18. Distracting GOATS
Dear Boys,
Cooped up as we are these days, it’s tempting to chase after distractions with an almost reckless zeal.
Ooh an oral history of the making of a movie I haven’t seen, better read that!!
Twitter tells me to choose three of nine Disney villains to keep: allow me to carefully analyze my options for the next two hours!
Hmm what was the name of that guy in that thing with that hat I liked? Let’s start the googling!!
In this unplanned off=season for sports, those kind of distractions are even more inviting and attention grabbing. Without the steady stream of results and data points to analyze, fans around the world have begun to fixate on debates over who was the Greatest of All Time (or GOAT).
Which triple crown winning horse would beat the others? Which World Cup winners from 2019 would make the legendary 1999 squad (and vice versa)? And, of course, Messi or Ronaldo? Jordan or Kobe or Lebron? Gibson or Maddux? Messi or Kobe or Maddux?
Let’s be clear: GOAT debates are fun, but they are also pointless.
I’m not saying that you should never indulge in a little thought experiment. If you love a sport and it’s history, It’s quite amusing to wonder whether Ruth & Gherig’s Murderer’s Row of the ’27 Yankees could beat Jeter, Clemens, and the ’98 Yankees.
I’m also not saying that you have to eschew these questions in favor of weightier debates over say: universal healthcare, or whether the role of the state can ever be expanded (even temporarily) without impinging on civil liberties.
I’m saying that GOAT debates aren’t the ultimate arbiter of athletic excellence.
I’m saying that fixating on these questions or righteously defending our answers to them is not the fans equivalent of a championship game.
I’m saying subjective evaluations distract us from appreciating accomplishments in and of themselves.
Which was the more monumental accomplishment: Roger Bannister’s 4 Minute Mile, or Nadia Comaneci’s Perfect 10 at the Olympics? Here’s a better question: have you SEEN THESE!?!?
I mean…who cares which I think is better. No offense, but, I don’t care which you think is better. Let’s not compare, let’s just enjoy. Enjoy watching Bannister churn his legs into a sudden burst in the last 300 meters. Enjoy watching his form wobble as he realizes what he’s about to do. Enjoy watching Comaneci’s hands slap and swing and swiftly switch between bars. Enjoy watching her speed and grace and strength beyond what any one else could do.
Sure, it’s fun to debate these things. It is a great distraction. But it doesn’t change the fact that both accomplished incredible things. Nor does it stop us from admiring the athletic skill in each case. Watching those accomplishments its much more fun to relish the moment rather than rehash infinitesimal differences to support an irrelevant argument.
The same is true for all those other questions: which all-time great line up would win a game? Pfft. How much fun would it be watching Gherig stretch at first to get Jeter by a whisker?
THIS BIG
Which 2019 star could keep up with the ’99-ers? I have no clue, but man, imagine Rapinoe and Hamm running roughshod over every field between here and the Moon.
We don’t have to live in an either or world: you get to watch Messi ping-pong, and Ronaldo lash thunderous free kicks; you can tremble at Gibson’s fast ball and gawk at Maddux’s control; you can swoon at a Jordan scoop, a Kobe step-back, and a LeBron stuff; and when that’s all done you can also thrill at a triple in Kickball, or shout about a saved slap-shot, or stare in disbelief at any number of lesser-knowns far from the GOAT debate.
You’re going to be pushed in life to pick sides or argue for one thing over another. Sometimes you should, but when it comes to debating “Greatness” remember, everything has a touch of greatness.
Week 17: Don’t drink bleach
Scores
Logic 0 – Craziness 1
One of the long standing mantras of this who Coronavirus crisis is “stay safe, stay sane.” Much as I feel like the weekend isn’t the weekend without a soccer match somewhere in the world, I wouldn’t say I’m going crazy.
Would that the same could be said for our leadership who this week suggested, maybe “injecting disinfectant” could be researched because “it kills the disease immediately” (on tables…not your lungs). While he attempted to use video review to claim it was sarcasm, it’s pretty clear that word doesn’t mean what he thinks it means.
