US Coaches Who Coach Other Countries' National Football (Soccer) Teams

Like millions of others in the United States, I have been following the World Cup closely. This afternoon, I caught the tail end of Morocco's 3-0 victory over co-host Canada.  For some reason, I decided to continue watching after the Fox network interviewed Jesse Marsch, the American who coaches the Canadian national team. Rob Stone led commentary with Clint Dempsey, Landon Donovan, and Alexi Lalas (for some reason, this guy is always invited to these things). I was hesitant because during the first week of the tournament, Donovan had criticized the French "arrogance" in their play during their opening round match against Senegal, and Lalas alluded to it later in the broadcast. Zlatan Ibrahimovic responded to both Donovan's and Lalas's assertions in his own unique style. 

During the interview with Marsch following the game, he stated, "What a privilege our fans (Canadians) have had to root a team on like this; that goes after the game, that doesn't play defensive; that shows that they can be better. Right? Of course, we have to be in these situations more and more, and then we have to find ways to succeed, and then we have to build from that. But what a great team. I'd rather be us than them. As good as Morocco is, I'd rather be us.  Right? Like, I'm really proud of our guys."

The interviewer ended the conversation by saying, "Jesse, Canada thanks you," and Jesse Marsch responded by saying, "I thank Canada". Nothing wrong here. All I see here is a coach who is extremely proud of his players, who has become a part of Canadian culture and embraces it. At no point did he say anything to disparage the United States. 

In the leadin to the analysis, Rob Stone commented that "And Jesse was awfully proud of his Canadian team after that round of 32 victory (he meant "loss"). Donovan had a problem with this issue asking "Did he just say say he preferred to be with Canada than Morocco? I would rather still be in Toronto." While he said this, Stone clarified that Marsch is not the coach of Morocco. But Donovan tainted the good feeling that Marsch had toward his Canadian players. Donovan is simply reiterating the silent American ethos of "win at all costs". 

Alexi Lalas added this: "I would rather be the team that won and is going on. I get the Romantic notion that Jesse's talking about, bur Morocco is going on and Canada is going home." "Romanticism does not win games," Lalas quipped. But there is more to life than winning, which neither he nor Donovan seem to understand. He displayed his usual Trumpian disdain for anything that is not fawning toward the United States. 

Why the disdain bordering on contempt for Marsch? After all, other Americans have coached the national teams of other countries: Bob Bradley (Egypt), and Steve Sampson (Costa Rica). I think it is the current climate that we are living in; where anyone who accepts a job in another country is somehow viewed as being "less" American. How sad. Hopefully, things will improve soon. Until then, Jesse Marsch is serving as a wonderful ambassador for our country. 

Judging a Country by its Theaters

They say never a judge a book by its cover (“unless it is artwork done by Boris Vallejo!” exclaim males in the 15-24-year-old demographic!). You may have to adapt that sage adage to something more contemporary and at the same time depressing: judge a country by its movie theaters. AMC’s recent announcement that it was “improving” the movie experience for viewers by replacing theater seats with recliners nearly made me choke when I read it. For a brief instant, I was bewildered and disoriented. I thought to myself, “Is this for real?” I soothed myself by rationalizing that this was perhaps the latest spoof offered to us by The Onion. But no, it wasn’t and it left me with a bitter taste in my mouth.

No longer is the movie experience that AMC offers us solely about watching a film on screen, it is about transporting your personal space with you to the theater itself. People can now take naps while the film is being screened. No longer do people have to adjust to the theater; the theater has to adapt to the customers. How distressing! Very soon, I fear, people will soon be able to receive pedicures or drink a daiquiri while a beautiful woman fans them with a giant palm leaf while they watch “Transformers 56: the End of Meaning.”

I live in Cuba now and the theater experience here is incredible! Conversations take place between various sections of the theater….all in good nature, usually talking about certain parts of the film. This became clear to me when I saw the film “42” in the fall. I found the experience incredible and exhilarating! Social conversations have not died out and the film takes center stage in these public and spontaneous discourses. People were talking about racism in the US and what Jackie Robinson had to go through; they asked me what I thought about it. The experience was entirely different from what the theatergoer takes part in when he/she goes to the cinema.

From June 12 to July 12 theaters in Cuba have screened games from the World Cup and this has been incredible! It is an experience to watch a great fútbol game in a cinema with over 300 people in the audience. Breathtaking and lively. They get it here. For Cuban cineastas and most theaters around the world, going to the theater is still a social experience; it is not an individualistic cocoon fashioned to inure people from that social contagion known as public conversation. It is not about extending the confines of home to public spaces. It is disappointing, but all AMC has done is settled one non-existent problem by creating another one: the person sitting behind the audience member who is reclining won’t be able to eat his/her $20 box of popcorn with the back of the seat in their face.