...and you wonder why soccer isn't taken seriously

While Major League Soccer languishes in their off-season and you hear nothing of their teams, the action rages on in other leagues around the world, as well as the prestigious UEFA Champions League. Well actually, it's not "nothing" in the news, we have heard about David Beckham a bit, the touted saviour of American soccer. But really, in what way? And has it been any good for the sport in this country?

I think it can all be summed up in a comment made by Alexi Lalas, President of the L.A. Galaxy Beckham's current club, in a telephone interview on the Fox Soccer channel. The presenters contended that Beckham professed to want to promote soccer at all levels in the U.S. but has so far been largely absent from the soccer community and would like for him to come on their show. Response from the great Lalas? "if there was a choice of whether to have him (Becks) do an interview with you or go on 60 minutes, I would have him go on 60 minutes."

Admittedly I was somewhat shocked that he would say something like that after the presenters made quite a good case that soccer fans here just want to talk to him, to know that he is here for soccer not for Hollywood, and that he is in fact interested in giving back to the fans. But a few seconds later (yes it took only seconds) I thought well, there you have it! Here is a man who has played at the highest level possible, now president and GM of a club, saying you know what? We would prefer to reach more people who care about Beckham's celebrity couple status, life with Posh, how much money he makes, his tattoos etc, in other words "the drama", rather than those people who actually care about him for what he is, and what he is primarily known for worldwide: being a professional soccer player.

Sorry to say that Lalas became speechless after taking calls from listeners, average fans who wanted to know why Beckham isn't even IN America at the moment, who wanted to know more about his football/soccer life as opposed to seeing him on "E! True Hollywood Story" or "Fatherhood" and the like, and who seconded having him be on said program for even 10 minutes. Apparently Lalas felt that the presenters were full of BS until people called in to back them up, and eventually could give no good reason for Becks not making himself available.

How do you like that...as if you didn't already have enough egg on your face from creating such a hype about how much Beckham would do for American soccer, a player who from the start was injured and never figured in but a few minutes of the season, a player who from the start was speculated upon whether he was coming here for soccer or for Hollywood fame (why not join an east coast team?) Now here you go feeding the critics by having Becks seemingly make a larger proportion of non-soccer related appearances, and then by making a stupid statement like that.

Now don't get me wrong, I think Beckham is a good player, certainly not at the top of his game anymore though, and that he can indeed improve the visibility and popularity of soccer in the U.S. He's not the best but if people here are excited about him then great! But at least be here so those people can see you.

However! It is certainly NOT all Becks fault. I have indeed heard about him recently, and it was during his bid to regain a spot on the England team, training with one of the top clubs over there. When asked why Becks was not in the U.S. Lalas said well it's the off season and there is nothing club-related going on at the moment. Umm, does anyone else see a problem with that? MLS must be the only sport in this country that COMPLETELY drops out of the news in the off season. But all is not lost. At least this year we have the Spice Girls Reunion to entertain us in the meantime.

the old guy, the black guy, and the woman

The old guy says "here I am risen out of the ashes," the black guy says "Yes we can!" and the woman...well, maybe the woman wishes she could speak as well as the black guy so she got a willing attack dog to do it for her and when that doesn't work she cries.

Now believe me I am completely impartial, I've said before that I find this race most fascinating. By the way, anybody watch Glenn Beck? You don't have to agree with him, but he's interesting, unless this stuff really gets your blood boiling and you want to get up and punch the TV. Of course you can always change the channel to... let's say FoxNews maybe? haha

Anyways it seems like people aren't sure if they like the old guy even though he is the supposed front-runner. Is it that the "donkeys" are shooting themselves in the foot by running the black guy and the woman? Can you actually picture either of them in the oval office? I mean would it be better if he was called something like, O i don't know, Brian Ogilvie? And she if she didn't have her attack dog? Or if she stopped tearing up? Of course it seems the dog has been kenneled of late, but the waterworks, jeez. Does it help them now that the Mormon has dropped out?

Is it in fact coming down to choosing the lesser evil? To the innocent bystanders like myself, that's what analysts seem to be saying. Are people going to choose the black guy or the woman? And THEN: who would they choose if it happened to be the old vs the black guy, or if it was the woman vs the old guy? Some say that party lines may not matter after a while.

Whatever happens I'm certainly learning alot about alot.

stuck in a mental rut

Here I am Carnival Tuesday spending a cold, dreary day in Connecticut. But its OK, I mean...when people was jumpin in Panorama, I was snowboarding in Pennsylvania after all. And when some of those same people going Champs in Concert, I plan to be snowboarding again (before I forget what I learned) in Massachusetts. Unfortunately I didnt have my camera so I am waiting to be sent action shots from said trip haha. While I had a good time in the fake snow, the weekend also contained disturbing highlights of the narrow thinking processes of some of my fellow Trinidadians.

At some points I thought "wow trinis too full of themselves"; at other times I thought "o you poor things"; others "ok now that is damn stupid!"; or "how small-minded can you be?". It became quite exasperating after a while, as you might imagine. Now I might generalise in writing this post however I am very aware, and warn any readers, that my comments do not apply to all.

Many trinis have this sense of false pride, they like to think they are above things, that they are better, condescending, if you like. But it plays itself out in the most trivial ways: they are fighting over material things in an effort to prove themselves, things that have become comoditised to the rest of us. Like fighting over whose cell phone rings louder, or showing off the perceived prestige of the store where they bought a pair of jeans. Damn fools. I'll take the exact jeans from the "cheap" store thank you very much.

I have to say the thing that really topped it for me was finding out that men wear winter jackets in Trinidad, the ones with fur on the hood no less. Can you imagine?!?! Music videos must have a HECK of an influence. And here I had someone asking me for a light jacket I was going to give to Salvation Army: "I could wear that at night! People will wear that in Trinidad!" I was in shock. Response? "I don't care if people wearing it, I won't be the one to give it to you to encourage that nonsense"

For some reason I thought that in general we were becoming a more enlightened people. Perhaps it was wishful thinking, being fanciful. I hereby state that I was jerked back down to earth by observing people wanting to come to AmERica to say they were "in the cold" but not actually wanting to experience all that that may entail, people waving their fingers in disdain at certain cell phones but then not knowing what an iPhone is (or even walkie-talkie service for that matter), people who just come here to "take out PITures" so they could go home and say they went AmERica.

Damn! I'm anonoyed.....