News & Notes
We’re In the Endgame Now…hopefully
A few more leagues have sorted out what they hope to do to work out the snafus in their league schedules.
Scotland has all the drama of a board meeting on Succession with slightly less profanity and more, as the BBC put it, “bunfighting” . It sounds like the four divisions of Scottish soccer may be condensed to three leagues of 14 teams each. This would save some of the teams on the cusp of relegation (Ross County this year), award teams who would have been promoted (Ross County last year), and only irk the big teams (not Ross County).
Germany continues to make clear their intent to come back to the field in May, preferably May 9th. The only thing standing in their way? Angela Merkel’s government. Merkel is obviously tremendous off the ball and has a great tactical mind, but the real strength is that 11 players for the soccer teams versus thousands from the government offer no real contest. Maybe the league will be back in later May, if there isn’t a second spike in cases (fingers crossed).
Mexico has the worst of it. With promotion postponed for five years, there are significant questions about whether or not lower level teams can survive. That’s fine by the top division sides, some of whom also own lower league teams and could do with the excuse to cut the budget. It’s significantly harder on independent sides like Oaxaca who opted for a league payout and financial security over stubbornly demanding a shot at the top tier. Weirder still, some theorize that this is actually a ploy to unite the Mexican and American soccer leagues with big name teams in a top tier and other sides (like say, Oaxaca and little old Minnesota United) being pushed down the pecking order.
Man of the Matches
Last week we saw what Germany is doing to tie players to gamers in a modified competition. This week we tip our cap to a local competitor in the same vein: new Minnesota United goalie Tyler Miller who played for the black and blue against Sporting Kansas City
Even though Miller lost 4-0 he’s still the paws down pick for Man of the Matches
What’s Next
Wednesday, April 29
Thursday, April 30
Celebrate Grandma Bekka’s Birthday with a hearty round of “Shalalalalala–Oh Rosenborg”
Friday, May 1
Saturday, May 2
Sunday May 3
Monday May 4
17. Curiosity Culture
It struck me that I ought to explain a little bit about why we cheer for the teams we do. Well, in part, it’s because I thought we ought to, and I’m the one of us most capable of complex thought and logic. But also, each team has a special something that captures part of what I love about life, and part of what makes you who you are.
So periodically (like during international breaks, long summer holidays, or say, global pandemics that completely alter everything we understand about our lives and ourselves), I want to introduce you to the teams we are tied to.
Our fourth team to meet: SC Freiburg from Freiburg, Germany. A team that offers a reminder that as we move, we grow.
Dear Boys,
Wherefore Freiburg?
This is the last of the family heritage clubs in our collection. From your mom comes Vozdovak, from your dad comes Ross County, from the both of us come Rosenborg, and from goodness knows where comes Frieburg.
I mean that quite literally. It’s not entirely clear who in the family was really from Germany, and who was descended from Germans who had stopped elsewhere first.
Your grandma Di can tie her family back to a region of Europe that straddles eastern France and south western Germany. That strand of your DNA ran off to a tiny farm village in the wilds of Russia, and then beyond, and beyond, and beyond until they got to Billings.
Other family members speak German as a tradition from someone we’ve all forgotten. We sing it, study it, read it. In short: we know we’re a little bit German, but not sure exactly how much or what that means.
Who is Freiburg?
In choosing a team to represent your German heritage I hoped to find a side with a bit of pride and a lot of curiosity: I found SC Frieburg.
SC Freiburg is by no means the most renowned club in the Bundesliga, for a long time they weren’t even the most renowned club in Freiburg. But they are undoubtedly, special.
