I don’t write much about sports on this blog. It’s not for lack of storylines. I’m sure lots of folks are discussing either the crater that was the Redskins/Chiefs game or the Ravens/Vikings closing minutes circus. In the world of roundball, a single loss has dropped the Washington Wizards from a stratospheric conference third seed down to seventh (which, admittedly, sounds much more consistent with their historical norm). The fact is that we have a plethora of accomplished local sports columnists and bloggers out there that cover sports much better than I ever could.
And then the FIFA World Cup draw happened. Now, I am in no way a soccer fanatic, but I did grow up in the United States soccer explosion of the 1970’s. The New York Cosmos, Tampa Bay Rowdies and of course, the Washington Diplomats all have meaning to me. They have far more meaning to me than any USFL team, and to be honest, many current professional sports teams. I follow the CONCACAF qualifying matches. The term “dos a cero” does get my sports pride going (here and here) just as much as “festivus maximus” when the Baltimore Ravens are playing in January. I also find myself watching MSL games more often, quietly hoping for DC United to return to the glory of a decade ago.
So last week, the international federation that governs soccer (futbol!), FIFA, held a draw for the triennial World Cup. For the uninitiated, this is roughly analogous to the NCAA basketball bracket draw, only on a world stage. In the World Cup format, the 32 national teams that advanced during regional qualification rounds are randomly assigned into eight groups of four, lettered A-H (Note: because almost 1/3 of the teams are from Europe, there are some controls in the draw to ensure that no more than two European teams per group).. The national teams in each group then play a round-robin series of matches and the countries with the two best records advance to a single elimination round.
In this World Cup, our United States Men’s National Team (USMNT) finds itself in Group G with Germany, Portugal, and Ghana. To put this group in context, the FIFA World Rankings show Germany to be the second best team in the world. Portugal is ranked fifth. The United States comes in a respectable 14th and Ghana rounds out the group ranked 24th. So in two of these group play matches, the United States will be a clear underdog. That matchup against Ghana? Yes, the United States is ranked higher than Ghana, but the USMNT has faced Ghana in the last two World Cups, and lost both times. Despite the world rankings, history will loom over the pitch during this match.
How does this all relate to Columbia, Maryland?
Recently, Columbia partnered with the city of Tema, Ghana as sister cities. Columbia is one of a handful of American cities to have a sister city in Ghana. This international sport matchup represents an opportunity to deepen our new relationship with our sister city. I think a good start would be to arrange for the Columbia Association (the organization that supports the sister cities program) to work with the local high schools and SAC/HoCo to exchange jerseys with some of the Tema youth soccer teams. Following on this, it might be time for the Columbia Association to look into expanding the cultural exchanges for all sister cities to include organized sports and fitness. Although it may not be as well known as the lap swimming times at the Supreme Sports Club, the Columbia Association has experimented with a culinary exchange program (or something like that) within the Sister Cities structure. They could use this as a model to build the sports exchanges.
So let’s think big
Building on the thought of deepening the Columbia/Tema experience with the World Cup as a focal point; the two national teams will play each other on June 16, 2014 at 6:00pm Columbia time. That is right in the middle of the Columbia Festival of the Arts in downtown Columbia.
Before I go any further down this line of thinking, let me say that the Festival of the Arts is a great perennial celebration of culture and arts. My family and I always go to the Lakefest activities and it is a great time. The folks that run the Festival of the Arts spend countless hours putting together a great event every year and their efforts should not be minimized. In fact, I believe in order to make the festival such a success, I would think that much of the Festival schedule has been put in place by now. Probably not set in stone, but certainly in an advanced stage of curing.
But now I’m going to ask for a favor. Given the buildup for this first match of the 2014 World Cup for both the USMNT and the Ghana National Team, given our newfound relationship with Tema, given that the Festival of the Arts will have in place the requisite power, audio, lighting and port-a-potty farm, and given that by mid-June many of us will be looking for a way to watch the game (is Union Jacks taking reservations yet?) – and attendance at the Festival of the Arts may suffer from this; why not find a way to televise the game at the Columbia lakefront?
I write this understanding that this is no small task. Asking for at least a two-hour block of time early on Monday evening is probably asking a lot. There are logistics to consider. By 6:00pm, the sun will have descended behind the American Cities Building, but there will still be sufficient light to make viewing projected images on a large screen difficult. A change this dramatic would require a budget, and a funding mechanism for that budget. These are the challenges, and I humbly ask – isn’t Columbia the type of community that can take on these challenges and present a special evening of sport and international sisterhood? This may not be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, but it is a rare opportunity where we can all come together and celebrate.
