This week for BuzzReads, David Peisner profiles a professional soccer player who earns only $35,125 a year, and questions whether pay inequality will doom Major League Soccer. Read that and these other great stories from around BuzzFeed and the web.
The Low-Budget, High-Pressure Life Of An MLS Rookie — BuzzReads
Major League Soccer is the only pro sports league in America where superstars can earn 140 times more than their teammates. Eighteen years into its existence, can it continue to survive without paying talented rookies like the Los Angeles Galaxy’s Kofi Opare to stay and play in the U.S.? Read it at BuzzFeed.
Photograph by Emily Berl for BuzzFeed
The Importance of Being Not Ernest — New York Times Magazine
A fun profile of Mariel Hemingway — the once 17-year-old co-star of Woody Allen's Manhattan and legacy to a family famed for its suicide and depression. Amanda Fortini spends time with the 51-year-old health obsessive and her partner at their paradisiacal California ranch. Read it at the New York Times Magazine.
Holly Andres for The New York Times
The Exclusive Inside Story of the Boston Bomb Squad’s Defining Day — Wired
Brian Castner describes the squad's reaction in the minutes and hours following the attack: "I deployed twice to Iraq, where I dismantled car bombs and investigated suicide attacks. I’ve witnessed the worst that humans can do to each other. But I have never experienced anything like what the Boston bomb squad went through in April." Read it at Wired.
Joe Pugliese for Wired
The Church of Jedi — Details
Benjamin Svetkey takes a look at an unlikely new religion: "Yes, they're followers of the faith from Star Wars that helped Luke Skywalker pilot X-wing fighters with his eyes closed and Anakin Skywalker, a.k.a. Darth Vader, choke people from across a room. The Force. The Dark Side. The divine wisdom of a 900-year-old backward-speaking puppet." Read it at Details.
Jeff Minton for Details