{"id":72790,"date":"2014-06-18T13:00:40","date_gmt":"2014-06-18T17:00:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/?p=72790"},"modified":"2019-02-19T16:25:05","modified_gmt":"2019-02-19T21:25:05","slug":"painkillers-god-and-america","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.theparisreview.org\/blog\/2014\/06\/18\/painkillers-god-and-america\/","title":{"rendered":"Painkillers, God, and America"},"content":{"rendered":"

According to the American Society of Interventional Pain Physicians, Americans consume 80 percent of the world\u2019s painkillers\u2014more than 110 tons of addictive opiates every year. As a writer in\u00a0The Guardian\u00a0<\/em>put it, the U.S. must be a very painful place to live.<\/p>\n

How much of that pain has been caused by soccer? Not much, at least not to begin with: an unlikely and magnificent 1-0 victory over England in World Cup 1950 (held then as now in Brazil) featured a bunch of part-timers putting the boot to the \u201cKings of Football.\u201d It didn\u2019t require so much as a baby aspirin. Since then, working on the \u201cno pain no gain\u201d principle so beloved of hackneyed American high-school football coaches, the U.S. has enjoyed a steady climb up the world rankings and some encouraging advances in international tournaments, including a World Cup quarter-final in 2002. Still, in the last sixty-four years, there have been more losses and draws\u2014a draw in the U.S. means, as we all know, a loss\u2014than wins. But not many Americans were following the team during all that. I imagine only a fraction of a ton of painkillers were consumed.<\/p>\n

Now, though, after this week\u2019s stirring 2-1 victory over Ghana, the 80-percenters are getting on-board big-time, and\u00a0The<\/a><\/em> New York Times<\/em> is reporting<\/a> that a majority of Americans are convinced, unlike their coach, that the USA can triumph in Brazil. The team is clearly riding for a fall, isn\u2019t it? They play Portugal on Sunday. One would think it\u2019s pass-the-Tylenol time. <\/p>\n

But not so fast. The heart has its reasons which reason knows nothing of, and among these is that other central facet of American culture, God. Could He save the day? On Monday, a BBC TV commentator scolded the USA\u2019s Clint Dempsey for not singing his national anthem when it was played. The English are not that much into God\u2014a quarter of the population has \u201cno religion,\u201d and in the 2001 census 390,127 individuals listed themselves as \u201cJedi Knights\u201d\u2014which is probably why the commentator missed the fact that in all likelihood Dempsey was not dissing but praying. He certainly crossed himself at one point, but I can\u2019t remember if this was post-anthem or right after the superb goal he scored thirty-two seconds into the game against Ghana.<\/p>\n

God, of course, has shown more than a passing interest in the world of sports for some time now. Players often thank Him when things go well. He clearly likes winners. I have never seen a goalkeeper point skywards after a ball has rolled through his legs into the net.<\/p>\n

So what\u2019s it going to be, America: heavenly intervention or a handful of extra-strength brand name? Looking at the suspiciously over-exuberant support offered by the euphoric crowd of 20,000 USA supporters gathered in the Arena das Nunas last Monday, I think nothing more may be needed than whatever it was those people were on. Free pints of caipirinha <\/em>for all, and bring on Portugal with its iconic star Cristiano Ronaldo. USA! USA!<\/p>\n

Jonathan Wilson\u2019s work has appeared in <\/em>The New Yorker, <\/em>Esquire, <\/em>The New York Times Magazine, and <\/em>Best American Short Stories, among other publications. He is the author of eight books, including <\/em>Kick and Run: Memoir with Soccer Ball. He lives in Massachusetts.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

According to the American Society of Interventional Pain Physicians, Americans consume 80 percent of the world\u2019s painkillers\u2014more than 110 tons of addictive opiates every year. As a writer in\u00a0The Guardian\u00a0put it, the U.S. must be a very painful place to live. How much of that pain has been caused by soccer? Not much, at least […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":518,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13859],"tags":[212,303,357,14332,2964,12192,1786,86,145,89],"class_list":["post-72790","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-world-cup-2014","tag-football","tag-ghana","tag-god","tag-painkillers","tag-portugal","tag-prayer","tag-religion","tag-soccer","tag-usa","tag-world-cup"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nPainkillers, God, and America by Jonathan Wilson<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"June 18, 2014 \u2013 According to the American Society of Interventional Pain Physicians, Americans consume 80 percent of the world\u2019s painkillers\u2014more than 110 tons of\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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