One more sport

I suppose that it's inevitable that discussions of the World Cup and soccer elicit political commentary. Hendrik Hertzberg does this in the July New Yorker. The Bryan Curtis-Eve Fairbanks discussion on bloggingheads.tv also covers this ground.

But the musings can get into the overreach area. For example, what is "socialist" about soccer? Marc Thiessen tries to make that case. I disagree. What the soccer players do on the field (the pitch) is much more improvisation than scripted. It is the opposite for American football, which is very much scripted (check out the quarterback consulting his wristband)-- and gets really interesting and spontaneous when there is a broken play.

Americans are different in that they have many sports and many entertainments to chose from. The commentators are adding their own sport to a crowded plate.