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Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Spain. Champions of the World!


¡Celebration Time!

Although it had been predicted over and over several times that Spain would win the World Cup, there were a number of hurdles that could have made the outcome different. Holland has not lost a game for about two years, so that team are not to be toyed with. They were tough and determined. They had been to the finals twice before and consequently were under tremendous pressure to emerge victorious. Would it have been fair had they done so? I think yes. A victory for them after two failed attempts would have been super sweet indeed.

It was not to be in spite of a hard fought battle. I could not avoid sharing their pain at the loss of The Cup. In games of sport, someone wins and someone loses, except in cricket, of course, that can be played over the course of a week and end in a draw. In other games the losers get short shrift. They have to deal with their own pain of loss in their own way.

Many people have said that football is more than just a game. I think I agree, and I think that applies more to football than any other game. The effect of the Spain team’s win on national pride and sheer happiness is inestimable. This is a country in the throes of deep financial troubles, but if you didn’t watch the game you didn’t have a television, or were one of those poor essential workers who were forcefully kept at their post.

In Spain, football is sport, and it is politics. Any doubt about that can be dispelled every night by twenty minutes of news and thirty minutes of football sports. Also, only a winning footballer could hug the Queen and be hugged by the King. It is only football that can bring an entire country to a complete stop. As I write this no-one is focused on joblessness. Crime is taking a holiday as the criminals are too busy involved in the spirit.

In the old days one country entered another to rape and pillage and kill and annex the land. Did they really need the land and the women? Well, they probably didn’t really need the land, but thankfully we have advanced from that to this modern form of challenge and conquer. It is definitely tribal, and the support is intense. The tears in the eyes of men are very real. These are men who are super macho, and who simply don’t cry, except when they win or lose.

The day after July 11th, we were asking each other if it is really true that Spain has the most powerful football team in the world; and the most successful tennis player; and the most successful basketball team, and occasionally a very successful Formula One driver. I think it particularly fitting that the watchword of the campaign of the World Cup for the Spanish team was:” ¡Podemos! Translated liberally, it means “Yes! We Can!”

Well Done EspaƱa!

Copyright © 2010 Eugene Carmichael