I love soccer.
Basketball is pretty cool. It is full of back-and-forth action
with lots of points always being scored. I can appreciate the ferocious power
of a well-orchestrated lob dunk. Like many watching the NBA Finals (including
the Miami Heat, apparently) I was mesmerized by the flowing offense of the San
Antonio Spurs. The motion of Tony Parker, so low to the ground and
unpredictable, made me a bit dizzy to be sure. I'm glad I didn't have to guard
him on the court.*
*I played basketball in high school. And by played, I mean that I
rocked the JV scene for multiple years and clapped my hands off for the varsity
group. One time when I did actually get to play, I just happened to get to
guard Marcus Walker. It didn't go well. I'm not - how do I say this...ah yes -
tall. Marcus scored 40 points that night.
Baseball is OK. As a loyal Kansas Citian, I try hard to follow the
Royals. I could be the umpteenth person to write about how the Royals have never
gone to the playoffs since 1985 or how we have made horrific trade after
horrific trade or how "I've Got Friends In Low Places" was sung at
each and every home game for years. As I write this, the Royals have actually
won 8 in a row and can take over first place tonight. I'm sure it will all go
up in flames soon...
Football sucks. Players die with such regularity that news stories like this Cal player barely register anymore. Coaches are
for some reason allowed to act in ways that defy civility and it's OK because
everyone on the football field is apparently so damn tough.
Deep breath.
I can find beauty and wonder in (nearly) every sport. Watching
Rafael Nadal on clay is something I'll tell my kids about. Seeing Tiger Woods
do things with a club that seem to defy physics was a joy of my childhood. I've
always had a fascination with ice curling at the Winter Olympics!
You see, I like to watch people who are chasing great
accomplishments. I want to see Tiger pass Jack Nicholas so that I can say I
watched the greatest golfer ever. I want to see Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer
meet at every single major. I want 1-seeds to make it to the Final Four so I
can see the best teams match up.
Which brings me to the World Cup. Some of you may not know that
the World Cup is actually just the final stage of a two-year tournament
featuring every soccer-playing nation in the world from Brazil to Guam. The
really unique thing about the World Cup (and the Olympics somewhat) is that the
superstars of soccer still don’t get to choose their country of origin. Lionel
Messi and Christiano Ronaldo are widely recognized as the two best players in
the world and they play for Argentina and Portugal respectively. Argentina is
one of the most storied soccer nations and they’ve only one the World Cup twice!
Portugal has never won the World Cup. They can't just choose to play for Brazil or Germany.
The World Cup is an international affair, and this is what I love
most about soccer. I speak relatively fluent Spanish. With all due credit to my
Spanish teachers throughout my years, I went from someone who could pass a quiz
in class to a fluent speaker on the soccer field. Hours of playing
latinos on hockey courts in a local park honed my lessons into actual speech. I play in an adult men’s league
currently with guys from Romania, Venezuela, Mexico, Colombia and a few
born-and-raised Americans.* I root hard for Greece to do well and I’d root for
Scotland if they weren’t generally terrible at soccer.
*Although each of these guys talks about
the US team using words like “we” and “us”.
They’re as American as it gets. I think we could all take a lesson from this.
I try and teach my students about the world from this perspective.
The World Cup is special because we are all soccer players and soccer fans.
Much in the same vein, I want to teach my students that we are all part of the
same global community. Just as Americans and Brazilians play different brands
of soccer, so too do our different cultures provide different things to the
world.
One of my favorite parts of the fantastic coverage that ESPN puts
on for the World Cup are the shots of the fans in the crowd. They show such
incredible passion and excitement. I love going to watch parties like the
10,000-strong one at Power and Light for the USA v. Ghana opener.
And I love these two guys:
And I love these two guys:
GIFs of US and Ghanaian fans from Monday nights game
But I especially love watching the national anthems:
Keep watching at 1:12 when the music stops
I’m currently watching the Mexico v. Brazil match. In the last 10
minutes of a tightly contested 0-0 tie, Thiago Silva of Brazil dove in for a
crunching tackle on Chicharito of Mexico, earning him a yellow card. As both
players were walking away, Silva walked towards Chicharito and tilted his head
slightly to the side acknowledging the tackle. Chicharito nodded his head in
return and put his hand out, which was met my Silva’s hand in return. They
exchanged a few words, Silva patted Chicarito’s head and they returned to the
battle.
The passion and respect are lessons that I want to pass on in my class.
The passion and respect are lessons that I want to pass on in my class.
Find something worth believing in.
Make a plan and prepare yourself.
Fight for what you want every single moment of every single day.
To see my students believe in something and fight for something
they way that they players and the fans fight and believe during the World Cup
would be the highlight of my career. The thought of that moment somewhere in
the future is what motivates me to look for the next great technology, the next
inspiring strategy and the next life-changing project.
What drives you?
Love it? Hate it? Leave your thoughts below and let's talk about it!
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