First: full disclosure. I'm going to write about sports. But don't tune out - this isn't going to be some team-bashing manifesto. (The Mariners are terrible underachievers. See? All done.) Moving on.
Second: I'm a hardcore baseball guy, born and raised. I've been a member of the Yankee faithful since a very young age (go ahead, get the jeering out of your system). I love the game and all the facets that make it great (history, strategy, elegance, etc.).
Third: I've never been much of a soccer fan. I didn't know much about it, except that the World Cup is played every few years and that I played in the local town league when I was 7 but quit because I really wasn't a fan of being repeatedly kicked in the shins for an hour every Sunday morning.
Fourth: Thanks to a new town and its new team, I've become quite a big fan of the world's game.
Enough with the list. The Seattle Sounders FC, the Emerald city's shiny new "football club", will be Major League Soccer's next expansion franchise to begin play, as part of the 2009 season. And when I read the initial announcement in the local paper for the first time, I was intrigued. I ran threw my entire knowledge of soccer. Let's see....I know the name Ronaldinho from the '06 World Cup...I saw replays of cheap NHL-esque hit the French guy put on the Italian guy to get ejected from the final...I know that you can't use your hands...David Beckham is pretty important, I think...Yeah, that's about it.
Then I hit the computer. ESPN's main website has a navigation bar at the top of its screen, and I clicked on "Soccer". Little did I know that it would be the beginning of something "beautiful" (Those who follow soccer will understand the reference...if not, read on, I won't make you scour the internet for it.). I made the quick and earth-shaking discovery that essenially EVERY SINGLE COUNTRY ON THE PLANET has its own league and most continents have multiple championships as well.
Europe has its UEFA championships (two large tournaments, Champions League and UEFA Cup and its upcoming national team-level Euro 2008 tournament), Africa has its own World Cup, and North and South America have their own championships as well.
And then there were the domestic leagues. The English Premier League. The German Bundesliga. The Italian Serie A. Mexico's Primera Division (links to page in Spanish). Japan's J-League. These leagues are part of the cultural DNA of these countries. But if soccer seems to be so popular everywhere else, why am I not seeing highlights on Sportcenter?
I discovered the Fox Soccer Channel hidden deep on my digital cable box and watched the movie "Once in a Lifetime" about the success of the New York Cosmos (does the name Pele ring a bell?) and the North American Soccer League in the 1970's. They sold out every seat in Giants Stadium in New Jersey. I've been there - selling out that place is nothing to sneeze at and requires you and 81,000 of your best friends. What happened?
Long story short, the popularity was short-lived and that league folded in the early '80s.
So what does this have to do with the Northwest, you ask? Glad you waited so patiently.
Turns out I made the discovery of "The Beautiful Game" at just the right time. America's Major League Soccer is a young league with a growing fan base and with it, growing popularity due to media coverage. I can now catch a few MLS games a week on TV, and the quality of play is really not that far behind European standards, although something tells me it wasn't always that way. And wouldn't you know it - Seattle has been granted a brand new expansion team, subsequently named (by an internet fan poll in which I voted) Seattle Sounders FC. It's got a nice, classic-sounding ring to it, and the name Sounders has some history - Seattle's team in the NASL was called the Sounders, and there seems to be a development league team that still plays that inherited the name. The best part? A new team in a new sport that I can cheer on from my new home in the Northwest. (I won't be ditching my Yankees for the M's anytime soon. Sorry.) It's a new tie to my new place. And I'm positively thrilled. The Sounders new web site has a countdown to opening day next March and I can hardly wait.
And now Sportcenter has a soccer highlight in its Daily Top 10 once or twice a week, in what must surely be the signals of a new popularity of American soccer. Important international matches (most of the late stages of the recent European Champions League) are televised live on ESPN2 and Fox Soccer Channel. Gatherings of local fans are gaining some steam, meeting at a local bar to watch the game with fellow football supporters. People have said that soccer is destined to be popular in America; it's no longer 'if' but 'when'. I hope that they were referring to now.
Go Sounders!
Thursday, May 29, 2008
Thursday, May 22, 2008
Please Look When You Cross The Street; I Don't Want To Hit You But I Will
Some say that Northeast drivers are crazy and they complain too much. This is true in any and all cases. Others say that Northwest drivers are polite and courteous. Also almost universally true.
But come on. Even Northwest drivers surprise me.
I'll lay this out in scenarios.