They absolutely question habits, as you’d expect from a University town with liberal ideals and an intelligent culture. Freiburg’s manager often eschews tactics in meetings and interviews in favor of sharing views about world events and the prejudices that diminish our world. (A habit shared by the team’s fans)
Freiburg loves its surroundings, and welcomes others from around the world. There’s a love for the foreign flair of their club not the stubborn “Deutschland-Uber-Alles” attitude that makes some foreign born Germans a little leery of their homeland. Freiburg’s crew includes French, Italian, English, Australian and even Korean players. They’re most cherished nickname is “Breisgau-Brasilianer” because it suggests a blend of Brazilian style with their neck of the woods. (Even the club crest is about blending: why be lions or eagles, when you can be a griffin and be BOTH Lions AND Eagles!!)
In all the club is welcoming, curious, and proud of their way of doing things. I’ll let them say it themselves:
“in Freiburg, football isn’t a way to release your frustrations – here it brings about a sense of joy. In this way, it is something for everyone in the region to enjoy, just like the wonderful landscape, delicious food and good wine also is.”
SC Freiburg Team Website
How are we Freiburg?
In short, Freiburg is at least close to your Germanic home land, but they also are the kind of open-minded, optimistic organization your family loves. SC Freiburg knows that a curious culture and a changing culture is the strongest.
Whomever your German ancestors were, they weren’t tied to one way of doing things. Whatever their goals in leaving home, they were open to not just moving, but moving again, and again, and again. They passed on a love of family, but not a love of habit. They encouraged an attitude of engagement with others not isolation.
Yes, we have a family bond with Germany. We’re not sure what it is, why it’s there or what it means, but we’re curious and interested in finding out more.
SC Freiburg has a soccer team. They love it, but they know that doesn’t mean that it will triumph, or dominate. Frankly, that’s fine. They’re open to growing with each generation of players that comes along, each question that’s asked, each managerial lecture about everything but tactics, and each fan who feels the love of the game.
At a time when many people would rather wrap themselves up in familiarity than risk the unknown and possibly unpleasant, I hope you take the SC Freiburg mentality, and keep curiosity in your mind and change in your heart.
Week 16: Dancing, and dribbling, by myself
Scores
None…still
The Corona-Virus remains unbeaten against athletic competitions around the world. Really, if they can beat the Olympics, what chance does Ecuador’s women’s league have
We’re getting so hungry for competition that several leagues have organized video game competitions between teams. I for one only hope someone writes a hot tale about how these games should count to the final table.
News & Notes
How does all this end?
Not the disease mind, but rather the various leagues going on a month of hiatus? Here’s a brief update on every league we follow.
In Europe, each country has their own plan. Germany wants to come back in just about 2 weeks to play at empty stadia, but with the government urging against gatherings of more than 2 people, that seems implausible. France’s similar strategy starting in six weeks may be more viable. Serbia and Norway are quietly waiting to see, and Scotland well…
Scotland has a right mess on its hands, with teams voting to continue or terminate their seasons under strange circumstances. Almost every team turned in a vote on that proposal over a week ago.
Every team except Dundee United who voted no, then said they weren’t sure and since no one had said “no take-backsies” they could change their mind. Naturally the teams on the verge of relegation were livid, those who won titles, far less so.
Elsewhere, Ecuador can afford to wait it out; however, Ghana is fretting about losing vital money for the newly restarted league; with the title decided, it only makes sense for India to wrap up now; Liga MX cancelled the Acenso spring season and ended promotion for five years…so Alebrijes is thoroughly hosed (and their fans are…not happy about it)
Here in the US, Dr. Anthony Fauci announced that the only way any sports would return this summer was without fans. That’s not an issue for the fall season Lady Griz, but could be a problem for the summer season MLS. Rather than mirror Germany and France, Minnesota United might be bound for a neutral site (say: LA) to live and train and play in front of empty stadiums so the athletes can be contained. How exactly television crews are allowed (or not) to cover the games has yet to be seen.
