All kinds of people, on facebook and in real life, are raving about this soccer game or that Lakers v. Celtics game. Even my own husband sheepishly asked me last night if he could watch the Lakers game (okay, this makes me sound really controlling) out of nostalgia and I was a bit stunned, seeing as he doesn't watch sports EVER (unless you count skateboarding, which he watches hours of daily). Would-be hipsters are suddenly rooting for various European countries, depending on each of their vague experiences with varying cuisines. This comes across to me as a disingenious effort to dispel Glenn Beck's claims (and nytimes writers' claims) that Americans Hate Soccer. I have my own ideas on that, much less esoteric than those at the New York Times and hopefully more sophisticated than that of Glenn Beck, who, I'm sure, sees the World Cup as a progressive, populist move toward communism. Who knows.
But these hipsters are not only trying to dissociate themselves from the right-wing pro-baseball camp, but give off an air of worldly European sophistication in which "football" heals all religious, racial, and political tensions. That's all very well and good, but let me contribute my view of so-called European soccer sophistication. I was in Nice, France for the Euro Cup two years ago, and all I remember were a bevy of inebriated Germans trying to peer onto my balcony to see me better in my swimsuit and drunkenly growling various things at the television as they sat, mired in their own filth, six of them sharing a 40 euro a night motel. There was no red wine nor Noam Chomsky involved, as far as I know.
Now, I'm not putting down Europeans, nor their love of soccer, nor anyone's love of soccer. But if you don't love soccer for the three years previous to the World Cup, let's not pretend. It's fine to like sports. I can't comprehend it. I would rather watch a Chia pet grow than pretend to enjoy watching players with awkward haircuts not score goals for two hours. I have my own odd hobbies: I'm sure people don't understand why I take the time to memorize the stats of editorials from major fashion magazines or bothered to watch all six seasons of LOST. And that's fine. You don't pretend, and I won't either. Isn't this nice?
1 comments:
http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1991933_1991952_1993757,00.html
I would die if I had to watch a chia pet grow. I'm not super big on sports or follow any one team in particular (though by default I am aligned with the Golden Bears for life) but I totally get the neurotic reason given in the NYT piece. Soccer where I project all my built up aggression. It's a fast paced sport. There aren't a ton of little breaks or time outs in play, as there are sometimes in basketball or football. So maybe nobody scores for most of the game, but the players are always in motion. It's much easier to scream 'score a damn goal' to the television than yell to a friend 'dump your lameass boyfriend already.' Even if a goal is never scored, at least the players are being progressive (and brutal ahahaha).
Also, I am for Team Italia forever.
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