Wrong Side of the Tracks

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wrong side of the tracks

my way of getting even -- a blog by jack rich

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7.17.2007 | Football

Interesting piece at NRO by Geoffrey Norman today about the latest British invasion: Beckham, David, one each, plays what the euros call "football." Which we call "boring."

Ever since I raised my kids and took my son to play baseball, soccer was going to the The Next Big Thing. We were all touted on the virtues of soccer: the rest of the world's favorite sport, after all. How could we resist? Resistance is futile, we will be assimilated...

Never happened. Pele, the (apparently) great soccer dude from Brazil, came to the States. Who the hell is Pele? Could he block and tackle? Didn't think so. Who's playing the Monday Night Football game?

Likewise with Beckham. It won't make any difference how great a soccer star he is. It's still soccer. In baseball, we've got action punctuated by stillness (pitcher's windup, for example) that only accentuates the drama. In soccer, it's a bunch of wiry guys running around a grassy field.

Rather watch paint drying. Without a rooting interest, or a need to beat up anyone who doesn't root for your hometown team, why on earth would anyone watch soccer?

Labels: culture, sports

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: Name: Jack Rich; Location: Arlington, Virginia, United States

I grew up in the Bronx, New York, on the wrong side of the tracks. This is my way of getting even. A blog on things great and small, religion, politics, culture, national security, you name it.

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El tracks in the Bronx I was born, grew up, and went to school in the Bronx, New York -- on the wrong side of the tracks. Got the chance to go to college, so instead of joining the NYPD (the obvious career choice at that time and place), I became an engineer. Spent some years designing things that go boom (or things that take things that go boom to their destinations...), principally for our military. Also took an interesting career turn and for some years was in charge of counter-terrorism for my agency...so I learned something about guns. And when to use them.

I am a believer, in God. Christian. My opinion of most denominations is that they seem to be more concerned with the collection plate and devising intricate rules as to who is in and who is out.

My politics are a mix of conservative and libertarian, as in live and let live. With one exception, I favor small government, maximum personal freedom, coupled with personal responsibility and accountability for one's actions. I also know that there are, and have always been, things that are true, and things that are not. Two problems: Being smart enough to know which is which, and having the guts to act on it. I make no claims...

The exception to small government? I favor a robust national defense, against enemies foreign, and domestic. Or, as Teddy Roosevelt should have said, "speak softly and carry a whole bunch of armored divisions."

This blog will focus on politics, culture, religion, national security. That's pretty much the same territory as the New York Times. Just that I will never label my opinions as "news."