Man of the Matches
Another entry in the increasingly enjoyable world of e-sport substitution is the “Bundesliga At Home Challenge”
Each team is setting one regular team player and one e-sports player to battle against their league rivals. Sadly for Freiburg, they have no e-sports team and are instead sending two players out. Nico Schlotterbeck and Mark Flekken took care of business this weekend with wins against VfB Stuttgart’s players.
https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js📂 Perfektes Konterspiel
— Virtual Bundesliga (@vbl_official) April 19, 2020
📂 @scfreiburg
📂 Nico #Schlotterbeck
2:1 Führung für die Freiburger 👏 #BundesligaHomeChallenge pic.twitter.com/A2DrONoyX0
What’s Next
Wednesday, April 22
Debate whether I can work and watch Sunderland Til I Die simultaneously. Continue until realizing mid-student phone call that watching a show that inspires me to adopt a Jordie accent probably isn’t good for instruction.
Thursday, April 23
Friday, April 24
Saturday, April 25
Sunday April 26
Monday April 27
16. MacKenzies and Ross County Loyal to Rebellion
It struck me that I ought to explain a little bit about why we cheer for the teams we do. Well, in part, it’s because I thought we ought to, and I’m the one of us most capable of complex thought and logic. But also, each team has a special something that captures part of what I love about life, and part of what makes you who you are.
So periodically (like during international breaks, long summer holidays, or say, global pandemics that completely alter everything we understand about our lives and ourselves), I want to introduce you to the teams we are tied to.
Our third team to meet: Ross County FC from Dingwall, Scotland, a team that reminds us about loyalty.
Dear Boys,
You should know your name. Not just what it is, but where it comes from, and what it means.
Wherefore Ross County?
Your names come from a long line of Scottish ancestry. Alexander and Owen both have long legacies in Scottish culture. Alexander means defender of the people; Owen, “young warrior”. But those are your names, and you can make them your own. MacKenzie is the one we share, with each other, with a host of blood relatives and an even bigger pile of MacKenzies around the world. But almost all of us tie back to Eastern Scotland, Ross-shire, and it’s seat Dingwall.
The legend goes that the MacKenzies rose to the rank of a noble clan because of the actions of one Colin Fitzgerald who probably just helped fight off invading Norwegians in the late 13th century. More romantically, he saved King Alexander III from being killed by a stag (told you we’d meet a Scottish Alex). There’s even a beautiful painting to capture it.
By Benjamin West, displayed in the Scottish National Gallery
For his bravery, Colin was awarded a big swathe of land including Ross-shire, and Cromarty. He also earned the clan crest with a stag smack dab in the middle. From then on the clan was a political and social force, commanding armies, navies, and hosts of others loyal to the Caber Feidh (Chief). The name MacKenzie has a lot of history and power behind it. And the Caber Feidh is a worthy leader and nobleman.
To be clear, we’re not noble.
If we ever were noble, a long, long line of second, third, and fourth sons have put you so far behind the line of succession it would take a very specific catastrophe to put any of us in line to inherit a castle.
We are descendants of a MacKenzie who wasn’t going to inherit the farm in Ross-shire, so he left to become a tailor in the colonies. Still, he was a MacKenzie. His children were MacKenzies and so on down the line to your grandpa, to me, and to you.
Who is Ross County?
MacKenzies are loyal, often to the point of stubbornness. We are promoters of lost causes and noble failures.
MacKenzies stood up to the hated English rulers far more often than was wise. They often felt that the throne in London ought to be held by a Scotsman (or woman). As the Queen is still as English as Earl Grey tea and Blood Pudding, you should know: we lost. Frequently.
So we may not be loyal to a particular ruler, but we are loyal to our family and our beliefs. We may not be great winners, but we are reliably present. Ross County FC isn’t just close to home, it doesn’t just have the family stag on their team badge, but they embody loyalty and question what it is to lose.
The Staggies trace their history back to 1929, around the time your Great-Grandpa MacK was 8 and part of the long ago Americanized MacKenzies.
