Too American. He calls kick off, game time. Even worse he calls football, soccer. He thinks capitalism and globalisation are good for football. And apparently Pre-Sky, Pre-Premiership football grounds were only inhabited by hooligans. ( )

I read this book based on Jeff and Brooke's recommendations as they are avid soccer fans and players. It made me look at the sport in a new way. ( )

Foer’s thematic essays take on many aspects of the beautiful game and much of the ugliness that manifests itself or attaches itself to sport as a way of exploring globalization. Each of the essays is fascinating and insightful, and if they do not fulfill the unlikely theory of globalization, they do make for an excellent read.

How soccer explains…

1. the Gangster’s Paradise – a frightening look of how gangs of soccer supporters and even the team organizations themselves propagated the ethnic warfare in the Balkans of the 1990’s.
2. the Pornography of Sects – examines the Old Firm rivalry of Glasgow Celtic and Glasgow Rangers, a seeming aberration of sectarianism in a modern Scotland prolonged by fans of the clubs.
3. the Jewish Question – tells the history of a pre-Second World War Jewish soccer club in Austria, and a modern Hungarian team with Jewish history as well as non-Jewish teams that have adopted a Jewish identity in half-tribute/half-mocking way akin to American sports teams naming themselves for Indians.
4. the Sentimental Hooligan – an interview with an aged Chelsea hooligan looks back proudly on his violent past and helps train a younger generation amid the yuppification of English football
5. the Survival of the Top Hats – despite dominating the world football scene, Brazillian football clubs play to near-empty stadiums caught in a morass of corruption that even Pelé cannot overcome.
6. the Black Carpathians – the clash of cultures as top African footballers are signed to play on Ukranian clubs, with touches of colonialism as well as sadness for a soccer backwater.
7. the New Oligarchs – comparisons of the old guard football powers Juventus to the nouveau riche of AC Milan and how they symbolize a corrupt, capitalist control of Italy. A nod also given to the socialist leanings of Inter Milan supporters.
8. the Discreet Charm of Bourgeois Nationalism – the story of FC Barcelona as an outlet for Catalan nationalism as well as symbol of purity in an increasingly commercial soccer world. “Critics of soccer contend that the game inherently culminates in death and destruction. They argue that the game gives life to tribal identities which should be disappearing in a world where a European Union and globalization are happily shedding such ancient sentiments. Another similarly widespread thesis holds that the root cause of violence can be found in the pace of the game itself. Because goals come so irregularly, fans spend far too much time sublimating their emotions, anticipating but not ever releasing. When those emotions swell and become uncontainable, the fans erupt into dark, Dionsyian fits of ecstatic violence. Barca redeems the game from these criticisms, by showing that fans can love a club and a country with passion and without turning into a thug or terrorist. (p. 197) “There’s no reason that nationalism should inherently culminate in these ugly feelings. To blame the Croatian and Bosnian wars on excessive love of country drastically underestimates the pathologies of Serb culture. Besides, in theory, patriotism and cosmopolitainism should be perfectly compatible. You could love your country – even consider it a superior group – without desiring to dominate other groups or closing yourself off to foreign impulses. And its not just theory. This is the spirit of Barca.” (p. 199)
9. Islam’s Hope – the liberalizing effect of football in Iran, where women risk execution disguising themselves as men to attend games.
10. the American Culture Wars – soccer is disliked in the United States because it is associated with the upper class and carries an air of snobbishness. On a greater scale soccer’s a symbol of globalization hated by many with isolationist feelings. “Multinational corporations are just that, multinational: they don’t represent American interests of American culture. Just as much as they change the tastes and economies of other countries, they have tried to change the taste and economy of the United States… No other country has been subjected to the free flows of capital and labor, so constantly remade by migration, and found its national identity so constantly challenged. In short, America may be an exception, but it is not exceptionally immune to globalization. And we fight about it, whether we know it or not, just like everyone else.” (p. 248)
( )

Absolutely loved this look at both globalization and the beautiful game. I must admit, the author got to me by the end. BARCA BARCA BARCA! Ha! A very good book I would reccomend to anyone interested in the game. Also some good insights into the Balkan wars, and a little history about the Northern Ireland Conflict. ( )

Not so boring that I couldn't finish it, but most of the attempted connections between globalization and soccer seemed like stretches.

It seemed more like this guy wanted to write about hooliganism, Barcelona, and soccer in the U.S. ( )