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The bar.

“I miss the old Kanye” is a symbol of two simultaneous journeys becoming incongruent. Most artists, like most people, change over time, renovating their sound to match the decor of their evolving psyche. When listeners find themselves growing with an artist, encountering stages of life in lockstep, a deep bond is formed between recording artist and iPod owner. When one path diverges from the other, however, and the artist begins to reflect a life unimaginable to those around them, a career becomes a series of projects to be compared, rather than a cohesive pilgrimage of the self.

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The colors of unity.

If we could clone players, there are a handful of club teams that could beat every team on display in Russia. Take nothing away from the pride of bathing yourself in your flag and playing alongside your countrymen, the World Cup simply does not have the best collectives on offer. Lack of transfer capabilities aside, the monetized game deprives international squads of the time to craft an identity. On a good year, countries can assemble their players for eight weeks of training, usually divvied up into fortnights centered around specific qualification matches. And yet, players covet a mid-July celebration over all else, proof that the sporting world treasures the power of emotions over pure quality.