SpinCycle on Football (Soccer) as in Copa Mundial

OK, my turn to chime in on the copa mundial. No, I'm not rooting for Brazil. There I said it. It seems to me everyone I know who has been to Brazil, who owns a Brazilian CD, knows a Brazilian, or can find Rio on a map is rooting for Brazil. I guess everyone wants to be associated with what is the surest bet to be the winner.

Well, I like underdogs. I'm rooting for Trinidad & Tobago! Not just because they are from the smallest country, not just because I love their music, not just because I have been to TnT 10 times and performed in Soca Monarch Finals and Panorama, and not just because their Carnival is every bit as good as any event in the world -- but those are all good reasons :-)

I mean, you have got to love the energy engendered by the SOCA WARRIORS!
See: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5jHSwvTGdDc

I'm also pulling for every African team in the event: Togo, Angola, Ghana, Ivory Coast, and Tunisia (yes, Tunisia is part of Africa -- see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Africa/North_Africa). In fact, I even went to the trouble of putting together a schedule with all the games of the African teams and TnT highlighted (http://www.spincycle.org/WorldCupSchedule-PDT.html) -- sorry for not sending this out sooner. (Note the times are West Coast -- I'm so tired of everything being GMT or East Coast time, we probably have more soccer/football fans out here!)

Luckily for me, I moved to California from Ohio when I was 14. I knew nothing of soccer at the time, but both my brothers played AYSO soccer and I went to all of their games, so I learned the rules. (My brother Tim kicked the winning goal in the CIF championship in high school!) Having some familiarity with the game has served me well over the years.

In college, I took a gym class and played soccer where I met students from Bangladesh, Central African Republic, United Arabic Emirates, and Thailand. (I attended college at Cal Poly, Pomona) We had our own little world cup right there, and I quickly learned how international this game really was.

When I was travelling in Africa, I took a train to Wadi Halfa, Sudan -- it was supposed to take 20 hours, instead it took 54 hours. There was a ferry waiting to take us to Egypt, but half of us were turned away, which meant we had to wait a WEEK in Wadi Halfa. So what did we do? We played soccer with the locals. They were quite pleased to have a new crop of players. I'll never forget one of the local boys, a tall dark boy of about 15 with only one arm. Yet, he was an incredible player, and always smiling. They ran us, the visiting team of train holderovers, ragged completely ragged.

After the first day we played, I could not walk; I seriously could not walk--my muscles got so tight. After sitting still for nearly 3 days, and being fairly dehydrated, the logical next move was not to play several hours of soccer in the Nubian desert. But what a great memory to have and story to be able to tell.

Back to World Cup. So, only 1 African team has won a game thus far, Ghana. I was so happy for them, but now the dilemma -- their next game is against the U.S. Who am I rooting for you ask? I am rooting for whichever team will be able to advance to the playoffs. Thus, if Ghana beats the U.S. and is able to move on to the quarter finals--more power to them--and vice versa! The worst outcome for me, would be to have the game result in neither Ghana nor the U.S. advancing to the next round.

Honestly, I've never been too big on the whole nation pride/patriotism thing. I always take pause when I read an article or see a TV show in which they speak about this group or that being a "proud people"--be it Italians or Inuits, Czechs or Kikuyu, Albanians or Amhara. Doesn't every culture have pride? And probably nearly as many people are proud of their "country", although there may be more exceptions on that front, depending on the country.

For me, the "nation" that I am associated with is a matter of chance. I was born in the U.S. but through no fault of my own. I care about "my country" in that it represents certain principles, while not always achieved, which to me are certainly worth aspiring towards. But I really "love" my country simply because it has a lot of people that I love living here. But from that perspective, I love Trinidad & Tobago, and Kenya, and Cuba, and France, and on and on and on. And to be a bit of a Buddhist about it, I love every country that has human beings living in it (although I could imagine a country with no humans might offer a certain kind of tranquil bliss as well :-)

So, I imagine a World Cup in which the particpants are not nations, but simply the best players from all over the world. And then a random drawing is conducted to select the teams. People could still root for players from "their country" on an individual basis, but they could also see teams made up of people from all over the world (sort of the way the European football teams are now!). (And of course, I'm sure there is a way to have online gambling on the teams such that anybody could get fired up for any given team). OK, I'm too tired to take this hypothetical further.

Just some food for thought -- don't take this nation stuff too seriously. At least for now, we're all on the same, slowly warming, orb.

Peace,

Jimbo (SpinCycle)

P.S. Shameless Promotion, I put a few songs together for the World Cup
http://profile.calabashmusic.com/world/spincycle

As did my colleague, Erich:
http://profile.calabashmusic.com/world/erich_ludwig

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