Ted Lasso is the Hero America Needs
Nick Mohammed, Jason Sudeikis, Brendan Hunt in Ted Lasso | Credit: Apple TV+
Ted Lasso follows the story of an American football coach who is hired to coach a UK football team. Like many fans of American football, he knows nothing about real football (aka soccer), which ends up creating a number of interesting problems along the way.
This show is funny, light, and heart-warming, which is not what I was expecting but was exactly what I needed. Honestly, in the middle of the stress of this season here in America, this show felt right on time. Despite its humor, it didn’t feel flippant; there was a depth to the characters that grounded the story and its ridiculous premise. Even the supporting characters were three-dimensional, interesting, and even exciting. And, of course, Jason Sudeikis does an amazing job donning that ridiculous mustache and leading the show as Ted Lasso.
More than being just a humorous show to distract me from the flaming dumpster fire that is America right now, Ted Lasso reminded me of some important things that I think we’ve lost somewhere along the way.
The Importance of Belonging
The concept of belonging is pivotal to this story as we watch Ted try to integrate himself with a group of people who hate him by default. After seven months of social distancing and with so many feeling disconnected from community, this story hit me just a little differently. Whether we like to admit it or not, we crave community. The need to belong is hardwired into our DNA, and we will fight to be accepted.
The scenes of camaraderie among the football fans warmed my heart. This group of people cared passionately about a solitary activity, and that’s what brought them together. When they had a million other differences, they were willing to drop all of those because they shared a love of the sport and the team. These moments of singular focus are incredibly special.
Americans Aren’t Always the Worst
Right now, there’s a lot of negative press about a lot of people in my country. No matter which way I look, someone is mad at someone else (some of which is for good reason). While we seemed to band together and honor each other when the pandemic first hit, we’ve devolved significantly, regressing back to our worst instincts.
Honestly, when I first started the show, I was nervous that Coach Ted was going to be the worst. I feared that he would be an ignorant American and would make me even more disappointed than I already am. But this show did the opposite. While Lasso is very ignorant about anything and everything related to football, he has the character that is so lacking in much of what I see on the news and social media today.
As silly as it sounds, watching Ted Lasso restored a little of my faith in humanity.
Despite those rooting against him, Lasso goes out of his way to make sure that others feel loved and accepted. He honors those around him, even those who are picked on. And he holds onto an unswerving belief in himself and others. He knows that character is more important than wins and losses — talk about a counter-cultural perspective for a coach of a professional sports team! Watching the way he cared for the people around him gave me a little hope that not everyone is as horrible as I might be inclined to think.
A Word for America
In one of the episodes, after a really heart-breaking loss, Ted tells the team two things:
Be grateful that you can be sad together. There’s nothing worse than being sad and alone.
When you’re done being mad and/or sad, be like a goldfish — have a short memory.
He encourages the team to continue on in the face of defeat after they’ve processed through the emotions of the moment.
This felt like such a word for America. As I talk with friends or look on social media, I am amazed at how many people are grappling with anger and/or sadness in this moment. It’s overwhelming just how much trauma and grief we have to process through. Daily we’re hit with a new wave of things to grapple with. It’s really tempting to either sit in the emotions and stew in them forever or brush past all of them. But I think we need to have a balance, just like Coach Lasso instructed his team. We should feel the emotions of the moment, be grateful that we’re not alone in them, and then move on together.
Ted Lasso, currently streaming on AppleTV+, is well worth watching. I found joy in the show’s blending of both goofy American humor and dry British humor. And I just fell in love with the characters, particularly Ted, who was so endearing that I couldn’t be annoyed with him. All in all, I think this is a great show for our present moment when there’s so much darkness and heartbreak around us. It was wonderful to be able to escape into this other world with these fascinating and flawed humans.
I still don’t know anything about real football, but maybe I’ll learn some more in the next season.