The Post-Gazette's Ron Cook hates soccer, and I don't care.
In today's paper, the columnist writes, "When it comes to soccer -- World Cup or otherwise -- my opinion is that I don't like it, can't stand it, am not sure I would watch more than a few minutes of it even if my life depended on it."
Whatever. Most sports columnists - most columnists, period - are paid to be provocative rather than wise.
Here's the part, though, where I sat up and decided that whether or not Cook likes the game, he has no idea what the sport is even about.
Cook, not looking forward to tomorrow's showdown between the US and Ghana:
"Ghana? How do you hate a country that gave us Kofi Annan, Nobel Peace Prize winner and the first black African secretary-general of the United Nations? I'm telling you, you can't."Which is good, because of course you're not supposed to. There are some extraordinary national rivalries in international soccer. The English and the Argentines don't get along, for example; the English are justifiably still upset about a certain goal allowed against them in 1986. The Argentines have not forgiven or forgotten a certain brief war. There is no love lost between the Dutch and the Germans. El Salvador and Honduras, 1969, come to mind, though that event had little to do with soccer itself. At the club level, ancient tribal hatreds do persist (see: certain English Premier League clubs, certain Italian clubs, certain Argentine clubs, for example), though fortunately they have yet to penetrate the American soccer consciousness in any meaningful way. I support certain clubs in Europe that lead close friends of mine to deride my intelligence when we are talking about soccer.
But as a rule, soccer fans don't walk around hating the other team. This isn't, say, ice hockey, or professional American football. It is surprisingly easy, and surprisingly powerful, to express your passion for your side -- your country -- without disrespecting your adversary, let alone hating them.
The beautiful thing about the beautiful game, especially at the World Cup, is how incredibly unifying the whole thing is. The World Cup started two years ago with more than 200 teams, from Norway to South Africa and North Korea to Peru. All not just playing the same sport, but claiming it: Wherever soccer really began, many of these countries claim it as part of their national traditions. You can't say that about many cultural institutions in the world. Is soccer "American" (whatever that question means)? Of course not. That's the whole point. The US is participating, with a fortitude that a lot of people identify as characteristically American, in a global event.
The 32 finalists are in South Africa. If you watch the games (this would not be Ron Cook, of course, who is out mowing is lawn in protest), you see fans in the stands behaving as fans generally behave at World Cup finals matches these days: With enthusiasm. With joy. (Occasionally, for the French, for example, or the Italians, with despair.) The most fun I've ever had when attending a sporting event was at the World Cup final in 1994, between Italy and Brazil. More than 100,000 fans in the Pasadena sunshine, from around the world, passionately attached to their teams (I wore a Brazil jersey that day) but also passionately attached to the spirit of the day.
The World Cup is an extraordinarily display of international good will. Sure, there is the occasional problem with an official (like *that* never happens in American sports!), and some teams are prone to what is delicately called unsportsmanlike behavior (again, something that is absolutely foreign to pro -- even college -- sports in the US!). High quality but low scoring games are often praiseworthy. (Perfect game, anyone? Not one even gets on base! How dull is that?)
So what. I have my US semi-throwback jersey ready, and I'll be watching tomorrow. The lawn can wait.
Friday, June 25, 2010
Monday, June 21, 2010
Pittsburgh, a Pierogi, and You
[Update June 30, 2010: The Pierogi is back.]
The Pittsburgh Pirates seem unusually cursed, among professional sports teams, when it comes to mascots.
By now, the whole world knows that the Pirates have egg on their faces as a result of firing an employee who used to don a pierogi costume -- and who had the bad form to criticize team management in a Facebook status update. Of course, it doesn't take much for a team on its way to an 18th consecutive losing season to screw up.
Here's a quick guide to the conventional wisdom: On the one hand, we have the hapless pierogi (I'll avoid mentioning his name), too foolish and too quick on the keypad to know that you don't run down the boss in public. On the other hand, we have the hapless baseball team, entitled legally to hire and fire pierogi players but too clueless and too mired in its own self-importance to understand that it has completely and utterly lost the trust of this town.
