Parents who let an 11-year-old girl call herself a "singer-songwriter" and traipse through the Texas coffeehouse and showcase circuit need to have their heads examined.
And parents old enough to know better who let an 11-year-old girl who isn't do this to the national anthem at a major-league soccer game -- on television, no less -- need killin', to put it in their native Texan.
CONGRATULATIONS, asshats. There's now a rendition of the Star-Spangled Banner worse than Roseanne Barr's. It's your daughter's.
You were happy to bask in the reflected glow of your little darling's prepubescent musical specialness. So you put her out there. And put her out there. And put her out there some more, because the fruit of mama's womb turned out to be a singer-songwriter!
And then you put her out there, before tens of thousands in a stadium and many more than that on TV. What could go wrong with an 11-year-old white girl trying to outdo Whitney Houston's version of a song that to most singers is what invading Afghanistan is to most empires?
Because, by God, people are gonna remember Harper Gruzins from Coppell, Texas!
Well, you got that right. The national anthem done in the style of Tibetan throat singing would have been less memorable . . . and more palatable.
Sadly for you, there's no reflected glory to bathe yourselves in. Worse for Harper, there's no shortage of Texas-size ridicule for a precocious preteen to bear all by her Lone Star self.
Americans rarely miss an opportunity to make profound jackasses of themselves.
The Women's World Cup ended up being no exception.
I had been thinking that Team USA's heartbreaking loss to Japan was somehow metaphorical. On the other hand, recent American history doesn't really jibe with a hard-working team that plays its heart out and loses a close one to a superior opponent. It jibes more closely with a backbiting, infighting, hapless bunch of losers that finishes last in its NBA division.
WHEN LOSING a soccer game results in enough American jingoism, meanness and outright racism on Twitter that it all starts to "trend," you start thinking more along the lines of "bad omen," not metaphor. You also start thinking, as you let your mind start wandering to the debt standoff and the political dysfunction reigning in Washington, that probably we have the government we so richly deserve.
Politicians utterly devoid of class and eager to hurl invective (and worse) at The Other are guilty primarily of mirroring their constituents -- and American sports "fans" -- a little too closely.
I reckon the right team won the World Cup. And judging by recent history in matters small and large, the predictable country is about to lose the future.
Only spoiled, suburban white people could smear Omaha South as basically a bunch of "wetbacks," then make the spectacle all about themselves and how terribly enlightened they're being in, as a student said on TV today, "repairing ties with Omaha South and the Latino community."
Uh . . . what ties?
AND NOW THIS,courtesy of the Omaha World-Herald, from the coach of Lincoln East's soccer team. Get ready for a big "OY VEH!" by the time you reach the end:
Lincoln East Coach Jeff Hoham issued a statement Thursday and sent a letter to Omaha South Coach Joe Maass regarding the “green card'' incident after the state boys soccer championship game.
Hoham apologized for fans' misbehavior in throwing homemade green cards after East defeated South Tuesday night.
And he said he was not talking about the cards when he told Maass after the incident, “Fans do silly things. . . . Make sure your kids know it wasn't intentional.”
Hoham said he was referring to East fans' running onto the field and to East players' penalties when he made the remarks, according to the statement.
“In several media reports, it would appear that I was not concerned about the actions related to the display of green cards,” Hoham said in the statement, issued by the Lincoln Public Schools.
“In reality, my comments were in reference to something totally different. After the game, I was attempting to apologize for our fans running onto the field, and for my players' penalties during the game.
“I wasn't aware at the time of the events that had transpired with the horrible racist act of fans throwing green cards on the field.
“Please know that those comments do not reflect my thoughts regarding the green card incident, as I deplore racism at any level. Prejudice based on stereotypes is always intentional, and I certainly didn't mean to state that it was unintentional.”
IT WOULD SEEM that -- as he sat at the keyboard lying through his teeth to cover his ass -- Coach forgot that reporters witnessed the postgame exchange. This is known as the public-relations equivalent of "Hey, y'all! Watch THIS!"
These things never end well.
After being approached on the field by reporters and asked about the green cards, Maass walked from South's celebration over to where Hoham was standing with his team. Maass said the two had already shaken hands after the game.
With reporters watching, Maass brought up two things with Hoham — how East fans were waving U.S. flags, and the green cards that had been thrown on the field. Maass asked Hoham what he thought about that.
Maass turned and began walking away when Hoham said fans do silly things. Hoham said, “Make sure your kids know it wasn't intentional.”
Maas looked over his shoulder and said, “It never is,” and kept walking.
In his prepared statement, Hoham wrote, “When events like this despicable act occur, it is hard to deal with them, and often painful for us to reflect. However, I believe that a greater good can come from what we all learn from this experience. We can raise our awareness of what stereotyping and discrimination does when it goes unchecked, and we can work actively together to prevent it in the future.”
