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The World Cup According to Ann Coulter

June 27, 2014 by costaricaguy Leave a Comment

The World Cup According to Ann Coulter

Any growing interest in soccer can only be a sign of the nation’s moral decay.

Soccer Bleu!

Who in their right-wing mind would say such a ridiculous thing?

Well, two people immediately come to mind…

Glenn Beck, and…

Ann Coulter.

I read Coulter’s diatribe on the evils of European style fútbol, or soccer (as most gringos call it) last night.

And the piece opens with the above quote.

Gotta admit, takes some guts, or at least some gall, to say something that completely outlandish…

and really mean it?

It reminded me of similar comments made by Glenn Beck a few years back.

Both caught and are catching their appropriate and well deserved degree of flack.

After all, soccer is the World’s number 1 sport, with more fans by far than any other.

Like I said, it takes a lot of nerve to piss off the entire earth.

I’m not sure what Coulter was thinking, or what point she was really trying to make. But statements like that, and the attitude that they present, make the U.S.A. not an exceptional nation, but a worldwide laughing stock.

Do Coulter and Beck really live in this deluded state of semi-consciousness that paints their entire perception of the planet red, white and blue?

Are they incapable of understanding, of grasping, the enormity of the real world that they inhabit…

one that is of an infinite variety of colors, shapes and sizes…

and tastes…especially when it comes to ways in which to pass the time.

Yes, Glenn and Ann, there are a gazillion of real flesh and blood people (sort of like you) who don’t see eye to eye with you on the sport of “soccer.”

I can attest that if Coulter made such a statement here in this country (Costa Rica), out loud and in the native tongue…

she might not live to regret it.

Just kidding there…but it certainly wouldn’t win her any popularity points with the ticos!

I didn’t grow up exposed to soccer. I know it’s quite popular in grade schools these days, but in my youth…practically non-existent.

I’ve never played soccer in my entire life. I get invited to a mejenga (informal “pick-up” game) from time to time here…and I always politely refuse the offer.

…by the way, I apologize to anyone reading this blog who might be put off by my repeated use of the word soccer (rather than the more appropriate term, fútbol), but the message of this post is primarily for gringos who might harbor similar absurd sentiments as Coulter…

During my first few years in Costa Rica I wasn’t at all into the whole soccer thing…which leaves one quite isolated because, as it really takes on religious connotations in this country.

But like many things tico, I have gradually assimilated into the intense soccer culture that is Costa Rica.

I still don’t play it…but I do like watching…and the 2014 World Cup has been a real joy.

Here’s my bottom line for Coulter and her radical right-wing ilk…

We live in a doggone big world. If one would prefer to inhabit an isolationist bubble and pretend that their way is the exceptional one…and what everyone else does differently…is somehow morally decrepit…then go right ahead.

But the view on The World Cup according to Ann Coulter, in my opinion, is not the best way to live nor experience this world and this life.

And you will be branded by the rest of the world…quite deservedly…as…

una idiota completa!

image credit: brownsshowdown via Compfight cc

Filed Under: The Big US Tagged With: Ann Coulter, the big us, World Cup

The Purpose for a World Cup

June 19, 2014 by costaricaguy Leave a Comment

The Purpose for a World Cup

I was sick as a dog yesterday, lying in bed watching the World Cup…

Iran was playing Nigeria.

Wait a minute…who?

Yea that’s right, two countries that have been in the “bad” news quite a lot recently…

It dawned on me that with all the strife that is going on in the world right now, how is it possible to have a peaceful world-wide event like the World Cup?

Can the world really become united in purpose in such a manner…outside the fictitious spectacle of sports?

Maybe…

I wrote the following piece a few years ago about the movie Invictus…

a movie that is about, among other things, a sporting event…that, infused with the fearless purpose of a humble man, helped a country find reconciliation…

could that same purpose be infused into the World Cup?

Probably not, but it’s interesting to consider…

Recently watched the movie Invictus.

If you haven’t seen it, you should. It’s one of those inspirational movies that Hollywood doesn’t make that often, but when they do it proves why movies can matter.

The story is about Nelson Mandela and his ascension from 27 years as a political prisoner on Robben Island to the presidency of South Africa…

and the end to apartheid.

Well, in actuality, his being elected president didn’t end it. In the minds of white and black South Africans, apartheid certainly still existed. Just as deep-seated prejudice still exists in the U.S., despite the election of the first African-American as president…

maybe even more-so since his election.

In the movie, Mandela uses sport, specifically Rugby, to overcome the fear and separation that was evident in the attitudes of blacks and whites. He even integrates his own security detail in an attempt to directly confront that fear and anxiety.

Mandela was driven by a singularity of purpose and therefore was without fear, while all around him fear of an uncertain future racked his nation.

And his attempt to use the uniting force of sports to overcome those fears actually worked.

The movie mirrors real life events (for instance, Mandela really did present the championship trophy to Francois Pienaar when the Springboks won against New Zealand in the 1995 Rugby World Cup). And South Africa is a much more integrated nation now than it was then.

What struck me about Mandela, played by the great actor Morgan Freeman, more than anything else was his fearlessness. His ability to walk out in front of a crowd of thousands who had hated him and would rather see him dead, wearing a smile of reconciliation towards those whose hatred kept him imprisoned for the better part of three decades.

How?

I think it comes down mainly to one word…his purpose.

Those without purpose in life tend to go through the gyrations of their daily existence floundering and fearful.

They have no idea what they really want, so the wind blows them wherever it may and every little twist of fate is magnified to imponderably negative proportions.

In the movie Mandela gives a copy of the poem Invictus to Francois Pienaar.

I have cited the poem below, which is by William Ernest Henley.

Read it and you can see why Mandela clung to it as a constant reaffirmation of purpose during his darkest days in Robben Island prison.

Invictus

Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds and shall find me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.

So, in the midst of all the bad news on the world front, what could be the purpose for a World Cup, apart from the mere spectacle of sports?

Think about it.

image credit: iamkih via Compfight cc

Filed Under: The Big US Tagged With: Nelson Mandela, the big us, World Cup

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