks, call them TV Timeouts, which is what they are.

one of the new rules is that you can get a straight red for talking near an opponent while covering your mouth. Supposedly this is to prevent racism and other bad-talk.

We live in a panopticon, and everyone demands surveillance.

Don't call them hydration breaks, call them TV Timeouts, which is what they are.

Oddly, some of the Eurosnobs in my life have admitted that...they're actually kind of nice? I'm not enmeshed enough in football to judge myself, but they claim that there's been less time-wasting and fake-cramp-injuries and bullshittery because the players are getting a structured break.

..... but they put in place a bunch of other time wasting rules that seem to have more of an impact????

It's not the break!

Also we are seeing wild momentum swings after the timeout.

Also we are seeing wild momentum swings after the timeout.

And that's a bad thing?

I don't know. Step one is to establish if it really is a thing or I'm just bitching.

From there decide if it is bad or not, but I think so - the endless flow (unlike most other sports) is part of what makes it the beautiful game, anything that gets in the way of that is eeeehhhhhh.

Unlike some of the other modernizations (VAR) this one is more of a taste thing, and a differentiating factor.

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