Read other letters about this article

• Monday, December 12, 2005 06:39 AM

  Shankly was Scottish? Crap!

  Thanks for all the responses, people. And my buddy Pete L'Official is 100 percent right that Bill Shankly was Scottish, which is a horrible faux-pas. (Excellent points all the way 'round, Pete, of course.) As for the criticisms of our ex-Soviet friend, well, it's true that I hate freedom. But what I really hate is freedom fries. Because before fries became free, they were French. And of course I love everything that is French, and therefore unfree.

  Duh -- of course I hope I'm wrong and the US team will shock the world. We'll be saying farewell to Keller, Jones, Pope, Reyna and McBride, at least, in the sense that we'll never see them play on the world stage again, and like every other US fan, I have tremendous affection for those guys. They have permanently changed the relationship between this country and professional soccer/football, and we should all be grateful for that. I'm just calling it as I see it.

  As for enraged flames about matters of opinion, that's expected. I may well be wrong about Portugal, of course. But my expectation is that they're likely to flame out on this stage, just as they did in '02.

  Lastly, as to haggismold's contention that the key modifier in US soccer is class, not race, you're absolutely right and I should have said that. We all hope that Donovan, Beasley and their ilk represent the future of US soccer (rather than exceptional blips) but the question of what the 2010 team will look like, and what kind of football it will play, remains enigmatic at best. Thanks, all.

  —Andrew O'Hehir Read Andrew O'Hehir's other letters
  Permalink
  Flag
  Click "Submit Flag" if you feel this post is inappropriate. Explain why below if you wish.

  Cancel