I'm recapping because there is an underappreciated Pittsburgh angle to be played here. The Pierogi Affair reminds us that when push comes to shove, Pittsburgh remains a company town, a 20th century economy looking down the long tunnel at the bright lights of the 21st century.
What I mean is this: The Pirates didn't have to fire the pierogi. The Pirates fired the pierogi because the team wanted to, possibly even because the team felt that it had to fire the pierogi. Why? Because when a pierogi pipes up to criticize the boss and gets away with it, then who knows who will pipe up next. The janitor? One of the groundskeepers? Beer man? And then you have chaos. The hallmark of a well-run organization is discipline. But that isn't all of it.
The Pirates fired the pierogi because the team could. What if Ryan Doumit (he's a catcher for the Pirates) had posted comments critical of the team's management in a Facebook status update? What if, to be clear, Ryan Doumit had said exactly the same things on Facebook that the departed pierogi had said?
That would be extremely poor form on Mr. Doumit's part, to be sure. He'd get a stern talking to from his manager and perhaps from the GM; he might have to sit out a game or two. But would he be fired? That's highly unlikely. It is unlikely partly because even a team as bad as the Pirates has to have a starting catcher, and men of Mr. Doumit's skill aren't hanging around major league ball parks angling for invitations to play. (I'm not picking on Ryan Doumit; you could substitute any Pirates starter here.) Big Ben Roethlisberger did something far worse recently than the pierogi transgression -- by any objective reckoning -- even though he narrowly escaped criminal charges. Ben's fate? A stern talking to. He has to sit out some games. And he is still on the Steelers roster.
My hypothetical critical Doumit wouldn't lose his job for a second reason: Major League Baseball players have standard contract language that permits the team to fire them only if the player shall "fail, refuse or neglect to conform his personal conduct to the standards of good citizenship and good sportsmanship or to keep himself in first-class physical condition or to obey the club's training rules." But under the MLB Collective Bargaining Agreement, the player has the right to appeal any such discipline, etc. etc.
In other words, to fire Ryan Doumit for a Facebook infraction, the Pirates would have to invoke specific contract terms (is Facebook criticism of the team really breaching "standards of good citizenship and good sportsmanship?") - and then jump through a lot of hoops to justify the team's position. The missing pierogi? Here today, gone tomorrow.
I'm not shedding tears for the pierogi. I'm only pointing out some basic inequity in the treatment of employees who aren't fortunate enough to have strong contracts behind them. Suppose that the pierogi were married, with a couple of very young kids and a small apartment, and suppose that he dressed up in a pierogi costume on a regular basis for a modest but living wage, enough to keep his family clothed, fed, and housed. And then suppose that the pierogi did something stupid on Facebook and found himself out on the street the very next day.
I am guessing that much of Pittsburgh would react much as it seems to have reacted to the actual incident: Feckless move by the team; thoughtlessness on the part of the employee. But the employee would be well and truly behind an 8-ball in a way that the real pierogi, fortunately, is not. Either way, the employee is in this position because the legal deck is stacked against him. He has no employment contract, and under PA law - and the common law tradition - in that context companies retain essentially unlimited rights to hire and fire at will.
That's not just a 20th century approach; it's a 19th century approach, too. (Before the 19th century, "at will" employment wasn't terribly significant simply because the Industrial Revolution had not yet really gotten rolling, and there were relatively few large companies around that needed to treat humans like chattel.) Does at will employment speak to the 21st century economy? If you're the owner of a business, you might well say that it does, but I'm not so sure. Even so, your best defense is that the 21st century hasn't changed anything fundamental about what worked for business in the 19th century. For the time being, however, n Pittsburgh, the only safe move may be to play it The Company Way.
