EuroCup

I haven't posted anything on the EuroCup because I'm an ignorant American who doesn't ever watch football (I know enough to call it football!).  I should get more into it since football plays a vital role in politics (re: Central and South America).  History plays a huge role as well, as the whole world realized today.  Just in case they forgot that some wounds go pretty deep.

While I recognize that the World Cup is no respector of current/past conflicts when it comes to matches, the organizers of EuroCup should have known better.  Who in their right mind would let Russians march through Warsaw on Russia Day during a testosterone inducing football match!?  The organizers botched that entirely.  Oh, remember how Russia has invaded Poland repeatedly? or that 45 year long occupation marked by failed uprisings? or the really suspicious Kaczynski plane crash?  THOSE THINGS.  They're important!  If (BOOK X) taught me nothing else, it's that the Polish really romanticize their rebellion for rights and freedom--it's a part of their national identity and spirit--and that means there's little room for feelings of "Russia was okay".  They were always the oppressors of Polish freedom.  This is why the Kaczynski plane crash struck such a deep cord: it felt like Russia was destroying the banner-carrying freedom fighters of Polish democracy.  I kid you not.

Sure, we can all be adults and shake out heads at such hoodlams, but I can imagine that similarly ridiculous events would ensure if someone were to prod in the American 9/11 wound, the Hiroshima bombing wound, the Iranian embassy wound, etc.  There's ugly history and hurtful events that never quite go away.  The examples may be a bit over the top, though personally I think it captures the depth of animosity really well, but the point is that it's not something they're over.  There hasn't been an American embassy in Iran since the incident, probably due to historical reasons far more than pragmatic ones.  So you get it.  Big boo boo.  Hopefully the EuroCup will get past all that hoodlanism.  We have some football to watch!