Monday, June 28, 2010

Did Bill Clinton Cause Team USA Soccer's Defeat?


...because he's now just a celebrity hound; A-list to Democrats and One-Worlders, C-list to just about everybody else.

But like
Lady Gaga at a Met game, or Madonna watching her (A) Rod, the "hey look at me! I'm more important than the game! Me! Over here!" -type celebrity usually seems to do more harm than good for the team they are "rooting" for. And thus, Bill Clinton may have just done irreparable harm to the US soccer team - and the possible future of the sport in America - because he had to make it about him.

....I heard one name mentioned a few times, with worry: Bill Clinton.

....he was in the team’s locker room after the last game, drinking a beer with the boys...

...could being sudden homegrown heroes have been a distraction? I heard the alarm sounded on Morning Joe yesterday morning, by ESPN’s Roger Bennett, who fretted that the sudden attention and things like “Bill Clinton in the lockah room” could pull focus (Rogah is very British). He reiterated that point last night on Charlie Rose, talking about the World Cup with ESPN soccer commentator Tommy Smyth and Sports Illustrated’s Jen Chang.
Both times he noted that what had gotten the team this far had been focus and unity, and getting distracted by newly famous friends, media attention and the glamorous and lucrative world of endorsement and book deals would only be derailing for that work ethic.

Hey, when has it ever been about "work ethic" to liberals? It's about being famous, not how you got that way, and posing for a picture with the flavor of the moment (no offense to Team USA captain Carlos Bocanegra).
...So Team USA loses. Big deal. They'll always be another hot A-lister who will pose with me and burnish my bona fides as a true member of the "club". And somebody tell Carlos that I feel his pain, OK?

And the Clinton visit and the Obama call speak to each's hypocrisy as well - both have long argued that we are too proud, to boastful, to strong of a nation to peacefully co-exist with the world. A Team USA World Cup win would take away the only thing the rest of the world can say it is better than us at, and would likely cause more anti-Americanism than already exists. Based on their philosophy, Team USA should play gallantly but still lose willingly, bow out gracefully and admire our soccer betters openly (the same way each thinks we should fight terrorism). So what the hell are these two guys doing tying themselves to a team whose ultimate victory would be the antithesis of their dream of a world with America as a second-rate power?

Bunch of front runners. And trust me, this is how it's gonna end:

The only thing that’ll be cruel is if the Bill Clintons, the Obamas, the media and the legions of new fans suddenly fall away, distracted by the next shiny object that bounces by...

And of course they will.

They're politicians.

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