http://www.theglobalgame.com/blog Soccer as a second language Mon, 05 Jan 2009 23:50:30 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.7 en hourly 1 ©The Global Game admin@theglobalgame.com (The Global Game) admin@theglobalgame.com(The Global Game) 1440 football, soccer, world cup, women soccer, world football, world soccer, fifa, football culture Interviews on world soccer culture. Interviews on world soccer culture. The Global Game The Global Game admin@theglobalgame.com No no http://www.theglobalgame.com/images/dembaksm.jpg http://www.theglobalgame.com/blog 144 144 http://www.theglobalgame.com/blog/2007/08/pride-of-lions-iraqi-asian-cup-victory-reminds-a-civilization-what-normal-feels-like/ http://www.theglobalgame.com/blog/2007/08/pride-of-lions-iraqi-asian-cup-victory-reminds-a-civilization-what-normal-feels-like/#comments Fri, 10 Aug 2007 01:47:12 +0000 John Turnbull http://www.theglobalgame.com/blog/?p=266 Baghdad, Aug 9 | A triumphant march through the Asian Cup tournament in July contributed to the resurgence of the Arabic phrase Assood al-Rafidain (Lions of Mesopotamia) to refer to the Iraqi national football team. "It's a way of labeling them with this unifying and historic cultural icon," says Newsweek Baghdad correspondent Larry Kaplow, who appeared on our Aug 7 podcast. Rising above divisions by ethnicity and sect, the Iraqi team, which trains and plays matches in Jordan, defeated Saudi Arabia 1–0 on Jul 29 to lift the Asian Cup for the first time.]]> http://www.theglobalgame.com/blog/2007/08/pride-of-lions-iraqi-asian-cup-victory-reminds-a-civilization-what-normal-feels-like/feed/ 18:10 Lions in a garden, stone panel from the North Palace of Ashurbanipal in Nineveh, northern Iraq. The alabaster panel dates to 645 B.C.E. The Mesopotamian ... Lions in a garden, stone panel from the North Palace of Ashurbanipal in Nineveh, northern Iraq. The alabaster panel dates to 645 B.C.E. The Mesopotamian lion was hunted to extinction in the 19th century. (Room 10a, The British Museum) What became of the lions' den, the cave of the young lions, where the lion goes, and the lions' cubs, with no one to disturb them? (Nahum 2:11, NRSV) Baghdad #124; Scholars reading the verse from Hebrew prophecy relate the allusion to the "lions' den" to the Assyrian rule of Ashurbanipalnbsp;II (668ndash;626 B.C.E.). Specifically, Nahum might refer to the caged lions Ashurbanipal would release to affirm his hunting prowess: "They let a fierce lion of the plain out of his cage and on footnbsp;... I stabbed him later with my iron girdle dagger and he died," reads an inscription related to a period bas-relief. Biblical authors such as Nahum saw Assyrian domination, symbolized by the lion figure, as the destroyer. In Mesopotamia, the land between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, Assyrian kings likened themselves to lions, and so the recent resurgence of the Arabic phrase Assood al-Rafidain (Lions of Mesopotamia) to refer to the national football team. "It's a way of labeling them with this unifying and historic cultural icon," says Newsweek Baghdad corresondent Larry Kaplow, who appeared on our Augnbsp;7 podcast (see below). KaplowRising above divisions by ethnicity and sect and scattered by never-ending violence, the Iraqi team, which trains and plays matches in Jordan, defeated Saudi Arabia 1ndash;0 on Jul 29 to win its first Asian Cup. "We had only one player but with 11 bodies," writes an anonymous journalist blogger (ldquo;Did You Learn the Lesson?" Inside Iraq, Jul 30). Expressing similar feelings, poet Adel al-Fatli in Baghdad daily Azzaman published "Yes, Yes to Football" in advance of the final: "Football managed to unite Iraqisnbsp;/ Football is worth 1,000 times more than policy" (quoted in "Notes from Baghdad as Kickoff Nears," Goal [New York Times weblog], Jul 29). Beyond the political readings, however, and the cravings for a more illustrious past when Iraq was a desired destination in the Arab world, Kaplow affirms how football through sectarian battle and dictatorship has thrived as a means to pursue normal life. It's a constant, omnipresent game. I was in a hotel where I stay a lot, where a lot of journalists stay, and there we had erected fortifications around the hotel and put up floodlights. That immediately turned into a nighttime soccer field, where the floodlights were, for some of the smaller children in the neighborhood. They could go out there after the searing daytime heat and play soccer until 9, 10, 11 at night on a cul-de-sac near the hotel. Gen. David Petraeus here, who's the commander of all the forces in Iraq, often when he goes out on a day trip on his helicopters will take a circuitous route, looping over the whole city of Baghdad, sometimes for 15 or 20 minutes. I was on one of these in his helicopter convoy. He does it to look at normalcy in the city. What's the most obvious thing is you see football matches going on. If it's after work hours, 4 or 5 in the afternoon, grown menmdash;they'll often have pitched in, gotten uniforms. So flying over the city you'll see dirt pitches with nary a blade of grass on the whole thing, but goals erected and men in sort of fluorescent yellow, fluorescent green tops running around kicking soccer balls. And of course you see them when you drive around the city at that time of day. It's a huge pasttime. I suppose it would compare to other big soccer countries, whether in Latin America or Europe. It's by far the number-one sport. Basketball is second, but a very, very distant second. The day after Iraq's 1ndash;0 victory over Saudi Arabia, blogger Al Tarrar of Baghdad Connect offers a new design for the Iraqi flag. (Baghdad Connect, via Global Voices Online) The yearning for n... Asia,,Faith,amp;,Resistance,,Grassroots,amp;,Youth,,Iraq,,Middle,East,,Podcast,,Teaching,Resources The Global Game no No