Category Archives: Sports

Quick Review: The Damned United

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With the World Cup taking place, I picked up The Damned United which chronicles a short period in the life of enigmatic British soccer manager Brian Clough. Troubles ensue when Clough becomes manager of Leeds United, the dominant team at the time. The 2009 film features Michael Sheen (of playing Tony Blair fame) who plays Brian Clough.

Quick thoughts:

1. I enjoyed the film. I thought the story was compelling and sufficiently deviated from the typical sports film where a misfit coach joins a misfit team and they magically come together to win a championship.The story involves a number of flashbacks that reveal how Clough came to be Leeds’ manager.

2. Clough and his managing partner, Peter Taylor, have a well-played “buddy” relationship.

3. After watching, I went online to find more information about Clough. According to the Wikipedia entry for the film, the movie plays fast and loose with Clough’s real story. This may be due to the fact that the film is based on a fictionalized novel of the same name written about Clough. Clough’s family apparently boycotted the film and others in England were not pleased.

4. Since I liked the film yet found out the real story was not quite what the movie portrayed, I feel somewhat cheated. I know films (and other media) often take “artistic license” but this film, in my opinion, went too far. In this case, real life was interesting enough without changing certain dimensions of the story.

(The film was well-received by critics: 114 reviews, 107 fresh/94% at Rotten Tomatoes.)

Soccer taking off in America?

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Bill Simmons, aka the Sports Guy over at ESPN, writes in his latest column that he finally believes soccer is taking off in America (see Questions #19 and 20). This is a common debate, particularly at World Cup time: have Americans finally latched on to the “world’s game”?

Simmons develops several arguments, which I summarize here:

1. Many fans weren’t just excited about Landon Donovan scoring during injury time against Algeria – more understood what it meant.

2. The US performance in this World Cup brought Americans together and there are not too many other athletes or teams that can do this.

3. Moments like this make big impressions on young children who then carry their fervor into their adult life.

4. Media and technology now make it easier to access soccer.

In summary, Simmons writes:

Soccer is no longer taking off. It’s here. Those celebratory YouTube videos that started popping up in the 24 hours after Donovan’s goal…tapped into a collective American sports experience unlike anything since Lake Placid….Those clips choked me up. Those clips gave me goosebumps. Those clips made me think, “I forget this sometimes, but I’m glad I live in the United States of America.”

It is interesting that Simmons says this now. He says he knows what cynics would say: people have been saying this for years.

I think he is right in one sense: more Americans do now seem interested in soccer. TV ratings have been good, particularly for the US matches. ESPN has carried every game and its easy to find highlights and commentary on many outlets. Americans like rooting with each other for Americans – this is what happens in the Olympics in four-year cycles and that typically includes sports no one watches between Olympics. There are few moments that bring Americans together for a common purpose and sporting events like the World Cup are rare. Additionally, the US now has a reasonable soccer league, MLS, that has developed into a decent feeder league for First Division European leagues.

In another sense, Simmons is making a strange argument. What does it mean to say that “soccer is here”? Is it now a top-three American sport? Of course not. It may have already eclipsed hockey (check out the consistent broadcasts and ratings on Spanish-language TV) but it would need sustained interest, not just four year spurts, to come close to football, basketball, and baseball. The YouTube videos Simmons writes about of Americans celebrating Donovan’s goals (successfully edited together here) are positive; but they are just a small sample. In fact, most of these videos feature middle to upper class white males sitting in a bar when they should be at work. We are nowhere near national holiday status for big matches.

The whole discussion about whether “soccer is here” is tedious. America is a big country: we have lots of room for lots of sports. In reality, there are still just a few sporting events that draw national attention from the casual fan or even disinterested people. The Super Bowl is the best example while the NBA Finals, World Series, and Olympics lag behind.

Soccer doesn’t have to be as big as it is in other nations to be considered “here” but it does have to be a consistent draw in person and on television. Perhaps by the next World Cup, MLS will be thriving (increased attendance, more players headed to Europe) and the soccer generation who have filled youth leagues for decades will be older and more attentive. Perhaps not.

But if one is truly a fan of sports and competition, it’s hard not to get interested in the World Cup. In addition to national pride on the line, it features the world’s best players and a truly international cast.

One hour in…and no free agent movement

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The greatest class of free agents in any major sport has now been officially free for over one hour – but it will likely be some time before LeBron, Dwayne Wade, Chris Bosh, and others sign with NBA teams.

At this point, the NBA couldn’t ask for better publicity. This free-agent bonanza almost overwhelmed an actually interesting seven game NBA Finals, completely overshadowed the NBA draft, and it is likely to drag out for some time as teams throw the kitchen sink at LeBron and others.

But with all the hype, I feel underwhelmed with the lack of activity thus far…

Winning vs. a country’s culture

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Brazilian coach Carlos Caetano Bledorn “Dunga” Verri has had a successful World Cup run thus far: four matches and four pretty easy wins. For many national coaches, this would lead to general praise from the media and fans.

But not in Brazil. Dunga has been playing with a more defensive-minded system, particularly compared to the attacking-with-flair Brazilian teams of past decades. A quick description of the battle Dunga has been fighting:

Then there were the fans, who almost always favor the spectacular and revel in the nation’s tradition of breathtaking open-field play.

