Kenny Smith | A remarkable thing happens …

If you’re gonna blow something up give it meaning

For my part in the conference today I spoke on panel titled Games of Power: The Weaponization of Sport for Political Gain.

The premise of the panel acknowledges the long history of sport as a battleground, the interrelationships of politics and sport, and the dynamics of regional and national interests that are oftentimes at play. The topics included how sport functions as a contested space where political actors, institutions, and movements seek to assert power, shape narratives, and mobilize public opinion, often while using sport as a weapon.

I talked about identity fusion theory, within the context of nationalism, using the Winter Olympics and the men’s locker room hockey phone call example.

I later asked the question, “What is it to be a 28-year-old athlete, on a gold medal high, and laughing at a punchline from the president of the United States?” I also talked about sport as a soft power, and how that political influence and persuasion might be changing. (The Global Soft Power Index seems to think the U.S. numbers are softening.)

Ultimately, I said this should perhaps be a conversation about sport in a new era. If that sounded wise it was only because of what my colleagues on the panel said after that.

I will take part in two more panels tomorrow. The rest of my day I spent in various audiences, doing the Academic Nod.

This evening, before dinner, we caught some fireworks almost by chance.

Call me old fashioned, but I think fireworks should be memorialized. That’s a lot of sound and fury … and some money … that someone is exploding for no real reason. The least we can do is record it and view it from every conceivable angle.

This series of percussive explosions wasn’t even about nationalism. Call me old fashioned again, but I miss the days when fireworks displays meant something. They told a story, dagnabbit!

Don’t mind me, I’m going to go yell at this cloud of sulfur dioxide, carbon dioxide, and carbon monoxide.

That is Cuan na hAisléime … (still not a series of letters that comes readily to my typing fingers) another casual side-of-the-road view that would be an absolute show stopper most anywhere else.

photo / scholarship / Thursday / video — Comments Off
09
Apr 26

No one is eating that

We are traveling for a conference. Flew yesterday — conferencing today and through Sunday with almost every moment explicitly or implicitly booked. It’s a nice feeling, I’m tired already.

We saw this while we were out and about. And, if I may, a short reply: No.

I suppose it’s nice of this vending scheme to give you the directions across the top of the machine. Select – Pay – Enjoy. I did not get close enough to select, and you’d think my saying that now would imply some regret, but it does not, and there are two reasons. First, I didn’t want to push any buttons on that device for fear that some chemical scent would leach onto my fingers and give me away the next time I had real barbecue. If there is a food that deserves some sort of dye pack for authenticity, it is this one. And that leads me to the second reason I did not approach that machine. Where I come from, barbecue is a serious endeavor. It comes with a cultural pride and historical traditions, a fusion of many different communities and one of our omnipresent commonalities: the odds are good that we know slow cooked meat better than other people do. There’s heritage, history, and pride in those foodways, and they come together even as they diverge. You don’t get this out of a casserole or a catch of the day. This comes to you because your elders gave it to you, because their elders gave it to them, because just a few generations farther back they knew that this food just barely missed the cut among the classical elements: earth, water, fire, and air. Barbecue would have made the list, but everyone fell for the propaganda of aether for a brief period. (Also because, sometimes, there wasn’t even enough low quality meat to slow cook.)

This is not to say that the people that handed this down to my people are the only people with a food in such an important position. Plenty of cultures have specific food that should be viewed comparably — as they should!

But you’re also not getting me to buy sushi or tamales or bibimbap out of a machine. I’d like to be more respectful of a chef than that. And the food itself! Look, the only way to enjoy this is to have a bad experience with vending machine barbecue and then tell the story, ironically, to everyone you meet for the next 10 days.

Furthermore, I’m not paying for any of that — or the acute food poisoning that must surely follow.

Seriously, how often is that machine’s inventory swapped out? And who knows if they leave the power on overnight. Even the sauce is supposed to be fresh and this isn’t it.

Also, their URL doesn’t work, further depressing my confidence in this product.