At the time, Ross County had no glorious honors, or even pretenses of power to be claimed. They had neither the talent pool of Rangers or Celtic in Glasgow nor the resources of Hibs and Hearts in Edinburgh. They had each other. The Staggies were a host of local boys, playing their best. Their best years gave them little more than bragging rights over local rivals.
Ross County’s first Scottish Cup Game in 1934
In the middle of the front row is W. McKenzie
It took nearly 40 years to win the local Highland League, and nearly 25 more to win it a second time. Only then did they begin to plan in earnest to join the elite sides of Scottish soccer under the chairmanship of Roy McGregor.
Since 1992, Ross County has steadily risen to become a reliable side in the top Scottish League. That’s thirty years to go from the local lads of Dingwall to one of the ten best teams in the land.
How are we Ross County?
Of course in Scotland, where two teams thoroughly dominate the league, being in the top ten doesn’t come with oodles of glitz or glamour.
It would be easy to cheer on Rangers or Celtic and trust that a trophy or two would be won each and every year. But it wouldn’t be very MacKenzie.
We’re a family that never met a rebellion we didn’t like. That first American MacKenzie? His first tailor job was sewing for the colonial army. We are still more loyal to causes we believe in than we are strategic alliances for power. For proof, think of your grandpa who campaigned for Democrats who never had a prayer in deeply Republican Montana.
Lots of teams can remind you about loyalty, but Ross County reminds us that what you are loyal to is more important than being loyal itself. For us it’s a local-family style club in an age of flashy corporate giants. It’s a rebelliously modest team with minimal title pretentious in an age of win-now overreactions.
We are Ross County because we’re not just loyal to our clan, we’re loyal to what that clan stands for.
Week 15: …That’s called clapping that doesn’t count
Scores
A month worth of nothing
It’s been a month since most of the major leagues around the world were in action, and next week we’ll have gone a full moon since Vozdovac, Alebrijes and Legon Cities were in action.
Players continue to train. Managers continue to strategize. Fans continue to pine. Game day employees continue to look for any sign of relief. But until we flatten the curve, or at least find some way to minimize risk for athletes, we’ll be cooped up watching more documentaries, replays, and video game simulations than we ever thought possible.
News & Notes
Nicaragua more like Trick-a-rag-ua, right?
Last week I pointed out that they keep playing in Belarus, but they also have kept matches alive in Nicaragua.
In a case of sticking his head in the sand deeper than a nerd at Playa El Coco, President Daniel Ortega would sooner admit that his defense minister is a six foot tall bunny only he can see than he would admit that he ought to cancel a popular sporting league. Like his Belarusian counterpart, Ortega rules fiercely and with little fear of reprisal. But he also desperately wants to keep the bread and circuses coming, lest his people get restless (as they did in a near purge in 2018).
Of the 10 teams in Liga Primera, only Driangen FC advocated for shuttering the season. The others, loyally pledged to plow on. They also loyally pledged to keep cashing pay checks from local government authorities (like city governments or police forces). We’ll see if a return to normalcy allows Ortega to give his teams a break, or if Nicaragua is in it for the long haul.
Man of the Matches
Once again we have no matches, but we do want to tip the cap to three leaders already in action. Your Lady Griz 2020 Captains: Avery Adams, Alexa Coyle, and Clare Howard.
Over the last two years with coach Chris Citowicki, the Griz have won a Big Sky Tournament and a regular season trophy, with Howard leading the program in career clean sheets, Coyle topping the team’s scoring list, and Adams organizing the back.
On top of all this, they’re also Academic All-Conference Award Winners (because the only thing cooler than destroying people on the pitch, is destroying them on the pitch, then having them ask to peek at your Environmental Biology notes)
What’s Next
Wednesday, April 15
Wait hopefully for FIFA to announce more #WorldCupAtHome games to fill the ever growing void in our hearts where football used to be. (Repeat daily)
Thursday, April 16
Friday, April 17
Saturday, April 18
Try to watch Sunderland ‘Til I Die while doing laundry…get too cold after twenty minutes and head back upstairs.
