Igra narodnaia. Russkie pisateli o futbole - Terekhov A.M., Vodolazkin E.G., Genis A.A., Rubanov

The collection of short prose about football - memoir and artistic - includes texts by Alexander Genis, Evgeny Vodolazkin, Vasily Utkin, Andrey Rubanov, Vladimir Stognienko, Kirill Nabutov, Alexander Terekhov, Dmitry Danilov, Alexander Nilin, Denis Romantsov, Viktor Shenderovich, Alexander Sekatsky, Olga Breinger, Sergey Bruinin "Like all great things, football is too simple to be explained. Therefore, many confuse it with religion, or with life... But football seems to me to be an art. The glavous simplicity of the rules speaks of the irresistible perfection of this game. As in sex or chess, there is nothing to invent or, especially, to improve. However, simplicity does not mean undemanding. Football recognizes only total self-forgetfulness. He doesn't let you get distracted from himself. He completely excludes you from life, for which you are grateful to him. Football is unpredictable and so beautiful. Unlike those achievements, which are determined by meters and seconds, football is devoid of measure and consistency. Goal can be an extension of the game, but can also cross everything created by it. Unfair as life, football and logical no more than it. Those who know how to play lose. The winners are those who have forgotten about it." Alexander Genis