To be clear, I would try their barbecue in a conventional model, in a store, fresh off the grill as the grill master intended. I would savor and enjoy it and compliment everyone involved, then I’d buy the sauce as a home product, in great big styrofoam cups or jars at the store, as commerce and transportation convenience demands.

Not out of that contraption.

The conference is a good one. We’ve been coming to it for years. Seeing and working with friends is a joy. It is a shame we can only see them once a year. I have, for ages, suggested we create our own department, our own school, our own university. Or a consulting firm. Or just a nice country club where we can sit and tell jokes. One day they’ll catch up to my vision.

My first responsibility at this particular conference was to serve as a respondent to a panel session titled Consumers Caught Between Giants: Social Media Economics. There were two scholars presenting their work. The authors talk for about 20 minutes on what they’re doing. This is an opportunity for them to share some updates, get some feedback and make some nice professional connections than can inspire ideas for their continued work. One of the scholars is a grad student exploring the motivations of platform users to move to a premium tier, things like exclusive programming and various consumer perceptions. The other is a talented new faculty member. She is looking at, among other things, the value of trust and credibility in a word-of-mouth scenario when passing along social media influencers.

It was a great room, one of those sessions where the conversation at the end was robust, lively, and well received by the people doing the research. The best part was in seeing how much room there is to explore in each of these areas. The only down side was they had to hear me talk for a few minutes about their work. But I knew the people in room wanted to have a go at this, so I tried to keep it light and proficient. Two quick compliments, something you might consider considering, and a question for each of you. Now, let’s hear from everyone else. Because everyone else had a lot to say. And they did!

Sessions like these are great, particularly for newer conference goers like these. Maybe we’ll create some long-time members out of both of them. Unless I talked too much.

Tomorrow, I’ll be participating in a panel. Two more on Saturday. I’ve also filled my schedule with seeing other sessions, networking with friends and colleagues and generally trying to present a reasonably professional, or at least serious, face.

Not to worry, I know the sheep videos are doing well. I’m going to show at least one more, next week.

adventures / Ireland / memories / photo / video — Comments Off
08
Apr 26

Both nations featured here like green

I saw this hat at the drug store. I like the colors. Not a big fan of the trucker style but you never know. Plus, the design on the bill is fun. Futbol comma!

Or is that a soccer apostrophe?

Besides, I need a good Mexico hat. And you know it is authentic. Says so, right there on the label. That little plastic tie that you rip off, the tabs disappearing into oblivion, is how you know.

Out of curiosity, I looked on the label stitched into the thing.

C’mon, man.

I’m still living in the happy memories of our wonderful Irish vacation. So, I’m sharing extra videos that we didn’t get to at the time. It was a great vacation. I have a lot of footage. This will go on for some time. Enjoy it with me, won’t you? Here are some more of those waves bashing into the rocky shores. I removed the audio because it’s mostly just wind pops.

That particular place didn’t have a name, of which I am aware. But if you’d like to see more of those waves, try here.

Ireland / memories / photo / Rowan / sports / Tuesday / video — Comments Off
07
Apr 26

Another cold week, then

It is funny, how we all cope with chilly weather in different ways. Phoebe, here, is trying out a bit of late morning sunshine.

Poseidon went for one of his old favorites, a bundle of covers.

It only got to 56 degrees today, but the kitties are doing fine. They like it warm, of course, but they have fur and sunbaths and covers and kitty caves and so on. Me, I have to walk into class and pretend to be excited while it is 56 degrees outside! Hooray spring, guys! We won’t see the 60s until the weekend.

In Rits and Trads today we talked about media rituals, we talked about the characters the media helps create and accentuate, and the atmosphere they create. We talked about how we see military flyovers and see someone sing the national anthem at big events, so we talked about nationalism. We also talked about things like player introductions and postgame interviews. We talked about the Olympic ceremonies and other things the media participate in. And we talked about Rich Eisen running the 40 for charity, and the simulcam replays. Hands down the best part of the football year.

In Criticism we talked about media framing and representation, using these two stories.