Bonus video from "How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying":
The Pittsburgh Pirates seem unusually cursed, among professional sports teams, when it comes to mascots.
By now, the whole world knows that the Pirates have egg on their faces as a result of firing an employee who used to don a pierogi costume -- and who had the bad form to criticize team management in a Facebook status update. Of course, it doesn't take much for a team on its way to an 18th consecutive losing season to screw up.
Here's a quick guide to the conventional wisdom: On the one hand, we have the hapless pierogi (I'll avoid mentioning his name), too foolish and too quick on the keypad to know that you don't run down the boss in public. On the other hand, we have the hapless baseball team, entitled legally to hire and fire pierogi players but too clueless and too mired in its own self-importance to understand that it has completely and utterly lost the trust of this town.
I'm recapping because there is an underappreciated Pittsburgh angle to be played here. The Pierogi Affair reminds us that when push comes to shove, Pittsburgh remains a company town, a 20th century economy looking down the long tunnel at the bright lights of the 21st century.
What I mean is this: The Pirates didn't have to fire the pierogi. The Pirates fired the pierogi because the team wanted to, possibly even because the team felt that it had to fire the pierogi. Why? Because when a pierogi pipes up to criticize the boss and gets away with it, then who knows who will pipe up next. The janitor? One of the groundskeepers? Beer man? And then you have chaos. The hallmark of a well-run organization is discipline. But that isn't all of it.
The Pirates fired the pierogi because the team could. What if Ryan Doumit (he's a catcher for the Pirates) had posted comments critical of the team's management in a Facebook status update? What if, to be clear, Ryan Doumit had said exactly the same things on Facebook that the departed pierogi had said?
That would be extremely poor form on Mr. Doumit's part, to be sure. He'd get a stern talking to from his manager and perhaps from the GM; he might have to sit out a game or two. But would he be fired? That's highly unlikely. It is unlikely partly because even a team as bad as the Pirates has to have a starting catcher, and men of Mr. Doumit's skill aren't hanging around major league ball parks angling for invitations to play. (I'm not picking on Ryan Doumit; you could substitute any Pirates starter here.) Big Ben Roethlisberger did something far worse recently than the pierogi transgression -- by any objective reckoning -- even though he narrowly escaped criminal charges. Ben's fate? A stern talking to. He has to sit out some games. And he is still on the Steelers roster.
My hypothetical critical Doumit wouldn't lose his job for a second reason: Major League Baseball players have standard contract language that permits the team to fire them only if the player shall "fail, refuse or neglect to conform his personal conduct to the standards of good citizenship and good sportsmanship or to keep himself in first-class physical condition or to obey the club's training rules." But under the MLB Collective Bargaining Agreement, the player has the right to appeal any such discipline, etc. etc.
In other words, to fire Ryan Doumit for a Facebook infraction, the Pirates would have to invoke specific contract terms (is Facebook criticism of the team really breaching "standards of good citizenship and good sportsmanship?") - and then jump through a lot of hoops to justify the team's position. The missing pierogi? Here today, gone tomorrow.
I'm not shedding tears for the pierogi. I'm only pointing out some basic inequity in the treatment of employees who aren't fortunate enough to have strong contracts behind them. Suppose that the pierogi were married, with a couple of very young kids and a small apartment, and suppose that he dressed up in a pierogi costume on a regular basis for a modest but living wage, enough to keep his family clothed, fed, and housed. And then suppose that the pierogi did something stupid on Facebook and found himself out on the street the very next day.
I am guessing that much of Pittsburgh would react much as it seems to have reacted to the actual incident: Feckless move by the team; thoughtlessness on the part of the employee. But the employee would be well and truly behind an 8-ball in a way that the real pierogi, fortunately, is not. Either way, the employee is in this position because the legal deck is stacked against him. He has no employment contract, and under PA law - and the common law tradition - in that context companies retain essentially unlimited rights to hire and fire at will.
