But this is a country where coming second is good enough.
Poland just lost to German in the World Handball Championships Final in Cologne, 29 – 24. They played well in the tournament, but their defense was weak this time, and the Germans used the home advantage well.
The headline on sport.pl is ‘Bronze in 1982, Silver in 2007, Gold…? Referring to the fact that maybe they will win a gold medal next time, in the 2009 championships, or maybe even at the next Olympics.
That’s a very Polish attitude. Everyone is saying that ‘second is the best Poles have ever done, in (the relatively obscure sport of) handball. So that’s great, isn’t it?’
Coming second for Poles is good enough. I am British and we have been ‘blessed’ with the amateurish attitude that ‘as long as we play well, that’s good enough’.
Consequently, the only thing we are consistently good at is...er...darts!
I prefer the American attitude: coming second is coming nowhere.
Poles lost in the handball final: period.
BR: I spoze you meant to write coming in second. Since coming second seems to me to be the polite and better thing to do for a man.
ReplyDeleteIn any event, you do seem to be developing (if 'tweren't there already) a bit of a smug superiority complex. Either than or an American-envy complex. Either way, it doesn't do much to compliment your otherwise charming personality.
This is an achievement given the mess most of the Polish sport is (cf. the football corruption scandal).
ReplyDeleteThis is, if not a success, at least a glimmer of hope.
Hey Beatroot!
ReplyDeleteHere´s a story for you:
StarTribune.net, Jan 26, 07
Judge finds nine of ten guilty in brutal racially motivated beating of three women. Eight of the nine are also found guilty of hate crime enhancement charges.
Nine black youths were convicted Friday in juvenile court of beating three white women in a racially charged attack on Halloween night.
The youths, ranging from 12 to 18 years old, could receive sentences from probation to confinement in juvenile prison until age 25. All were charged with felony assault. The judge found eight of them guilty of hate crimes.
Prosecutors said the confrontation began when a crowd of black youths threw objects at the three young white women. Some hurled racial insults and one was heard shouting "I hate whites," authorities said.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteAnja landers said:
ReplyDeleteyou do seem to be developing (if 'tweren't there already) a bit of a smug superiority complex.
How can I be developing a ‘smug superiority complex’ when in the text I said:
I am British and we have been ‘blessed’ with the amateurish attitude that ‘as long as we play well, that’s good enough’.
One of the points I was making was that the British have an inferiority complex…I would have thought that was obvious…
As i suspected...not a single word about BLACK RACISM TOWARDS WHITE GIRLS!
ReplyDeleteSHAME ON YOU BEATROOT!
BR, Maybe it doesn't have anything to do with your nationality.
ReplyDeleteWhen you sub-headline your story by reference to Poles being content to come in second and how that's not good enuff, the appearance that you are dissing Poles, even if you attribute the superior attitude to the Yanks.
In your last post you also placed Poles 30 years behind Brits in terms of racial tolerance.
I just have a major problem with all these generalizations which tend to pit one group against another.
anon:
ReplyDeleteWTF is your point?
Are you saying that we should hate all black folks because some black folks are criminals?
There are more and more stories in the UK press and in Ireland about criminal Poles. So I suppose, tit for tat and following your "logic," it's OK for the Brits and the Ajrysz to hate Poles.
Be that as it may, most British citizens prefer Polish immigrats to the the hordes of blacks that roam the streets.
ReplyDeleteLondon guy
Be that as it may, most British citizens prefer Polish immigrats to the the hordes of blacks that roam the streets.
ReplyDeleteLondon guy
Prefer Polish immigrants for what?
ReplyDeleteLiving in my hometown.
ReplyDeleteLondon guy
I am British and we have been ‘blessed’ with the amateurish attitude that ‘as long as we play well, that’s good enough’.
ReplyDeleteSurely this does not apply to English football fans, does it? Or to Tim Henman's fans in Wimbledon?
In general, I think that separating sport and national pride is a good idea.
-----------------
"Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel."
Actually Tim Hennman and British tennmis is a very good example of what I am saying. We - especially in the middle class games - do not have the guts to win. We are much more comfortable with herioc failure.
ReplyDeleteAh, so you refered to sportsmen and sportswomen and not to fans?
ReplyDeleteSorry then, I thought you meant the latter.
"We - especially in the middle class games - do not have the guts to win. We are much more comfortable with herioc failure."
ReplyDelete-- Beatroot
Maybe it has more to do with skill, strength, stamina, and that sorta thing more so than guts and will. I hear Nietzche sucked at soccer, er, ah, football (and at livin', too).
I think Anon and Martin should get together.
ReplyDeleteI am not shocked that Nietzche sucked at footie - he always was a but of a prat....I wonder what Marx was like at soccer? I can;t imagine Jean Paul Satre was any good either (too busy playin pocket pool!)
ReplyDeleteNietzsche may not have been great at sports, but his ideas are very relevant to English football:
ReplyDeleteNothing in the world of sport validates Friedrich Nietzsche's famous idea of eternal recurrence as does English football.
"The eternal hourglass of existence is turned over and over, and you with it, a grain of dust," wrote the great philosopher in Thus Spake Zarathustra.
What, then, is the fate today of tens of millions of dreams in this country? Nothing but a grain of dust. But, remember, dust will turn to fantasy again soon. For, all things recur eternally; not the least, this cruel drama.
Nirmal Shekar in "The Hindu", July 03, 2006
Jeez, BR, doesn't the old M. Python skit answer which philosophers were best at soccer, er' ah', football?
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=79vdlEcWxvM
yes, yes yes, Geez! I am reading The Python Autobiography right now (well, re-reading it - I read it first in Egypt). That philosopher thing....
ReplyDeletePython makes me feel notalgic actually (not a feeling I am usually comfortable with).
Fink-Nottle - the article sums up my feelings of disapointment even better than those other philosopers of football, Baddiel and Skinner:
Everyone seems to know the score
They've seen it all before
They just know
They're so sure
That England's Gonna throw it away
Gonna blow it away
But I know they can play
'Cause I remember...
Three Lions on a shirt
Jules Rimet still gleaming
Thirty years of hurt
Never stopped me dreaming
I am actually starting to....boo...cry...
Just watched the clip.
ReplyDeleteThe Greeks beat the Germans 1-0, although the goal was hotly disputed by the Germans. Hegel disputed the reality of the goal (from a dialectical perspective, of course), while Kant backed it up by pronouncing a-priori..er.. something, and Marx declared that it was….offside!
Marx was right – the Greeks were off-side.
And Nietzsche got red-carded, as usual.
ReplyDelete