April 24, 2005
YOU ARE HOW YOU THROW (via brian boys):
Wide World of Sports: Soccer mirrors globalization and its discontents.: a review of How Soccer Explains the World: An Unlikely Theory of Globalization, by Franklin Foer (Michael Young, April 2005, Reason)
In one chapter of How Soccer Explains the World: An Unlikely Theory of Globalization, Franklin Foer evokes this alleged effetism by using soccer to help explain America’s culture wars. Foer distinguishes two camps that emerged in the U.S. after 9/11. One is cosmopolitan, shares values with Europe, opposes war in Iraq, and, presumably, is amenable to soccer; the other believes in American exceptionalism, views Europeans as lax and degraded, and regards soccer as “a symbol of the U.S. junking its tradition to ‘get with the rest of the world’s program.’”
The distinction is even simpler: there are people who throw like men and people who throw like girls. Posted by Orrin Judd at April 24, 2005 5:14 PM
Don't forget Frank DeFord's comment. A reporter from Europe once asked him why soccer was not popular in the US. DeFord replied that Americans like sports such as baseball and football which rely on the use of the hands. DeFord noted, "Use of he hands is what separates us from the beasts of the field."
Posted by: John Cunningham at April 24, 2005 5:20 PM[T]he other believes in American exceptionalism, views Europeans as lax and degraded...
One would have to be fairly uninformed to not believe these things, although one can of course take exception to the ways in which Americans have used their mighty powers, (the genesis of which is luck & pluck), or quibble over the extent and reach of European degradation.
Posted by: J. Tiberius K. at April 24, 2005 5:23 PM"The distinction is even simpler: there are people who throw like men and people who throw like girls."
[cough] steroids [/cough]
"A reporter from Europe once asked him why soccer was not popular in the US. DeFord replied that Americans like sports such as baseball and football which rely on the use of the hands. DeFord noted, "Use of he hands is what separates us from the beasts of the field."
Or maybe it's the fondness for wearing tight pants.
Posted by: Ali Choudhury at April 24, 2005 5:41 PMIf you know anybody that needs to learn how to throw like a guy I can teach them, but they'll have to supply their own towel, broomstick, tennis ball, catcher's mitt and dartboard. It's a fun skill to teach: you start with the feet and work up until you get to the point where they realize what it's supposed to feel like.
Posted by: joe shropshire at April 24, 2005 7:21 PMIt's a pleasure to see our president throw like a man after either years of watching Clinton throw like a girl. I am a girl and I can throw better than bubba.
Posted by: erp at April 24, 2005 8:39 PMAs I once famously said, "watching soccer is like going to Churchill Downs to watch the jockeys play an endless game of kick the can in the infield."
Posted by: H.D. Miller at April 24, 2005 10:14 PMSo which one are you, OJ?
Posted by: Matt Murphy at April 25, 2005 5:03 AMMatt:
The slowest white man on Earth, so they always had me pitch.
Posted by: oj at April 25, 2005 8:11 AM