A Cup Half Empty

Yesterday Italy beat France 2-1 (5-3) on penalties to win the FIFA World Cup. While this page enjoyed watching the past month's worth of soccer, the spectacle yesterday on the big screen and in my neighbourhood near Commercial Drive left much to be desired.

This page enjoys soccer, and found his loyalties at this World Cup split between my Ukrainian heritage and the German family I married into. Coming from a generation that understands loyalty, I could appreciate the espresso-sipping pensiones enjoying Italy's win. However, I have nothing but disdain for the bandwagon-jumping juveniles whose passion for the Azurri dates back to when France knocked out Brazil in the semi-finals. These would be the ones who wear Yankees caps and have no clue who Roger Maris is, or for that matter, Derk Jeter. They care more who wins 'Idol' or 'Top Model' than the next election. Their parents bitch the ears off University enrollment officers because these precious little darlings can't get the courses they want.


This crowd gets to yell and scream in the street uninhibited and unintimidated because they bought the 'right' soccer jersey. When I was that age, I jumped on a few bandwagons, like fair contracts, human rights, action on climate change, and a woman's right to choose. This page can say with a great deal of certainty that Authourity treats a picket sign much differently than they do a plastic car flag. For those of you scoring at home, there were more live remotes on local TV from Commercial Drive yesterday than there were four years ago when over 50,000 British Columbians shut down Victoria to protest the vicious agenda of the Campbell Liberals.

Also that year, Korea had a stunning run to the semifinals at the World Cup. In Vancouver, hundreds of Korean ESL students poured into the streets of the West End to celebrate. This page questions whether or not anyone around here watching the fixtures over the past few weeks noticed FIFA's "Say No to Racism" banner, given that the Italian celebrations were described as "beautiful" and "lively", whereas the Koreans were a "disturbance" and "a nuisance".

All things considered, and despite a few misgivings about the new stadium proposal, this page would much prefer to take in a real, live Whitecaps match than subject myself to the toxic mix of television and tribalism that appears to be the World Cup in Vancouver.

One final question: what did Materazzi say to Zidane to induce Zidane's head butt? Given how much was made about a North African Muslim leading France's team, this page can't help but think the race card was successfully exchanged for a red card...