RANT: All Brits, READ THIS!

A scant eight months after presuming to tell us bumpkins in Clark County, Ohio how we should vote... thus resulting in an additional five points for the Republican ticket... the Guardian is at it again.

This time telling us that our youth sports programs are divided by race and class... thus, DUH!, Americans are still bigoted bumpkins.
Racial divide driving a wedge into soccer's grassroots

After first pitching a disclaimer, without which the article would have immediately been discarded by anyone with half a brain:

This educated cretin, nonetheless, goes on to imply that yanks are oh, so less sophisticated in such matters than their East side of the Pond cousins.

I, on the other hand, propose that some people, indeed are trapped in a state of "Political Correctness" which causes them to submerse any logical reasoning by dint of position or pressure from their peers.
The more they are 'educated', it seems.. the more they are trapped... perhaps because they dont want to be seen as 'not getting value for money' from their schooling.

First, let me say that there is NO doubt that his anecdotal postulations are 100% accurate... but accepting that, does that make it "TRUE" on the whole?

NOT EXACTLY! as they used to say in the car-rent commercial.

If you accept that any of my views in the Essay on social darwinism hold weight... then you have to ALSO accept that it is not so much a matter of "Race and Class", but of disparate cultures.

Both.. "DUMB AS TOAST"?!!!! Telling!

Well, why should we bother to make something so obviously simple, as an issue, complicated by pointing out some uncomfortable facts?

Parents, on the whole, want to involve their kids in sports and other activities where they can have a chance to succeed.
White parents, yes - the same as sit glued to the TV on various sports nights, watching and rooting for their favorite African American dominated sports teams, dont WANT their kids' ambitions quenched before they even take hold!
And... gasp... this applies to black parents, as well.. who may subtly discourage their off-spring from competing in venues seen as 'too white'.

But, to take the article seriously, the same whitebread parents taking their kids to an NBA or NFL game are effectively taking them to the modern equivalent of a "darky minstrel show".

The which is pure crap!

Of course the article DOESNT go into the core of the issue..which is what I referred to abve as 'culture'. Note again my essay on social darwism and connect it to anthropological truth.

Shockley, who as a pioneer in solid state physics gained fame and attention shocked the world when he postulated that the average 'Negro' was 10% less intelligent than the average 'white european'... what most intellectuals didnt bother thinking of was the role of environmental genetics... it was, it seemed to me, ridiculous to get outraged over this wehen the philosophy of the time said that humans used only "Ten Percent" of their brain capacity in the first place... which would put the REAL difference, if true, at a scant 1%. But what some might have thought of was the difference in needs for survival of two disparate cultures.

Which might cause you, if you bother to THINK - that is, to surmise that the African was not REALLY less intelligent.. but that he had natural talents for a different environment.

Which brings us back to sport.

Why shouldnt the survival-bred physical characteristics of a race that depended on ability to pursue, attack or flee on foot for all of its history be physically superior to a race whose survival depended on his ability to dig peat, plant and gather fruit, kill or maintain lumbering livestock or build a snow hut to withstand the weather?

Before you shout rascist, bigot..
I dont think you want me to go into my personal background on my attitudes on race, and how I came to view people of color as "wonderfully different but the same as me".. it would take 3 chapters of a book or an un-interrupted hour over beers... but suffice it to say, I learned my lesson on racism the hard way, and, as anecdote, saw my first racially motivated fight in a London Cellar Club.

So,to summarize, once again we are the subject of plankish stereotypical lightweight philosophy, designed not to cast light on a subject but just perhaps{?} to make the "enlightened' (Guardian Readers, natch) feel superior and less threatened.

My view? Yanks, Ivy League grads aside, dont rate on "Class", as a whole, they rate on achievement!

 

"dont think you want me to go into my personal background on my attitudes on race, and how I came to view people of color as "wonderfully different but the same as me"..

You're right about that..It would probably be even less interesting and more sanctimonious than the rest of your rant, as difficult as that might be to achieve

 

So there!

 

I wish there were a black driver in NASCAR...i'd root for him just because i know all the rednecks would be irate about that.