That's not just a 20th century approach; it's a 19th century approach, too. (Before the 19th century, "at will" employment wasn't terribly significant simply because the Industrial Revolution had not yet really gotten rolling, and there were relatively few large companies around that needed to treat humans like chattel.) Does at will employment speak to the 21st century economy? If you're the owner of a business, you might well say that it does, but I'm not so sure. Even so, your best defense is that the 21st century hasn't changed anything fundamental about what worked for business in the 19th century. For the time being, however, n Pittsburgh, the only safe move may be to play it The Company Way.
Bonus video from "How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying":
Sunday, June 13, 2010
Soccer-Mad World Cup Hosts Know Football - Our Kind
I noticed the following tidbit in the World Cup blog of Sports Illustrated writer Peter King:
Random NFL Experience in South Africa
I'm here with my wife, and the other day, we were in a cab in Cape Town and the driver asked where we were from.
"I grew up in Pittsburgh,'' my wife said.
"The Steelers!!!!'' the fellow said.
"You know the Steelers?'' she said.
"Everyone knows the Steelers!'' he said.
Saturday, June 05, 2010
World Cup Countdown: One Week to Go
If you have read this blog for a while, then you know that I am a football fan. Not NFL or college football; instead, I follow the world's sport. Next Friday, the 2010 World Cup finals begin, and on Saturday (June 12) the US opens group play against England. Kickoff is 2:30 pm Eastern. If you are planning to watch and don't want to go solo at home, then there may be no more football-friendly venue in Pittsburgh than Piper's Pub on East Carson Street in the South Side.
Check out the pub's Football page for information.
For some Pittsburgh football history, here's a bit that I posted back in September, in anticipation of the G20 summit:
"G20 journalists trying to decode the meaning of football in Pittsburgh might plausibly ask -- in fact, they should ask, and will ask -- what about football in Pittsburgh? The kind that the rest of the world understands, the kind played with your feet ("foot"ball), with a round ball? It's a curious thing that a city that aspires to a global presence has no professional soccer team to speak of. How many genuinely global cities can you think of that do not? Even in the US, whose First Division soccer league is hardly a major sport by American standards, New York, DC, Chicago, Houston, Columbus (Columbus?) -- all of them have pro teams. Los Angeles has two. Pittsburgh? None. Or nil, in soccer-speak.
Pittsburgh has a long and glorious soccer history, much of which is unknown to most residents. Its oldest, most prestigious, and most successful soccer club, Beadling, has been in operation roughly as long as American football has been played in Pittsburgh, more than 100 years. Today, Beadling fields boys' and girls' youth teams and men's and women's adult teams. Harmarville Soccer Club placed two players on the 1950 US World Cup squad that shocked England.
But efforts to sustain modern pro soccer in Pittsburgh have struggled in the face of an indifferent media, the absence of appropriate venues, and a fan culture that is saturated with American football, ice hockey, baseball and, increasingly, college basketball. During the 1980s, the Pittsburgh Spirit played "indoor" soccer in Pittsburgh. Beginning in 1999, the Pittsburgh Riverhounds brought the outdoor game back to the region, but the Hounds have struggled financially and now compete in the Second Division of the United Soccer Leagues -- the third division of American pro soccer. The Riverhounds are semi-pro -- at best.
Under the surface, however, the growing visibility of international club soccer in American media -- even in Pittsburgh -- means that in today's Pittsburgh I am far more likely to see a European club jersey being worn on a sidewalk in Oakland, or even Downtown, than I was 10 years ago. There is a lively and internationally flavored soccer scene among pickup games in Schenley Park and among the over-30 and over-40 soccer leagues in the region. Many Pittsburghers are dismissive of soccer. The notion that football and ice hockey are authentic Pittsburgh sports, and soccer is not, remains lodged in the region's collective sporting consciousness even if it is historically inaccurate. Someday, it is possible to imagine, Pittsburgh's sporting culture will catch up to its global ambitions, and the revitalization of Pittsburgh will be not only an American story but a fully international story."
