From Compton to Serbia: The counter-defense

I know I promised you weekly updates on “The Mole,” but that’s going to have to be pushed until either tomorrow or Wednesday because I fell asleep last night waiting for the show to start. I got a call around 10:40 and realized that I had been missing the show. Because of what they have me doing at work today, I won’t be able to watch the show online today, so the blog on “The Mole” has been postponed until further notice.

If you remember, I wrote a blog about why I thought Americans would never embrace soccer or hockey the way we love the three major sports. My friend Marcus Mullick wrote a response to my blog from a soccer fan’s perspective. After reading his blog, I had just planned on leaving him a comment on a couple of points I disagreed with and why, but as I re-read the blog to remember what exactly I was going to comment on, I found myself being as defensive as he was about basketball. Since I missed “The Mole,” and I have nothing else to write about, Marcus, I present to you my ‘counter-defense’ if you will.

Before I get into my actual defense, I have to mention that I feel Marcus mis-understood what I meant by ‘a lack of a defining play.’ I completely understand Marcus’ argument about how a defining play “is a play that can happen only a few times during a game. In fact, the less it happens, the more defining it is when it does happen.” However, when I said defining play, I meant a play that American casual, run of the mill fans, go to sporting event’s to see. What I meant was a play that (for lack of a better phrase) the play defines the sport. Not individual games or even individual plays, but a mainstream play that defines the sport. I don’t feel soccer has that defining element. Sure, there are individual plays in soccer that have the “oh my god I can’t believe he just did that” factor, but if you ask the average Joe or the average Joan what to cheer for in football, they’ll say the touchdown, or the homerun in baseball or the slam dunk in basketball. With that being said…

In one of Marcus’ first points, he argues that “a goal in can be one of the most beautiful plays in all of sports. The same can't be said about basketball and baseball.” Of course, I took offense to this because to me, there aren’t too many things outside of my mom that are more beautiful than Kareem’s hook shot, Chris Mullins release or a Magic Johnson pass. Basketball is the world’s premier finesse sport and to say there is nothing beautiful about the game in its purest form is nothing short of blasphemy.

Marcus then ascertains that any NBA player could make the shot Jordan hit in Utah at the end of Game 6 of the NBA Finals and compares the difficulty of that shot to some ridiculous (I mean this in a “it’s ridiculous that he was able to score from that angle” way) goal. Sure, anyone could hit that jump shot – by themselves under non-pressure circumstances, but let’s be honest, how many other times have you seen any basketball player hit that shot with one of the leagues best defenders on him to clinch an NBA Title? I know you Marcus, you’re better than that. You’ve watched just as much basketball as I have, or at least it seems like it when we talk about the sport. I understand that this shot can be knocked down by anyone, but that’s not what made that shot a defining moment in basketball history. The fact that Jordan’s game winner has been reenacted on every playground from Compton to Serbia is the reason this is a defining moment in NBA History. Of course we’ve all hit the shot at least once in our driveways while we counted down from five before releasing the shot and yelling out “Jordan,” that’s what makes the shot so special. I know for a fact that I could not make the goal that you’re talking about, but I don’t think it makes it more defining than Michael Jordan’s Final’s clinching, last shot before I retire, this is going to be shown all over the world for decades to come 17-footer! How many people do you honestly know who have gone out to a soccer field and tried that shot just for kicks (no pun intended) and called out Roberto Carlos name while doing it? How many kids decided they wanted to be soccer players after watching Carlos run down that soccer ball and kick it in before it rolled past the baseline? How is that shot going to be remembered 10 years from now? Those two plays are incomparable in terms of defining their respective sports. I understand that Carlos’ goal was much more unique and the level of difficulty was beyond what the level of difficulty of Jordan’s shot, but c’mon, it’s Michael Jordan! 1998! The second three-peat! How is that not one of the most defining plays in not just basketball, but in sport period? You could have used any other example and I probably wouldn’t be writing this right now.

Moving on.

I’m moving past Marcus’ arguments on why baseball and football’s defining moments aren’t on the same level soccer’s defining moments are because I don’t have much more time before I have to go back into work, and I just don’t love baseball and football nearly as much as I love basketball. However, I did find his arguments about recognizable athletes a bit off. My whole argument is that the sport would not be accepted by Americans. Now, I have no doubt in my mind that there a larger percentage of people in France are going to know who Therry Henry is when compared to the numbers of American’s who know who LeBron James is. But you’re comparing apples and oranges here. We’re comparing a sport that’s been popular around the world for 200 years in every country except ours in a country (France) with no other sports competing for fan interest to a sport that really wasn’t relevant until the 50s – the 1950s in a country with three major sports markets and 3-4 ‘mid-majors’ if you will. However, if we walked around with a picture of whoever the greatest soccer player is and a picture of Michael Jordan and asked people around the world who the two athletes were, I have no doubt in my mind that the majority of the worlds citizens are going to know who Jordan is over whoever the greatest soccer player ever is (I don’t want to make any unintelligent guess and insult you). Moreover, if we asked Americans to identify Henry, Itally’s Totti, Brazil’s Ronaldinho, Kobe, Lebron and Kevin Garnett, more often than not, the NBA’s superstars are going to be identified before any of the world’s soccer stars are.

I’m glad you love soccer enough to defend it, and yes, we are going to have to agree to disagree this time. Thanks for today’s topic though. I had no idea what I was going to write about.

By the way: HAPPY BIRTHDAY ASHLYN!!! My sister just turned 20 today. Don’t ask her how it feels to be 20. That is stupid.

My hands hurt. Until tomorrow,

Stay Hideous
-PB


(Word count to date: 14,704
89 days and 85,296 words to go)