Bad sports, good sports: North Korea takes its soccer very seriously

Posted on August 2nd, 2010 by Alan Spoll

I am often amazed at the regularity with which the world reminds me that many other cultures are not at all like ours. It is easy to believe that those differences make others uncivilized or backward, and much harder to see them as simply different. I am sure there are many people out there who have a greater ability to see the beauty and value in variety than I do. Even those people, though, might have a little bit of trouble understanding what happened with the North Korean national soccer team this week.

The North Koreans lost all three matches they played in the recent World Cup, held in South Africa. It seems the team and its coach were publicly humiliated by the government for their performance, and were accused of betraying Kim Jong-un, the heir-apparent to president Kim Jong-il. The report states that the players were forced to reprimand their coach at the close of the meeting.

I guess it could be worse, right? We could be reading about executions or public floggings or things like that. Still, I can’t help but think that there is some confusion over there about the meaning of sports. I hate when my teams lose, sometimes to the point of feeling physically ill. I am pretty sure, though, that I would never advocate that Andy Reid be lambasted by the government after a particularly painful Eagles loss. No matter how seriously we take them, sports are supposed to be fun. Life is hard enough without making what should be our distractions into things that are every bit as serious as the real problems countries face every day. I really hope nothing worse faces the North Korean players and their coach, beyond what has already happened. I am pretty sure they wanted to win just as much as their government wanted them to.

Bad sports, continued:

2) Former NBA player Lorenzen Wright was found dead last week in some woods south of Memphis. He had been missing for ten days.

3) I don’t know that there is a big audience out there for Drexel news, but I would not want anyone to accuse me of bypassing a story due to some kind of allegiance to my alma mater, so here you are. Two Drexel basketball players were arrested on Monday after allegedly robbing a fellow student at gunpoint in her campus apartment. Jamie Harris and Kevin Phillip have been suspended from the team, pending an investigation.

Fun injury news of the week: There were two interesting baseball injuries this week, following up on a spate of others this season. The fun actually started last Sunday afternoon, with another “celebration” injury. This one is even odder than the others, though, in that it didn’t happen at the time of a play. Florida Marlins outfielder Chris Coghlan injured his knee while delivering a shaving cream pie to the face of Wes Helms, a teammate who had just hit a walk-off home run to complete a win over the Atlanta Braves. Then, on Tuesday, Huston Street was involved in an incident that involved a lot less laughing than Coghlan’s injury. Street was hit in the groin by a line drive during batting practice. I have not seen video of this one, and that’s probably a good thing. Street reportedly passed out a couple of times before being taken off the field in an ambulance.

Good sports:

1) Carlos Gonzalez of the Colorado Rockies had quite a game for himself on Saturday. Not only did he hit for the cycle, which is a rare and exciting occurrence, but he completed it with a walk-off home run to lift the Rockies to a 6-5 win over the Chicago Cubs.

2) The Tennessee Titans have sued USC head coach Lane Kiffin and his employer for their role in violating the contract of former running backs coach Kennedy Pola, who left the Titans recently to work for Kiffin on the Trojans staff. Coaching contracts are treated like so much fluff in big time sports, and Kiffin has shown so little respect for anyone, really. I am pleased to see the Titans making an issue of this. They won’t win much, even if they win, but Kiffin deserves to be held responsible for the slimy way he does business.

3) There were a couple of crazy golf scores this week that are worth mentioning. Young golfer Bobby Wyatt shot a ludicrous 57 in the third round of the AGA State Boys Junior Championship in Alabama last week, on his way to winning the tournament. Then, on Sunday, pro Stuart Appleby won the Greenbrier Classic in West Virginia with a nearly-as-amazing 59, becoming only the fifth PGA player to ever score that low.

Bad Sports, Good Sports appears every Monday

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Alan Spoll

Alan Spoll is a software quality assurance director from the suburbs of Philadelphia where he lives with his wonderful wife and children. He has spent his entire life as a passionate fan of the Eagles, Phillies, Sixers, Flyers, and Penn State. Recent Phillies success aside, you will understand his natural negativity. Follow me on Twitter - @DocAlan02