I found Eduardo Galeano’s piece “Soccer in Sun and Shadow” quite dramatic. This doesn’t surprise me as someone who has played soccer and watched a lot of soccer on tv there is almost a cult like following the surrounds the sport. What I did find interesting however was his “confession” at the beginning. This is where he admits that he only played soccer well in his dreams and during the day on the field he really wasn’t all that good. He goes on to say that he is an appreciator of “good soccer” saying he doesn’t care who or what country performs is more so just the level of skill that is required to excel at it.
Throughout the piece he goes through the individual positions and components of soccer which I found interesting. In this sense it gives someone who does not have the best idea of what the sport is some contextual understanding as to how it works. I was not a fan of the author comparing the night before a game to a concentration camp; in the sentence “And on the eve of big games, they lock him up in a concentration camp where he does forced labor, eats tasteless foods, gets drunk on water and sleeps alone” (3). What’s ironic about this is I can imagine a survivor or someone who experienced a concentration camp would consider this situation to be a luxury. Therefore I found this comparison to be overly dramatic to the point of being disrespectful.
Another crazy hyperbole that I found was the section titled “the language of war”. This is how soccer players get a bad rep in terms of being overly dramatic on the pitch. No a soccer game is not the same as going to war no matter how intense the players are being about the competition. At the end of the day the well-being and security of their country is not on the line and people are not putting their lives on the line for their freedom. Therefore again I found this section to be a little bit too dramatic and intense for my liking.
Question: As you can tell from my post I think that the author was overly dramatic throughout the article. Do you think that his dramatics enhanced or worked against the overall message that the article was trying to portray?
Ha! Not to dispute your point, but I’m reminded of the famous quotation attributed to legendary Liverpool manager, Bill Shankly: “Some people think football is a matter of life and death. I assure you, it’s much more serious than that.”
Hi! This is definitely a different take than what I got from the reading haha. I thought that Galeano’s writing was playful and appropriate for the topic because I know for a lot of countries that are passionate about soccer and play a major role in politics and commerce. From my cousins in Mexico inviting me to their neighborhood soccer games in a rural field to my Chilean neighbors blasting televised soccer matches in Canada and screaming goooaaaalll in their backyard, sports can carry a huge part of someone’s cultural identity as well. As for the comparison to war, I think it had to more with the history of soccer came to be as Galeano discussed in the text. However, I do agree that the use of concentration camps in his analogy was unnecessary and frankly should have been avoided.
Hey! I had similar impressions when reading Galeano’s article – but I think that’s the point! As an Argentinian-Canadian, I can 100% confirm that the majority of Argentinians are ACTUALLY like this when it comes to soccer haha. Galeano does a great job of expressing how dramatic Argentinian culture is when it comes to soccer and many other things lol. That being said though, I can totally understand how from an outsider point of view this article sounds crazy.
Hi Maddy!
I had a chuckle when you described that comparison as overly dramatic to the point of being disrespectful. YES. Makes me think of the Vancouver riots! Personally, I think this dramatization worked against Galeano’s message to those who are unfamiliar with soccer. When I read it, I thought that it was all exaggerated for literary effect, but am now realizing that it is an accurate portrayal. Relatability is important when publishing, but I suppose we weren’t his target audience.