Lessons from Lasso — It’s The Hope That Kills You

In football, soccer, many fans whose favorite teams are in the throes of relegation and promotion or playoffs, have their hopes dashed and come crashing to the ground. When the team doesn’t have a good season, there are consequences for going down into an inferior tier of soccer. When a team doesn’t produce any winners or any trophies, there are consequences for everyone involved. In today’s Lesson From Lasso, we watch as Coach Ted Lasso confronts this attitude and cliché phrase that “It’s the hope that kills you…” which is articulated by several AFC Richmond fans and even the footballers themselves. We look at the Christian concept of hope and what hope in Jesus means, especially for those who are used to being let down before. Ted Lasso, the immensely popular streaming TV show on Apple TV+ features the antics and quirky, Coach ‘Ted Lasso.’ Lasso first appeared a number of years ago as a comedic character as NBC purchased the broadcast rights to the English Premier League. Played by Jason Sudeikis, Lasso (as a coach) brings change to the difficult football (soccer) team that he has traveled overseas to coach. In the ‘Lessons from Lasso’ series, I (Rev Brad) look at some of the different life learning points brought up in the show from a chaplain’s point of view. From the Touchline is a short-feature (usually 10-15 min) podcast with Rev Brad Kenney, Founder and Executive Director of Soccer Chaplains United and Volunteer Chaplain to the Colorado Rapids of Major League Soccer. Rev Brad and occasional guests touch on various issues around the topics of faith, family, and football (soccer). Also, don’t forget that you can listen in our app, SoccrChapUtd, in the Apple and Google store.