I’m watching the Fighting Irish Women’s Basketball live at the stadium. There’s so much pageantry in American sports. The game is well attended and between rounds all the cheerleaders jump up and down and children throw rubber chickens and people play brass and it is all done in such a way as to make it feel it matters.
No wonder pockets of scum occasionally bubble to the top of all this pageantry and get the idea they are kings. This youthful nation is doing well and it has the self importance to prove it. Right now though that American youthful nation thing that is charming if it doesn’t run rampant is getting ugly.
Not that we see that here. We are in a rarefied environment and working hard. This nation is big enough that we probably won’t see empowered meatheads dragging people from their homes. We will just see happy uncomplicated people who love their flag and haven’t examined the inherited view that they live in the best nation on earth under God.
It’s concerning of course that much of the almost childlike messaging is being picked up by the more simplistic thinkers in England and carried as if it is some kind of brand new idea. “Flags mean pateritism! Are country neds to be proud of us together.” There are always gonna be grown ups with crayons but its definitely bad at the moment.
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They just had a “science” interlude mid game. Kate The Scientist came on and blew up a whole load of hydrogen balloons before letting a bin full of liquid nitrogen explode for our pleasure…
Now the band is playing Bon Jovi.
The Irish are still behind… I’m hoping they turn this around as the college is working hard to make this fun for everyone. American sport though is as much about the gaps as it is about the sport. It makes me really aware of what we are doing here, how strange it is to ask people to sit and watch us do words that were written when this was vast empty plains running with buffalo and scattered nomadic tribes living in sync with nature. “Slow down,” was a note from Scott. This big thing has to be played lightly and then once we can be deft and light we have to make sure we don’t lose the audience.
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Oh and now it’s a light show. I’m sure it was sport a moment ago… I’m gonna settle in. They’ve leveled the score… They’re one up! GO IRISH GO IRISH.
I have to remember not to schedule now. I’m in the time zone where I started this blog so I can just hit publish. Yesterday I forgot that.
AlBarclay 