US - China Basketbrawl: Is America Losing Swagger? Are the Chinese gaining it?
In High School whenever two kids would have a fight and no one really knew how it started, one of the brawlers would throw out one of the usual excuses, for instance: "He looked at me like I owed him money!"
The irony then for the American - Chinese Basketbrawl that took place recently is that it looked like a tenant fighting his landlord, what with all the money we now owe the Chinese.
The issue here is "swagger." Swagger is important in sports. Even with the Little League and American Youth Football teams I coach, I want my boys to have some swagger.
Understand that swagger doesn't mean something un-sportsmanlike. It isn't trash talking, pointing to the fence before an at-bat or high stepping into the end zone. Swagger has two parts - self-confidence by you, and a certain respect, perhaps bordering on envy by your opponent because of it. Swagger translates into a competitive advantage.
Other teams will show respect to a team that has swagger. Sure once in awhile you encounter a team that is "chippy." They are forcing a little contrived disrespect to either test your swagger or hopefully gain some of their own in the challenge. When I see that, I tell my boys to "just beat them in the game." Nothing shuts up the trash talkers like winning.
Something has transformed the Chinese in their recent view of Americans in sports.The don't seem to respect our swagger.
The Georgetown basketball team was a guest in China along with Vice President Biden. As you can see from the video below, the Chinese not only showed our boys a lack of respect, but it appeared to be outright disdain, what with all the hard punching as well as chair and bottle throwing.
Whatever the state of American swagger in the world of basketball, and it has always been considerable, the Chinese don’t seem to care about it. In fact, the Chinese basketball players have become a bit “chippy” themselves. They recently brawled with the Brazilians and hospitalized one of their players.
It’s not far out to wonder about all this in terms of politics, because national sports has long been not just a metaphor but a surrogacy for foreign diplomacy. The Olympics have been used by politicians to make a point for generations. The United States and Germany fought a proxy war in the Louis-Schmeling fight.
To put the current combatants into historical context, I ask you to recall “Ping Pong Diplomacy.” Prior to the Nixon visit to China, America’s Ping Pong team was invited to China. Both nations paid more attention to the political implications than to the exhibition matches. The Americans were treated with dignity and respect, and Nixon eventually took the trip. The Chinese at the time appeared to need us more than we needed them.
Fast forward to now. Our Vice President is in China and the Chinese basketball team is treating their American guests like… well… like guys who owe them money.What do we make of this? Is America losing swagger as we become international debtors? Are the Chinese feeling superior now that they are a rising superpower financially and militarily? Below is the disturbing video:
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Mar '11
Re: US - China Basketbrawl: Is America Losing Swagger? Are the Chinese gaining it?
Tommy - Mr Obama has already fundamentally transformed America - haven't you noticed?
Or, maybe it was already fundamentally transformed, in order to elect him. We will see how fundamental that transformation is, next year.
Nov '10
Re: US - China Basketbrawl: Is America Losing Swagger? Are the Chinese gaining it?
I work for a Corp that has operations all around the world, have regular contact with the folks in our Shanghai office, and have visited China. Yes, they have the swagger of a coming power. That is now coupled with the obvious weakness being projected by our current leadership and the subservient position we're in by owing them $1.2 trillion. Stunning how much the situation has changed in just a decade.
Jun '10
Re: US - China Basketbrawl: Is America Losing Swagger? Are the Chinese gaining it?
The Chinese, being economic agnostics, actually look for economic success stories that they can learn from, and repeat. The Obama Administration, being leftist ideologues, look for leftist economic mythologies that (against all historic evidence) they can prove to be correct after all. They didn't work the first twenty times they were tried, but this time will be different.
Dec '10
Re: US - China Basketbrawl: Is America Losing Swagger? Are the Chinese gaining it?
I'd be curious to know what they were saying. My experience is that their view of race might not be as enlightened.
Jun '10
Re: US - China Basketbrawl: Is America Losing Swagger? Are the Chinese gaining it?
I don’t know if certain American sports teams have lost their swagger or not. Hard to discern from this video clip how this went down but from what I understand the game was foul-plagued from the beginning. As much as I don’t mind attributing blame to Obama for many things, I don’t think attributing his influence to the wimpification of America’s sports teams may be warranted.
For some reason I am reminded of the scene from Casablanca with Rick and the Nazis:
STRASSER: Are you one of those people who cannot imagine the Germans in their beloved Paris?
RICK: It’s not particularly my beloved Paris.
HEINZE: Can you imagine us in London?
RICK: When you get there, ask me.
RENAULT: Ho, diplomatist!
STRASSER: How about New York?
RICK: Well, there are certain sections of New York, Major, that I wouldn’t advise you to try to invade.
Jan '11
Re: US - China Basketbrawl: Is America Losing Swagger? Are the Chinese gaining it?
No problem. If those players attending Georgetown (historically thuggish from my perspective) can't intimidate their international rivals on the court they can retreat to their pricey DC education and just intimidate their Chinese rivals in the classroom.
Well, at least we've got more females than the Chinese. I wonder when they'll start taking our women? How about it Barack? Do you have more daughters than you need? Can we give one to the Chinese so we can borrow some more money for another stimulus?
[This could be my least coherent comment of all time. Competition is fierce. Good thing nobody reads these words.]
Oct '10
Re: US - China Basketbrawl: Is America Losing Swagger? Are the Chinese gaining it?
Yeah...ok.:
Well, at least we've got more females than the Chinese. I wonder when they'll start taking our women?
All your white women.
May '11
Re: US - China Basketbrawl: Is America Losing Swagger? Are the Chinese gaining it?
China is a police state and presumably they could control their basketball players if they wanted. I'm guessing this is about intimidating other nations. Note that the Chinese also just built an aircraft carrier.
May '10
Re: US - China Basketbrawl: Is America Losing Swagger? Are the Chinese gaining it?
The Chinese are crazy about basketball. It is pretty clear that the team and the ministry responsible wanted to win, so there was a bit of a thumb on the officiating scale.
If you read the comments at Chinese web sites, such as sino, they say things like "We got 57 free throws and scored all of 64 points total?" and "We get 57 free throws to their 15 and end up tied?" and "What kind of referees are those where the fouls are so unbalanced?"
The Han are a pretty proud nationalistic people, and after years of blatant rascism against them they behave surprisingly well.
I would hope that our teams would be restrained and act with class no matter how the other guys behave.
Edited on Aug 21, 2011 at 12:02pmOct '10
Re: US - China Basketbrawl: Is America Losing Swagger? Are the Chinese gaining it?
what really happened? who really started it?
Nov '10
Re: US - China Basketbrawl: Is America Losing Swagger? Are the Chinese gaining it?
From what I've read, the Chinese team. They were more than a little upset that they weren't winning, despite the huge ref advantage
and a few of them teamed up on one of the Georgetown players. Of course the whole Georgetown bench gets up, and then the Chinese one, etc.
Apparently this particular Chinese team is notorious for being a bunch of punks that start fights.
May '10
Re: US - China Basketbrawl: Is America Losing Swagger? Are the Chinese gaining it?
Yes. The Chinese citizens who commented were not impressed by their side.