dimanche, juillet 09, 2006

Against All Odds


Losing is important. I think. The disorientation. The distress. The ignominy. Not to romanticise valleys but negotiating them opens up the possibility of scaling peaks. I think that was the point of tonight's episode of The Simpsons. Lisa and Bart's school temporarily adopts single sex education. The girls school is a model of cooperation, relativism, positive reinforcement but (according to the narrative) lacks the competitive harshness needed to make Lisa the top math student. The boys school is vicious but knocks Lisa, Yentled as Jake Boyman, straight to the top of the little boy eat little boy world. In the end Lisa rebuilds her eroded character by being a girl again and all that entails (all that we are socialized to be). I don't know if that is a W or L. But if it's the latter, it might just clear away the clouds but that is no good weather guarantee. "We Gon' Make" it is a great chorus, a resilient mantra, but often belied by the rickety course of life.

I couldn't sit for the overtimes of today's game. I was wound up. I needed the delectably dusky Frenchmen to win. Zizou, Malouda (my love), Henry, Amidal, Vierra, even scrappy as fuck Ribéry (an unlikely Muslim with a severely scarred visage). And I didn't trip when Zizou succumbed to the provocation of Materazzi. The final OT was almost over. Yeah Zizou is a great penalty kicker but Trezeguet would likely have still kicked (he subbed for Ribéry-who I would have left in-but Domenech coached a great match) and he just blew it. He wasn't confident. And that's what you need at this level. Everybody in the world cup has skills. Some, like the elegant Henry and the subtle Zidane and the quick and powerful Cristiano Ronaldo are better than others but it comes down to confidence. Did you see Ronaldo at the end of Portugal's match against England smiling before he attemped and nailed the winning PK? Dude does not scare and is the hottest non-black boy on the planet. The hottest boy on the planet is (my love).

When the game concluded I walked over the Brooklyn Bridge. I avoided the smirks of Italian fans and walked off the dissapointment. I'll be in South Africa in 2010.