Sunday April 19
Monday April 20
15. On Maradona, Macho Man, and Making Believe
Dear Boys,
Without matches to pass the time, I’ve been looking at the wide range of documentaries about soccer history and histrionics. After all, just because there aren’t any games being played right now, doesn’t mean that we don’t have any games or players to talk about.
One of the most discussed documentaries of late is a found footage film about the adoration and damnation of Diego Maradona in Napoli. A documentary that reminds us: make believe can be dangerous if you aren’t using it wisely.
Diego Maradona’s talent was tremendous, but so were his demons.
Maradona was a genius with a ball at his feet, but the real story (according to those who know him and the documentary) is that Maradona was only one part of the person.
Maradona played on the field. Maradona answered media questions and dealt with fans. Maradona fueled his life with attention, and pleasure, and all the drugs and people who made it possible. Meanwhile, Diego waited to live the regular life. Diego played with his kids and called his family back home so often it cost more than I make in a year. Diego felt joy while playing just for the sake of playing and remained a charming genuine person. As his trainer summarized it, “with Diego I would go to the ends of the earth, but with Maradona, I wouldn’t take a step.”
Ultimately, Maradona consumed Diego. I came to know about him near the end of his career when he and his friends brought the world’s game to the United States for the 1994 World Cup and I was immediately hooked. Maradona was the man in the middle, the star of the show, the greatest in the game (this despite him only recently returning from a 15 month suspension and debilitating drug problems).
But when he scored against Greece, it didn’t seem too miraculous. I thought it was a good goal, but his response immediately overshadowed the shot.
That look. Those crazed eyes. That primal scream and intense response. It was a little much for me. So to me, with my innocence and appreciation of kinder, gentler figures: Maradona became not an icon, but a caution. I’m sure I’d like Diego, but I can’t see him with Maradona in the way.
One of your dads other favorite entertainments around 1994 was pro-wrestling. With larger than life characters, epic battles between good and evil, and fluid, artful, athletic feats to inspire a clumsy 11 year old, I was an easy mark.
Decades later I can see that many of the characters I followed faithfully left a wake of destruction outside the ring.
Take Randy Poffo, or as the world knew him then, Macho Man Randy Savage. His intensity, ferocity, and frequent fits of jealous rage made him an unpredictable persona. Watching him perform was like watching the inside of a volcano roil and rumble before eruption.
While that persona served Randy Poffo well in pro wrestling, it pushed him past many limits in his personal life as well. The gregarious, goofy athlete Randy Poffo who learned both wrestling and poetry from his dad, changed bit by bit to the paranoid, jealous, live wire called Randy Savage.
Former wrestler Dutch Mantel said it best in an Obituary from The Post and Courier
“When you talked to Macho, you wouldn’t be talking to Randy, and you would know that because Randy was hidden behind all those layers of Macho. And sometimes you’d have to ask yourself if there ever was a Randy there. Even his voice changed.”
Dutch Mantel, quoted in “Macho Man was a True Original”, by Mike Mooneyham. Charleston Post and Courier. May 11 2011
Both Diego and Randy used an alter ego to help their lives. Think of it like playing make-believe so well it really comes true. They could escape reality so long as they had Maradona and Macho Man.
The superstar and the minor league after thought
Neither of them made believe on their own. They lived in places that fed their imaginations fuel like spicy tacos in a dragon. Napoli, Italy made Diego an idol, something like a god, and Maradona could handle that in a way Diego couldn’t. To reach the top of Wrestling you had to make believe your character was who you were, all day, every day. People in the stands, the streets, the malls, they wanted Macho Man, not Randy.
They both used drugs to change their points of view (cocaine for Diego, steroids for Randy). But the drugs were another way to escape. More extreme and clearly more dangerous than making believe, but an escape nonetheless.
That’s the line to remember. It isn’t bad to make believe; it’s one of the best things humans can do. But make believe because you want to, not because other people make you, or because you have to in order to escape your regular world.
