Politics is like driving. To go backward, put it in R. To go forward, put it in D.
Thursday, March 09, 2006
Politics is like driving
Just read this great quotation on Daily Kos:
Arsenal v Real Madrid: embedded
Last night I participated in what can only be described as a hysteric, homoerotic orgy of football worship. Yes, I watched a Champion's League football match, Arsenal versus Real Madrid. It was a meeting of European -- make that World -- football giants. My friend Ben said this was the biggest match Arsenal had ever played, and they were playing it at home, only a mile from my house. But I didn't watch it in my home (not known as a place for hysteric homoeroticism) or at a friend's house. I watched it at the Twelve Pins, a pub near Finsbury Park Station, just around the corner from the grounds of Arsenal. Inside were approximately 25,000 mostly male, sweaty, head-shaven, chain smoking, lager drinking football fanatics with a dubious sense of fashion (see below), and I, your humble servant, dutifully jotting down my random thoughts for your eventual dismissive reading.
Ben said the atmosphere in this pub would be electric, even more so than watching the match first hand. He was right. I've been to quite a few important sporting events in my time: Michael Jordan's last home game for the Chicago Bulls, NBA Final, Cubs playoff games, crucial Big 10 football games, etc. I know a good atmosphere when I see one. But a good atmosphere is not something you judge, it is something you feel. Like almost all things good in this world, you can't describe it, but you know it when you feel it. And I did feel it.
Things got off to a rocky start when I was watching the wrong television for the first ten minutes. (Watch this space for my analysis of the first minutes of Liverpool v Benifica!)
I was soon put right.
Throughout the match, I wasn't reacting to the events on the pitch so much as following the lead of the supporters around me. Ohh-ing when they ohh-ed and cursing when they cursed. My eyes don't always pick up on what has happened, and I can't always tell what is important from what is just run-of-the-mill because I think a football match drones relentlessly forward, with advances into enemy territory building and collapsing at an interest-numbing pace.
In fairness, that is not always the case. Anyone who is interested in sport and competition can see the value of a steal at a crucial moment, lament a mistake or recognize that the referee needs glasses. Competition is competition no matter what, and with just a little bit of effort you can become embroiled in just about anything. Take, for example, my quadrennial interest in curling. I know when it is going well and I know when the shit hits the fan but I don't know anything about curling.
I appreciated most of the evening, if only because I generally like watching sports and the atmosphere was so charged. I find that my interest in football is directly proportional to the number of people around me when watching the match. You will never find me watching a match on my own and chances are you won't find me watching a match in a group less than five or ten.
The evening was foreign to me in many ways, and there are some things that I noticed that you just wouldn't catch Americans doing when watching sports.
Singing Songs -- the British love this stuff. They break into song whenever anything happens and even when nothing particular happens. It is entirely random, predictable only by employing some arcane strand of chaos theory. I find this endearing. When Americans sing songs at a game, it is either the national anthem or the seventh inning stretch. Either way, both come at prescribed times and not when action is taking place on the field.
Hugging -- Don't get me wrong, American men hug one another when really good things happen to their team. But it is kind of an uneasy, off-center slapping of one another's back. To be sure, there is no nipple alignment, and the touching of chests is kept to the absolute minimum (note that bumping beer belling is acceptable). Last night there was full-on bear hugging. I find this endearing as well. I should note that American athletes have a habit of slapping each other's asses. This activity does translate to the fans.
Celebrating a 0-0 score -- You really gotta love a game to enjoy the thrills and chills of a scoreless draw. Let me tell you, when the referee blew that whistle, the drunk crowd at the Twelve Pins went ballistic (as did I), becoming more hysterical and more homoerotic than I really thought possible. I don't find this endearing. But, a drunk crowd celebrating a non-victory doesn't bother me but a newspaper headline that reads "Gunners' football glory" does. Arsenal were not glorious in their draw and a 1-0 aggregate victory is perhaps the least convincing victory in the history of keeping score. But even if it was glorious, they really havn't won anything! All they got is a place in the quarter finals of the tournament. Moreover, beating a team like Real Madrid and going on and on about it suggests that David beat Goliath. Arsenal are one of the best teams in the Premiership; they even went undefeated a couple of seasons ago. They are a big league team with big league victories in their past. Sure this is an accomplishment, but let's not get delusional about its importance.
Wearing scarves indoors -- I'm not sure why the scarf is such an important icon for fans to wear, but it is. I have a younger cousin who idolized his team's scarf. He carried it around with him like a child carrying around his blanket. I suppose I can understand wearing a scarf when it is cold and one is outdoors, but there were people wearing their scarf inside on a relatively warm night. I find this somewhat endearing, but at a level far below the hugging and the singing.
I would be remiss if I didn't mention that I was swept up in all of this (indeed, my friend Gurmokh has videos and pictures of me as proof). Of course, I was drunk, so that had a lot to do with it. I cursed the referee, defamed the opposing players and might have, at one point, suggested that the entire fan base of Real Madrid could burn in eternal hellfire. I was caught up in the moment and I had a lot of fun doing it. I bear hugged, I cheered and drank some more. It was a lot of fun, but that is because winning is fun... oh, wait.
Technorati tags: Arsenal, Real Madrid, Champions' League, Sports, Drinking, Cultural Differences
Ben said the atmosphere in this pub would be electric, even more so than watching the match first hand. He was right. I've been to quite a few important sporting events in my time: Michael Jordan's last home game for the Chicago Bulls, NBA Final, Cubs playoff games, crucial Big 10 football games, etc. I know a good atmosphere when I see one. But a good atmosphere is not something you judge, it is something you feel. Like almost all things good in this world, you can't describe it, but you know it when you feel it. And I did feel it.
