Help this father save face!

An email from my son Nikolas, who’s too obsessed with the Dallas Mavericks to pay any attention to anything else, much less the World Cup.

It appears as though ESPN Sports Center deigned to show a highlight or two from a few games that didn’t involve non-red, white and blue teams, though, prompting my son to write me this query (at least i think it’s a query; i can’t help him with his fear of punctuation, unfortunately):

Was it poland’s weak d or weak offense they made them lose because their goaly came up with some sweet saves

Ah, from the mouths of babes, eh? Or teens, rather…

The question “why?” of course is the one young ‘uns are most concerned with. As a parent, one tries to have patience in answering strings of whys. Personally, i love the challenge, and it’s a great way to use all this usual trivia knowledge. Heck, i can tell you why the sky is blue. (Honestly, i swear i knew this before i found the link.) But this absolutely ignominious exit…how can it be summed up to an innocent to the football world? For fuck’s sake, they lost two by a combined score of 3-0.

Was it the offense or the defense?

Yes.

Perhaps i’ll just refer the lad to Andy’s response to my “untitled.” It’s succinct and pretty much correct; a great dodge.

So i’m going to put this one out to you, dear reader. (C’mon, i know you’re out there: I can hear you breathing.) How would you answer this question? Help me sound like a knowledgeable guy to my boy again.

Thank you for your support.