A Rant About Legacy

9:29 PM Unknown 1 Comments

David Moyes was always going to have a tough time inheriting the world's most popular club. His predecessor, Sir Alex Ferguson (yes, he was knighted for how good of a coach he was), was in charge for over 25 years, winning seemingly every trophy that came his way. He was a legend before he even retired. However, his managerial career couldn't last forever, and he and his chewing gum retired at the end of this past season.

Enter Moyes in May of 2013. A manager who did miraculous work on a shoestring budget at Everton, as Ferguson did at Aberdeen. A manager who hails from Scotland, as does Ferguson. And a manager who took over Manchester United in his late 40s, as did Ferguson. I think everyone expected the transition to be seamless; United didn't even lose any key players from last season to this season. Unfortunately for Moyes, though, it has been a tough road. Sir Alex Ferguson left behind him arguably the most powerful legacy in the history of sports. Aside from a shaky first three or four years, he spent two decades building Manchester United into a global brand, winning championships along the way.

So far this season, United is having a tougher time maybe than they have this entire millennium. Moyes has folded under pressure many times in my opinion. He consistently starts players that don't help our chances of winning at all (Tom Cleverley), and is blind to what the team needs to succeed (a defensive midfielder, so that there isn't such a huge gap between midfield and defense for opponent attacking midfielders to get into). Now, I'm not naive. The great Sir Alex Ferguson almost got sacked many times during an average first four years to his Manchester United life. However, he inherited a team near rock bottom, while Moyes has inherited a team with the same core of players that has won the Premier League title two out of the past three years. By that logic, I am willing to give Moyes until the end of next season before I start calling for his head. Two years should be enough time for him and his coaching staff to start realizing what they're doing wrong. I mean come on, it's pretty obvious: just hire me as the manager.

Speaking of legacy, I have been thinking about my own recently. I spent hours lying awake in bed on Christmas Eve, thinking to myself: Boy, if I magically disappeared tomorrow, the nicest thing anyone would have to say about me is that I'm 'nice' or 'compassionate' or whatever other positive personality traits. That's all well and good, but I personally want something a little more tangible. I want to do something throughout the course of my life that will live on long after I'm gone, something that will inspire me to jump out of bed every morning with a sense of purpose. My father knew from the time he was in elementary school that he wanted to study economics, because of something he read in a book. I wasn't fortunate enough to have the same a-ha moment, so I sat down this Christmas Eve and decided to make a bullet list. I started listing every way that a person can leave a lasting legacy, from donating money to winning a Nobel Prize (which apparently my father is not far away from doing). This list slowly started becoming more personal and tailored to myself; for those who don't know me too well, I am studying mathematics, economics, and Spanish in college, all of which I am good at, but I can't say that I am super passionate about anything besides soccer. Anyway, I had been typing nonstop for about an hour before I starting veering more towards stuff that I could realistically achieve.

Then it hit me: I'm going to start a soccer company. I have no name for it yet, but I have a bit of a premise to its operations. Basically, I want to open up different locations around the world, preferably in poor areas and small towns. I want to own a big business that has different soccer schools and camps all over the world. I will make it very affordable for low-income families. Maybe it will just start out as a series of two-week summer camps or something. I will probably start off as the coach myself, until I have the funds to hire professional coaches and trainers. It could keep kids out of trouble or whatever, but mostly I just want to inspire them and give them goals. Whether they find soccer as a fun hobby or a serious passion to be pursued, I will have achieved what I want to achieve. I don't know exactly what I would do in any given day of the camp, but I would love if I spent some time talking about the sport, maybe watching a famous game or two, and then obviously play outside for most of the day. Worst-case scenario, I provide everyone with cleats and shin guards so that everyone has those resources, and bring tubs and tubs of water for hydration. Regardless of specifics, I think this is what I eventually want to do with my life. Obviously I will spend many years in the normal work world until I really have the knowledge of how to start my own business, but I am in no hurry.

Countries start and stop wars over soccer. Cities shut down their roads and buildings on game days. A couple billion people treat it almost like a religion. I just wish to spread that power.

Thank you for reading.