Sunday, September 2, 2007

The Philly fanatic

Last night, I showed my post on Philadelphia expansion to Greg Daurio, who was steaming about it before he even finished reading the first sentence.

"What? What do you know about Philadelphia? It's a great sports town and it has an awesome soccer tradition!"

Greg played soccer in Philly as a lad, so he knoweth of what he speaketh. He used to play against Chris Albright's high school (William Penn Charter School, where Bobby Convey also attended) and likes to point out that they'd beat Chris' team.

"It's a joke post," I explained. "I was trying to encapsulate some of the ridiculous arguments against soccer. You couldn't tell I was kidding?"

He read the post again. "Well, I can see now how you were going over the top."

I turned to Luis. "Luis, did you think I was serious when you read the post? Lunatic fringe of soccer fanatics? Philadelphians have strong arms because of eating so many cheesesteaks? You knew, didn't you?"

Luis was noncommital. "I thought you might be serious. I wasn't sure."

6 comments:

Toddzilla said...

It's a little frightening that fellow writers didn't catch that, but all in all, it's not always a bad thing if your colleagues think you're a little crazy. Keeps 'em on their toes, right?

So you've got that going for you.

A.C. said...

I had to laugh at that - because yeah, I did think the post was too crazy to be taken seriously, but apparently, some see some of that in me. At least I'm not viewed as boring.

Paul Poenicke said...

I thought it was fairly obvious to see, especially after a second reading, that the post was a joke, a passage taken from a possible Jim Rome rant rather than a nuanced view of soccer in the city of Brotherly Love. The silly inferences, skewed logic, bad argumentation, and prejudice made for funny reading. However, the following paragraph exhibits all those qualities, and a bit more:



For months, a U.S.-Mexico friendly in Mexico City was rumored, it was finalized earlier this month. On Monday, though, the game was scrapped due to a dispute between U.S.-based Spanish-language networks.

Slated for Sept. 9, the date was suddenly open for both sides. The U.S. quickly set up a match against Brazil while Mexico will now play Panama in Estadio Azteca.

While U.S. national-team supporters are seemingly content with hosting the Seleção, Mexico supporters are left with essentially the same type of match. After all, Mexico replaced an opponent with no chance of winning in the Azteca with another opponent that has no chance of winning in the Azteca.

Granted, the U.S. would have provided better competition than Panama, but the result will be the same. It's debatable what El Tri stands to gain by beating a beatable opponent at home. A far tougher test will face Mexico when it takes on Brazil at Gillette Stadium on Sept. 12 -- but then again, El Tri has already beaten Brazil this year.

For the U.S., it's probably best the Americans won't have to travel to their personal house of horrors. Those lumps will have to wait until the quadrennial World Cup qualifier is played in two years' time.



When did SI begin running farce on its website? Or was this piece originally written for the Onion and SI picked it up, assuming that it was a sophisticated view of the US-Mexico rivalry?

Scooter Chucker said...

This is Philadelphia boy Greg Daurio speaking up in my defense. Yes, I was a bit upset at first, but that is only because my love for my hometown is so great that I was blinded to the sarcasm at first. So there Andrea. See ya Saturday, if not sooner.

Soledad said...

Wow.

Clearly, you need new friends Andrea (and a few new readers). Somebody appropriately twisted. ;)

In fact, as a reader, I'm gonna demand more satire. C'mon, start thinning the herd.

A.C. said...

Greg, all is forgiven if you bring me a copy of the latest 90 Minutes mag!