Check out the pub's Football page for information.
For some Pittsburgh football history, here's a bit that I posted back in September, in anticipation of the G20 summit:
"G20 journalists trying to decode the meaning of football in Pittsburgh might plausibly ask -- in fact, they should ask, and will ask -- what about football in Pittsburgh? The kind that the rest of the world understands, the kind played with your feet ("foot"ball), with a round ball? It's a curious thing that a city that aspires to a global presence has no professional soccer team to speak of. How many genuinely global cities can you think of that do not? Even in the US, whose First Division soccer league is hardly a major sport by American standards, New York, DC, Chicago, Houston, Columbus (Columbus?) -- all of them have pro teams. Los Angeles has two. Pittsburgh? None. Or nil, in soccer-speak.
Pittsburgh has a long and glorious soccer history, much of which is unknown to most residents. Its oldest, most prestigious, and most successful soccer club, Beadling, has been in operation roughly as long as American football has been played in Pittsburgh, more than 100 years. Today, Beadling fields boys' and girls' youth teams and men's and women's adult teams. Harmarville Soccer Club placed two players on the 1950 US World Cup squad that shocked England.
But efforts to sustain modern pro soccer in Pittsburgh have struggled in the face of an indifferent media, the absence of appropriate venues, and a fan culture that is saturated with American football, ice hockey, baseball and, increasingly, college basketball. During the 1980s, the Pittsburgh Spirit played "indoor" soccer in Pittsburgh. Beginning in 1999, the Pittsburgh Riverhounds brought the outdoor game back to the region, but the Hounds have struggled financially and now compete in the Second Division of the United Soccer Leagues -- the third division of American pro soccer. The Riverhounds are semi-pro -- at best.
Under the surface, however, the growing visibility of international club soccer in American media -- even in Pittsburgh -- means that in today's Pittsburgh I am far more likely to see a European club jersey being worn on a sidewalk in Oakland, or even Downtown, than I was 10 years ago. There is a lively and internationally flavored soccer scene among pickup games in Schenley Park and among the over-30 and over-40 soccer leagues in the region. Many Pittsburghers are dismissive of soccer. The notion that football and ice hockey are authentic Pittsburgh sports, and soccer is not, remains lodged in the region's collective sporting consciousness even if it is historically inaccurate. Someday, it is possible to imagine, Pittsburgh's sporting culture will catch up to its global ambitions, and the revitalization of Pittsburgh will be not only an American story but a fully international story."
Friday, June 04, 2010
The Think Method and Pittsburgh's Rebirth
Pittsburgh's creaky PR machine continues to sell the story of the region's rebirth - which, it turns out, depends heavily on Pittsburgh's creaky PR machine.
Read Shawn Bannon, local PR guy, on how PR helped rebuild Pittsburgh.
There is little harm in telling tales like these to the proverbial old lady in Dubuque, though if you have been to Dubuque lately, as I have, you know that it is a beautiful riverside Iowa town and home to a population that is, by Iowa standards, relatively youthful and energetic. Pittsburgh is more cosmopolitan than Dubuque by several orders of magnitude. Iowans, with their native distrust of "out East," don't much care. If you're out that way, take a drive through Dyersville and see the Field of Dreams. A film company built it. People still come.
Problems arise if Pittsburghers start to believe the PR. Has Pittsburgh changed and grown in many ways over the last 20 years? Sure, though the local Field of Dreams is home to football, not baseball, and Pittsburgh has a rink of dreams, too. But is the region out of the economic or cultural woods? Hardly. No amount of PR can cover the city's pension problems.
Bonus video: I can't find a clip of Robert Preston describing the "think method," from the Music Man, but I can find the next best and equally apt thing:
Read Shawn Bannon, local PR guy, on how PR helped rebuild Pittsburgh.
