When you think of soccer here in the States, you probably think of middle class kids, driven to games by their parents in minivans or Volvo wagons. And the soccer haters in the sports press harp on this all of the time - either it's elitist or it's too foreign. Meanwhile, in every other country, soccer (football) is the sport of the working class - holding the same niche that hoops does here. Nike finally seems to have realized this, and their new ad campaign for US Soccer features baller Clint Dempsey of the New England Revolution back home in Houston, with Deuce, XO and Da Beatzsmith. Check it out here. If we're ever going to win the World Cup, we need to tap into our urban youth - black, brown and white.
2 comments:
this is your best blog post yet, you snobbish Yank!
at least in football everybody can try to get along regardless of political stance.
maybe you and all your beltway buddies can learn from these hard working footballers who have truly given their lives to making your country a well respected place again.
Maybe you can use your love for football to do some work with the children in d.c. maryland and virginia and you can affect change amongst our "urban youth" regardless of their skin colour.
Nice try. I suggest you read several books on football in Europe to see how well football fans really get along. You may want to start with "brilliant orange - the neurotic genius of dutch soccer" by David Winner; "How Soccer Explains the World : An Unlikely Theory of Globalization" by Franklin Foer;or "Barmy Army" by Dougie Brimson. Simply watch Italian soccer and look at the fascist salutes by fans of Lazio and Roma, the sectarian violence at a Celtic-Rangers match in Glasgow, or the monkey chants that haunt Spanish football whenever a black player is on the pitch.
Post a Comment