Geordie’s 5 Things of 2021

A few things saving my life

On any specific day, one of these five things may be more important than another. But today, let’s just say the following list is not in order. And really, they are just the things that are top of mind as 2021 ends.

Liverpool Football Club

There are lots of ways to approach this one. The factors I would cite when telling another football (i.e. soccer) fan why LFC is currently playing fantastic football might be one way. What I’ve come to appreciate about the club over the last 20 years of supporting them could be another. How I picked Liverpool as my team is weirdly appropriate as well. So maybe I’ll just ramble a bit, lobby on their behalf, and then just tell you to pick any club and dive in.

I picked Liverpool without even knowing that they were a force to be reckoned with during the mid to late eighties in the English top flight; It wasn’t even called The Premier League back then. Kenny Dalglish and Ian Rush terrorized the muddy pitches of England and Europe and made Anfield a place to be feared by the opposition. But I didn’t know that. I didn’t even know of Robbie Fowler, Michael Owen and Steve McManaman during the nineties. I just knew that in junior high I listened to The Beatles A LOT. So when it was time, I picked the team from Liverpool. I didn’t even know that there were two teams. One could argue that I should have picked Everton, the other Liverpool team. They were, and continue to be, classic underdogs. The perennial “also rans” that have a very respectable history in English top flight football. But no, it was The Beatles.

But then it was years of hearing about the glory days, watching Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres tear apart defenses and score goals and goals. But it was also watching the same team figure out how to lose to teams at the bottom of the table. Not a highlight. But it taught me how to be a Liverpool supporter. It taught me about YNWA.

YNWA is Liverpool Football Club. You’ll Never Walk Alone. It is the family that is LFC. It is the family that includes the supporter that lives 400 feet from their home stadium of Anfield and lost a cousin at Hillsborough. It is the late night talk show host with celebrity name recognition in Hollywood. And it is me. We are Liverpool supporters. And we will never walk alone.

We’ve put in our time. Liverpool are legitimate title contenders again, and are always a joy to watch. But if they are not for you, pick a team, and jump in. Be a supporter of a team. Follow them. Care who they play this weekend. Care a bit, and you will be rewarded. I think it should be Liverpool, but as long as it isn’t Manchester United, you will be rewarded.

The Vaccine

It has been almost a year since the vaccine got cleared for emergency use. It is amazing. Thanks to all those who worked in the labs and behind the scenes to get the world out from under this plague that is COVID-19. Not being an essential worker, I waited until my turn. But as soon as that came up, I was in line and getting the shot.

It is not magic; it is science. It does not show lack of faith or being a slave to fear. It is taking my health, the health of the people I love and care about, and the people of my community and world, seriously.

On most days, the vaccine is THE top thing of 2021.

Ted Lasso

Seems like the usual formula for characters like Coach Lasso rely on ridiculousness, stupidity, blunder and weakness to be funny. I’ve seen and enjoyed my fair share of characters in this vein. But Ted Lasso the show is full of real, good, successful, hurting, sensitive, broken and insightful people. Even the ones you start off hating, you find a way to root for because you want them to “be better.”

And thank heavens they limit the actual sports action scenes; always the weakest part of any sports show. Watch it. Love it. Rewatch it. Love it even more.

Representative Democracy

Our nation can still be called one. Despite events of early 2021.

Democracy in any form is on this list for 2021 not so much because it was so spectacular this last year, but because it still exists in this country. It is here as a reminder to all of us that it is not a given. We are still a very young republic that needs protecting.

Let’s continue to support fair elections. Let’s make it easier for people to vote; not harder. Let’s be better for all; not those already in power and trying to hold on with the power of lies.

Pickleball

The dark days of 2020 and a plague that had settled on the land kept me from competition and my friends. I’ll grant that it put me back on the bike that had been on the wall of my garage for almost 20 years. But I seriously worried if I’d ever play soccer again. Even before COVID, I felt like I was one injury away from the end of my storied soccer career. And to be clear, that storied career consisted of lunch time pickup soccer twice a week and a 35+ old man league in town where I only scored goal 5 in a game we would go on to win 7–0. Nevertheless, I was worried. But then came Pickleball.

A friend of many years started up a once a week group of guys that would get together and play pickleball at the local community center courts. It was not long before three or four of us would sit around refreshing the browser on the night the court sign-ups went live making sure we could reserve the courts we needed for our weekly games.

The night of the games soon turned into a highlight of the week. Twelve, sixteen guys figuring out this new game together. Trading surges in skill as we tried new techniques learned mostly from YouTube. Upgrading paddles from a borrowed spare, to the $25 set that came with a ball, and on to the unmentionable costs some of us have paid.

I’ve heard tennis players attempt to mock us pickleball players saying things like “it is for people who can’t play tennis” or “anyone can play pickleball.” To that I say a hearty “Amen!” I respect tennis. Whole heartedly agree that it is immeasurably harder to be competitive at tennis. But that is one of the biggest pluses to pickleball. My whole family can enjoy playing together. Sixteen friends can show up for a few hours on a Sunday night and have fun and smack wiffle balls at each other. Can’t do that with tennis.

So Pickleball… Sport of the future.