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Why Everyone Cares About This World Cup

Explore episode Jun 29, 2026
Society & Culture
The Scottish Tartan Army and Boston's Greatest Love Affair

Why Everyone Cares About This World Cup · Jun 29, 2026 Society & Culture

Scotland hadn't qualified for the World Cup since 1998. Their fans, the Tartan Army, arrived in Boston and turned the city into a 24/7 party, drinking the city dry but leaving everyone happy. Their fan culture was deliberately built as an antidote to the football hooliganism of English fans in the '80s and '90s — and Boston loved them so much the Globe gave them a full front page.

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International Fans Flood In: Vikings, Buc-ee's, and Texas BBQ

At 9:55 · chapter starts 8:03

With the teams settled in their base camps, the fans arrive — and what follows is a cascade of cross-cultural encounters that only the World Cup can generate. Norwegian supporters take over New York and New Jersey, performing their famous Viking rowing chant while gliding down a subway escalator. Dallas organises bus tours to various points of interest; the most popular destination, by far, is Buc-ee's — a gas station so vast and so American that visitors wander through it in total disbelief, with staff performing sing-songs at the counter. Meanwhile, foreign fans are enthusiastically sampling American cuisine: hot french fries dunked in a chocolate milkshake ('that shouldn't work, but it's actually really good'), Texas short ribs, Philly cheesesteaks. The Philly cheesesteak, Natalie Kitroeff solemnly declares, is 'a national delicacy.'

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