Landon's Spanish is not exactly fluent. I heard a pre-game Spanish language interview with him before a Metros game last year. He was in the midst of a tough stretch of playing for both US Nats & club. The announcer asked if he would be starting. His response: "I don't think so, I'm sleepy". Obviously he meant to say he was "tired".
-------------------Friedel------------- ---Whitebread----Dooley-----?----Regis--- --Stewart----Adu-----Szetela---------Harkes-- --------Cunnigham------Arturo Alvarez----- The left side is a little weak in accents for the current generation.
Getting "token minorities" is different from trying to involve more diverse groups and hoping that one day their participation could be reflected on the make-up of the team.
But it would be nice, wouldn't it, if some day, the racial composition of the best team we had reflected the racial composition of the American population.
Not if you ask a certain long time hardcore female DC activist desperately trying to stop the DC stadium project (African - American). According to her the people in her neighborhood need more b'ball facilities in the park where DC wants to build. African-Americans aren't any good, or don't understand soccer Wouldn't be interested at all in that game. I find it amusing that someone who has supposedly dedicated here life to supposedly fighting racism can turn into a racist in the blink of an eye without even thinking twice or knowing. Ignorance is bliss. Also love her comment that baseball would be better because at least it's gov't money instead of private money. Jesus H C! Talk about ignorance. Wonderfull, hilarious and sad all at the same time.
Well it should matter to you. Do you really think that the makeup of the best players America can produce are far racially from the makeup of the american population? If you think it would be okay to have a team that is all white/ all black/ all whatever in a country as diverse as america, you are sadly mistaken. People who are against affirmitive action, for example, are not aware of the possibilities of the program. Affirmitive action does not have to be used in a mannor that takes away jobs from qualified white people and gives them to underqualified black people. It can be used to ensure that qualified black people get the same oportunity as qualified white people. This should weed out the least qualified white workers and improve the efficency of the workplace. How does this relate to the soccer in the USA? Well we've instituted our own "Affirmitive Action" by targeting a more diverse range of players. In large part, this is the reason for how much better our team has become. Although race is a construct of our society, it IS important. Our Dutch friend errs when he compares race to height because race is a social construction: that is, it makes no difference. Tall people have advantages that short people don't and visa versa. What am I trying to say here? Well, it shouldn't matter what color a soccer player is, but it does. Why? Because it does. What then is the importance of this thread? It shows that it matters what color a soccer player happens to be. If it didn't matter, we wouldn't notice it (race is a social construct afterall), and the thread would not exist.
Affirmative Action only places people where they do not belong. To actually give people advantages just because their skin is dark or because their grandmother was born in Mexico is just stupid. It's not leveling the playing field by any means. Of course, people defend it, because many are benefiting from it. However, some of the people in my classes clearly were in over their heads due to the program. Of course, the SF shouldn't discriminate. I haven't heard of any evidence that it does, either. So there's no point to this.. any American could play for USA.
Why is it stupid to give people advantages because their skin is dark. White people get advantages because their skin is white. That being said, Affirmitive action is useless if it simply places people in situations where they cannot succeed. Affirmitive action as you know it sometimes does this. A program is only as good or as bad as the people who impliment it. The point that I'm trying to make is that discrimination/oppression comes from a deeper place than most people want to admit. Why, for example, are those people in your classes over their heads? Is it because they are not intelligent? Probably not. More likely, it is because they have not had the same oportunities that you have had. What then is the comparison with the NT? Well, its pretty easy actually. Because of the way the system was (and still is to some extent) set up, players from lower class backgrounds did not get the same opportunities that americans from higher class backgrounds got. This created the "lilywhite" image of soccer in the USA. So, example of good Affirmitive action: giving people from all social classes a chance to improve their soccer skills. Example of bad Affirmitive action: calling up minorities just because they are minorities. Do you see the difference? Do you see how this is the same program implemented in a different way?
The "ethnic" players on the US team are still "lillywhite". How many of those "ethnic" players have ever lived in the hood or barrios? They're just upperclass minorities that can afford to play soccer in the US.
I disagree about the fact that white people get advantages because their skin is white. Granted, I grew up in New England in the 1980's, but I have just never experienced this. I've only seen things like one of my upperclass roommates get a huge scholarship because his family came from Mexico. If you want to give kids whose parents cannot afford to pay for quality soccer development, then how do you suggest we rectify that? Other poorer countries manage to develop quality soccer players. Is it because there are more opportunities there, or because people from lower classes here just aren't interested in the game? It's not like people from lower social classes don't have sports opportunites here, look at the NBA. In Hartford, where I grew up, there are minorities and soccer programs for them. However, in the poorer schools, most of the athletes gravitated towards american football (and those schools were great), and those who ended up playing varsity soccer there were brutal. They tried to kick ankles more than the ball, and racist comments were getting absolutely ridiculous. However, there was a soccer club "Martin Luther King Soccer" that played its games across from a poor high school we played against that was great. The Jamaican coaches were great and the players were quality. However, it seemed like the players must have lost interest by the time they reached high school. I don't know if there were any programs to bring poor kids onto premier teams or anything but who would pay for that if there were?
Thats true actually. The only two, that i am aware of, that comes from a non upperclass are Chris Albright and Landon Donovan funny as it seems. And even these two didn't come from poverty; their parents were just a bit worse off than the rest of the minivan moms.
Someone from Portland talking about the hood, now I've seen everything. Jeff Cunningham and his love for large women, is that Lillywhite mister Portland?
wait a second... you mean you can't be "ethnic" and affluent at the same time? ********, I guess i'll have to turn in my NAACP card.
It's important to say. Those of us from the majority may not realize this as much...unless we have daughters. Then the truth of your observation becomes very apparent. Thanks. Well, to build on ayers thought, here's why it matters to me. By seeing diversity on a squad, all can see those who 'look like me'. The problem I've seen in sports is that if you don't see enough of that, you start believing that people who look, at first glance, like you aren't any good at that sport. As a parent you start encouraging your kids to stay away from it. As a kid you decide there's no future in it for you and head towards other sports. You wind up with mono-teams and wind up not fielding the best that you could have had if the belief system hadn't been working to direct them to other sports. We've all heard the expression 'white men can't jump'. Well, to me it means that seeing a diverse population out there is important for all, not just for those who aren't in the majority. Heck, keep the card. Just send me the money
Even people who know very little about soccer know that Pele is considered the greatest, and so Africans can't be that bad at the game. Also, Asians are a minority here, obviously, but they only need to look to Asia to see that they can play the game there, too.
not really. i don;t see how it would be nice or not nice. it would just be. i don't care enough about race either way for it to become an issue on whether i think something is nice or not.