Halfway down the Danube

Football and extremism

Football and extreme politics seem to go hand in hand around the world.

For instance, take a look at Juan Posadas. A player for the Argentine team La Plata Estudientes in the 1930s, Posadas moved gracefully into the splintered world of post-Trotsky Latin American leftist politics, where, as time went on, his positions became stranger and stranger. Preemptive nuclear war, a solid Soviet first strike, a good thing! "After the destruction commences, the masses are going to emerge in all countries – in a short time, in a few hours." But then our socialist space brothers will save us. "Capitalism doesn’t interest the UFO pilots, which is why they do not return." In the meantime, though, we should make our peace with our aqueous cousins, the dolphins. So far, his ideas have come to not very much. After all, you can't have socialism on just one planet.

Then there's David Icke. Once a goalkeeper for Coventry City, and later a sportscaster, Icke declared himself the Son of God in 1991 on British television and has never looked back. Although his beliefs have changed through the years, at present David Icke believes... well, he believes the lizard people are secretly in control of the Earth. In disguise, of course.

As far as X-Files conspiracy theories go in the US, there's Marshall Faulk, who thinks the Moon landings were a hoax. It stands to reason, he opined in a Playboy interview. After all, the flag was waving, but there's no air on the Moon. So far as I know, Faulk harbors no political ambitions. Yet.

On the other hand, there's Jack Kemp. Once quarterback for the Buffalo Bills -- the position of QB is a little difficult to explain to people only familiar with soccer, but Kemp was a star -- he parlayed that into a political career, trying (and failing) to reach the golden ring of the American presidency. I say 'golden', because Jack Kemp has been a strong advocate of returning to the monetary gold standard. You know, using the stuff in deluxe tooth fillings for money. This would (experts aver) have an effect on the American economy somewhere between abolishing the SEC and collectivizing the farms, although some Texans seem to like it.

On the other other hand, there's Paul Robeson. All-American at Rutgers, he quit a career in the law, became a radical actor and singer, and engaged in heavy petting with Stalin. You can hear him sing the Soviet national anthem (with English lyrics) here, about halfway down the page. (Look for the picture of Uncle Joe.) He had a hell of a voice, though. Much better than Kemp's.

You'll notice the absence of overt blood-and-soil tendencies among my American selections. It's not that they don't exist in American football, but professional football in the US has made a virtue of its racial and ethnic inclusiveness. So you get strange bits of rhetoric like the following, taken from a speech given by the great defensive end Reggie White to the Wisconsin state legislature:

When you look at the black race, black people are very gifted in what we call worship and celebration. A lot of us like to dance, and if you go to black churches, you see people jumping up and down, because they really get into it.

White people were blessed with the gift of structure and organization. You guys do a good job of building businesses and things of that nature and you know how to tap into money pretty much better than a lot of people do around the world.

Hispanics are gifted in family structure. You can see a Hispanic person and they can put 20 or 30 people in one home. They were gifted in the family structure.

When you look at the Asians, the Asian is very gifted in creation, creativity and inventions. If you go to Japan or any Asian country, they can turn a television into a watch. They're very creative. And you look at the Indians, they have been very gifted in the spirituality.

When you put all of that together, guess what it makes. It forms a complete image of God. God made us different because he was trying to create himself.

I still wear his jersey on game days.

Posted by coyu at June 10, 2004 06:37 PM