I love making believe. I love to see you learn how to do it too. Remember: however much fun it is for me to be Papa Tiger or you to be Vacuum Boys, Papa and Alex and Owen are even better.
Week 14: You can’t high-five yourself…
Scores
None…Seriously…this is everywhere
The Corona-Virus continues its unbeaten run drastically altering life around the world. This week there were some mutterings about how exactly to get back to the silly, little, inconsequential world of professional sports.
To be sure, sports fans around the planet would love a live distraction right about now. But the people put at risk by every game (even those where fans are blocked from entering) from players, to officials, to security, to medical and transportation staff make it unlikely at present.
Add to this something I only realized when The Independent noted it, an injured athlete might need urgent medical care (say for a torn ligament or concussion) but that urgent care is going to the, you know, thousands of people diagnosed with a serious virus. However you slice it, things need to get a whole lot better before we get back to this.
News & Notes
Belarus more like Bell-a-RUSE! Right?!?
Let’s take one minute to acknowledge one place on earth where the games continue without a blink: Belarus.
Since President Alexander Lukashenko announced that COVID-19 was actually just a western “psychosis”, it’s been dismissed. When he claimed that such a disease could be healed because, “in the villages, the tractor heals everyone. The fields heal everyone”, people just sort of kept living their lives. (Lukashenko’s iron grip on the country probably doesn’t hurt.)
So Belarus plays on with sweat, spittle, and germs spreading across the pitch and in the stands, and nobody ready to do anything about it. So…that’s going to be fun to see.
Man of the Matches
Once again we have no matches, but we do have a new front runner in best Social-Media Training
Legon Cities Keeper Fatau Dauda’s workout is equal parts reflex drill, acrobatic tumbling, and general unflappability. Even if all you have is a driveway, you can still train; so he does. For that Mr. Dauda you’re our man of the (non) Matches.
What’s Next
Wednesday, April 8
Wait hopefully for FIFA to announce more #WorldCupAtHome games to fill the ever growing void in our hearts where football used to be. (Repeat daily)
Thursday, April 9
Friday, April 10
Saturday, April 11
Sunday April 12
Monday April 13
14. On Love and Change
It struck me that I ought to explain a little bit about why we cheer for the teams we do. Well, in part, it’s because I thought we ought to, and I’m the one of us most capable of complex thought and logic. But also, each team has a special something that captures part of what I love about life, and part of what makes you who you are.
So periodically (like during international breaks, long summer holidays, or say, global pandemics that completely alter everything we understand about our lives and ourselves), I want to introduce you to the teams we are tied to.
Our second team to meet: FK Vozdovac from Belgrade, Serbia. A team that reflects how we love our family.
Dear Boys,
Wherefore FK Vozdovac?
You should know that you boys are deeply loved.
Not just by your parents (obviously), or your grandparents (certainly), or your uncles and aunties both of blood and affinity. You are deeply loved by people half a world away who have never met you.
You are loved by your Grandma Di’s cousins Mariana and Dragana in Serbia. Their grandparents were related to your grandma’s grandparents (your great-great grandparents). Great-great grandfather Mane and Great-great grandmother Sofia Dimich left Gozpic in the Lika Valley for America and (eventually) Red Lodge, Montana.
Your great-greats were Serbs before there was a Serbia. Before the Lika Valley and Gozpic were part of Croatia, or all of these kingdoms and places were part of Yugoslavia. They were people who started over on a new and different frontier, while kept the old ways and old family close to heart. So while the family is built on love, the truth is changeable.
Mariana and Dragana don’t live in Gozpic, or the Lika Valley, they live in Belgrade. They live among no fewer than 8 local clubs in one of the most feverish hotbeds of soccer in the entire world. Some are casual. Some are legendary. For you I chose FK Vazdovac.
Who are FK Vozdovac?
FK Vazdovac are neither a legendary Serbian side, nor are they a casual crew of weekend warriors.
