This Monday It’s a Cold Cold World (Cup)

The cold spell that descended upon New York City over the weekend is sticking around for the next few days, but the real heat is being generated by some serious World Cup action around the boroughs. 

Yesterday in Queens, we took in the Ecuador vs. Qatar game on 37th Avenue. 

Qatar was easily handled by Ecuador, giving fans enough time to reflect on the horrible conditions that the World Cup is taking place in. Between the deaths of thousands of migrant workers, the crackdown on LGBTQ rights, the bribery that allegedly took place to award Qatar the rights to the game, and the general sketchiness with which Qataris have treated fans. Not to mention that instead of parading through the streets after your team wins, fans, like those of Ecuador yesterday, were mostly still huddled inside cafes and restaurants to steel themselves from the cold. It's going to be a weird and in many ways, bad World Cup.

While the soccer might be rough, and the conditions rougher—there’s still nothing like watching fans from immigrant communities from all over the world show out for their team. Today, Hell Gate recommends watching Senegal vs. Netherlands up in Harlem, where fans spilled out onto city streets earlier this year, when Senegal won the African Championship. 

Some non-soccer links to start your day: 

• Streetsblog found that subway riders love voting for Kathy Hochul—so will she love them back or leave them out in the cold? (Waiting for a bus that’s not coming). 
• E-bike batteries keep catching fire. But just banning them is probably not going to work, or be fair to the people that need them. 
• Almost three years after the first COVID-19 lockdowns, offices are still half empty. Maybe time to start converting some of those buildings to housing? 
• Turnout was poor in this month’s election—possibly why Democrats shat the bed. 
• The NYPD, once again, is not all that interested in solving crimes. 
• Paved paradise to put up an NFT restaurant. 
• More and more Asian communities are voting for Republicans in New York City. 
• Here are New York's legal weed retailer finalists. 
• Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg has dropped charges against a woman charged with murder for defending herself during a confrontation with her estranged husband. 
• Kyrie Irving returned to the Nets yesterday, and as with everything Nets, it was handled great!
• And finally, back to the World Cup for a second…… this is nuts: