The Lasso Way (Thoughts on Ted Lasso)

 Hey friends, I'm a little behind the times when it comes to TV shows a lot of the time, and today I'd like to talk a little bit about a show that I started a long time ago, but also one that I've not finished until recently. "Ted Lasso" follows an American College Football coach (with a love for barbecue sauce) across the pond when he's called to be the new head coach of a Soccer team in England, despite the fact that he knows nothing about the sport. This won't be a full review of the show, but I do have a lot of thoughts about these characters and the way that the story of this series works out. It's a fantastic show, though due to all of the bad language and let's say, "adult issues," this is not for younger kids. It says that in the warnings before an episode plays on Apple TV+, but I'm always worried that people won't follow the advisory ratings. With all that out of the way, let's talk a bit about this series.

Good thinkin', Abe Lincoln.

    I want to start off by saying that I know very little about sports in general, and typically I'm not a big fan of sports dramas or anything like that, but the main reason I checked this show out in the first place is because Jason Sudekis plays the main character, Ted Lasso, and I have always been a fan of his ever since I saw him on SNL probably in 2007 or so. Ted has to be one of the most interesting characters that I've seen in a TV show in some time, and almost right away, you're grabbed by his optimism and enthusiasm for life, hoping that things will end up for the best, even when you realize at the end of the first episode that things will be hard. A lot of the main comedy the show is built around stems from Ted knowing almost nothing about the sport that he's supposed to be coaching. He tries his best with a lot of the strategies that he learned while coaching (American) Football. Fortunately, he does have Coach Beard on his side, a man of few words who just gets more and more wacky as the series goes on. He is the one who is trying his best to learn everything about Soccer so he can help Ted, even though he never shows any interest in wanting to be the head coach or anything. We also have Nate, the kit-man on the team, who begins the show as a very nervous character who is desperate to prove himself to anyone who will give him the time of day, and who actually has very good ideas about the game, though he keeps them to himself unless directly asked about his thoughts. Then of course we have Rebecca Welton, the newly-divorced owner of the team UFC Richmond, who hired Ted to tank the team specifically to ruin the one thing that her ex-husband cared about. The foul-mouthed Roy Kent, who has one of the best arcs in the show, along with the model with a heart of gold, Keeley Jones, and the list goes on and on. Needless to say, Ted Lasso is a show about some pretty diverse characters that are all brought together by love of the game, no matter how great their differences are. I could talk about the different characters all day, but you already know all this if you've seen the series.

    Along with the nature of the different characters, this show is about relationships as much as it is about Soccer. Ted's relationship with the team, the press, and the owner of the club are all pretty terrible at first. It's hard to watch in the beginning, but it's also so entertaining as he slowly breaks down the toxic and deceptive nature of the club over time. Each of these characters end up in dramatically different places because of their involvement of Ted, and the way he interacts with the world slowly rubs off on everyone around him. Take Trent Crimm, of the Independent. He enters the show as one of Ted's biggest critics and the tough as nails reporter who views Ted as a stupid American who doesn't understand the complexities of Soccer and is just doing the "good guy" act to get sympathy points, but after spending a day with him, even he comes around. It's not just that he makes the other characters like him, but he makes them strive to be better than they were in almost every case. It doesn't work for everyone, of course, and in fact, his cheerful nature is what drives some people away, but as a coaching tactic, he views it as being more important to set a good example for the team, even when he's not clear on the rules of the sport.

    In this season of my life, I've been working with a pretty extraordinary group of young people, and I still feel a bit out of my depth, despite working in this position for a little while now. This time that I've spent watching this series while filling this role has made me think about the show in different ways, and even to take come tips from Coach Lasso. First of all, it's important to not underestimate anyone. Everyone is important and worthy of greatness, no matter how weird and different they seem as they're growing up. There's always room for kindness and curiosity. It's good to stand up for what's right, even when there will be consequences. It's okay to not take yourself too seriously and make fun of yourself every now and then. So many heroes today are unwilling to smile, and so it's nice to have a character like Ted who spends the vast majority of the time smiling. It also makes those serious and sad moments that much more meaningful. One last thing that this show has done a good job with, it's okay to feel your feelings. so many of the issues that pop up in this show occur because someone is feeling something and bottles it up until it blows up in a major way. This happens in real life all the time, and it's good to let those kinds of things out every now and then.

    I will admit that this has been a more rambling post of mine, not worthy of how great this show is, but it's an important show in how they handle mental health, kindness, and the importance of living your own life. So many of these characters are in different circumstances than others, but there's never a time where people are deemed "unworthy" to be cared for. Even when some are on a bad path of cruelty or revenge, it does a good job of showing that there's always time for redemption or resolution. Whether you're the owner of a pub, a player on a soccer team, or a coach who doesn't know the rules of a new sport, they're all deserving of kindness and compassion, as are we all. I can't recommend this show highly enough, and especially as a fan of Scrubs from the 2000's, I'm happy to see the showrunner, Bill Lawrence, back at the helm of a great new show. Season 4 has been greenlit, and I don't know how long it'll be before we see anything of it, but I hope it'll be great!

    Thanks so much for reading this post, friends. I figured that my last few posts have been pretty long, so I thought I'd switch up the pace a bit today with a more experimental and shorter post I guess. It's also been a long time since I've talked about TV shows, and I figured I'd give it a shot! Have you seen "Ted Lasso"? I hope you like it if you have, and if not, I hope you'll give it a try (as long as you're the proper age.) I hope you're all doing well and I'll talk to you soon. Until next time, I'm Jonathan, a Self-Proclaimed Believer, and I hope you continue to value curiosity and kindness.