Reminding you why you love football. The World Cup Issue, out now!
Shorts
Arsenal fans set North London alight last night. 22 years in the making.
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My brother doesn’t get excited about much, so when he sent me a link with the word “ace” written before it, I knew it deserved my time. “Ace” from him translates to “This is the best thing ever!!!” in my language. Our favourite Spanish team, Real Betis, had posted what I would argue to be the greatest thing a football club has ever put on social media—a near shot-for-shot reconstruction of the opening credits to the US Office. The best thing about it, though, is that it’s not in honour of a sexy new signing or the return of Joaquín. No, it’s a contract extension, and that’s it, really. Just a good, loyal player in Aitor Rubial, putting pen to paper for a few more years with Los Verdiblancos, and in a world where very intense kit launches dominate social feeds, this is a lovely, silly change of pace. Aitor Rubial is perfect as Michael Scott and you can tell that he A) LOVES The Office and B) has been given full creative control of the film, taking casting and direction extremely seriously. He’s got his best mate, Héctor Bellerín, as Dwight Schrute, menacingly flaming the office door handle because “today smoking saves lives”. Héctor reappears as Prison Mike in a bandana later on, presumably voicing his concern in Spanish about the threat of dementors. Big, handsome Marc Barta’s there too, relishing his role as Andy Bernard but then popping up as Dwight doing Hannibal Lecter in the ski mask later on. You can tell they all want to be Dwight, and I do, too. Me and my brother have been Beticos since we saw Joaquín and Denilson harassing defences on either wing in those pingy, green Kappa kits of the mid-2000s. Our TV consumption back then was a rotation between Revista de la Liga, WWE, and boxsets of The US Office to wean us through football-less summers. Twenty years on, we both still follow Betis; I still fall asleep to whatever’s happening at Dunder Mifflin, and he sleeps in a bed with his girlfriend. That’s by the by, but anyway he was right. This is ace. Maybe not the best thing ever, but it is definitely ace. Words by Tommy Stewart.
