So Who Won the Super Bowl?

So I'm here in Albany for my union's delegate assembly and had to go to bed early because I'm driving across the state this morning to make it back for my university's senate meeting.  Got up early to finish writing a letter of recommendation for an awesome student for a system-wide award and just realized I don't even know who won the Super Bowl.  How awful is that?

Nationalism, Regionalism, and Globalization in "South Korea: Focused on Excellence"

A few random responses to the English-language documentary South Korea: Focused on Excellence, which can be found on youtube in 5 parts, focusing 1st on soccer



then on speed skating



then on golf (Se Ri Pak, baby!)



then on baseball



and finally on figure skating



. I learned a lot from this documentary, particularly about sports I don't follow closely, but I was left wondering what was particularly Korean about the amazing individuals featured in it. Commitment, work ethic, passion, perfectionism, focus--doesn't that describe what any world-class athlete needs? How exactly does a South Korean "focus on excellence" differ from any other country's? Frankly, I learned more about how young talent is developed in Korea from Beth Ann Baldry's story on the 17-shot victory by South Korea over the U.S. (and even more over the rest of the field) in the Women's World Amateur Team Championship than from this documentary (with the exception of the speed skating section).

In addition, I was struck by the way in which the documentary implicitly defined excellence in regional as well as global terms. That is, the Korean athletes' and teams' accomplishments were notable, it seemed, because they reached a standard on the world stage set by Japanese athletes and teams before them. The length the documentary went to minimize or not to acknowledge prior Japanese success was impressive in its own way--it showed how seriously competition with Japan is taken in Korea and how strongly the legacy of Japanese colonialism is still felt there. Even though I can't see Ji-Yai Shin or Na Yeon Choi taking part in that structure of feeling, I can understand better now why their accomplishments (as well as those of other elite Korean athletes) are so prone to be politicized in Korea. Given how bitter the youtube wars between fans of Yuna Kim and Mao Asada can get, I was glad to see this pattern broken in the segment on Kim.

But no segment moved me as much as the one on Se Ri Pak. The clips from her U.S. Women's Open victory in 1998 took me back to watching it live. I trace my current interest in the LPGA back to my excitement at Pak's LPGA debut. The documentary did a great job of evoking that feeling. Now if only they had shown Y.E. Yang power-lifting his golf bag after defeating Tiger head-to-head at the PGA Championship!

Girrlz!

Here's about big long grow-ups post about the antecedents of Sparkychan, Gojochan, Jumpsan, Kongsan, Haatochan, and the Powerpuff Girls, Grrrrr!

And this is the girl who started it all. Her name is Flossie Mackenzie, she's 10 years old, and she lives in Africa, the imagined Africa of Rider Haggard's Allan Quatermain. We're in chapter 4 where Quatermain has asked her whether or not she feels lonely living "among all these savage people and without any companions of her own age":

'Lonely?' she said. 'Oh, indeed no! I am as happy as the day is long, and besides I have my own companions. Why, I should hate to be buried in a crowd of white girls all just like myself so that nobody could tell the difference! Here,' she said, giving her head a little toss, 'I am I; and every native for miles around knows the "Water-lily", -- for that is what they call me -- and is ready to do what I want, but in the books that I have read about little girls in England it is not like that. Everybody thinks them a trouble, and they have to do what their schoolmistress likes. Oh! it would break my heart to be put in a cage like that and not to be free -- free as the air.'

'Would you not like to learn?' I asked.

'So I do learn. Father teaches me Latin and French and arithmetic.'

'And are you never afraid among all these wild men?'

'Afraid? Oh no! they never interfere with me. I think they believe that I am "Ngai" (of the Divinity) because I am so white and have fair hair. And look here,' and diving her little hand into the bodice of her dress she produced a double-barrelled nickel-plated Derringer, 'I always carry that loaded, and if anybody tried to touch me I should shoot him. Once I shot a leopard that jumped upon my donkey as I was riding along. It frightened me very much, but I shot it in the ear and it fell dead, and I have its skin upon my bed. Look there!' she went on in an altered voice, touching me on the arm and pointing to some far-away object, 'I said just now that I had companions; there is one of them.'

She was pointing to Mt. Kenya.

After Glow

Since I'm not a big hoops, hockey, or golf fan (although I do enjoy bringing the hate to a few of the male golfers who've pissed me off in the past by spewing some arrogant bullshit...and I won't mention any names like Singh, Lefty, or Montgomery), sports-wise all I can really do these days is bask in the after glow of the Giants beat-down of the hated New England Patriots in the Super Bowl a few weeks back. Mmmm...good times.

This time of year is my Sports Black Hole. Baseball season is weeks and weeks away. I appreciate basketball and do cheer heartily for my local team (Go Warriors!) and my school team (Go Bears!), but basketball really kind of stresses me out, so it's not good for my escapist diversion needs like football is. I cheer for the local hockey team (Sharks), but hockey is best live, and going to a game is not a financial reality.

Being a sports fan, one of my most-utilized escapist diversions is sports talk radio--flawed and oft-maddening as it may be, what with the endless parade of white male hosts bringing a near-uniform perspective. But for me, sports talk radio is really the pits this time of year. I guess the best I can hope for is that the Bill Belichick "Spygate" scandal has "legs." I could be nicely entertained listening to that drama for a while.

Anyway, in case you missed it, here's big-time Giants fan Carl giving his post-Super Bowl joy-rant. Good stuff!

Premature and Irresponsible Political Speculation

Let's say, for the sake of argument, that money wins out in the primaries and Hillary and Mitt turn out to be their parties' nominees. What are the odds, do you think, that the likely runner-ups at this point--Obama and McCain--would decide to run together on an Independent ticket? How would you feel about such a scenario? And do you think they'd have a better chance to win the Executive Office outside rather than inside their parties?

Before you answer, check out this piece from the UK on Obama's appeal to moderate conservatives and this one from LA on his bipartisanship emphasis being in the American grain. And consider that while Obama can afford to wait 8 years for another presidential run, McCain can't, so if bridges between them and their party leaders get seriously burned in the coming months, Obama is in a position to demand some serious concessions from McCain (including, perhaps, the top of the ticket) in exchange for joining forces with him.

Sorry, all the sports-style coverage of the primaries has got me thinking like an NFL fan whose team is out of the playoffs (go Bills!) and is looking for ways to make them interesting. To borrow from Oaktown Girl's brilliant and prophetic playoffs post, I'm thinking of Hillary as the Patriots, Edwards as the Chargers, Obama as the Giants, Romney as the Cowboys, and McCain as the Packers.

Yeah, yeah, I know. At least I lived up to the post's title, eh?

[Update 2/8/08: Ah, well I accidentally invoked the Mostly Harmless jinx on Romney. Now if it'll only kick in on my real target. McCain vs. Obama is much more interesting than McCain with Obama.]