One of the oldest clubs in Serbia, Vozdovac can trace it’s origins back to 1912: two years after your Great-Great Grandpa Dimich headed west and two years before Sofia joined him. Its one of four clubs founded, in part, by Danilo Stojanovic. The forefather of Serbian soccer ran clubs, managed teams, and even played a rather adept goalkeeper from time to time.
For the next century, the team bounced around lower levels of Serbian, Belgrade, and Yugoslavian leagues. It would combine and merge with several other neighborhood sides when times were tough, but results never matched their more prolific neighbors: Partizan Belgrade and Red Star Belgrade.
It was only in the early 2010s that Vozdovac became a fixture in the top tier of Serbian football. This at the same time Serbian football began to face a serious split between how much of the games were organized for the owners, and how much for the Ultra Supporters.
Vozdovac’s new owners helped them leave behind a tiny ramshackle field, for a rooftop arena perched above a lucrative shopping complex. Their money and vision helped the team remain stable and improve their performances.
But that doesn’t mean the fans are thrilled. After all, it’s not all about the winning, and many Vozdovac fans loved the club wherever they played and however they fare. The new ownership seemed to abandon long standing traditions and stadia which smacked of disrespect to the fans. Fan support in Serbia is much more about the community than the club, sometimes to the good, and sometimes to the terrible.
The past twenty years has seen a long, long, long, long, LONG stretch of ugly events around Ultra Supporters Clubs in Serbia, especially in Belgrade (whose largest clubs Partizan and Red Star, offer the fiercest groups: The Gravediggers and the Heroes).
Some groups provided recruits for the late 1990s Bosnian genocide, others for gang violence and illicit drug deals. Some engage in grim racist attacks, others in gross assaults of opposing fans and police. Through it all there’s an ugly strain of white nationalism, neo-nazism, and criminality broadly tolerated by the government because these supporters also crack down on protesters.
How are we FK Vozdovac?
I couldn’t ignore your Serbian heritage. I can’t forget that your uncles and I had a host of Balkan coaches and classmates in Montana who taught us to love the game, our teammates, and opponents. I can’t gloss over the tremendous pride in Serbian heritage that comes out in your Grandma and her family. I won’t insult the love that Mariana and Dragana show you by inviting you to love the whole wide world of football…except their country.
But I can’t talk about the beliefs and values we hold and blithely tolerate or ignore the Ultras that make football in Belgrade so bloody and bitter.
Choosing a team meant eliminating Partizan and Red Star straight away. The rest of the Serbian leagues can’t compete with those two teams’ trophies or their rap sheets. I looked at some other teams, but FK Vozdovac stood out early because of their unique stadium and the dragon badge I thought was a great reflection of your mother’s love of dragons. (For the record “Dragana” comes from the word for precious or dear, but the word play is nice to have.)
Still, like seemingly all teams, Vozdovac has an Ultras group with a little more love of violence and fascist imagery than I’m comfortable with. They call themselves Invalids (far less fierce or grim than “Heroes” or “Gravediggers”), but they still encourage a fight with the police and revel in sexist chants. They loathe the club owners, but the team owners completely accept their behavior, using the Ultra’s own language to describe fans on the official team page.*
So why stand alongside “The Invalids”?
I think we should be fans of Vozdovac because it offers a strong symbol of the kind of love for family I hope you grow into. Proud regardless of the trophies. Strong and precious as a dragon, but not blind to the problems we have. Above all, like your Great-Great Grandparents, like your Grandma, your Mother, and your Aunties around the world: lead with love and be willing to change.
Football in Serbia can be an ugly thing. If we choose to ignore it, it stays that way. If we amplify the love we have for our history, our heritage, our values, we can make sure that the team isn’t just for the Ultras. It’s for all of us.
*(I recognize you boys won’t get this until you are much older, but the performative analysis of the group posted on their own website is fascinating…and not nearly as positive as they seem to think it is…)
MacKenzie's Boot Room 