Anyone ever hear Chris Rock's thing about black athletes? Something about they bred slaves to be big and strong for 300 years, and now its finally come back to bite the white man in the ass. He said they would take over the NHL as soon as they invented a heated ice rink

anyway, didn't read the article

 

Talking of "plankish stereotypical lightweight philosophy", has one article - which was admittedly in the Guardian and therefore may have been read by a small proportion of so-called "Guardian Readers" - really provided justification for what appear to me to be sarcastic remarks about so-called "Guardian Readers" in general? What do you think of people who read the Guardian sometimes, but read other papers as well?

Yes, some Guardian writers are a bit up their own backsides at times, and the Clark County idea was so ill-conceived as to be hilarious. The article you refer to isn't particularly well-structured, but as a discussion of race and class issues in US sport, it does set out a few anecdotes, and suggests a few interpretations which I don't particularly take issue with. What it DOESN'T then do, as far as I can see, is go on to conclude or imply that "Americans are still bigoted bumpkins".

What was it about the article that sparked such a long rant?

 

Re: RE: RANT: All Brits, READ THIS!

The fact that the article stirred the Pettyfog's inner bigoted bumpkin. :wink:

 

RE: Re: RE: RANT: All Brits, READ THIS!

having read the article, it looks like the 'urban suburban' soccer league failed, not because of bigotry, but more because of fear. Created i suspect by the media?

 

RE: Re: RE: RANT: All Brits, READ THIS!

sorry, to explain a bit clearer....parent's being naturally overprotective of their children are unlikley to want to send their children to play soccer in areas that constantly get bad press for being 'dangerous places'.

 

RE: Re: RE: RANT: All Brits, READ THIS!

Both your posts are accurate MW2 although the league in Boston was actually American football - a youth program called "Pop Warner". The league had been in operation for a number of years and the urban neighborhoods have generally become safer over that time, although there has been a bit of a relapse in the past year. Over time the City teams have improved in quality and were dominating the suburban teams on the field. There were some accusations among the suburban coaches of cheating - mainly holding illegal practices and recruiting players from a wider population base - but these were unproven. Since these kids are in the age range of 8 to 14, one would hope the coaches would be looking for strong competition to motivate their players to improve. Unfortunately too many youth coaches are more concerned about winning meaningless trophies to gratify their own ego.

A former pro basketball player named Bob Bigelow has established himself as one of the top experts on youth sports in the US. He has done a lot of research on the overbearing presence of adults in US youth sports and has some good ideas for changing it:

http://www.bobbigelow.com/

 

By George...Dan has got it. It's that the Parents like PARITY!

That is INDEED what is behind it.

Pop Warner Football is, essentially, a Recreational League. Though it does develop young players, it places a different emphasis on the games than competitive youth leagues.

Mission Statement

There are other Youth leagues that are "select" in terms of participation... just as in soccer.

 

It would be nice if all Pop Warner coaches followed the principles above but they don't. Many may not have read them at all, based on their behavior. I think Pop Warner requires that each kid is in for at least six plays. There are plenty of coaches who limit their weaker players to six plays only and make sure that they never get near the ball.

Too many parents and youth sports coaches at all levels and in all sports just don't have perspective. They are either misdirecting their own competitive instincts through the wrong channels or are under the fantasy that their kid will defy ridiculous odds and win a scholarship or a pro contract. You hear about the more extreme and violent incidents that occur, but anyone who has been involved has seen plenty of obnoxious behavior - most of it from parents and coaches. The kids usually have the right perspective if left to their own devices.

Parity should not be the objective although it is a byproduct if the right principles are followed. The major objectives are enjoyment, physical exercise, learning a few of life's lessons (value of teamwork, discipline, etc.) and building the basis for good habits in adult life. Those are the reasons for youth sports to exist, not to build strong pro teams, national teams or even high school teams. If the programs attract enough kids those things will take care of themselves.

Elite teams are fine to have for those motivated and able to handle a higher level of competition but I've seen too many kids pushed into them who don't really want to be there. It often ends up turning them off the sport entirely.