Soccer has something called, even on BBC, “time stoppage,” in which time doesn’t stop at all but continues, as does play. So it’s not really very much like the “stoppage” Americans know, in which things “stop” (unless they go by the name of the BP oil gusher). It’s as if Ionesco wrote the rules.

Which he probably did.

Of course, it’s possible Heidegger wrote the rules — that would explain why nobody understands them,especially the referees. (See U.S. vs. Slovenia, or, more handily, Ireland vs. France in the preliminaries — particularly France, which “beat” Ireland on a “hand” goal not called by the ref. France went on to disgrace itself in the Cup, a perfect example of karma.)

¶ 7:38 PM