The first article discusses the now infamous head-butt in the 2006 World Cup final. What the author does is use this famous scene to explain the huge factors that contribute to the importance of big games. He writes;
This article talks about the new NBA all-star jerseys which are designed by Adidas and have sleeves. The jerseys look like European soccer jerseys and shows the globalization of sports as basketball takes ideas from soccer. Also, the reason for adding sleeves and bringing in Adidas is to have sponsors for the jerseys much like the lucrative deals in Europe. Maybe in 2 years the Celtics will play with the Samuel Adams Brewery label on the front.
The Dutch reading draws on the notion of building or continuing a national style of play. Specifically in the article the author discusses Coach Van Basten’s attempt to re-Hollandize the national team. This hits very close to home as a U.S. soccer fan. Under our last coach, Bob Bradley, the Americans played a defensive counter attacking style of football, an almost Italian mentality. Then when the current coach Jurgan Klinsman came in, he wanted to create an American style. First he tried to mimic Mexican style by bringing in many Mexican Americans. When this didn’t work Klinsman started bringing in German-Americans who play a “total soccer”, box to box, much like the Dutch or Germans.
I chose this article because it is yet another instance of a North, Central or South American player deciding to use the MLS as a league to further his career. It is no longer just retirees and Americans playing. More and more players thought the region are seeing MLS as the league with the most opportunities and exposure.
One word sums up the article written in the Journal of Sport and Social Issues in 2012, OUTDATED. American soccer history has had many major benchmarks and breakthroughs to “average Americans”, but the one that put soccer on the cover of newspapers, and forever in the mind of casual American sports fans is the signing of David Beckham to the LA Galaxy in 2007. I believe that American soccer history can be broken up into two periods, Pre-Beckham and Post-Beckham. Although this article was posted in 2012, the author did not use a single piece of evidence from the Post-Beckham era. In fact, his only mention of the 2010 World Cup came in the conclusion of the article.
My PCQ deals with the notion of unity in World football. The reading starts off by saying;
“The desire to unite the nation culturally and politically promoted the regime’s restructuring of Calcio, 1926, after which it symbolized Fascism’s new-found confidence and desire to spread its new identity among the masses.” (51).
I chose this article because it shows the salaries paid by US teams vs European teams, an area USA drastically needs to improve.
In the International Journal of the History of Sport article “On Bosworth Field or the Playing Fields of Eton and Rugby? Who Really Invented Modern Football?” One quote stuck out to me far above the rest. Authors Peter Swain and Adrian Harvey wrote “In the period up until 1850, there were at least thirteen teams playing football in Lancashire” (Harvey, 1432). While this didn’t encompass all the teams playing “football” at this time, It really shows the size of teams playing “association football”. 150 years later, there are tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of teams playing in England alone.
My TIFO discusses the possible transfer of a top young American player who could potentially transfer from AS Roma to Toronto FC. This would be absurd 3-4 years ago, now after Clint Dempsey transferred to MLS last year for $36 Million it seems the next step of MLS making money by brining in young and American talent.
The First reading for tonight had a quote that is important to my theme in this class. I am writing about American’s making money through the business of soccer. The article explained where that money comes from, though not specifically for Americans.
“Many of these factors are related to the live transmission by television of matches and championships from all over the world. Competitions have come, in consequence, to involve larger values, leading to greater commercial interest in the sport. The number of different professionals connected to football (medical staff, trainers, physiotherapist, show business and marking experts, sports media, security staff, service workers, and so forth) has also grown tremendously” (Lopes, 239-240). Continue reading