USWNT’s Sophia Wilson gave herself grace after the birth of her daughter:

Sophia Wilson says being a mom has helped with her “goldfish mentality” of living in the moment.

Wilson was named to the U.S. national team roster for three upcoming matches against Japan, starting April 11 in San Jose, California. She took time away from soccer for the birth of her daughter and has not played for the United States in 17 months.

“I feel like my perspective on just life in general has shifted a lot, I think, in all the best ways,” Wilson said Thursday. “I feel more grounded, I feel more present. And I think that’s how I view the game as well. I’m trying to approach it with — I always have, but I think more than ever — a goldfish mentality. It’s just, be present in whatever practice, whatever game I’m in, and then it’s on to the next.”

[…]

“Watching her play 70 minutes the other night, it was almost like I couldn’t believe she’s had a baby and come back to perform at the level she’s done,” U.S. coach Emma Hayes said. “Real, real credit to her and the team around her that have really positioned pre- and post-pregnancy planning in a fantastic way.”

People that research gender representation in sports media are often critical about how women are portrayed in coverage. My argument, for several years now, has been that we don’t properly celebrate these sorts of comebacks. She is a mother, yes. She’s also one of the world’s best athletes. And she’s returned to form. Emma Hayes is going to talk about that, and she should. Others should, as well. And so I got to wax on about that for a bit.

We also talked about this story. How 3 Muslim sisters helped change the rules of American women’s wrestling:

“We always said we would never be able to wrestle in college,” said Jamilah, 22.

Coaches recognized their talent when they were teenagers, but they couldn’t wrestle with boys, nor could they wear the required wrestling singlet — due to their faith.

Eventually their passion for the sport – and their perseverance – led to rule changes allowing Muslim women to compete in full-body uniforms at collegiate and national levels.

It’s probably comical when I, the white guy, talk about representation. But there’s a bunch of people that need to think about it, and some of them are in my classroom. They’re just stuck with me at this point.

We saw several places that didn’t have signs or historical significance or car pullouts, they were simply majestic. That’s where you’d want to live, safe on a hill high above it, looking down on this glory, pondering time and patience, and everything in between. For more ocean dramatics, go here.

adventures / Ireland / Monday / photo / video — Comments Off
06
Apr 26

Flowers and Easter

There’s a certain sequence to spring. Sequences, perhaps. There’s the macro and the micro. And now we can look at some of the smaller parts of it. Different things burst into life at different times. And we dutifully trudge out to see them all, pretending that we understand how we can improve something that is so vibrant unto itself.

You may know, I often do not.

In the backyard we have this taller-than-a-shrub, shorter-than-a-tree exhibition. It looks great when you step back and view the whole, but it’s rather chaotic up close.

Across the yard is this guy, which is one of my favorites. I like the delicacy of the florets. They’ll soon be everywhere and get into everything, but that’s the price you pay. That, and being barely able to photograph them.

And then these beautiful specimens, which never appear with quite the right tone on the screen. Any screen. But they bloom and persist. Long-term show offs.

We went to my godparents in-law (just go with it) for Easter. It rained. The kids in their family did an Easter egg hunt in the basement. They broke them down by age groups, so the hunts went on for some time.

They put out the plastic eggs, and each kid is looking for a specific color egg. Each egg has some change or a few bucks in it. And someone creates a map recording where all of the eggs are hidden. For recall and recovery, I suppose.

I stayed out of the way, watching other kids playing hide-and-seek, wondering if they hid eggs in different places for each age group, or recycled the hiding spots. Probably they should.

A 5-year-old and a 6-year-old spent the afternoon hiding from one another. The boy would count, and the girl would hide. He couldn’t find her, so she talked him in. “When you hear the sound of my voice, that’s me.” Eventually, he’d track her down by ear. And then the girl would count and the boy would hide. I was telling her where to look for him. They’re adorable.

They did not share with me their Easter money.

Got a lovely lunch and wonderful company out of the deal, though.

This is Old St. Dympna’s Church.