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Pickup Your Pelada: NY Times on Brazil's Kickabout Culture in Brazil

Is this paradise?

“Football and women,” he said, “are the only two things we really love.” -  Hotel Doorman, Rio

Something tells me when I go to the World Cup next summer, it's going to take an immense amount of arm-pulling to drag me back to the United States...

If there's one thing you read and watch today, make it this New York Times video and feature on pickup soccer in Brazil.

It's worth a read by anyone who's ever thrown down a couple backpacks, beercans, or pieces of firewood (these are my go-tos) to make a pair of goals for a kick-around with some friends. Although pickup soccer is pickup soccer wherever you are in the world, in Brazil, it (or Pelada*, as it's known there) all seems so exotic.

Think of this as a palette teaser for the football culture feast that will be next summer's World Cup.

*Speaking of pelada, if you are aroused by the global ubiquity of pickup footie, check out the documentary 'Pelada', the story of two college soccer players who travel the world experiencing the game from pickup pitch to pitch. Well worth a watch.