There is little harm in telling tales like these to the proverbial old lady in Dubuque, though if you have been to Dubuque lately, as I have, you know that it is a beautiful riverside Iowa town and home to a population that is, by Iowa standards, relatively youthful and energetic. Pittsburgh is more cosmopolitan than Dubuque by several orders of magnitude. Iowans, with their native distrust of "out East," don't much care. If you're out that way, take a drive through Dyersville and see the Field of Dreams. A film company built it. People still come.
Problems arise if Pittsburghers start to believe the PR. Has Pittsburgh changed and grown in many ways over the last 20 years? Sure, though the local Field of Dreams is home to football, not baseball, and Pittsburgh has a rink of dreams, too. But is the region out of the economic or cultural woods? Hardly. No amount of PR can cover the city's pension problems.
Bonus video: I can't find a clip of Robert Preston describing the "think method," from the Music Man, but I can find the next best and equally apt thing:
Bright Shiny Things
Nothing says "The future of Pittsburgh is 1964" like having Paul McCartney present the first concert at the soon-to-open Consol Arena. Sometimes, having aging cultural icons show up represents a nice coda to a long story. What goes around comes around, in a really positive "awwww!" kind of way. Sometimes, grandfathers playing old pop hits is a way of reminding aging baby boomers that things were so much nicer and easier in their youth, when the future was bright and full of possibility. Sometimes, having a British knight open a building is just making a safe bet that the event will sell out.
Any Pittsburghers who have been following Chris Briem's recent posts about the North Shore casino and (separately) the pension crisis should be happy to have a Bright Shiny McCartney thing to distract them.
Squirrel!
Any Pittsburghers who have been following Chris Briem's recent posts about the North Shore casino and (separately) the pension crisis should be happy to have a Bright Shiny McCartney thing to distract them.
Squirrel!
Tuesday, June 01, 2010
Venting Away, and its Perils
Last week's "Treehousegate" blew up and over and (I hope) out, illustrating yet again the informal perils of combining incomplete information and access to the Internet. This morning's Post-Gazette highlights a different and more formal peril: Venting online can get you sued.
While Congress is thinking about a federal law designed to discourage this sort of intimidation, Congress has been thinking about this for a while. But these suits, while scary for the defendant, are usually designed to intimidate rather than to recover money. As with most bullies, the best defense is a good offense. Unfortunately, the P-G's edited version of the story, which originated with the New York Times, leaves out the punch line. According to the Times:
After a towing company hauled Justin Kurtz's car from his apartment complex parking lot, despite his permit to park there, Mr. Kurtz, 21, a college student in Kalamazoo, Mich., went to the Internet for revenge.
Outraged at having to pay $118 to get his car back, Mr. Kurtz created a Facebook page called "Kalamazoo Residents against T&J Towing." Within two days, 800 people had joined the group, some posting comments about their own maddening experiences with the company.
T&J filed a defamation suit against Mr. Kurtz, claiming the site was hurting business and seeking $750,000 in damages.
While Congress is thinking about a federal law designed to discourage this sort of intimidation, Congress has been thinking about this for a while. But these suits, while scary for the defendant, are usually designed to intimidate rather than to recover money. As with most bullies, the best defense is a good offense. Unfortunately, the P-G's edited version of the story, which originated with the New York Times, leaves out the punch line. According to the Times:
In Michigan, which does not have an anti-Slapp measure, Mr. Kurtz’s legal battle has made him a local celebrity. His Facebook page has now grown to more than 12,000 members.
“This case raises interesting questions,” said the towing company’s lawyer, Richard Burnham. “What are the rights to free speech? And even if what he said is false, which I am convinced, is his conduct the proximate cause of our loss?”
On April 30, Mr. Kurtz and his lawyers asked a judge to dismiss the suit by T&J, which has received a failing grade from the local Better Business Bureau for complaints over towing legally parked cars. Mr. Kurtz is also countersuing, claiming that T&J is abusing the legal process.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)