ALL TOGETHER NOW . . . "Oy veh!"
See, it's all about the perps, never the victims.That's the American Way . . . at least when the perps are privileged perps.
It's hard to be from the offending school. It's painful to reflect upon the really, really bad s*** we did. We can raise our awareness.
Boo f***ing hoo. It hurts to be exposed as an a-hole. I'll alert the media.
Oh, wait. Lincoln East already did.
I LOVE how East is "taking ownership" of this, just so long as "taking ownership" doesn't really involve, you know . . . taking ownership. As I said Wednesday, they say it takes a village to raise a child -- or a high school. And in this case, Lincoln East's village sucked.
With the "stellar" example put forth today by Coach Hoham, the long-range forecast for the Lincoln East community calls for a close race between bullshit and chickenshit, with chickenshit winning by the width of a green card.
Lincoln East soccer fans are patriotic. Above, we see them showing their American pride in an Omaha World-Heraldphototaken at East's exhibition game against the Russian national team.
It's heartwarming how today's youth have not forgotten such old-fashioned values as . . . pardon me? What?
It wasn't an exhibition game against the Russians? Is this an old picture then, from right after 9/11?
IT WAS TAKEN Tuesday night? At the state championship match? Against Omaha South?
Well, what's the deal with the American flags, then?
What do you mean, "Same deal as with the green cards thrown on the field after Lincoln East won in overtime"?
Excuse the interruption, y'all. I've been instructed to look at today's World-Herald. Let's you and I check it out together:
Several Lincoln East students were suspended Wednesday in connection with a postgame incident that sullied the high school’s Tuesday night boys state soccer championship match against Omaha South.
The students admitted making and distributing “green cards,” a reference to immigration status aimed at South’s largely Latino soccer team.
Also Wednesday, dozens of East students began forming a group to “plan action steps to mend bridges with the South High community,” said Dennis Mann, East’s associate principal.
“Their foremost concern is not how to protect our reputation, but how to heal hurt relationships with South,” he said.
East won the game 4-2 in overtime. But what happened afterwards marred the victory.
Dozens of green paper rectangles were tossed into the air as fans and players celebrated on the field at Creighton University’s Morrison Stadium. The “green cards” lay at midfield behind the Lincoln players and coaches as they received their trophy and medals.
As soon as the ceremony ended, several East administrators and a tearful student rushed onto the field and hurriedly scooped up the paper.
The incident offended South staff and supporters, many of whom had attended graduation ceremonies just before the game. (snip)
Mann said that only one person, whom he would identify only as a “Lincoln East fan,” actually threw cards on the field.
“One fan threw a stack of cards,” he said.
He said video of the postgame celebration confirmed that.
When pressed whether the person was an East student, an adult or a college student, as some reports have claimed, Mann would say only, “I’m going to call him a Lincoln East fan.”
“We’re taking ownership of this,” he said.
East students made the cards and distributed them, and some other students knew about it and didn’t stop it, Mann said.
The students’ original intention, he said, was to have the crowd hold up the cards en masse during the game, the way a soccer referee would hold up a red or yellow card.
“Very inappropriate, and very hurtful,” Mann said. “But we were able to put the kibosh on that, thanks to some students who did step up (and tell administrators). But we were appalled and ashamed to see the cards come out on the field.”
He said the students who had planned the green card stunt did not know about the fan’s plan to throw them onto the field.
“The kids who have had disciplinary action taken against them are also agreeing to be part of the solution,” Mann said. “They have agreed to take actions, including writing letters of apology, to help heal the hurt that they have caused.”
Lincoln East Principal Susan Cassata said East’s athletic director sent an apology to South’s athletic director. Cassata said she planned to apologize to South Principal Cara Riggs.
HOLY CRAP. That ain't good.
South, and the whole South Omaha community, had been so excited to get to the championship game. Everyone was so proud. So happy.
I got a smile on my face reading this story in Tuesday afternoon's paper:
Everywhere record-setting soccer goalie Billy Loera goes, from the hallways at Omaha South High School to the streets of his South Omaha neighborhood, he hears the cheers.
“Teachers, staff, alumni, people I don't even know at school come up to me,” Loera said. “They tell me, ‘You're making us look real good. Thanks a lot.' ”
By qualifying for Tuesday night's Nebraska state soccer championship game against Lincoln East, Loera and his teammates have given a reason to cheer to a community that sorely needs one.
South High hasn't won a state championship in any sport since a basketball title in 1990. The Nebraska Department of Education recently designated South as one of 52 “persistently low achieving” schools in the state. And some may take a dim view of South Omaha and its growing Latino population, despite the area's lively historic business district and other assets.
