As the World Cup starts, conservative media declare war on soccer
As the 2010 World Cup begins in South Africa, conservative media figures have seized the opportunity to attack the tournament and the sport of soccer. They have also used soccer as a proxy to attack President Obama and progressives.
Conservatives: "Obama's policies are the World Cup," soccer is "a poor man or poor woman's sport"
Glenn Beck: "Barack Obama's policies are the World Cup." In an extensive rant on the June 11 Glenn Beck Program, Beck purported to explain how President Obama's policies "are the World Cup" of "political thought." Beck stated, "It doesn't matter how you try to sell it to us, it doesn't matter how many celebrities you get, it doesn't matter how many bars open early, it doesn't matter how many beer commercials they run, we don't want the World Cup, we don't like the World Cup, we don't like soccer, we want nothing to do with it." Beck stated that likewise, "the rest of the world likes Barack Obama's policies, we do not."
Beck added "those who like the World Cup ... they're the most likely to riot," commenting that by contrast, "I haven't seen the baseball riots." He later said of soccer, "I hate it so much, probably because the rest of the world likes it so much, and they riot over it, and they continually try to jam it down our throat."
G. Gordon Liddy: "Whatever happened to American exceptionalism?" Discussing soccer's popularity in the U.S. on his June 10 program, G. Gordon Liddy asked, "Whatever happened to American exceptionalism?" Liddy noted that "this game ... originated with the South American Indians and instead of a ball, they used to use the head, the decapitated head, of an enemy warrior."
MRC's Dan Gainor: "Soccer is designed as a poor man or poor woman's sport," "the left is pushing [soccer] in schools across the country." Also on the June 10 G. Gordon Liddy Show, Media Research Center's Dan Gainor said, "the problem here is, soccer is designed as a poor man or poor woman's sport" and that "the left is pushing it in schools across the country." He added: "generally football games in this country don't devolve into riots or wars." He later added that the sport of soccer "is being sold" as necessary due to the "browning of America."
Mark Belling: "When you insult soccer you get the same reaction from soccer fans that you get when you insult an aging Democratic senator's hair." On the June 11 edition of the Rush Limbaugh Show, guest host Mark Belling said, "What I really want to do is make fun of the World Cup, but I'm not going to make fun of the World Cup because when you insult soccer you get the same reaction from soccer fans that you get when you insult an aging Democratic senator's hair, they go nuts and blow it up all out of proportion." Later in the program, Belling said "I haven't talked about the World Cup, I haven't talked about how they're force-feeding this down our throats."
There is probably some Inca somewhere complaining how the US stole it from them.
I'm sorry but polo can't be played very easily in city slums!!!
For basketball, you have to have a backboard, a flat place to dribble the ball - for baseball, a large field is really necessary, just as examples. I think that THIS is why it's called the poor man's game.
Very true. It's long been held that Soccer (Football for the rest of the world) appeals to a lower socio-economic demographic for that reason among many. It doesn't take much skill at the lower levels to play also.
Until the MLS can draw better rating on US television the US will always have this inferiority complex when it comes to Soccer. College soccer needs to pick up the pace also (not necessarily their fault) to generate interest. I see more collegiate Lacross on ESPN than Soccer.
soccer like BB is a game that poor people play but that doesn't make it a ppor mans game. Golf on the other hand has been discriminatory and pvt. Hoops all you need is aa ball and some kind of basket,for football a ball and people to play it and that ball could be anything.
I'm so totally not shocked to see the Foxies use soccer for their agenda. Fox VS The World.
At least we don't sacrifice any of the players after the game.
Well, maybe in the media.
Looks like this Dan Gainor of MRC is coming pretty close to that...
Army of Darkness
Of the three, Irony, I'd put the most emphasis on that one. Nothing terrifies a wingnut like learning about something new. I heard one of the Radio Teabag clowns close his show today with a rant about not being guilted into being interested in soccer. That's how "we" ended up with health care. As if the right hasn't fought health care reform every inch of the way.
The Futbol Derangement Syndrome people are most likely the ones outraged at having to push 1 for English. Lazy dullards whose brains are full.
That's how it starts. Then before you know it we'll be speaking French.
It was always a figment of your criminal imagination.
panther. i meant panther...
Maybe he isn't looking hard enough. There are 1,670,000 hits on a google search of "world series riots". Seems the most recent was 2008 when the Phillies won.
And if he thinks baseball is good clean all american fun, he hasn't seen this...
And if they think it's a "poor man's" sport, they've never had a soccer playing child! Those "elite" teams get REALLY expensive! All the wealthy conservative parents in my city make sure their kids get a spot on an "elite" team. It's quite the status symbol.
:-)
Of course, I wouldn't expect you to know about the history of football when you don't even know about the history of your own nation. Once again, you and the other right-wing nutters demonstrate your absolute ignorance about anything that anybody can think up as a subject.
I...
what!?
These people are pathetic. How about once in their life they actually cheer for America to win?
Soccer is no longer the sport of choice out in the burbs- what have I missed?
Can't let conservatives start thinking about things like that.
This reminds me of what happened in Ireland regarding soccer, as I call it soccer because we have Gaelic football, like in America football is generally meant as NFL.
