At first glance, Ed Anzalone and Anton Shunin have precious little in common. The former is Fireman Ed, the well-known face of all J-E-T-S fans, while the latter is an elite Russian soccer goalie, a 6-foot-3-inch stopper for Moscow Dynamo and part of Russia’s national team.
Anzalone the firefighter-turned-celebrity-fan, Shunin the high-profile shot-blocker. Different countries, different profiles, and vastly different worlds, yet connected now in a way both would assuredly lament.
Comments
Humans like war. Sports are a softer substitute for war, but they raise many of the same base, tribalistic, and violent parts of our nature. Some people can't tell the difference between the two. It's a sad sight to see, and I always cringe when I see violent metaphors used directly within a sports context. "The Holy War?" May we be so lucky as to avoid one!
Thanks for the article; it was insightful and well-written.