Commentary By Ron Beasley
OK, I'm a soccer fan. It;s probably because I was brain washed when I lived in Europe for three years. My oldest son played soccer until basketball became a 12 month sport and I spent many a Saturday morning standing in the Pacific Northwest rain watching him play and loving every minute of it. And if there was any doubt that I'm a internationalist American football and baseball bore the hell out of me, I was thrilled to see that the US beat Spain in the Confederation Cup but not everyone was thrilled. The criminally insane neocons think soccer is un American. Gary Schmitt:
Well, yes, it is. As someone who didn�t play soccer growing up, but had a dad who did and whose own kids played as well, I can say unquestionably that it is the sport in which the team that dominates loses more often than any other major sport I know of. Or, to put it more bluntly, the team that deserves to win doesn�t. For some soccer-loving friends, this is perfectly okay. Indeed, they will argue that it�s a healthy, conservative reminder of how justice does not always prevail in life.
Well, hooey on that. And, thankfully, Americans are not buying it. In spite of the fact that one can drive by an open field on Saturdays and usually see it filled with young boys and girls playing soccer, the game�s popularity has not moved anywhere toward being a major sport here in the United States. It�s grown for sure but not close to where folks once expected it to be given the number of youth that have played the game over the past two decades.
For sure, there may be a number of reasons that is the case but my suspicion is that the so-called �beautiful game� is not so beautiful to American sensibilities. We like, as good small �d� democrats, our underdogs for sure but we also still expect folks in the end to get their just desert. And, in sports, that means excellence should prevail. Of course, the fact that is often not the case when it comes to soccer may be precisely the reason the sport is so popular in the countries of Latin America and Europe.
This is the neocon/conservative ideology in a nutshell. Any sport or system where the biggest and baddest don't win is flawed.
Is that why the neocons were so whiney back when the US Olympic basketball team got spanked?
ReplyDeleteRegards, Steve
This reminds me of Dave Egger's satirical piece about how 'American sports are played with the hands. Using your feet is for commies'.
ReplyDeleteAnd it's bunk. In no "American" sport does the better team always win. What does justice have to do with sports?
ReplyDeleteAs Winston Churchill said; "Americans can always be counted on to play by the rules, once they have exhausted all other means.."
ReplyDelete>>...in sports, that means excellence should prevail.
ReplyDeleteIn sports, that means the team that wins on any given day is the better team. Schmitt is confusing reality with belief.
Stephen Colbert called soccer "the game you learned in 4th grade that Europeans take seriously."
ReplyDeleteThis reminds me of the 1975 Wimbledon finals (no, really) when Arthur Ashe out-clevered the younger, stronger Jimmy Connors. There were people who refused to accept Ashe's victory on the grounds that he "shouldn't" have won because Connors was obviously the better player. Racism may have had something to do with it, but I really do believe that they were offended by brains defeating brawn.
ReplyDelete