If anyone has any doubts, take a look at the video below. It shows the reaction to a winning goal by USMNT member Landon Donovan in the 2010 World Cup match against Algeria:
And then the FIFA World Cup draw happened. Now, I am in no way a soccer fanatic, but I did grow up in the United States soccer explosion of the 1970’s. The New York Cosmos, Tampa Bay Rowdies and of course, the Washington Diplomats all have meaning to me. They have far more meaning to me than any USFL team, and to be honest, many current professional sports teams. I follow the CONCACAF qualifying matches. The term “dos a cero” does get my sports pride going (here and here) just as much as “festivus maximus” when the Baltimore Ravens are playing in January. I also find myself watching MSL games more often, quietly hoping for DC United to return to the glory of a decade ago.
So last week, the international federation that governs soccer (futbol!), FIFA, held a draw for the triennial World Cup. For the uninitiated, this is roughly analogous to the NCAA basketball bracket draw, only on a world stage. In the World Cup format, the 32 national teams that advanced during regional qualification rounds are randomly assigned into eight groups of four, lettered A-H (Note: because almost 1/3 of the teams are from Europe, there are some controls in the draw to ensure that no more than two European teams per group).. The national teams in each group then play a round-robin series of matches and the countries with the two best records advance to a single elimination round.
In this World Cup, our United States Men’s National Team (USMNT) finds itself in Group G with Germany, Portugal, and Ghana. To put this group in context, the FIFA World Rankings show Germany to be the second best team in the world. Portugal is ranked fifth. The United States comes in a respectable 14th and Ghana rounds out the group ranked 24th. So in two of these group play matches, the United States will be a clear underdog. That matchup against Ghana? Yes, the United States is ranked higher than Ghana, but the USMNT has faced Ghana in the last two World Cups, and lost both times. Despite the world rankings, history will loom over the pitch during this match.
How does this all relate to Columbia, Maryland?
Recently, Columbia partnered with the city of Tema, Ghana as sister cities. Columbia is one of a handful of American cities to have a sister city in Ghana. This international sport matchup represents an opportunity to deepen our new relationship with our sister city. I think a good start would be to arrange for the Columbia Association (the organization that supports the sister cities program) to work with the local high schools and SAC/HoCo to exchange jerseys with some of the Tema youth soccer teams. Following on this, it might be time for the Columbia Association to look into expanding the cultural exchanges for all sister cities to include organized sports and fitness. Although it may not be as well known as the lap swimming times at the Supreme Sports Club, the Columbia Association has experimented with a culinary exchange program (or something like that) within the Sister Cities structure. They could use this as a model to build the sports exchanges.
So let’s think big
Building on the thought of deepening the Columbia/Tema experience with the World Cup as a focal point; the two national teams will play each other on June 16, 2014 at 6:00pm Columbia time. That is right in the middle of the Columbia Festival of the Arts in downtown Columbia.
Before I go any further down this line of thinking, let me say that the Festival of the Arts is a great perennial celebration of culture and arts. My family and I always go to the Lakefest activities and it is a great time. The folks that run the Festival of the Arts spend countless hours putting together a great event every year and their efforts should not be minimized. In fact, I believe in order to make the festival such a success, I would think that much of the Festival schedule has been put in place by now. Probably not set in stone, but certainly in an advanced stage of curing.
But now I’m going to ask for a favor. Given the buildup for this first match of the 2014 World Cup for both the USMNT and the Ghana National Team, given our newfound relationship with Tema, given that the Festival of the Arts will have in place the requisite power, audio, lighting and port-a-potty farm, and given that by mid-June many of us will be looking for a way to watch the game (is Union Jacks taking reservations yet?) – and attendance at the Festival of the Arts may suffer from this; why not find a way to televise the game at the Columbia lakefront?
I write this understanding that this is no small task. Asking for at least a two-hour block of time early on Monday evening is probably asking a lot. There are logistics to consider. By 6:00pm, the sun will have descended behind the American Cities Building, but there will still be sufficient light to make viewing projected images on a large screen difficult. A change this dramatic would require a budget, and a funding mechanism for that budget. These are the challenges, and I humbly ask – isn’t Columbia the type of community that can take on these challenges and present a special evening of sport and international sisterhood? This may not be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, but it is a rare opportunity where we can all come together and celebrate.
If anyone has any doubts, take a look at the video below. It shows the reaction to a winning goal by USMNT member Landon Donovan in the 2010 World Cup match against Algeria:
We only have about 180 days left. Let’s do this.
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