That might explain why cheers, tears and text messages flew out of Creighton's Morrison Stadium and spread through Omaha to thousands of Packer supporters after South beat Creighton Prep in a semifinal Saturday night.
“People are just excited that South made it to a championship game,” said Rich Gonzalez, who played baseball, basketball and football at South in the 1980s. “It's about bringing back South High tradition, bringing back some of the state tournament wins that we used to have. But the biggest thing is it's good for the community.”
Gonzalez, a South Omaha native who is a captain on the Omaha Police Department, said people from the area “know we have a great community here; they know what the community's about.”
“When you're from South High, you have the pride,” he said. “No matter what, when they're losing, when they're down, you still follow 'em, you still care about 'em.”
IT SOUNDS LIKE these kids from South -- or South Omaha -- didn't deserve what they got from the East fans, who I assume don't throw lutefisk at the Gothenburg Swedes . . . or BMW key rings at Omaha Westside.
It's 7:15 p.m. at the Omaha Civic Auditorium. Three blocks away at Morrison Stadium, music is blaring in preparation for the Class A state boys soccer final, scheduled to start in exactly one hour.
Soon Manny and his five senior teammates will be under the lights, competing for Omaha South in the school's first state championship game in any sport in 20 years.
But first first they must get to Morrison Stadium. First they must listen to speeches about journeys and goals and ideals.
Manny wants to enjoy the moment. He does. But he would rather beat Lincoln East.
A class officer takes the podium, recounts memories of “dreaded stairwells and delicious cafeteria food.” She thanks her parents. She reminds her classmates to notice life's beauty. She cries.
Manny Lira leans forward in his chair, fidgeting like a 8-year-old who missed recess. He's in the front row about 300 classmates are behind him and he already has soccer socks and spandex under his creased, black slacks. Time is ticking.
6:56 was “Pomp and Circumstance.”
7:10, “The Star-Spangled Banner.”
7:21, the school choir.
7:26, the principal.
7:32, an Omaha Public Schools administrator.
“Graduates, I implore you to dream,” she says.
Lira can't take it anymore. He looks at his teammate, Billy Loera, and grumbles.
Roni Huerta saw this coming.
Several weeks ago, the South athletic director contacted the Nebraska School Activities Association and introduced a potential problem. The state championship game is scheduled for 7:15 p.m. May 18. South High's graduation is scheduled for 7 p.m. May 18.
Some of these kids are the first in their family to earn a high school diploma. Some of these kids if forced to choose would choose the graduation ceremony, Huerta told the NSAA.
But really, she was only covering her bases. South had never won a state tournament soccer game, let alone a state championship game.
Then the Packers made state. Then they beat Elkhorn last week in a shootout. Then they beat their nemesis, Creighton Prep, in another shootout.
The NSAA moved the championship game back an hour, to 8:15 p.m.
FIRST IN their families to get a high-school diploma? That's, like, inspiring.
And still some Lincoln East fans are taunting these kids with American flags, are throwing faux "green cards" on the field? Just because Omaha South is 60-percent Latino?
Well, if there's some stereotyping to be done, let's try this: The Lincoln East yahoos sound like a bunch of overprivileged, white-bread, suburban rich-kid wankers to me.
In fact, taunting minority students for sole reason of their "otherness" differs from this in no significant manner at all:
LITTLE ROCK. Central High School. 1957.
I wonder whether, amid the other verbal and physical abuse, the white kids thought it would be really funny to pitch watermelon slices at the "Little Rock Nine"? After all, they were . . . black.
For some people, that's reason enough to be a boor and a bully. Just like for some at Lincoln East, any amount of bad behavior is justified by the twin towers of last refuge for rank scoundrels -- the First Amendment and "Hey! They're Mexicans!"
Administrators at Lincoln East say they have the matter in hand. They say suspensions were meted out.
East's associate principal said the incident Tuesday night "turned what should have been a joyful Wednesday at East into 'a day of mourning.'"
No, East. You don't get to mourn. Your kids were the perps; you get to be ashamed. Very, very ashamed. There's a difference.
You get to be ashamed because it was on your watch -- and on the watch of the parents of these unstellar members of the East "community" -- that these morons decided to "represent" for the Spartans by letting their "white trash with cash" freak flag fly. What is to be mourned is that "freak flag" happened to be the Stars and Stripes.
They say it takes a village. Well, in this instance, East, your village sucked.
THAT'S WHY I think the Lincoln East "community" has forfeited its moral right to decide on how its soccer miscreants get disciplined. By all rights, I think that "honor" should go to the Omaha South faculty and student body.