Hope, Love, and Ted Lasso

Jason Sudeikis (SNL, We’re The Millers) has outdone himself with the creation of the relentlessly hopeful sitcom Ted Lasso. The show follows an american collegiate football coach who travels across the pond to coach a team in the premier league. Sudeikis plays the titular coach as he embarks on a mad man’s journey trying to fix the crumbling club that is AFC Richmond. The new owner, the ex-wife of the former owner has decided to ruin the one thing her ex-husband truly loved in this soccer club. In her attempt to tarnish the club she may have hired the one coach who could save it. Ted Lasso is a man who truly views his job as coach as bigger than sport, he looks first to teach his players how to be good men on and off the pitch. Ted’s focus is on the relationships of his players and how they can grow in trusting one another. He feels that as his team begins to fight for one another with the team focus in mind rather than individual aspirations that they will excel on the field. Ted leads his team with an undying loyalty and respect that naturally trickles into his players own lives. He is enduringly optimistic without losing touch with reality, he continuously refocuses the team on what they can control and achieve together. He ignores all the petty bullshit firing at all cylinders around his club and centers them on hope and belief in one another. Ted even models this on his coaching staff with his hilarious best friend coach Beard and especially with the self doubting coach Nate who realizes his full potential with a boss and friend that truly believes in him.

This show is particularly important in a time where it has become incredibly easy to lose all hope and be tossed around by the shitstorm that attacks us everyday in the news and media. It is all to easy these days to be lost in the pitfalls of humanity and the endless cycle of suffering that we witness in the world around us. Hope is lost and seems overbearingly naive in a time where good is all but lost. Ted Lasso reminds us of the possibility of good even in dire times. The coach shows us that a life built on others centered love and enjoying the small victories can add up to real change that can impact the world around us. We all need a little Ted Lasso in our lives, which is why I whole heartedly recommend this show to anybody who gets a chance to check it out. It is a highlight of my week and a reminder of the good things that we can do in this life.