What I’m Reading: February 23, 2007
My second grade students were surprised today when I showed them my blog. Mostly, they couldn’t believe that I knew Levar Burton and that he was around when I was a kid. I’m glad that he still is and that I can continue to promote him among the readers of this blog.
So, without further ado, Levar Burton and I present: What I’m Reading.
The Guardian’s Jonathan Wilson has been writing a series of fascinating stories on soccer in Eastern Europe. He has just published a book called Behind the Curtain: Travles in Eastern European Soccer. Wilson has uncovered a wealth of stories on socccer and culture in that part of the world and his articles definitely make me want to read the book. His latest piece is called The rags-to-riches tale of Banel Nicolita. The story profiles a young Romanian player who is one of the few Roma (aka “gypsy”) players to make it big in soccer. A poster named Levski Sofia have a talented young Romany striker called Marian Ognyanov.”
Romany players are to be found not only in Eastern Europe. Southend United’s Freddy Eastwood, a striker whose knocked goal knocked Manchester United out of the FA Cup this season, recently won a court battle to be able to continue living in a mobile home community along with other members of his Romanty community. A Guardian profile of Eastwood also mentions other players with Gypsy backgrounds, a group which includes former Inter player Sinisa Mihajlovic and current Real Madrid winger Juan Antonio Reyes.
A follow-up on last week’s interesting story on Barcelona defender Presas Oleguer, who spoke out on the case of a jailed ETA member and lost his shoe sponsorship as a result. Sid Lowe, the Guardian’s Spain correspondent profiles the “right-back philosopher” and even offers a translation of the article which got Oleguer in trouble. Askedy by Lowe why he speaks out, Oleguer says, “[L]ife isn’t easy. If we want a better world, we all need to roll up our sleeves. It’s easy to moan to your friends and then do nothing.” And one of the few bearded players in soccer today also has a keen awareness of and passion for Barcelona’s status as the symbol of Catalan identity. Lowe writes,
And for Oleguer, nowhere is that more significant than at Barcelona, the club that presents itself as a Catalan flagship, an anti-Francoist resistance force. Oleguer writes in his book that: “When Barcelona win the league, we become the Army of joy finally able to face up to [Franco's troops]. We imagine ourselves halting that pack of tanks, responding to their bullets with song, laughing in the face of the fascist ire.”
It might sound far fetched, and Barca’s history is far less clear-cut than the official version would have it, but at least with Oleguer there’s no shallow lip service to the legend, no ‘Visca Barca, Visca Catalunya! Now, where’s my cheque?. “For me, Barcelona is genuinely special,” he says. “It is the invocation of a country, representing Catalan identity and culture. Barca was a conduit for a feeling when people could not express themselves and for me it’s a dream to be here at such a successful time.”
Can you imagine these words coming from the mouth of Wayne Rooney? Me neither.
The AP had a story on a Nigerian born to parents who had enetered Israel illegally. Toto Tamuz is an up-and-coming star for Beitar Jerusalem. He grew up in Israel and wants to play for that country. The only problem is that he does not have Israeli citizenship. Tamuz has already played for the Israeli national team (he received special dispensation from FIFA to do so, as he in fact possesses no nationality), but has said he will not do so anymore until he is given citizenship. His case is currently before the Israeli Supreme Court and many in the soccer community in that country are supporting him Israel’s identity as a Jewish homeland is being tested by the increasing number of non-Jews living in the country (I recommend the movie James’ Journey to Jerusalem, which deals with the subject), a phenomenon highlighted in the article.
It is when I read soccer used as a point of comparison that I feel good about the sport’s place in this country. Two articles I read this past week did just this, including a New York Times article on rebuilding in New Orleans after hurricane Katrina.”Zwolle [High School] basketball fans are like Brazilian soccer fans” everyone considers himself a coach.”
An article in the Christian Science Monitor on robo-jockeys used in camel races in Qatar is fascinating in itself (robo-jockeys were brought when the young boys previously used in camel races were banned from participating after protests from human rights groups). It brought this fantastic quote from a camel owner in describing his animals: “We had some real Ronaldinhos on the camel circuit.”
Camels aren’t the only animals being compared to Ronaldinho. Deadspin posted a story on an eBay auction for a full-sized sculpture of the buck-toothed Brazilian as a regal white horse. Opening bid is $25,000.
And finally, the AP ran a story this past week which portrays presidential candidates searching for the buzzword of the 2008 campaign. The early successor to 1996′s soccer mom may be “transformational.”
