Will the Richmond Greyhounds become the best versions of themselves?Why is The Fountainhead Ted's favorite book?

Does hope really kill you?

What does potential smell like?

Is doing the right thing ever the wrong thing?

Does Nate deserve a headbutt or a second chance?

Ted Lasso follows the amiable and relentlessly optimistic Coach Lasso on a quest to rebuild a Premier League London soccer club and lead them to victory. Just one catch: Ted knows next to nothing about the game, having so far coached only American football, and only at the amateur level. He's not what Richmond fans or players want, but he's exactly what they need, opening their eyes to the nature of success, the power of belief, the value of friendship, the importance of self-care, the beauty of forgiveness, and much more. What results is an underdog story for the ages, where a motley crew of quirky and loveable characters form an unlikely community and prove that if you got a little love in your heart, there ain't nothing you can't get through together.

Ted Lasso and Philosophy explores the hidden depths beneath the vibrant veneer of the award-winning Apple TV+ sitcom. Blending philosophical sophistication with winsome appreciation of the feel-good comedy, this collection features 20 original essays canvassing the breadth of the series and taking seriously the ideas it presents, including the goal of competition, the role of mental health, sportsmanship, revenge versus justice, the importance of friendship, the imperative of respect for persons, what love looks like, and just how evil tea is. In a nod to the show's many literary allusions, the compilation concludes with a whimsical appendix that catalogs the books most significant to Ted Lasso's themes and characters.

If football is life, as Dani Rojas fondly repeats, then this book is a fitting primer. Ted Lasso and Philosophy is for the curious, not judgmental. Sport is quite the metaphor, and we can't wait to unpack it with you.

MARYBETH BAGGETT is Professor of English at Houston Christian University. She is co-author of Telling Tales: Intimations of the Sacred in Popular Culture and The Morals of the Story: Good News about a Good God, which won Christianity Today's 2019 Award of Merit for Apologetics and Evangelism.
 
DAVID BAGGETT is Professor of Philosophy at Houston Christian University and Director of the Center for the Foundations of Ethics. He's the author or editor of fifteen books, including a tetralogy on the moral argument for God's existence.

A Taste of Athens ix
Part I Do the Right-est Thing 1
1 On the Pitch with Saint Augustine 3
Sean Strehlow
2 Isaac Finds His Flow 13
Elizabeth Schiltz
3 Ted Talk, Precursive Faith, and the Ethics of Belief 24
David Baggett
4 Is Ted an Egoist? 35
Robert Begley and Carrie-Ann Biondi
Part II The Best Versions of Ourselves 45
5 Fear's a Lot Like Underwear 47
Corey Latta
6 Lassoing Aristotle 56
Joseph Forte
7 Ted Lasso's Personal Dilemma Squad 66
R. Keith Loftin
8 The Affable Gaffer 76
Andy Wible
Part III Man City 85
9 Poop in the Punchbowl 87
Caleb McGee Husmann and Elizabeth Kusko
10 Doing Masculinity Better 96
Marcus Arvan
11 Inverting the Gender Pyramid 105
Willie Young
12 Who Is Right, Ted or Beard? 116
Michael W. Austin
Part IV Mostly Football Is Life 125
13 Amplifying Emotion and Warmth at Richmond 127
Lance Belluomini
14 Is This Indeed All a Simulation? 140
Andrew Zimmerman Jones
15 Kansas City Candide Meets Compassionate Camus 150
Kimberly Blessing
16 Ted's Chestertonian Optimism 162
Austin M. Freeman
Part V Smells Like Potential 171
17 What To Do with Tough Cookies 173
David Baggett and Marybeth Baggett
18 Stoic Bossgirl 182
Elizabeth Quinn
19 Why a Headbutt Might Have Hurt Nate Less 192
Georgina Mills
20 Is Rupert Beyond Redemption? 201
Marybeth Baggett
Beard's Bookshelf 212
Marybeth Baggett
Starting Lineup 217
Index 222