Ara has some Iranian ancestors http://www.mac-hermann-trophy.org/candidates 03.htm "his grand-uncle was a goalkeeper on the Iranian National Team" http://216.239.39.104/search?q=cach...msoc/msoc_bios.html+"Kevin+Ara"+Iranian&hl=en name of father's uncle: "Rezai Ara" Mom's name Fari. Dad's name is Mike.
Well, the first paragraph is just pure comedy gold. Ha! About the French influence in Persia: I can't say anything to that. However, I do know that in Turkey (never colonized, unless you count Asia Minor -- ancient Greek -- but could start a war) that French is basically a second language in many parts and in older generations. This is due to the incredibly successful influence of the French speaking schools, one of which we all know: Galatasaray. Cheers, Tim
His last name certainly sounds Armenian and it seems pretty clear he's Catholic, so I assumed Iranian nationality, Armenian heritage. But Alecko's American and he wears the Black and Red. That's what really counts.
You know. It is a possibility that the Eskandarians may have come from what is now Azerbaijan. We could all be wrong. Cheers, Tim
Andranik was an Iranian of Armenian heritage. It would be improper to say he was "Persian" because that refers to a speaker of the Farsi language, which he was not. This is not unusual. If you look at an ethnographic map of the region, it's a bit messy. Armenia and Azerbaijan have a simmering conflict, and Armenia also has some ancient ethnic tension with Turkey. There are probably more Azeris than Armenians in Iran today, but there is probably still no shortage of Armenians. I want to say Andranik stayed in the US to flee the Islamic Revolution, during which time Armenians occasionally came in for some rough treatment. Side note, there was once a movie where Al Pacino played an Armenian. He said "How do you know someone's an Arminian? Because his name rhymes with the word 'Armenian.'
I don't know the whole truth about his statement; I can only speak for myself. I used to go to Caps games fairly frequently (5-10 games per year) until we got DC United. I haven't been since. Now, I don't hope for the demise of the NHL (and I'm sure Steve was joking) but there is, at least in my case, some decisions being made with what to do with my discretionary spending between sports.
I don't know why we should single the NHL out, though. The fact that the NHL charges four times the ticket price and has a different season suggests to me the two are largely going after different audiences. I'm not sure the more direct competition doesn't come from similarly-priced entertainments that may or may not be sports that take place in the spring/summer/early autumn. Like, say, the movies (or baseball). I would have to imagine that of all the sports leagues, the NHL would be about the least likely to be in direct competition.
I learned something new. Thank you. For awhile, I've thought Persia was the 'proper' name of the country, and Iran was the westernized name given to it. I didn't realize it was tied linguistically to a group. In any case, you've got to admit that geographers haven't always been helpful. For example, everytime you say 'Sahara Desert', you are being redundant as 'sahara' means 'desert' in Arabic. (I guess the joke here would be it is the desert so big they had to name it twice). A side note: I've met an anglo-American man that was a missionary kid in Azerbaijan. Essentially he wasn't even speaking when his family moved there, and so he learned the local language fluently. In fact, he probably learned it before English. (His family were missionaries just prior to the 1979 revolution). I only mention it because it 'threw' me when I first heard him speak without knowing his background. Anyway, I guess we've ruled out that Alecko has a backdoor entrance into an European passport.
I bet Alecko could still get an Armenian citizenship - the country has an open invitation for the same to Jouri Djorkaeff, 1998 World Cup winner with France. This wouldn't give him a Euro passport but would permit him to seek employment in countries that have equal standards for all UEFA members, which include all former Eastern Bloc nations regardless of their participation in the European Union. This would add, I believe, Italy and Germany, to the list of countries where he would not count as a "foreign" player (some countries/leagues like Belgium and Holland, of course, do not have a foreign player limit anyway).
There's a great graphic in the Jon Stewart/Daily Show book that's in stores now with a map of the middle east with no borders drawn on it. It says, draw up your own borders without regard to existing culture, religion, language, etc. (Hey! It worked for the English and the French!)
I hope no one minds that I interrupt the "armenian geneology thread". I can see that soccer and hockey could interest the same kind of crowd. Both of the sports are dynamically fluid relying on time and space with while requiring different technical skills. I'm not a hockey fan (generally due to the inconsistent reffing - ooooh, should I be a MLS fan? ). I see your point on schedule (but I think there probably is considerable overlap) and cost (which is controlled by SE (Single Entity - not Screaming Eagles).
There is a significant Armenian minority in Iran. Armenians there (and almost everywhere in the Near/Middle East) were very useful because they tended to speak several languages and have contacts throughout the area. The American Embassy in Tehran was chock full of Armenian Iranians, because they spoke English as well as Farsi, and usually French, too, along with, of course, Armenian. I was a cultural officer in Greece, and Greeks of Armenian heritage were frequently found in the embassy there as well, again because of their linguistic abilities.
There might be other countries Eskandarian would qualify for a passport for. But at this point, we don't know of any for sure--it's just speculation. I suspect SG's comment about hockey was partially b/c he's a die-hard soccer fan. But he's also got a unique seat that most of the rest of us don't have. He has seen what budgets get assigned to travel to away games and foreign competitions, what resources get allocated to cover other sports, and what the priorities are at the Washington Post. I suspect it's true that the demise of the NHL (especially if baseball comes to town) might make a difference for DCU. Not necessarily b/c of fans. But for potential sponsorship dollars, investors, time on TV or cable, time on local sports radio.