Prosthesis writes about the differing philosophies of soccer and American football. Hmmm, interesting. As a Yank living in Europe this summer, it’s been fun to watch football (er, soccer) instead of American sports. But I’m not sure about the whole passing backwards thing. Soccer players pass backwards to set up plays downfield. There’s still a forward-marching telos. Even in U.S. football, you move backwards a bit sometimes to set up a play, as in a pitch to the fullback, or a left guard pulling behind the line to support a sweep play.
The really interesting comparison is the willingness of soccer teams to play for a tie. But even then, teams accept a tie because a tie results in a point in the standings, whereas a loss equals no points (and three points to the opponent for the win), so the telos still is forward-looking.
Maybe a better place to look is golf, where you have to score lower in order to win. The last shall be first? And in my case, golf also inculcates the virtue of patience in the face of great suffering.