Things got off to a rocky start when I was watching the wrong television for the first ten minutes. (Watch this space for my analysis of the first minutes of Liverpool v Benifica!)
I was soon put right.
Throughout the match, I wasn't reacting to the events on the pitch so much as following the lead of the supporters around me. Ohh-ing when they ohh-ed and cursing when they cursed. My eyes don't always pick up on what has happened, and I can't always tell what is important from what is just run-of-the-mill because I think a football match drones relentlessly forward, with advances into enemy territory building and collapsing at an interest-numbing pace.
In fairness, that is not always the case. Anyone who is interested in sport and competition can see the value of a steal at a crucial moment, lament a mistake or recognize that the referee needs glasses. Competition is competition no matter what, and with just a little bit of effort you can become embroiled in just about anything. Take, for example, my quadrennial interest in curling. I know when it is going well and I know when the shit hits the fan but I don't know anything about curling.
I appreciated most of the evening, if only because I generally like watching sports and the atmosphere was so charged. I find that my interest in football is directly proportional to the number of people around me when watching the match. You will never find me watching a match on my own and chances are you won't find me watching a match in a group less than five or ten.
The evening was foreign to me in many ways, and there are some things that I noticed that you just wouldn't catch Americans doing when watching sports.
Singing Songs -- the British love this stuff. They break into song whenever anything happens and even when nothing particular happens. It is entirely random, predictable only by employing some arcane strand of chaos theory. I find this endearing. When Americans sing songs at a game, it is either the national anthem or the seventh inning stretch. Either way, both come at prescribed times and not when action is taking place on the field.
Hugging -- Don't get me wrong, American men hug one another when really good things happen to their team. But it is kind of an uneasy, off-center slapping of one another's back. To be sure, there is no nipple alignment, and the touching of chests is kept to the absolute minimum (note that bumping beer belling is acceptable). Last night there was full-on bear hugging. I find this endearing as well. I should note that American athletes have a habit of slapping each other's asses. This activity does translate to the fans.
Celebrating a 0-0 score -- You really gotta love a game to enjoy the thrills and chills of a scoreless draw. Let me tell you, when the referee blew that whistle, the drunk crowd at the Twelve Pins went ballistic (as did I), becoming more hysterical and more homoerotic than I really thought possible. I don't find this endearing. But, a drunk crowd celebrating a non-victory doesn't bother me but a newspaper headline that reads "Gunners' football glory" does. Arsenal were not glorious in their draw and a 1-0 aggregate victory is perhaps the least convincing victory in the history of keeping score. But even if it was glorious, they really havn't won anything! All they got is a place in the quarter finals of the tournament. Moreover, beating a team like Real Madrid and going on and on about it suggests that David beat Goliath. Arsenal are one of the best teams in the Premiership; they even went undefeated a couple of seasons ago. They are a big league team with big league victories in their past. Sure this is an accomplishment, but let's not get delusional about its importance.
Wearing scarves indoors -- I'm not sure why the scarf is such an important icon for fans to wear, but it is. I have a younger cousin who idolized his team's scarf. He carried it around with him like a child carrying around his blanket. I suppose I can understand wearing a scarf when it is cold and one is outdoors, but there were people wearing their scarf inside on a relatively warm night. I find this somewhat endearing, but at a level far below the hugging and the singing.
I would be remiss if I didn't mention that I was swept up in all of this (indeed, my friend Gurmokh has videos and pictures of me as proof). Of course, I was drunk, so that had a lot to do with it. I cursed the referee, defamed the opposing players and might have, at one point, suggested that the entire fan base of Real Madrid could burn in eternal hellfire. I was caught up in the moment and I had a lot of fun doing it. I bear hugged, I cheered and drank some more. It was a lot of fun, but that is because winning is fun... oh, wait.
Technorati tags: Arsenal, Real Madrid, Champions' League, Sports, Drinking, Cultural Differences
Tuesday, March 07, 2006
What I read this morning; plus: no kissing allowed!
The heard of patent litigation darkness
Turns out we might owe a small company that seems to sue companies for a living a whole crap load of money.
Dangerous Games
The most heated competition in the 2008 Olympics could take place not in a stadium but in the Taiwan Strait
Schools for Scandal
Bush has the option of being remembered as a corrupt Coolidge or a corrupt Ford.
Plus, I hate couples who insist on being all smoochy-poo in the morning. I find it violates my human right to a gag free commute to work in the morning.
Turns out we might owe a small company that seems to sue companies for a living a whole crap load of money.
Dangerous Games
The most heated competition in the 2008 Olympics could take place not in a stadium but in the Taiwan Strait
Schools for Scandal
Bush has the option of being remembered as a corrupt Coolidge or a corrupt Ford.
Plus, I hate couples who insist on being all smoochy-poo in the morning. I find it violates my human right to a gag free commute to work in the morning.
Sunday, March 05, 2006
What I'm reading this morning
Turns out that Rob Schneider can't act
An eclectic mix of good websites: especially good is www.crooksandliars.com; www.archive.org/web/web.php, The Wayback Machine, where you can see what a web page looked like 5 or 10 years ago; see cats degraded at www.stuffonmycat.com; and, a place to ask and answer questions at ask.metafilter.com.
Time to impeach Bush?
McCain in 2008?
Wood need surgery... again
An eclectic mix of good websites: especially good is www.crooksandliars.com; www.archive.org/web/web.php, The Wayback Machine, where you can see what a web page looked like 5 or 10 years ago; see cats degraded at www.stuffonmycat.com; and, a place to ask and answer questions at ask.metafilter.com.
Time to impeach Bush?
McCain in 2008?
Wood need surgery... again
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