Team Melli takes on El Tri that will be of great interest to people in my neck of the woods as Los Angeles has a large Iranian population and an even bigger Mexican population. (Just in case you weren't paying attention to population trends in California.)
Mexico is making its 13th trip to the World Cup and has reached the quarterfinals twice, both times when the tournament was in Mexico (1970, 1986).
Iran is making its third appearance in the World Cup and has never gotten out of the first round and has won only one match, a 2-1 win over the USA in 1998. Iran played one of its qualifying matches in Pyongyang, North Korea and won 2-0. North Korean fans rioted over some bad calls, showing that they want to keep up with the rest of the world.
ABC's announcer mentions that the Mexican coach is catching heat for having two naturalized Mexican citizens on the roster instead of Mexicans born in the country.
The people doing the blogging of matches for the NY Times (they rotate them around) hate the ABC/ESPN announcers and will only listen to Univision, even though they don't know Spanish.
However, I think this year's batch is a lot better than the group they used in 2002.
Meanwhile, they're dancing in the streets of Westwood and some sections of Woodland Hills.
Thorne was a Mets guy for awhile, actually, and he used to team with Seaver for the WB network broadcasts of the Mets. I don't care what ANYONE says, I like Tom Seaver. I think he has a good sense of humor, he WAS self-deprecating despite his grumpiness and he and Thorne obviously liked each other, lots of ribbing.
I'm listening to these ABC guys and despite not havibng any idea who they are, they aren't that bad at all. The play-by-play guy is a little dry, but OK - the color man is kind of bad, I guess.
Why Westwood and Woodland Hills? Aren't there Mexicanos all over the city? There certainly were when I was there. Or do you mean an Iranian contingent after their goal?
Marcelo Balboa is the color man. He's better than John Harkes, who was the color man for the earlier match. I think the other sets of ABC announcers are working from Bristol.
And I was referring to the Iranian sections, yes. After a Mexico goal, the celebrations would be more widespread, although it's mainly the first generation immigrants who get really excited.
I wonder about the makeup of the Iranian team. How many (if any) of them are like "please can all you god/allah/nuclear war people go away and let me play with my ball? please? allah wills you to shut up for god's sake, as does jesus and zeus and ra as long as we're at it. did you see that header?"
Now that I think about it, I think the volleyball girl my sophomore year of college from woodland hills was of middle eastern descent. Sadly, the volleyball girl was single for about 15 seconds and I was in class or sommething.
I would assume that most, if not all, of the Iranian team comes from middle or upper class backgrounds and that may make them a little less politicized.
But there was still the judoka at the 2004 Olympics, who forfeited rather than take on an Israeli.
I generally root for Iran when there's a chance to do so (usually powerlifting). This is because when I was in sixth grade, during the hostage crisis, a new girl from Iran joined my class. No doubt she was an exile and on "our side," whatever that means. Anyhow, we were so cruel to her, it is one of the worst things I've ever done in my life.
I know the NBA is popular and all, but you have to wonder how pissed off Stern is that it's going on during his Shaq/Dirk show.
In other news, I met Alex Belth of Bronx Banter at Coliseum Books last night. He opened for Rob Neyer, and the first thing Neyer said was something like "Geez, I gotta follow THAT?"
I still remember a letter I wrote in 3rd grade comparing the square mileage of Iran to Wisconsin and wondering why we didn't just bomb it. Thankfully, I got better.
I'm actually performing - very tiny gig - about a 16-measure 16-person ensemble from the balcony. It's a RImsky-Korsakov one-act opera about Mozart and Salieri and it calls for a far-away Mozart Requiem reading about 5 minutes from the end. Get in, get out, nobody gets hurt. Staged terribly, though. But that's another issue.
This is a very tense struggle but you couldn't tell from the broadcasters. Balboa seems to be in a constant state of adjustment; everytime he opens his mouth he sounds nervous about what he's going to say next. It doesn't help that he's clearly not using his natural voice. He's pushing.
O'Brien is very professional but does not convey enthusiasm. If he's inspired by anything he sees outside of a goal, we can't tell. Just now... "Will this be the one for Mexico to take the lead?... it will not." That was delivered like man checking his mail.
Macelo Balboa should have also looked at the 1950 USA national team if you're looking for a team with few natural born players. Many of those players weren't even naturalized citizens. They were just applying for it. Then after the World Cup, a few went back to their home countries.
This is the first time Mexico has scored three goals in the World?
Even the USA has scored three goals. Three times in fact (twice in 1930 and once in 2002).
ABC's announcer mentions that the Mexican coach is catching heat for having two naturalized Mexican citizens on the roster instead of Mexicans born in the country.
I do sorta want Iran to win, however. I have a hard time NOT rooting for the underdog, and I'm sure I'm not the only one who's like that.
Except when they beat my motherland, Poland! Grrrrr.... (ok, I'm 3rd-generation, but even so)
Does Thorne do baseball announcing for anyone?
The people doing the blogging of matches for the NY Times (they rotate them around) hate the ABC/ESPN announcers and will only listen to Univision, even though they don't know Spanish.
However, I think this year's batch is a lot better than the group they used in 2002.
Meanwhile, they're dancing in the streets of Westwood and some sections of Woodland Hills.
When Iran plays Mexico, who does Pat Buchanan root for?
I'm listening to these ABC guys and despite not havibng any idea who they are, they aren't that bad at all. The play-by-play guy is a little dry, but OK - the color man is kind of bad, I guess.
Why Westwood and Woodland Hills? Aren't there Mexicanos all over the city? There certainly were when I was there. Or do you mean an Iranian contingent after their goal?
And I was referring to the Iranian sections, yes. After a Mexico goal, the celebrations would be more widespread, although it's mainly the first generation immigrants who get really excited.
But there was still the judoka at the 2004 Olympics, who forfeited rather than take on an Israeli.
And props for all-spanish! Fun.
I guess I should should change the lines at the top of the posts to have a Musburgerian "You are looking live at the stadium in Nuremberg!"
So I root for Iran in Reza's honor.
Like Flatliners, only real.
In other news, I met Alex Belth of Bronx Banter at Coliseum Books last night. He opened for Rob Neyer, and the first thing Neyer said was something like "Geez, I gotta follow THAT?"
Sometimes we forget that there are nations and there are people and it's not until we're older that most of us can separate the two.
Sadly, not all that many of us.
I'm off to Lincoln Center - see you all later -
Luckily, I'll be home in time for Pedro!
O'Brien is very professional but does not convey enthusiasm. If he's inspired by anything he sees outside of a goal, we can't tell. Just now... "Will this be the one for Mexico to take the lead?... it will not." That was delivered like man checking his mail.
Andres Cantor doesn't work for Univision anymore. The current guy just goes "Gol! Gol! Gol!" x10
This is the first time Mexico has scored three goals in the World?
Even the USA has scored three goals. Three times in fact (twice in 1930 and once in 2002).
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