1919 Chicago White Sox (aka the Black Sox) Team Photo (Wikipedia Commons)
Pakistan has more than enough to worry about these days: the terrible flooding, war and terrorism, and a teetering government. But now, some of the country’s star cricket players have become embroiled in a match-rigging scandal during their current tour against England. Sports can be heartbreaking enough for fans; throwing games is a dagger through their hearts.
This post raises an issue I’ve been wondering about all weekend: aren’t opponents of the Islamic Center in lower Manhattan arguing against the core of US strategy in Iraq and Afghanistan? How does the US win support of the populations there if we treat all Muslims in America as wannabe terrorists? And it’s surprising that the parade of Republicans denouncing Obama’s comments (and Michael Bloomberg’s eloquent speech) regarding the Islamic Center project haven’t been asked to reconcile their views regarding the project with the fundamental component (respect and trust of the populations in Iraq and Afghanistan) that is the Petraeus/Counterinsurgency strategy.
It wasn’t just Maradona, Dunga, Felipe Melo, the French team (and England) that went home from the FIFA World Cup to a less than stellar homecoming. The North Koreans, it seems, did not bring glory to Dear Leader.
The World Cup begins in South Africa one week from Friday. I’ll be posting video and links to historic Cup moments and trivia over the next six weeks. The Unlikely Fan has a great summary history to catch you up.
The video below is about one of the most famous games in Cup history: Brazil’s 1950 loss to Uruguay at the Maracana in Rio de Janeiro. The match wasn’t technically a “final”, but in the tournament format that year, a win or a draw would have given Brazil its first World Cup. That didn’t come for another eight years, in Sweden. The loss at home for Brazilians was searing.
To really appreciate winning you have know what it feels like to lose.
This week, France edged out Ireland to qualify for the World Cup, on a controversial goal created with a handball by the extraordinary Thierry Henry. One European news network referred to it as the “Hand of Gaul” goal.
Congrats to the Yankees on their umpty-umpth championship. Despite a long history with the Yankees (starting with the Horace Clarke era) I was pulling for the Phillies (even longer history, starting with the Johnny Callison, Richie – not Dick then – Allen, and Dick Groat era).
And congratulations to Series MVP Hideki Matsui – I was thrilled about this. Building baseball’s international reputation is crucial to its long term success. Japan doesn’t need much of a nudge as they already seem thoroughly enamored of the game but this type of recognition will certainly boost the game there. Pushing the postseason out to accommodate the World Baseball classic this year was a good move, IMHO.
Some attention will have to be paid to baseball in Latin America. With the exception of the Dominican Republic, and perhaps Venezuela, baseball seems to be losing mindshare to soccer there – recently, there just don’t seem to be quite as many players coming out of places like Mexico, and Panama, for example. I will stand by the following prediction: Havana will have a Major League Franchise by 2025.
