Your 2 sports stories Friday open thread

by liberal japonicus

I'm following two stories that I will put below the fold, but this is an open thread, so anything else that catches your fancy is welcome as well.

The first story that I've been engrossed in was the firing of Fabio Capello, Italian who was coaching England's national team. Links to the Guardian collected here. A short summary, player John Terry was accused of using a racial epithet to a fan and was going to court, a trial which was postponed until after the Euro 2012 tournament. The Football Association felt it had to take action and stripped Terry of his captaincy without speaking to Capello. Here is some of the background and this piece explains why something had to be done about Terry, mentioning the relationship to the trial of Stephen Lawrence, which is something I previously mentioned, while this piece has Capello's quoted comeback, which is at 8:18 pm of the live blog that I quote below:

"They really insulted me and damaged my authority. What really hit me and forced me to take this decision was the fact the much-vaunted Anglo-Saxon sense of justice, as they are the first to claim that everyone is innocent until proven guilty."

which, while a translation of remarks made in Italian, may not be precise, that invocation of 'Anglo-Saxon sense of justice' seems to suggest that Capello had some other issues as well. Anyway, it seems like a fascinating cross-cultural mess, and one that keeps emerging, as the ban of Suaréz suggests. While I don't think that racism has any place anywhere in our modern world, but the thought of accusing someone speaking in Spanish of saying something racial without taking into account various translations, both linguistic and cultural, seemed to be breaking new ground in trying to figure what was racist and what wasn't. I'm not sure what should have happened with Capello, you hire someone to manage, but, as the opinion piece above points out, the current climate is one where Terry remaining captain was not acceptable, and even removing Terry as captain rather than from the team was viewed by many as waffling. Ironically, the departure of Capello has the we need an English manager brigade out in force, which, as the live blog pointed out, are likely not Guardian readers.

The second story is another one with a racial subtext, but more of a feel good story, that of Jeremy Lin. Lin is the fourth Asian-American to play in the NBA, preceeded by Wat Misaka (1947-48), Raymond Townsend, (1978-82) and Rex Walters (1993-2000) and he just had an impressive three game streak. I think that I mentioned him in a comment earlier when he was playing at Golden State, and it's unfortunate they didn't know what they had, as the Sporting News piece points out, playing in a market with a huge Asian population. He they went to Houston, and his last three games has the Houston GM tweeting his regret at cutting Lin.

So that's what I'm thinking about, how about you?

Comments

[James]

John Terry used a racial epithet to an opposition player, Anton Ferdinand.

And to make it even more intriguing Anton is is the brother of his England colleague and centre back partner, and rival for the captaincy Rio Ferdinand.

[liberal japonicus]

Thanks, I've corrected that bit. Here's a bit more detail about the John Terry accusation.

John Terry is also known for allegedly having an affair with the former girlfriend of his teammate (both at Chelsea and the national team) Wayne Bridge. Ahhh, Joga Bonito indeed.

[Slartibartfast]

Fourth Asian-American. Lots more Asians that are not American. Mengke Bateer and Yao Ming spring to mind, but there are others.

[Slartibartfast]

Also: Raymond Townsend was Filipino on his mother's side; dunno how Asian that makes him. But I'd give him the benefit of consideration. And he's certainly American.

[todd]

Even if Golden State had known he was going to play this well, they're overloaded at the point/undersized guard spot, so I'm not sure it would have helped.

[Nigel]

Capello wasn't fired - he resigned.

>>this piece has Capello's quoted comeback<<

That must be a translation.
Capello (notoriously) doesn't speak sufficient English to have said that.

[wj]

While we're all picking nits, are you sure (in the last sentence) that that wasn't the Golden State GM tweeting regret about cutting Lin?

[todd]

The GM-tweeting link begins, "Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey regrets letting go of New York Knicks point guard Jeremy Lin.

'We should have kept [Jeremy Lin]. Did not know he was this good,' Morey wrote on his official Twitter account on Thursday. 'Anyone who says they knew misleading U.'"

So, I don't think that's a mistake.

[Ugh]

An interesting article regarding Lin on si.com.

One thing I learned playing basketball growing up in the US, especially pickup, is that while all the typical stereotypes racial would apply when choosing teams and during the first few points, those melted away fairly quickly if you showed you could play.

Also, on this youtube of Lin playing against #1 overall draft choice and fellow point guard John Wall in a summer league game in 2010 (and Lin's highlights from his past 3 games for the Knicks, though I don't have a youtube for that), you can see a place in the modern NBA game for anticipation, angles, a good shooting stroke, etc., even in the face of superior quickness and athleticism (not that Lin isn't an incredible athlete or that Wall doesn't have (some) of those other things).

Steve Nash or (to date myself) Joe Dumars, might be good precedents for Lin (not that he needs any).

[Ed Haines]

Probably not all that appropriate to this particular discussion but I wonder how one controls the loss of speech freedom when one enacts laws against "hate" speech. Dispiccable? yes. Worth being fired for? yes. Against the law? Very dangerous since the government gets to define what is considered "hate speech."

[wj]

Ed, the definition of "hate speech" as a legal matter can be reduced to "we, the majority of the legislature, hate this particular kind of speech." Other kinds of hate speech, which have not yet found a legislative majority, are legally fine.

Far better, I personally think, to leave sanctions of hate speech out of the legal arena. Prosecute people for what they actually do. At most, prosecute them for "inciting to riot" for their speech -- admittedly, that only works if there actually is a riot....

[nous]

Capello picked a strange hill on which to die. I don't see what he hoped to gain by being loyal to Terry in this matter. It's not like he was going to win the locker room over with this move. It's not an Us vs. Them issue that unites the players, it's one that threatens to split them.

I think Capello did not fancy his chances of doing well with all this drama and bailed while he had a successful record and the chance to disavow any crash-and-burn that might happen at Euro 2012.

[Nigel]

The alternate explanation is that Capello resigned because he wasn't consulted, and the FA failed to consult him because of communication problems (he wouldn't/couldn't speak to them by phone).

Capello himself has said that it was a misunderstanding -
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-16989958
- not entirely surprising as no one at the FA speaks Italian, and he doesn't speak English.

[nous]

I'm sure the lack of consultation was a problem, but Capello's comments in the aftermath were less about a lack of consultation and more about how Terry should absolutely still be the captain.

Looks like Capello has found his official version, though, and I'm sure it will be a much easier sell than wanting to give BraveCaptainJohnTerry his fair hearing.

[Ugh]

LINSANITY!