Ted's Polish-Mexican Page

Some of you may know about this, but Malcolm Glazer, owner of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers just bought Manchester United, probably the biggest sport "brand" in the world.

I think that the fact that I just refered to it as a "brand" indicates the problem. Glazer knows nothing about soccer (um, that other football...), and sees this entirely as a nice piece of marketing and revenue. American sports reporters have had a great time poking fun at those "British Soccer Hooligans" for being mad that an American is buying their biggest team. Of course, I could just imagine the hackles if, say, a British company bought the New York Yankees. Or even worse, if they were Chinese...

The fans staged a protest (I'm sure that Jim Rome and Tony Kornheiser will call it a "riot") when Glazer made his first visit to the stadium. As nuts as fans get here, in many countries, people feel a deep sense of ownership of their teams that we really lack here, except maybe in college football. One big reason is that for most teams, a run of the mill fan can still afford tickets. Also, fans there are organized, and often even own shares of the team. By the way, fan ownership became against the rules in many American leagues after the Green Bay Packers went in that direction.

There are two objections to Glazer's ownership, one is that he seems to want an American ownership model, where the fans have no voice except to buy tickets. The other is that this buyout was leveraged, and he may sell off top players or increase ticket prices to pay the debts. His aversion to publicity has also made it harder for the fans to get to know and trust him.

Contrast the reaction to Glazer to the reaction to Johnathan Kraft, the owner of the New England Patriots that is planning on buying Man U.'s main rivals, Liverpool FC. Kraft already owns one soccer team, the New England Revolution, and has learned a wee bit about the culture associated with the sport. He has spent his time speaking to fan organizations and getting to know about the city. Heard about any protests?


In my extensive research, I found a website called Manchester Buccaneers. I think it's a spoof. At least I hope so. There is also this game designed by a Man U fan.


In this morning's Republic, there was a story that Britney Spears may have her baby in Scottsdale. Golly, how exciting.

Why do we give a damn?

This brings up a big difference between Tucson and Phoenix. One of the reasons why so many celebs have spent time in Tucson is that we don't tend to put it on the front page when they are here. Sharon Stone used to spend a lot of time down here, for example. The media didn't pay any attention until there was a Thanksgiving dinner at a homeless shelter, and a camera crew happened to find her volunteering.

To be fair to the Valley, I'm sure that this story was arranged by Brittney's publicity people. But then again, the Republic didn't have to publish it either.


We have been closing maternity wards, particularly at hospitals serving lower income areas. They always give the reason that there isn't demand for them, as if working class women don't have babies. By the way, I never hear about malpractice costs from the hospitals when they close the wards, only from bloviating right-wingers later.

Did you see the description of this place that Brittney is looking at? If you missed it, here is another link.

That rant is better for Rum, Romanism and Rebellion, my more popular other blog.


Hasta la proxima. Do zobaczenia.