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World Cup fever...
Jul. 11th, 2014 04:55 pmBack in high school—during senior year, if memory serves—I served a stint as that golden-voiced rock star obnoxious twit who read announcements over the school's PA system in the morning.
One morning, a day after the school's varsity basketball team had suffered a particularly lopsided defeat, something in the way I announced the fact rubbed one of the basketball players the wrong way.
To be honest, when I read that particular item on the list of announcements that morning, my voice did betray that certain lack of emotional neutrality one expects from such reports; I was trying to get a little "dig" in, but not in a mean way, as in my mind, it was directed at "us" (the school in general), rather than at "them" (the team in particular). In retrospect, I would argue that as I managed to tick off only one member of the basketball team—this same individual, by the way, also likely considered me a rival for the affections of his girlfriend—this would suggest that the manner in which my remark was received was largely received in the spirit in which it was offered.
As it turned out, the fellow I did manage to annoy took his revenge not by any pulp-fiction display of fisticuffs or other physical violence, but by challenging me to a one-on-one basketball game after school. I agreed, though I knew what the outcome would be. In the end, he proceeded to completely shut me out, 11 to 0.
Upon parting after finishing the game, he made some sort of remark, something along the lines of: since I was a pathetic basketball player, I didn't have the right to make fun of the team. I disagreed with his argument, but held my peace.
I disagreed with the argument then—and continue to disagree with it today—because it shuts down opposing views, not with better ideas, but by making an issue of who the speaker is by bringing up the speaker's background (or lack of it). In my mind, this kind of approach sure resembles an argument ad hominem.
That said, permit me to make an observation about the 2014 World Cup quarter-final match held four days ago between Germany and Brazil. I managed to catch about the first 30 minutes of the game, at which point I turned it off, because I felt exactly as if I had been watching one of Huntür's soccer games from last year, in which the team she on which she was playing (and the team her mom was coaching) simply blew out an out-of-town team, scoring one goal after another—goal... goal... goal...—ending only when time ran out.
I cannot imagine how the quarter final could give any spectator—even a hard-core fan of the German team—any enjoyment after, say, Germany's second or third goal.
One morning, a day after the school's varsity basketball team had suffered a particularly lopsided defeat, something in the way I announced the fact rubbed one of the basketball players the wrong way.
To be honest, when I read that particular item on the list of announcements that morning, my voice did betray that certain lack of emotional neutrality one expects from such reports; I was trying to get a little "dig" in, but not in a mean way, as in my mind, it was directed at "us" (the school in general), rather than at "them" (the team in particular). In retrospect, I would argue that as I managed to tick off only one member of the basketball team—this same individual, by the way, also likely considered me a rival for the affections of his girlfriend—this would suggest that the manner in which my remark was received was largely received in the spirit in which it was offered.
As it turned out, the fellow I did manage to annoy took his revenge not by any pulp-fiction display of fisticuffs or other physical violence, but by challenging me to a one-on-one basketball game after school. I agreed, though I knew what the outcome would be. In the end, he proceeded to completely shut me out, 11 to 0.
Upon parting after finishing the game, he made some sort of remark, something along the lines of: since I was a pathetic basketball player, I didn't have the right to make fun of the team. I disagreed with his argument, but held my peace.
I disagreed with the argument then—and continue to disagree with it today—because it shuts down opposing views, not with better ideas, but by making an issue of who the speaker is by bringing up the speaker's background (or lack of it). In my mind, this kind of approach sure resembles an argument ad hominem.
That said, permit me to make an observation about the 2014 World Cup quarter-final match held four days ago between Germany and Brazil. I managed to catch about the first 30 minutes of the game, at which point I turned it off, because I felt exactly as if I had been watching one of Huntür's soccer games from last year, in which the team she on which she was playing (and the team her mom was coaching) simply blew out an out-of-town team, scoring one goal after another—goal... goal... goal...—ending only when time ran out.
I cannot imagine how the quarter final could give any spectator—even a hard-core fan of the German team—any enjoyment after, say, Germany's second or third goal.