Brazil has always been about offense, offense, offense. It has the deepest pool of talent in which to select a team. Its players pride themselves on creativity.

Even some of the  country’s former stars, such as Carlos Alberto, captain of Brazil’s 1970 team, have blasted Dunga:

“I am not confident in this group because our national team do not play Brazilian football…I’m talking about movement and use of the ball. We have good defenders, but the midfielders: if you ask Brazilian kids, who are our midfielders, they shrug their shoulders.”

So if Brazil wins a sixth World Cup title, what then? Will the country celebrate in the same way or will it be considered a less-than-great title? Sports fans can be an interesting lot, particularly when they are used to winning.

Sports redemption vs. true redemption

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Former NBA player Manute Bol died recently. Bol’s primary claim to fame was that he stood 7 feet 7 inches tall. Upon his passing, Bol was hailed as a “humanitarian.” As Jon Shields, a professor at Claremont McKenna College, points out in the Wall Street Journal, this humanitarianism was rarely linked to Bol’s strong Christian faith. The redemption Bol believed in was quite different than the redemption sports journalists typically write about. Rather than overcoming odds on the basketball court to finally reach a personal accomplishment, “Bol reportedly gave most of his fortune, estimated at $6 million, to aid Sudanese refugees. As one twitter feed aptly put it: “Most NBA cats go broke on cars, jewelry & groupies. Manute Bol went broke building hospitals.”

Shields argues that the redemption Bol was after was not connected to personal rewards but was instead “the Christian understanding of redemption has always involved lowering and humbling oneself. It leads to suffering and even death.

The Fellowship of the Vuvuzela

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This is making the rounds – but it is an entertaining mashup of Lord of the Rings and the World Cup. Watched a World Cup game this summer and wanted to get rid of the vuvuzela noise? Just bring in the Fellowship of the Vuvuzela.

Watch here.

The odd world of the NBA

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With the greatest free agent class in history set free on July 1, the grading of the winners and losers in the NBA draft among various media outlets is interesting. The draft, as it is in all sports, is about potential and youth.

Two teams that are consistently showing up as winners: the Chicago Bulls and Miami Heat. These teams did little in the draft. In fact, their goal in recent months has been to get rid of players, rather than add them. Both teams have been very successful in limiting their rosters so they have more free agent money to spend. They were not interested in the youth and potential – and this is seen as a good thing.

Of course it is a good thing if LeBron James or Dwayne Wade or the other big names sign with their teams. A reminder: these roster moves are all for free agent possibilities. One wonders what might happen if a team got their roster down to 3-5 players and then no big name free agents wanted to come. What kind of roster could one have by season’s start in November? Chicago and Miami are not in danger of this…but it would be a horrible, horrible letdown.

Update 11:25 AM 6/25/10: Yahoo Sports is reporting that notorious fixer Worldwide Wes is telling people Lebron and Chris Bosh are headed to Chicago:

To listen to World Wide Wes, LeBron will never look back on Cleveland. “He’s up out of there,” is the way he tells it to people, but LeBron’s Akron crew has to tsk-tsk such public talk because they all live in Northeast Ohio, and maybe always will. “We’re going to Chicago,” William Wesley tells people, “and Chris Bosh is coming, too.”

Collective effervescence in front of my TV

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I worked from home this morning while watching the USA take on Algeria in the final group-stage match in the World Cup. When the US scored in the 91st minute, I was excited. And then, like I occasionally do while watching the Olympics, I felt a swell of national pride. For a moment, I was connected to other Americans…and the images on ESPN of joyous fans at some pub in Seattle.

Training a young American soccer star

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Two articles that disagree about whether young male soccer players in America should be going to Division One college programs to play. There are now many more female Division One soccer programs and they can offer more scholarships than men’s teams.

It has been my understanding that soccer is like baseball; college, for many, is a waste of time. (Baseball players have terrible education levels due to this common life in the minor leagues.) The best young soccer players in the world are often discovered before they are 15. College simply delays their development. Soccer has a sort of informal minor league system; young players play for lesser leagues (like MLS in the US or Division One or Two in England) before they are bought by a first-rate squad. American soccer players are only now consistently playing for better overseas squads, such as Tim Howard, Clint Dempsey, and Landon Donovan in the Premier League.

For women, it is a different story. There is a professional women’s league in the US – but it attracts little attention and pays little. College offers good competition while getting an education. Outside of going on to play for the Women’s World Cup, many players may never see the attention they get in college.

1. The New York Times: How A Soccer Star Is Made.

2. Minding the Campus: Why U.S. Men’s Soccer Will Now Decline.

Tabling a legal career

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The ABA recently picked up a story about a third-year law student who has decided to pursue professional poker rather than the practice of law:

[Pace University law student Jeffery] Papola has won more than $1 million this year and may be reconsidering his career choice.

“I’m not exactly sure what I want to do with it (a law degree),” Papola said. “I have learned a lot of things (in school), but as far as practicing law, I do not see myself being able to do that, because I really do not like the 9 to 5 thing. That’s one reason I was so drawn to poker.

Lawyers: -1.  Sharks:  no change.