This is all a bit TOO cerebral for my limited IQ. May I ask, is there a Swedish GK headed to play in Japan, or is this just a euphamism for going way out of touch (or 12 time zones away) ?
Hmm. Because it's a one-way street? (if I may presume...) Of course you want the best for her; that's beyond question. And in this case, I suppose you probably don't have access in the form of watching live games anyway (again I presume, but the US is a big place and unless one lives within an hour's drive or so I don't imagine too many people can go much). But what if you were to lose all access? That is, you couldn't even watch games on TV, and she wasn't interviewed much, and when she was it was only reported in a language you don't understand? Would she remain Your Hero, even in absentia? The question of What To Do when one's Hero moves to a despised team is another interesting topic. Considering the way I reacted to even the rumor that one of My Heroes was going to move to a Very Very Bad Place... well, I'm not sure I can discuss it rationally, maybe someone more mature and reasonable (like you) can moderate that discussion in this thread. There's degrees of inaccessibility, of course. I will dare to suppose that you, as a German speaker in Europe, had slightly easier access to the doings of That Goalkeeper in Sweden (with some amount of language similarity) than I, as a English speaker in Europe (who can't read any Asian script, let alone understand the spoken versions), would have had to a Swedish player who went to Asia. (Although I do understand that, to people who prefer plenty of warmth and sunlight, Sweden may as well be on the far side of the moon.) I suppose that, in desperation to better follow one's Hero who has moved to a strange place, folks might even be driven to join a disreputable online forum... poor sods! (As an aside I will say that I am surprised how much trouble I am having consistently following WPS, even though I know the language and resources. Oh sure, I keep up on the news, and I know that games are available sometimes online, but when the that time comes (often past midnight for me) I find that I have other things I'd rather do. My situation isn't strictly analogous, because I don't have any Heroes in WPS, but I'm probably not going to acquire any, either, at this rate.) No, there is not, as far as I know. It was shorthand for 'possible and inaccessible.'
A English speaker? Perhaps you would fare better with Japanese? I've never had much use for phrases like "I can sing very well in Russian" in Russian, or "The girls took the mirror into the garden" in Italian, or "That is not a table, that is a window" in Dutch.* However, "suspected hairline fracture of the metatarsal" in German has proven fantastically useful. * All true examples from my language-learning past.
I don't perceive it as an "one-way" thing. I do think certain athletes genuinely appreciate their fans. I happen to be a fan of one of them. There are no romantic feelings, or an obsession. Simply an appreciation for someone who directly or indirectly inspires you or someone you could actually hang out with if you ever met face to face and socialize as friends. I can't watch live matches, but even if I had absolutely no access to my favorite player I wouldn't mind. They have to obtain monetary funds just as the rest of us do. My life has and will continue to advance as it had before I knew who they were, and their life will as well as it had before they became "known" or caught my eye.
No, I agree with you, small-r romantic feelings don't apply to a Hero (maybe big-R Romantic ones do, in the sense of the philosophical Romantics). The question of whether you'd really want to hang out with a Hero is yet another issue, I would say. I like to think that I would like my Football Heroes, in a more personal way, but in real life— that is, really real life— it is much more likely that I would not like them as much as I'd like to like them, simply based on statistics. For myself I'd rather not meet them, and keep my fantasy that we would like each other intact. There are certainly players I would like to talk to, but they're not the Heroes, so it wouldn't matter so much if I liked them or vice versa. In my view there's no point in ever saying something like 'my life has changed because of so-and-so', because there is only one history (outside of reams of sci-fi). So of course your life is not 'changed' because of Her Tropical Deliciousness— your life continues to go along as it will— but you never know what may happen to you because of your admiration for her... maybe you know a lot more about Hawai'i than you did a few years ago, for instance, and who knows when a producer with an idea for "Cribs: Molokai Mookie Edition" might come a-knockin' on your door? To rip off David Sedaris, mig ska talade skönt ikväll. Ska vi kasta ut den här? Ja, trodde jag. So how would you feel if a certain Studly German went to Japan? Would you want to meet her?
What the hell? Lately your posting have taken on a certain Lord-of-the-Ring-Gandalf-ish tone! What's with the different fonts? A split a la Aragorn/Sauron? I've mentioned this before: Please DO make sure to take enough Vitamin D!
A momentary lapse into extra-ultra-über-nerdishness. Let's all just pretend it never happened, that would be good. (hagabo, you win) So, kicks, you needn't trouble your pretty little soft head about it anymore, but feel free to muck in on the topic. Would you actually want to have a beer with Der Prinz? Would you really want to meet her in meatspace?
Naturellement. I would love to get hammered with La Prinz. I've actually come within 20 feet of her meatspace at the WC Final Germany:Sweden, which we all know ended with Sweden in tears. Ah .. good memories!