1. A small group of teens decides to cross the street, nowhere near a crosswalk.
The Northeast Driver: keeps going, and curses at the kids out the window for crossing outside of an intersection.
The Northwest Driver: slams on the brakes surprising other drivers behind to allow the kids to cross safely.
Okay, I'll go for broke here: if I'm crossing the street, I stop at the curb and look both ways like I was taught in kindergarten, lest the result be my untimely demise. This is undoubtedly part of a east-coast upbringing. If I'm driving, I learned that crossing outside of an intersection is the pedestrian's problem (and technically jaywalking, a ticket-worthy offense, although the number of jaywalking tickets handed out each year can probably be counted on two hands), unless they're already in the street. So when I'm walking with friends around town in the Northwest and they cross the street without looking or anything, I fear for their lives. When they see me hesitate at the street curb, I get funny looks.
So: Northeast drivers - quit your complaining. Northwest drivers - complain more so I don't rear end you for being polite.
2. The speed limit tends to be a general outline, but no one in the Northeast (and much of the rest of the East coast for that matter) takes it quite so seriously as people in the Northwest.
It was a shock to me that people on most roads (Interstate 5 being the main exception, but still not by much) actually observe posted speed limits. Here's a little math for you:
Northwest Limit = Posted Speed Limit + 5 mph.
East Coast Limit = As Close To 80 As You Can Get While Not Getting Caught Speeding.
It's no secret that east coast drivers tempt fate every time they start a car. But in the NW, its entirely a different driving culture. People slow down on roads to let people cross. No horns, no cursing. People actually drive the speed limit. I could get used to this, but I'll always have a soft spot for hurdling down windy narrow 2-lane parkways at 75 in the middle of the night.
But come on. Even Northwest drivers surprise me.
I'll lay this out in scenarios.
1. A small group of teens decides to cross the street, nowhere near a crosswalk.
The Northeast Driver: keeps going, and curses at the kids out the window for crossing outside of an intersection.
The Northwest Driver: slams on the brakes surprising other drivers behind to allow the kids to cross safely.
Okay, I'll go for broke here: if I'm crossing the street, I stop at the curb and look both ways like I was taught in kindergarten, lest the result be my untimely demise. This is undoubtedly part of a east-coast upbringing. If I'm driving, I learned that crossing outside of an intersection is the pedestrian's problem (and technically jaywalking, a ticket-worthy offense, although the number of jaywalking tickets handed out each year can probably be counted on two hands), unless they're already in the street. So when I'm walking with friends around town in the Northwest and they cross the street without looking or anything, I fear for their lives. When they see me hesitate at the street curb, I get funny looks.
So: Northeast drivers - quit your complaining. Northwest drivers - complain more so I don't rear end you for being polite.
2. The speed limit tends to be a general outline, but no one in the Northeast (and much of the rest of the East coast for that matter) takes it quite so seriously as people in the Northwest.
It was a shock to me that people on most roads (Interstate 5 being the main exception, but still not by much) actually observe posted speed limits. Here's a little math for you:
Northwest Limit = Posted Speed Limit + 5 mph.
East Coast Limit = As Close To 80 As You Can Get While Not Getting Caught Speeding.
It's no secret that east coast drivers tempt fate every time they start a car. But in the NW, its entirely a different driving culture. People slow down on roads to let people cross. No horns, no cursing. People actually drive the speed limit. I could get used to this, but I'll always have a soft spot for hurdling down windy narrow 2-lane parkways at 75 in the middle of the night.
Thursday, May 15, 2008
Finally, Advertising That Confuses Only Selected Audiences
Someone please give the PR folks at Pemco Insurance a medal or trophy or something. They deserve it for their absolutely brilliant advertising campaign.
The Seattle-based company (that operates almost entirely in the Northwest) has come with an ingenious ad run that highlights the quirks and niches of the alternative breed of people that inhabit the upper-left corner of the country, with its hilarious (and startlingly accurate, to my knowledge) Northwest Profiles, running the tag line "We're a lot like you."
Now, I would normally not include myself in the demographic implied by the "you" in the tag line. However, after having a good laugh browsing the website that supplements the TV and radio ads (if you thought those were good, check out the website, www.werealotlikeyou.com , I sent the link to my dad in New York (something we do regularly with funny links and assorted nonsense) who was....(wait for it)....entirely unamused.
