Go For the Goals
Posted on 11. Aug, 2022 by Paul Sochaczewski in Articles, Personal essays
GENEVA, Switzerland
While watching my team lose (again), and half-heartedly wishing for divine intervention, I recalled a statement by Luis Suarez of Uruguay, who proudly declared that his blatant handball, with which he deflected a certain last-second Ghana goal in the 2010 World Cup, exceeded Diego Maradona’s famous ‘Hand of God’ goal which helped eliminate England from the 1986 World Cup in Mexico. “The ‘Hand of God’ now belongs to me,” Suarez said, 10 years after the event. “Mine is the real ‘Hand Of God.’ I made the best save of the tournament.”
Perhaps to prove there is cosmic justice, Uruguay lost their next game, in the semi-finals, to the Netherlands.
But, I don’t believe there is karma in sports.
However, I do believe that football, or soccer as it is called in the United States, is in need of an overhaul.
My suggestions cover two themes — increase scoring, and improve on-field behavior.
Read MoreThe Toughest Sport?
Posted on 14. Jul, 2023 by Paul Sochaczewski in Articles, Personal essays
The debate rages, finally, an answer.
Is an Ironman triathlete tougher than an ultramarathoner? Is American football wimpy compared to rugby? What takes more courage and agility, a free solo up El Capitan or a dive off a cliff into a tidal pool?
If your pub conversation slows down you might ask these questions: What is the most dangerous, toughest, hardest-to-master sport? And, by extension, who are the “best” athletes?
At the end of this article I offer my conclusions.
Read MoreUncle Joe and Aunt Anisoara
Posted on 05. Apr, 2017 by Paul Sochaczewski in Personal essays
UNCLE JOE AND AUNT ANISOARA Dreaming Eccentric Meets Complicated Sentimentalist CLUJ, Transylvania, Romania The love affair of my uncle and aunt shows us the pitfalls of trying to decipher a relationship. How could I not love an uncle who, when he babysat for me, let me stay up well past my bedtime to watch […]
Read MoreCheng Ho Gardens
Posted on 28. Jul, 2017 by Paul Sochaczewski in Personal essays
CHENG HO GARDENS China reveals an imaginative new tactic in its takeover of the South China Sea. NANYANG AUTONOMOUS REGION, China “I’m going to show you our plans. I trust that you will be discrete with the information.” My host was Horace Wee, chief executive officer of Nanyang, the newest Special Administrative […]
Read MoreWe vs Them
Posted on 05. Apr, 2017 by Paul Sochaczewski in Personal essays
WHEREVER I TRAVEL I’LL REMAIN AN “OUTSIDER” The “we vs them” reality is ancient and universal. BANGKOK, Thailand Since forever, groups of people have recognized the difference between their “own kind” and “outsiders.” In a best case scenario, the welcoming of “other” ideas can be positive — strengthening of the gene pool primarily, also […]
Read MoreThe Girl by the Side of the Road
Posted on 07. Apr, 2010 by Paul Sochaczewski in Articles, Personal essays
The Girl by the Side of the Road Thirty years on, searching for the girl whose eyes said “I’m going to surprise you.” LADAKH, India In 1979 I took a black and white photo of a young girl in Ladakh. She was perhaps ten. She wore a rough robe of homespun wool, she carried a […]
Read MoreChina’s Emperor is Tanned, Rested and Ready
Posted on 07. Apr, 2010 by Paul Sochaczewski in Articles, Personal essays
China’s Emperor is Tanned, Rested and Ready Homeless Hawaiian heir to the throne seeks financial support to restore Ming Dynasty greatness HONOLULU, Hawai’i I had naively thought that China’s 2,000 year old imperial system ended when 12-year-old Pu Yi, the last emperor, was overthrown in 1912. “Not so,” declares Elmer. “I’m the last emperor.” I […]
Read MoreAlmost a Knight to Remember
Posted on 07. Apr, 2010 by Paul Sochaczewski in Articles, Personal essays
Almost a Knight to Remember I rather liked being called “Sir Paul” SOON-TO-BE-NATION OF SAVANTIS, Can’t-tell-you-where I turned down a knighthood recently. It was a tough decision – I liked the sound of “Sir Paul.” I had replied to a notice in the International Herald Tribune that had offered “an economically available, State Sanctioned Hereditary […]
Read MoreAunt Sarah Rather Liked Her Original Childhood Name
Posted on 07. Apr, 2010 by Paul Sochaczewski in Articles, Personal essays
Aunt Sarah Rather Liked Her Original Childhood Name Popping balloons instead of Chinese firecrackers; “mystic influence to the center” HONOLULU, Hawai’i I filled out the forms and wished my ancestors had been Burmese or Chinese. I was changing my name to my grandfather’s original, and Win or Wong would have been a lot easier to […]
Read MoreSearching for Enigmas
Posted on 07. Apr, 2010 by Paul Sochaczewski in Articles, Personal essays
Searching for Enigmas It’s everywhere, it’s nowhere, it’s dancing in three-quarter time EN-ROUTE TO PULAU VALSE PISANG, Indonesia Some people with stardust in their eyes and too much red wine in their veins spend their lives searching for Atlantis or Eldorado. Other adventurers windsurf across the Pacific. Yet other men and women seek an elusive […]
Read MoreKill Mosquitoes ‘Til They’re Dead
Posted on 30. Aug, 2009 by Paul Sochaczewski in Personal essays
Choreographing the singing chicken, goat and twin rabbits JAKARTA, Indonesia Incense is far from a simple commodity. It’s an essential component of Indonesian meditation. But add a swig of insecticide, manufacture it into coils that emit an insect-defying smoke, and you get that wonderfully Asian invention dubbed the mosquito coil. Ridding the world of little […]
Read More“Find ze kom-plee-ci-teh”
Posted on 30. Aug, 2009 by Paul Sochaczewski in Personal essays
Wearing a red nose helps business leaders love their inner warrior and avoid the “b” word NEW YORK “Take me out to the ball game…” I sing while approaching 17 other workshop participants who stare at me, partly in collegial encouragement, partly out of voyeuristic pleasure that it is me up on stage and not […]
Read MoreImmortality: The Kid Could be the Key
Posted on 30. Aug, 2008 by Paul Sochaczewski in Personal essays
Designer sperm banks; nature vs nurture DALAT, Vietnam The creation of Dolly the Cloned Sheep a few years ago stirred our imagination – we were suddenly closer to cloning people than anyone had imagined. Since Dolly, cloning technology has advanced with such staggering speed that she seems almost anachronistic. The latest news in the cloning […]
Read MoreThe Detective, the Suburbanites, and the Kid who Failed Mugging 101
Posted on 30. Aug, 2006 by Paul Sochaczewski in Personal essays
WASHINGTON, D.C. I almost got mugged the other night. After dinner with a friend in the Washington, D.C. area, I took the Metro to Friendship Heights. It was about midnight and I decided to walk back to the house where I was staying. I strolled through one of the better neighborhoods of the well-heeled Northwest […]
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