During every World Cup there are bound to be upsets, surprises, scandals and controversies.
They have become so regular and predictable that a small cottage industry has emerged dedicated to predicting, covering and at times exploiting such events.
In my “Every Four Years: Viva el Fútbol ,” I summarized a charming article from an “American Way” in-flight magazine—an article that predicted some of the winners, losers, “spoilers,” also-rans and other interesting categories in the ongoing World Cup.
Traveling back home, this time on Delta, I found that its in-flight magazine, “Sky,” also has a good spread on the World Cup with great articles on the host country, its natural beauty, its culture—including its “culinary culture”—its music and a “cheat sheet” on teams, games and players to watch. I am sure that other airlines, especially those with flights to South Africa or with connections to those flights, also have interesting reads on the World Cup.
But back to the American Way article. One interesting piece I failed to mention in my previous post is one titled: “20 THINGS THAT ARE BOUND TO HAPPEN AT A WORLD CUP.”
In this list one finds, for example:
** A Third World country will surprise a soccer power with a win or a tie.
** A gaffe by a referee or linesman will decide a close game.
** A star player will miss a key penalty kick during a tiebreaker.
** One country will offer a team myriad riches if it advances or does well.
** A coach will be ejected.
** Brazil’s fans will samba for 31 days.
** A player will be suspended for taking drugs.
** A relatively unknown player will be given international acclaim for scoring a vital goal.
** A team will accuse another of spying on its practice session.
** A team that has done horrendously during its World Cup warmups will surprise.
No doubt several of these predictions will come true, and may already have.
While most commentary about the World Cup has been free of politics and free of other “distractions,” as it should be, already back in February, according to Delta’s “Sky,” there was a sign that there would be such diversions.
Artist Andries Botha who has been sculpturing life-sized elephants “from Belgium to Mexico” was commissioned by the city of Durban, South Africa, to erect one of his elephants at a traffic island as part of sprucing up the city for the World Cup.
As Botha was getting ready to finalize his work of art, everything came to an abrupt halt. You see, a bigwig politician from the Ruling South African party, the African National Congress, took offense and put a stop to the art work in progress.
The reason? Well, the elephant happens to be the logo of the rival Inkatha Freedom Party. No way was the icon of the opposition party going to be used to spruce up the image of one of South Africa’s major cities for the World Cup.
As of publication date of Sky, “the standoff continue[d].”
Sadly, there are even more egregious examples of how, at least for now, the hope that sports will be free of politics—and racism—is just illusory.
The New York Times’ “The Thread” provides some examples. They include politics, the “exorbitant cost” of hosting the World Cup,” exorbitant publicity and, yes, racism.
This one was interesting:
“While soccer partisans may try (mostly unsuccessfully) to score on point-by-point comparisons to baseball or football, the most compelling argument many media outlets can muster is, ‘The rest of the world loves it. We should too,” writes Matthew Philbin at the conservative site NewsBusters.
More details of the plot:
The liberal media have always been uncomfortable with “American exceptionalism” – the belief that the United States is unique among nations, a leader and a force for good. And they are no happier with America’s rejection of soccer than with its rejection of socialism. Hence Americans are “xenophobic,” “isolated” and lacking in understanding for other nations and their passion for “the planetary pastime,” as Time magazine put it. But, they are confident, as America becomes more Hispanic, the nation will have to give in and adopt the immigrants’ game. On the other hand, the media assure the public that soccer is already “America’s Game,” and Americans are enthusiastically anticipating the World Cup, even though the numbers don’t bear that contention out…
Part of the liberal sales pitch for soccer is its popularity with Hispanics. Liberals who fetishize race are eager to adopt a sport with a special appeal for a certain minority, and it would never occur to them that new arrivals to the country might be well served adapting to traditional U.S. pastimes. To the left, it’s America that must change.
And, o yeah, there is this one, too:
Meanwhile, some feel that Saturday’s England-U.S. match is less about brilliance on the grass than oil in the Gulf. Fox News had the scoop:
Tensions in both countries have flared over BP, injecting the face-off with an added layer of competition. The opportunity for revenge and shin-kicking has not gone unnoticed. On the U.S. side, director Spike Lee — who’s been on the vanguard of outrage over the spill — reportedly told a gathering of New York bloggers the U.S. team should wear shirts that say “BP Sucks” on Saturday. A Facebook page calling for BP “payback” hopes against hope that “our boys will get some retribution in South Africa.” In Britain, newspapers and politicians on Friday slammed the Obama administration’s treatment of the company. The timing of the match fed the fire. The Times of London ran a cartoon that showed soccer player Obama “booting” a ball with a BP logo on it. His uniform showed the president was sponsored by “Mid Term Elections Inc.”
Well, maybe next time we’ll take the sports out of politics.
Image: Courtesy FIFA
The author is a retired U.S. Air Force officer and a writer.