I realized, to my own surprise, that he didn't think that the site wasn't funny, but that he simply didn't get what it was talking about. The humor flew entirely over his head. And this was slightly shocking - a real strong sign that I was slowly and surely becoming a Northwesterner. Not that I had a problem with that.
Now, I may not be intimately familiar with many of the types that Pemco describes, like the "Green Lake Power Walker (#64)", "Sandals and Socks Guy (#56)", or the elusive-sounding "Walla Walla Wine Wine Woman Woman (#96)". But even in the time I've spent in the Northwest (not yet two years), I've become familiar enough with the region to know that, somewhere, these people do indeed exist.
And then I came across Northwest Profile #100: The Confused East Coast Transplant. I thought, yes, that would be me. Now, the picture and statistics don't exactly match me, but the caption is just dead-on (see my last post as well for more on this).
So to the good folks at Pemco who came up with the ads, bravo.
(The website even allows for user submissions, many of which are also very funny. I submitted the "Really Thinks Crocs Are Edible Guy" profile. Come on, people. You can't eat rubber shoes. Quit deluding yourselves.)
The Seattle-based company (that operates almost entirely in the Northwest) has come with an ingenious ad run that highlights the quirks and niches of the alternative breed of people that inhabit the upper-left corner of the country, with its hilarious (and startlingly accurate, to my knowledge) Northwest Profiles, running the tag line "We're a lot like you."
Now, I would normally not include myself in the demographic implied by the "you" in the tag line. However, after having a good laugh browsing the website that supplements the TV and radio ads (if you thought those were good, check out the website, www.werealotlikeyou.com , I sent the link to my dad in New York (something we do regularly with funny links and assorted nonsense) who was....(wait for it)....entirely unamused.
I realized, to my own surprise, that he didn't think that the site wasn't funny, but that he simply didn't get what it was talking about. The humor flew entirely over his head. And this was slightly shocking - a real strong sign that I was slowly and surely becoming a Northwesterner. Not that I had a problem with that.
Now, I may not be intimately familiar with many of the types that Pemco describes, like the "Green Lake Power Walker (#64)", "Sandals and Socks Guy (#56)", or the elusive-sounding "Walla Walla Wine Wine Woman Woman (#96)". But even in the time I've spent in the Northwest (not yet two years), I've become familiar enough with the region to know that, somewhere, these people do indeed exist.
And then I came across Northwest Profile #100: The Confused East Coast Transplant. I thought, yes, that would be me. Now, the picture and statistics don't exactly match me, but the caption is just dead-on (see my last post as well for more on this).
So to the good folks at Pemco who came up with the ads, bravo.
(The website even allows for user submissions, many of which are also very funny. I submitted the "Really Thinks Crocs Are Edible Guy" profile. Come on, people. You can't eat rubber shoes. Quit deluding yourselves.)
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Confusion in Aisle 5
The supermarket. It is a place where we can express ourselves entirely through food selection. It is a routine occurrence to see people happily spend more money on a product branded with any one of a number of tag lines trumpeting a nutritional feature ("Omaga 3!"), a production process ("All Natural!", "Organic!"), or just plain more (the omnipresent "Buy one, get one free!"). Granted, some of these tag lines have merits, but some are just gimmicks.
Ah, the supermarket. What a marvelous creation.
But there is a darker side. Surly clerks. Long lines. Soccer moms (with requisite large number of children). College students stocking up on junk food and surveying the cheap beer selection.
That in mind, its been drilled into my head that as little time as possible is to be spent in the supermarket. Avoid other people and say as little as possible. Get in, get out, get going.
Not so in the Northwest, as I've learned.
Upon an initial trip to a neighborhood supermarket no more than a few days after I stepped off the plane in Sea-Tac for the first time, I was greeted by the cashier. Greeted?
"How are you? Did you find everything?"
The cashier even smiled.
Confused, I held my silence. Was she serious? What kind of place is this? Do I look that out of place?
Skeptical, I quietly mumbled an "okay" a few seconds later. She rung up my groceries and I paid. Once my groceries were bagged and I had paid, I went to grab my bags, and then, the unthinkable.
"Would you like help out to your car?", the young woman asked, again with an unflappable smile.
My confusion instantly turned to sheer horror. Being generally polite was a nice touch (if unexpected), and hardly called me to question my sanity. But this? She meant to tell me that someone would help me carry my things if I wanted? I was used to hearing nothing at all except "$16.84, cash or charge?" from a cashier, but that reality was blown to smithereens in a very short period of time.
