Letterman had a big guy on the show talking about "see-pack tick-rah" last night. I realized later he was Jeff MacGregor from Sports Illustrated. Anyway, he was describing some of the games at the Doha Asiad which he apparently found silly. I mean the man didn't straight out say it but you can tell he was ridiculing what he wasn't used to.
Dave remained polite despite being Dave. You'd think he'd jump in on the mockery but I thought he was pretty cautious and saw how MacGregor was making a fool of himself. Also, MacGregor has a very bad hearing problem because after two weeks, he still couldn't say Sepak Takraw right. Or maybe he just didn't want to.
Then I find this article by Ben Shapiro scoffing at MacGregor's flightiness and was surprised to see a dismissal of Bono's eloquence. How original.
The sports press plays this same tune every four years, with the advent of the World Cup. ESPN ran an ad during the 2006 World Cup in which U2's Bono gravely informed the audience: "It's a simple thing. Just a ball and a goal. But once every four years that simple thing drastically changes the world. It closes the schools, closes the shops, closes the city, stops a war. A simple ball fuels the passion and pride of nations, gives people everywhere something to hope for, gives countries respect where respect is in short supply and achieves more than the politicians ever could. Once every four years a ball does the impossible."
This, of course, is nonsense. Soccer, like anything else, can be the basis for politics -- common interest is a valuable political tool. But soccer is not all that important a common interest. No long-lasting peace between two deeply divided groups will ever be built around soccer.
He writes for The Conservative Voice. They can't be all that myopic. Really.
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