3.31.2005

Mini-post: Jackie Robinson biopic... by wongoz

Just a quick post... Over on Cinematical, a blog about movies, there was a recent post about a biographical movie on Jackie Robinson, the first African-American player in major league baseball. I love sports movies, and since the post says that the producers of Ray are involved and Robert Redford is directing... well, hell, sign me up right now. Jackie Robinson broke the colour barrier for all pro sports (ok, maybe not boxing), and for that reason alone, I'll be there. But to involve those heavyweight talents... yeehaw!

But my main comment is this: Besides the fact that Ray was a kickass movie and Jamie Foxx absolutely deserved his Oscar, he also looked a lot like Ray Charles. So if physical resemblance is anything of a requirement for the role of Robinson, I don't see how anyone except Larenz Tate gets the gig. Check the post and tell me that doesn't look like him. He's a good actor, maybe underrated, but there's not a lot of dramatic roles in his body of work, so that just might be his ticket to a Foxx-like breakout performance.

3.04.2005

Stand Up, Speak Up... part 3 by wongoz

I find it interesting and somewhat concerning that racism has become a big issue again in 2005. I don't remember reading about anything like this for the past few years when I really started following European football, but it's all just a bit disappointing, given all the other advances made by European society to this point.

For as long as I've been here in Aachen, Roberto Carlos has manned the left back position for Real Madrid, and I'm only hearing about the racist taunting that he has experienced this season. Did he not get taunted in previous years, or was it just not reported before? I think that's a big question that has been unanswered by the media so far.

What I don't understand is, why haven't we heard anything about other Madrid players being taunted aside from Samuel? Zinedine Zidane is French, but I think he's of Algerian background. Even Ronaldo hasn't been mentioned as a target, though he's Brazilian like Roberto Carlos. Given how the rest of the country hates Madrid, I see it rather odd that only certain players are targeted.

Most disappointing is the reaction of the Spanish football federation who, in the latest incident at a Deportivo La Coruña - Madrid match, fined the Deportivo club a grand total of 600 euros for the behaviour of its fans. 600 euros! Unbelievable. For something so bad that the referee had to stop the match and ask stadium personnel to confront the fans, the home club was fined an amount less than the cost of 2 Apple iPods. This was the 5th incident of racist taunting in Spain alone since December.

I cannot fathom why, in this day and age, fines for punishment in issues like this are so paltry. The fines should be at least 100K euros, increasing if this is a repeat offense, or the penalty of playing in an empty stadium, as AS Roma had to do earlier this season in the Champions League for fan abuse of the officials. Even better would be sanctions against the team in pan-European play, like forfeiture of Champions League or UEFA Cup matches. When the fans realize that boorish behaviour results in severe negative consequences for their beloved team, I think they'll be quick to hold their tongues. Either that or other fair-minded fans will help do it for them.

3.03.2005

Stand Up, Speak Up...Part 2 - by Apollo

You are all not going to believe this...Wongoz actually posted consecutively to our site. You're really not going to believe this...Wongoz actually used his HTML coding ability for once and put a picture up in one of his posts. And you're really not going to believe this...the Raptors lost on the road again after winning three straight games following the All-Star game and actually giving fans something that sort of resembles hope of a playoff spot.

Armstrong...Livestrong...get it?Normally, I don't like Nike either, but it isn't because of the quality of their shoes or their product pitchmen. While I'm decidely pro-Reebok and anti-anything to do with Phil Knight, I do begrudgingly give in on rare moments and actually purchase Nike products, such as Tiger Woods shirts or Livestrong bracelets and such. Nike's human rights record and even their competitive practices and attitudes are big turn-offs for me, and I think there's an inherent bias against the big, bad, number one corporation as well. Now when you're talking about Nike, Reebok and adidas, you're talking about huge multinational companies so really it's hard to paint one as an underdog per se, but I prefer Reebok.

Having said that, I had very little choice but to get on the Stand Up, Speak Up campaign when I first heard about it. Not only was the anti-racism football initiative conceived and endorsed by one of my favourite players, French striker Thierry Henry, but the issue itself is certainly worthy of support. Seeing that Nike has conveniently decided to exclude North America and the rest of the world from the campaign for now, I had to recruit Wongoz and first educate him about the campaign itself before sending him to his nearest Sporthaus Drucks KG in search of the rare items.

Unfortunately, the wristbands themselves, as with the Livestrong bracelets, have become profit making enterprises and fashion collectibles, somewhat taking away from the awareness campaign they represent. However, the more wristbands out there the better, and since Nike only makes about 2 euros per wristband, I suppose the fact that the wristbands are being traded in the grey and black market isn't too bad.

Prominent Nike athletes across Europe have been wearing the wristbands in competition for several months now, and while incidents of racist chanting and jeering have continued in Europe's top divisions, there is increased awareness and focus on the issue itself. Recently, Spain national team coach Luis Aragones was fined a relatively paltry 3,000 euros for remarks made about Henry during training. There is more media attention and more scrutiny being drawn now to comments, gestures and actions which could be seen as offensive, which is a positive step. Ironically, Nike recently came under criticism by English national team player Gary Neville as merely trying to profit from the issue. I usually don't mind any jabs at Nike in general, but whether their intentions are clouded by profit or not (and they probably aren't), the campaign itself is a worthy idea.

Racism itself obviously does not make any sense, but the attitude of some football fans is all the more bizarre when you consider that football is perhaps the most international game in the world. Dozens of countries and nationalities are represented across Europe's top divisions, and many of the superstar players who play for clubs in Europe are visible minorities, including Henry for London side Arsenal, and 2004 FIFA World Player of the Year, and FC Barcelona playmaker, Ronaldinho of Brazil. How ridiculous it is when fans direct racist chants at Brazilian Roberto Carlos of Real Madrid, as happened recently in a Spanish league match, when both teams on the field feature numerous Brazilians.

In any event, I'll wear my Stand Up Speak Up wristbands often, even though racism isn't really an issue here in Canada, since we barely have professional football, let alone racism in professional football. I'll just have to keep the Nike Swoosh out of my view.