G.A.A, an organisation over Irish sports, i.e hurling and gaelic football, was established it banned people from playing soccer, so if you wanted to play hurling and soccer you could'nt. This was because they felt soccer, being an english creation also, was overtaking hurling and gaelic football (irish sports), eventually of course this ridicolous rule was stopped.
I'm betting that the more soccer becomes popular in America, Beck, Liddy, all these people will call for something similar to what the G.A.A founders wanted.
Read the book Field of Schemes to understand the complex economic costs that baseball, basketball and football stadiums have on state budgets.
Just like fools comparing the World Cup to President Obama.
SMH!
As for Liddy - Soccer was introduced to South America by English mine workers. What a bunch of ignormauses.
I honestly don't like soccer and could care less about it, but this just goes to illustrate the right wing media's strategy of finding something everyday to launch on attack on President Obama.
This reminds me of the recent attempt Limbaugh made to attribute and conflate Tiger Woods' marital problems with President Obama on a slow news day.
Predictable and shameless as expected.
Little did I know that it was evil socialist indoctrination.
The horror!
(breaks out the Ronco Right-Wing Pitch Pipe again) Ahem...
EVER'BODY NOWZ THAT NASCAR IS TEH GREASTEST SPORT IN TEH WORLD!!!1!! DALE EARNHARDT IS GAWD!!1!!!
You know, I've really got to stop doing this for the sake of my blood pressure and sanity...
GO USA!!
Last year the US team ended Spain's unbeaten streak and were 2-0 up against a Brazil team who are joint favourites to win the World Cup this year!!!
Yes, there are some boring football matches but are they really trying to say that every single NBL or NFL game is edge of the seat excitement?
What erks them is the fact that with the growing immigrant population comes a growing love for "the beautiful game" two things they can't get their bigotted little minds around to cope with.
And it's not even limited to international sports! Baseball-good, basketball-evil. To wit, sports that conservatives tend to like are goo, sprots they don't understand or don't like are evil...
This all boils down to Tee Vee exposure and money at the professional level. Why does the NBA attract the best European and global players (Pau Gasol, Yao Ming, Manu Ginobilli) and the European leagues (English Premier, German Bundisliga) attract the best Americans?
I joked during the election that if a black man became president, the right wing would go nuts.
Had no idea it would get this nuts. Racism, religious intolerance and bigotry as far as the eye can see.
And its getting worse.
However these comments, especially Beck's, just show a massive amount of xenephobia, arrogance and general idiocy. It's this sort of crap that makes the rest of the world dislike America and perpetuates the stereotype that all Americans are jingoistic dunderheads, who are never done spouting off how they're superior to the rest of the world and how they "saved [your] asses in World War II, and don't forget it!"
See, you know why people outside America like Obama? It's because he's generally pleasant towards us. He gives off the air of being much more understanding and open towards other cultures with his visits. The fact that the people on Fox News are flabbergasted when he so much as shakes the hand of another world leader betrays their inherent racism and superiority complexes. I certainly don't think he's a great president since from what I can see he hasn't made much positive change, but at least he hasn't made any long-lasting negative change either like some presidents in the past I could mention... But at least he's not picking fights and generally acting like a jackass like the Fox News people apparently want him to.
I'm sure they would love it if they could just build a big wall around the entire country, not letting anyone in or out, so they could live in their own perfect little American utopia, unspoiled by those filthy foreigners and their frightening alien ways.
It's a goddamn disgrace. This is what happens when you drum into your kids from the minute they're born that their country is the best in the world, and that every other culture is inferior to yours, and that just by the virtue of being born in the right place you're somehow superior. You get repulsive blowhards like these people, saying how their country is going to hell one minute then claiming that it's better than every other one the next.
I also wasn't saying that Americans are all like that. It's people like Beck and Liddy who wave the stars and stripes in one hand and flip the bird towards the rest of the world with the other who give that impression to us. I'm the first to jump into an argument against people who claim the stereotypes to be true and badmouth Americans in such a way, but even I have to admit that it's pretty obvious why these stereotypes are still so popular... And it's not really helping matters by slapping us with the jingoistic stereotypes back. Two wrongs don't make a right.
Britain has plenty of its own problems, but at this point in time I just wanted to talk about one of America's. I could talk about all the things I dislike about the way our country works or the way its people act (that's the one thing Beck and the rest of them are right about; the football riots are disgraceful and embarrassing, not to mention the way fans treat people abroad), but this isn't really the time or place.
And if G. Gordon Liddy thinks "American Exceptionalism" has ANYTHING to do with organized sport, then "what happened to it" was that IDIOTS LIKE HIM STARTED TAKING IT UP AS THEIR CAUSE CELEBRE!
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Unbelievable
We gave it to the Israelis.
And of course, for all of us who love inconsistencies, find Glenn Beck's smiling face here, under "soccer photos"
Soccer does not enjoy the same level of support in the US as football, baseball or basketball. So what. American football does not enjoy the same level of support in Europe as it pays to soccer (football). BFD!
But somehow MMFA turns the story into some kind of bashfest against conservatives. GROW UP!