Wednesday, July 20, 2011

Media Pinhead Gold Medal: Peter Kokolski of Kicking Back

As I did the other day with Media Pinhead Bronze Medal: Michael Smith of ESPN, and
Media Pinhead Silver Medal: L. E. Eisenmenger (Examiner) and Paul Gardner (Soccer America), this last post calls out the ultimate media pinhead ... me. In this case, while my professional opinion, I will also speak personally on the topic.
My pinheadedness comes from my lack of substantive coverage in the 2011 Women's World Cup. While I am certain there are other valid reasons, this is the one I am going to pick on.

Kicking Back of late has not included much in the way of substance on this topic. I mused a little in "It could never happen to me", where a Hungarian referee missed quite an obvious handball that should serve as a warning to all referees. We also had "We've got your bias right here ...", about an older 2004 comment from Sepp regarding women footballers.

Slightly more serious was "Still don't think there is a difference ...", where there is a clear view that men's and women's football is not the same, and even (in this case) the French National coach commented as such.

Of most significance was "USA Gets Gold in Women's World Cup", briefly detailing the tremendous efforts of the officiating trio who went to Germany, and in my estimation, conquered the tournament from a refereeing perspective.

That's it ...

I could make up some excuse like I've been really busy doing stuff, inspecting matches at the Regionals, or around Massachusetts. Maybe I get honest and say I was (am) more interested in the developing Tour de France (my poor Radio Shack team is getting creamed). I don't know.

Maybe it was the poor performance by the USA in the final. But I don't think so as my disinterest was throughout the month, not just after that match. Maybe I just did not find the tournament as a whole that exciting. Certainly aspects of it, such as USA v. Brasil or the final, but as a whole not so much. I don't believe it was because it was women's football, but I can't discount it either. Maybe there is a certain brutality that can occur in a men's match that piques my interest, and the subsequent management challenge that follows.

It has been opined by some that the players in the grand scheme are not that good as compared to what is touted on a regular basis. Take a look at "Face the facts: Soccer has found its niche in U.S.". Again, as with the other articles, please don't shoot the messenger. It is an interesting theory, and a very well written article.

Honestly I don't know, and it has left me scratching my head. I mean, I love THE game. I have for my lifetime. I am struggling to understand in this case my indifference toward the WWC, and the clear result being my lack of real substantive coverage here.

One thing I do know however, it that it has earned me the Media Pinhead Gold Medal.

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