Oller's Second Thoughts: Soccer and sushi. Crew coach makes his sport sound fishy
In searching for an acceptable analogy to explain soccer interest and acceptance in this country, raw seafood seems a good place to begin.
Soccer and sushi share commonalities in the United States. Both appeal to a younger demographic. Both are growing in popularity. Yet both also are an acquired taste. Older sports fans don’t know exactly what to do with it. Many will never try it.
Me? I appreciate the delicacy of both soccer and sushi, but find both a bit squishy. And Crew coach Wilfried Nancy is not helping me digest one of the two.
Did you catch what Nancy said last week? He would rather win the Supporters Shield than an MLS Cup. Say what? The Supporters’ Shield is awarded to the MLS team with the best regular-season record. The Cup is MLS’s Super Bowl.
Nancy’s eye-popping utterance would be like Clevelanders saying they would rather the Browns go 13-4 during the regular season – hey, a fan base can dream, right? – than parade through the streets with the Lombardi Trophy. Ridiculous.
It’s like offering ’Muricans steak or fish rolled in seaweed. Sure, plenty of people prefer eating things that swim to things that moo, oink, baa and cluck, but you risk losing the support of a majority of U.S. fans by declaring at the Fourth of July cookout, “We’re grilling raw squid burgers instead of serving brisket.”
Nancy explained his reasoning, realizing it may go against the grain-fed beef.
“I don’t know what you are going to think about this, but the Supporters’ Shield is more important to me,” he said. “The Supporters’ Shield, it’s 34 games and you have to be consistent. Playoff games, for me … this is not the best team that’s going to win, because there is a lot of things we cannot control.”
That explanation rings Eastern, like sushi. It’s not wrong. Just different. But in our Western culture, anything that fails to register with our meat and potatoes win-the-postseason mentality is a dumb way to grow your sport. Nancy needs to be smarter than that, especially in Columbus, where the quest for college football national championships reign supreme.
Ryan Day keeps making Lou Holtz look smart(er)
The more Ohio State coach Ryan Day talks, the more he helps confirm what Lou Holtz – and many others – have been saying about the Buckeyes. That they lack physical and mental toughness.
Immediately after defeating Notre Dame two weeks ago, Day lambasted Holtz for questioning OSU’s “physicality,” but between breaths admitted the Buckeyes needed to be better in short-yardage situations, which is a sign of toughness.
After the comeback win against Maryland, Day said this:
“One of the things you’re starting to see about this team is we don’t panic,” he said. “If it’s not going quite right we’re going to keep pushing forward. Maybe in the past it was like, OK, if things weren’t going well in the first half, if the scoreboard wasn’t turning over every couple drives, everybody would start getting panicky.”
“Everybody would start getting panicky.”
That sounds like an admission that the Buckeyes were at times emotionally soft. Or at least not as mentally tough as they needed to be.
If you are one who does not totally disagree with Holtz’s description of the way Ohio State has played against Michigan, in particular, keep listening to Day, whose penchant for revisionist history keeps getting revealed in bits and pieces.
Listening in
"As all the attention comes, I feel like I was on top of the world after the Super Bowl, and right now even more on top of the world, so it's fun, man." − Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce, on the interest surrounding his relationship with Taylor Swift.
Off-topic
First, thanks to readers who revealed their creative cooking tips. If I can pick things up as quickly as C.J. Stroud is in Houston, I’m in good shape.
Next up: leaf-raking advice. This time I’m giving, not getting. Buy yourself an electric or gas leaf blower/shredder. Well worth the money. My technique: rake leaves into small piles or blow into the street then sweep into the curb (makes the shredding easier). Shred. Mow. Voila. And keep up with it. Waiting until the piles reach Mount Everest height means more work with wetter leaves.
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This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Columbus Crew coach Wilfried Nancy makes soccer sound less serious