"Um...no?"
"Okay, have a nice day!"
I walked out of that supermarket into a brave new world that late summer afternoon. It took some getting used to, and it still just feels odd sometimes. And when I recount this story to friends, they look at me like I've said something crazy.
So, people of the Northwest - you have it good when it comes to the local grocery. And if you see someone who looks taken aback by the unconditional politeness of the cashier, well, they're probably not from around here.
Ah, the supermarket. What a marvelous creation.
But there is a darker side. Surly clerks. Long lines. Soccer moms (with requisite large number of children). College students stocking up on junk food and surveying the cheap beer selection.
That in mind, its been drilled into my head that as little time as possible is to be spent in the supermarket. Avoid other people and say as little as possible. Get in, get out, get going.
Not so in the Northwest, as I've learned.
Upon an initial trip to a neighborhood supermarket no more than a few days after I stepped off the plane in Sea-Tac for the first time, I was greeted by the cashier. Greeted?
"How are you? Did you find everything?"
The cashier even smiled.
Confused, I held my silence. Was she serious? What kind of place is this? Do I look that out of place?
Skeptical, I quietly mumbled an "okay" a few seconds later. She rung up my groceries and I paid. Once my groceries were bagged and I had paid, I went to grab my bags, and then, the unthinkable.
"Would you like help out to your car?", the young woman asked, again with an unflappable smile.
My confusion instantly turned to sheer horror. Being generally polite was a nice touch (if unexpected), and hardly called me to question my sanity. But this? She meant to tell me that someone would help me carry my things if I wanted? I was used to hearing nothing at all except "$16.84, cash or charge?" from a cashier, but that reality was blown to smithereens in a very short period of time.
"Um...no?"
"Okay, have a nice day!"
I walked out of that supermarket into a brave new world that late summer afternoon. It took some getting used to, and it still just feels odd sometimes. And when I recount this story to friends, they look at me like I've said something crazy.
So, people of the Northwest - you have it good when it comes to the local grocery. And if you see someone who looks taken aback by the unconditional politeness of the cashier, well, they're probably not from around here.
Thursday, May 8, 2008
Still An Outsider, 20 Months In
Day 631 - Welcome to this blog. I hope you enjoy reading it and I encourage you to respond. Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Adam, I'm currently an undergraduate student at a local NW university, and I am an East Coaster, through and through. I spent my entire life (up until 631 days ago) on the outskirts of the New York City suburbs and spent a life of time in the City itself. Disgusted with life in the Northeast and fed up with the spoiled trust fund kids I went to high school with (a small prep school where I was largely an outsider among my peers, because I'm not a rich kid and I didn't get a Mercedes for my 16th birthday ), I chose to uproot and move across the country to continue my education as well as find a new start for myself. I'm not a class warrior and I know that I'm not exactly underprivileged, but I couldn't stand the people I was surrounded by so I made the simple and logical decision to go somewhere else. That was the summer of 2006.
Not a day goes by when I don't count my blessings for making one of the best choices I will ever face. I've settled in as a student over two academic years and have gotten a basic feel for things. Life here is different and wonderful. It also takes some adjustment. The best part, however, is that I get to see things in ways that locals would largely overlook. That is the main subject of this blog - an underrepresented point of view on the people, places, things, and ideas that exist west of the Cascades.
I don't want to complain or rant constantly - too many people can do that and not actually think about what they're saying. Instead, I hope to provide a good idea or two, here and there. Of course I have my complains, and I'll probably write about them, but without some thoughtfulness behind them, why would anyone care to read about it?
With that, I'll wrap up the inaugural piece for this blog. Stay tuned.
Enjoy,
Adam
Not a day goes by when I don't count my blessings for making one of the best choices I will ever face. I've settled in as a student over two academic years and have gotten a basic feel for things. Life here is different and wonderful. It also takes some adjustment. The best part, however, is that I get to see things in ways that locals would largely overlook. That is the main subject of this blog - an underrepresented point of view on the people, places, things, and ideas that exist west of the Cascades.
I don't want to complain or rant constantly - too many people can do that and not actually think about what they're saying. Instead, I hope to provide a good idea or two, here and there. Of course I have my complains, and I'll probably write about them, but without some thoughtfulness behind them, why would anyone care to read about it?
With that, I'll wrap up the inaugural piece for this blog. Stay tuned.
Enjoy,
Adam
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