Other Sports

My friend and office roommate Joel calls me the "blue collar Jew."  He grew up pretty well off, in Pinecrest, with many Jewish friends (he's Italian) and most of his buddies were the sons of professionals or business owners. His Dad was a well known criminal defense lawyer -- still is -- but a divorce put a crimp in the family finances, and he was always one of the poorer kids in his group.

I grew up on LI with some Jewish friends, but most were either Italian or Irish, or a mixture of the two.  And my friends' fathers were NYC firemen, or teachers, or insurance agents with poorer clients.  My beloved father was a salesman who did well, but not doctor or lawyer level.

I guess most of my sensibilities from an early age are therefore more "blue collar."  It's certainly true of sports.  At heart, I believe there are four -- baseball, football, basketball, and hockey.  Soccer and tennis, well --- not so much.

Of course, I realize I'm in the minority.  Most of the world thinks soccer is a huge deal.  During our last football trip, one of our number, Peter, who grew up in Buffalo but married a Dutch woman, dragged Mike and me to a pub to watch an Arsenal match.  Mike and I spent most of the games making fun of it -- and Peter was down, as the Arsenal lost.

Today, I see in the Herald that there is "grave danger" that a major tennis tournament, which used to be called the Lipton, after the tea company, may leave Miami Dade.  It was played for years at a stadium on Key Biscayne, and voters decided in '12 to make it bigger and better.  The problem was, there is still a dude in town named Mathison, whose family gifted the land to the County, but kept provisions intact -- namely, that the land remain a park.  I guess Mathison was cool with the initial stadium, but not the bigger one, and he sued to prevent it and won.  Good for him.

So then, the tournament announced it was moving to the former Joe Robbie Stadium -- the Fins' owner Steve Ross wants it there.  Well -- again not so fast.  The mayor said the tournament still owes the County fees from years past, and maybe they ought to settle up.  The tournament said no, and now may leave.  I say -- don't let the door hit your ass on the way out.

Again -- my prejudice comes from my childhood.  I played Little League, and one of my coaches was a Mr. Siefert.  His boys Jimmy and Tommy were on the team.  Jimmy was a gifted athlete, but really preferred tennis to the National Pastime.  I still remember his father chiding him when he dogged a play -- "So Jimmy -- you'd rather play TENNIS?"  He said the sport name like it was gay sex.  It stuck with me.

The news also gins up controversy about the great Beckham's problems in building his stadium for a pro soccer team.  Again -- I couldn't care less.

My views are provincial and simplistic -- blue collar, in effect.  Joel is right.