American Culture is the ONLY culture
For those of you that live under a rock, the World Cup is kicking off today. While I do enjoy watching any sport where nations compete, I won't lie and pretend that I'm a real soccer fan that follows Real Madrid or Barcelona when the World Cup isn't going on, but I do appreciate soccer as a sport. There are some sports that I like to play, but certainly don't follow much during the season. Actually, this is probably true for all sports except for football. See title for more information on that front ;). But, the World Cup is still pretty freakin' sweet and I would like to see America do well even though our group play pairing sucks and even if we advance, will likely have to face some very tough opponents.
That being said, I recognize that soccer has never really taken off that much here in the U.S. and maybe it never will. It seems like the general population is stuck in a mentality that refuses to embrace our national team, even after we made it to, I believe, the quarterfinals last year. In a way it reminds me of that new SportsCenter commercial with Neil Everett and some soccer player (see, I can tell you the name of the SportsCenter anchorman but can't recognize who I am pretty sure is a well-known soccer superstar. I do know that it was NOT Ronaldhino).
Neil: Well, you have football over there which is our soccer. But what do you call our football?
Soccer player: Football.
Neil: Why don't you change the name of it to soccer? That way you have your football which is our soccer, and your soccer which is our football. Then you'll be like us, except in reverse. It will help with the confusion.
On a similiar note, SportsCenter was doing their promotional piece for the World Cup today and their strategy (probably a marketing strategy, see my_earlier_post for how I feel about bad marketing) was to compare it to football. Our football, which is, their football too.... well, their other football. See, Neil was right; it is confusing. Anyway, they invite this lady on and ask her, "Who would you say is the Brett Favre of the World Cup?" "Who is the Kobe Bryant?" "Are there any Michael Jordan or Terrill Owens types?" Probably not, I doubt anyone else can produce a rap song as terrible as "I'm back." Although I was glad to hear that Terrill "got the recipe and now he's back in the kitchen." He is right, he did have me saying, "Wow, boy." Back to the point.... why can't the World Cup just be great in its own right? Why do we have to compare it to all of our other sports heroes? I think we have some inferiority complex where we fear not being the best... so when we get to sports where we are second best, or in this case 8th best (although I think we might have been ranked as high as 2nd or 3rd during the year) we have to remind everyone that we had outstanding athletes at these other sports too. It is intriguing.
On a side note, this lady they brought on the show was terrible. At the end they ask her, so who is your pick for the World Cup? Her response, "I'm going with an underdog, the Dutch. They have a really young team, kind of inexperienced, and their pool is really hard, but I'm going with them anyway." I'm not making this up, that is almost what she said verbatim. Now, maybe I'm old fashioned but I wouldn't mind hearing an explanation as to why a team that as all these odds against them would win the entire tournament, besides the fact that it might make a good Disney movie in a couple of years. People like her is the reason that Vegas makes money.
That being said, I recognize that soccer has never really taken off that much here in the U.S. and maybe it never will. It seems like the general population is stuck in a mentality that refuses to embrace our national team, even after we made it to, I believe, the quarterfinals last year. In a way it reminds me of that new SportsCenter commercial with Neil Everett and some soccer player (see, I can tell you the name of the SportsCenter anchorman but can't recognize who I am pretty sure is a well-known soccer superstar. I do know that it was NOT Ronaldhino).
Neil: Well, you have football over there which is our soccer. But what do you call our football?
Soccer player: Football.
Neil: Why don't you change the name of it to soccer? That way you have your football which is our soccer, and your soccer which is our football. Then you'll be like us, except in reverse. It will help with the confusion.
On a similiar note, SportsCenter was doing their promotional piece for the World Cup today and their strategy (probably a marketing strategy, see my_earlier_post for how I feel about bad marketing) was to compare it to football. Our football, which is, their football too.... well, their other football. See, Neil was right; it is confusing. Anyway, they invite this lady on and ask her, "Who would you say is the Brett Favre of the World Cup?" "Who is the Kobe Bryant?" "Are there any Michael Jordan or Terrill Owens types?" Probably not, I doubt anyone else can produce a rap song as terrible as "I'm back." Although I was glad to hear that Terrill "got the recipe and now he's back in the kitchen." He is right, he did have me saying, "Wow, boy." Back to the point.... why can't the World Cup just be great in its own right? Why do we have to compare it to all of our other sports heroes? I think we have some inferiority complex where we fear not being the best... so when we get to sports where we are second best, or in this case 8th best (although I think we might have been ranked as high as 2nd or 3rd during the year) we have to remind everyone that we had outstanding athletes at these other sports too. It is intriguing.
On a side note, this lady they brought on the show was terrible. At the end they ask her, so who is your pick for the World Cup? Her response, "I'm going with an underdog, the Dutch. They have a really young team, kind of inexperienced, and their pool is really hard, but I'm going with them anyway." I'm not making this up, that is almost what she said verbatim. Now, maybe I'm old fashioned but I wouldn't mind hearing an explanation as to why a team that as all these odds against them would win the entire tournament, besides the fact that it might make a good Disney movie in a couple of years. People like her is the reason that Vegas makes money.
posted by Hoss | 9:48 AM
3 Comments:
I'm like you with the World Cup, a tepid soccer fan most of the year but I do love a large international competition. The US is seeded 5th, actually, and watch out because despite our horrible pairing we are actually pretty nasty.
you said people is. :)
You watching the commentators in German? or English?
Hahah, I just figured out something very amusing. After reading your entries and then the comments...I was like: why the hell is everyone saying their last name is ´dijo´ on these posts...is this some new thing I have yet to catch onto?...Turns out I think the spanish computer is telling me that people ´said´ these things. Well, that clears up a lot of confusion...Evidently I didn´t sneak into this country to be their friends...And no, I don´t have an exit strategy!
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