Reading The Blizzard in, well, not a Blizzard but a Snowstorm, in 2016.

It’s time for another bucket list guest, after years of on-again, off-again attempts, I’m happy to welcome polymath/head in a har Jonathan Wilson (@jonawils) to the podcast.

Of course, Jonathan has a new book to discuss and this time around, it’s The Power and the Glory, a history of the World Cup. We talk about a number of the World Cups, including France 38, Mexico 70 and Mexico 86, USA 94 and the upcoming tournament this year in Canada, the USA and Mexico. We discuss how politics has always been a part of the event and how to balance the ethics of attending this year’s matches versus wanting to see a World Cup match an hour from your house.

There’s also chat about popular culture and the World Cup, including Fassbender’s The Marriage of Maria Braun, Miracle of Bern and the not-yet-released in the USA, Saipan, about the Mick McCarthy/Roy Keane showdown in the Ireland team at the 2002 World Cup.

We also discuss soccer in the US, the early success of the sport in the 1920s, the NASL, college soccer and I sneak in a plug for the MISL and the Baltimore Blast.

There’s also time to discuss many of Jonathan’s projects, including the Blizzard magazine, Guardian Football Weekly and the now-approaching 100 episodes Libero Podcast and how it got started and where it will be moving forward.

We end the show on an odd note, as I wanted to chat to noted Detective devotee Wilson about some Victorian and Edwardian detectives like Dr. John Thorndyke and Max Carrados, but Johnathan did not know them. Hopefully, some of the links I passed along after the show may give him an appreciation.