Reflection, week 1

I found our assigned reading, How Soccer Explains the World, to be highly informative. As the average American, I have been exposed to almost none of the football culture common in the rest of the world. As a result, I was quite shocked at how much of a political and cultural entity the sport is for the rest of the world. U.S. sports teams aren't really associated with a specific ethnicity, religion, political party, or socioeconomic class. So, the fact that Tottenham is associated with Jews, or the two biggest teams in Honduras are associated with the conservative and liberal movements really surprised me.

It also seems like in some places, soccer is a socially acceptable way for people to express their hatred for others, like in the case of the Rangers and the Celtics. That's just odd to me; just because I'm a Steelers fan doesn't mean I actually hate Ravens fans (usually), and when Steelers and Ravens fans get into fights or arguments, it's pretty much strictly game-based.

 

from: steelersdepot.com

I also found it very hard to follow some parts of the book because of my profound lack of knowledge of modern history. Particularly in the Serbian chapter, I had absolutely no background information on the political tensions and violence in that area of the world.