Wow, and meanwhile, Upstairs there is a serious debate going on about how to best use sex appeal in marketing women's football. The debate seems to not be about whether to use sex appeal, since that's all that marketing really is, after all, but how to use it appropriately. Triply true for this thread! Because what sicko would want to admit that they find this picture... ... appealing? Other than myself, of course. Whether the two people in the picture are sexy depends I suppose on one's particular tastes in physical appearances, and we all know that de gustibus non est disputandum. But the picture itself? Very sexy. It has drama and tension. There's a story in it. How'd these two players get that way? Which player worked the harder to win that ball? Was the winner of that little combat asserting her team's dominance in the game, or struggling valiantly in a losing effort? I would be a lot more likely to read an article (and therefore expose my poor eyes to advertising for a longer time) featuring that picture than I would be to read an article featuring a posed studio shot of [almost any player in the world, fill in your favorite]. Because I already know why she's standing there with a clean jersey and facial makeup and a vacant smile on her face, and that reason is boring.
I haven't read that thread but I'll scroll through, maybe. Mainly just to see if I can sort out a gender breakdown--my gut guess is that the majority of the posters in that thread are male (hence the baseline assumption is that women athletes should use sex appeal to market women's football) with perhaps some women posters thinking sex appeal isn't necessary but given the reality of the male gaze, going to happen anyway. But I could be wrong.
Well, I don't particularly want to bring that debate here, as it seems to be bubbling along where it is. But this is a good place for meta-analyses, and since you've dared to stick your nose out a little bit on the topic anyway, I will ask you to stick your whole neck out. You've told us what you expect to see in that thread. What would surprise you to read in it, or learn about it? Or is it rather that you find the entire topic disappointing/boring/unsatisfactory in some way?
I've avoided the thread b/d I just generally don't have the energy to get into yet another "women should use their bodies to sell sport to men b/c all men care about in relation to women in the public eye is sex" discussion. Easier for me to just not click the thread. But yeah, I did make baseless assumptions about the thread content w/o reading it and that's not good form or manners (to be fair, it wasn't completely baseless as I've read previous posts/threads on the topic which tended to match the description I gave) So maybe I'll summon up some energy (and wine--it's going to take a bunch of drinks) to read through the thread & comment on it this weekend. The Euroleague (women's bball) just passed new regulations requiring "tighter" uniforms next season w/ shorts *well* above the knee and "body contour shirts. You know what I find cerebrally delightful? The idea that attractiveness or sexy or whatnot doesn't equate to "exposed skin" for women. Or maybe that should be that for me attractiveness/sexy is very much not related to amount of skin exposed.
Oh no, I didn't mean to say that you should read it, I was just genuinely interested to know what would surprise you to read in such a thread (although I do think there are a few posts that are well written and thoughtful). I am not sure that I know for myself what would surprise me; I would expect everything from "Bring on the skin" to "Eww, there are people out there who find the female form attractive? Ewww! That's gross" and many other things in between. I guess I haven't ever read "I only go to women's football matches to gawp at the attractive athletes," so that would surprise me. Oh gosh. Sorry to be dense, but I'm not sure I follow because those seem to me to be two very different things. May I try to rephrase? Are you saying that you personally do not need to see Player X take it all off, in order to consider Player X sexy, and furthermore that you are glad that there are others who share that view?
Oh, fer ********'s sake. Do we have to dumb everything down so men get it? Why don't they just circle-jerk each other off? Sausage junkies.
Hey! Now I have to take some acetylsalicylic acid because I have learned that if I don't remove my urban garb or show off my anatomical blessings, I will not be revered for my natural abilities nor will I be acknowledged for my merits and non achievements.
But apparently it is how Christie Rampone rolls, at least in these happy days of the Pia Sundhage era, according to this interview at ESPN. (And I am personally delighted that the word 'cerebral' is used in an ESPN article.)
Now that the tournament is safely passed, and all us fans have had a few days to calm down from our highs and/or lows, and Team Japan has had a chance to show that their members are capable of being just as giddy and silly as anyone else... Does anyone have any Cerebral Delights to share? Did your team's hard work inspire you? Did you make a new bond with humanity, in sharing joy and sorrow with others? As a result of the Women's World Cup 2011, are you now, somehow, finally, a Better Person? For the purpose of giving full vent to despair, let's expand the scope of the thread to include Cerebral Despair. Did your team's failure send you into a spiral of depraved and dangerous moods that you climbed out of only with the help of vodka, some wankety-wank 12-step web-inar, and the collected works of Johnny Cash? (yes, Team Germany fans, I'm talkin' to you) All stories about Transcendental WWC Experiences welcome. If they are Cerebral and Tasteful. Or, barring that, Amusing.
You demented Pollyanna, you! Who are you and what have you done with Jocasta? Are you Stepford-Jocasta?
And I heard a voice in the mist of the four beasts And I looked and behold, a pale horse And her name that sat on him was Neid And Hell followed with her
A Grove-worthy post and viewpoint. procrastination, what a show, procrastination, here we go, procrastination, I know you're wishin' I'd get back to work... c'mon, you Mel Brooks fans out there, you know the tune... just please don't set the nuns on me... [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X5McSEU48Y8"]The Spanish Inquisition - YouTube[/ame]