Writer’s Note: This article was written preceding Ajax’s two-legged triumph over Juventus. I hope you still enjoy the content, as we feel this story is still relevant, perhaps now more than ever, as Ajax advance into the semi-final of the Champions League.
Art by Onkar Shirsekar
Our universe, what we know of it, was formed in a minute or two. Before then, dramatic changes in sub-atomic particle temperature and shape were being made in less than a trillionth of a second, a timespan incomprehensibly short for humans.The beginnings of our very life were crafted out of something infinitely smaller than the period ending this sentence.
Neil DeGrasse Tyson discusses this in his book Astrophysics for People in a Hurry. The opening chapter titled “The Greatest Story Ever Told” explores the universe’s transformation from nothingness to what we have today: a thriving mix of molecules that create beautiful phenomena like water, oxygen, and humans. But the story of the “Big Bang” is not one easily understood by our system of thought. I’d venture to say that the universe’s greatest story, at least for human consumption, is one created by us.
The setting for this story, one much more recent than the dawn of man, is within the boundaries of humanity’s physical and mental capabilities. It is bound to the gender of men, those living in two major European cities, and those who happen to be very good at a sport we dub “football”. More specifically, the story takes place in two acts, in a conceptually arbitrary competition named the Champions League. It takes place between two of the continent’s most storied clubs. And the absurdity of its content is something more comprehensible by us than the opening minutes of our universe’s history.