My Artifact.

The idea of picking a singular artifact and commentating on it was a tough one, that's for sure. I am a die hard music fan and could have easily found something in the medium. However, as of late there has been a more pressing 'artifact' that has been fighting for my attention/soul. That would be the artifact of USMNT Soccer (United States Mens National Team). To understand why this means a lot to me is to understand my background. I was born in Mexico and have always had ties to that country. Naturally I was raised as a soccer lover. As I was raised in the United States, especially in Texas, it was a bit tough for me to choose a country to root for: either my home country of Mexico or my new country the US where I've lived the majority of my life. My final decision was to cheer on the US in hopes of the sport picking up and gaining popularity. The more the USMNT wins, the more that the American population as a whole will have the sport in their conscious.

US soccer is special in that it not only carries the spectacle of the sport with it, but at the same time carries the stigmas of United States foreign policy. Thinking back to the "miracle on ice" when the US hockey team beat the USSR in the 1980 Winter Olympics, certain international sporting events have functioned as political/social commentaries of the time. This relates to US soccer in the sense that the US vs. Mexico rivalry has hit an all-time high due to different reasons: USMNT is now respected throughout the world, Mexico's NT is seeing very low FIFA rankings, and there has been growing stress between the neighboring nations due to immigration and economic crises. Therefore it is important to note and understand the spectacle that has been created around the August 12th, 2009 US vs. Mexico World Cup Qualifier in Mexico City. Sports media like ESPN, a station that very rarely talks of US soccer, had not only been talking about this event, but also hyping the event (to the point of almost spending a few million dollars to buy the rights to broadcast the game). Americans who would not be able to name a single MLS team or even a famous Manchester United player were busy talking their mouths off as to the importance of the US beating Mexico. On the other side of the border, many Mexicans had circled August 12th in their calendars 6 months ahead of time. Speaking of the spectacle from an American side only would be ignoring the true spectacle created by this event. Any Mexican newspaper, tv station, radio station, had plenty of headlines for this event days ahead of time. It would be apalling to lose to the "gringos" twice in one year, especially in a sport which most Mexicans love and a majority of Americans don't care for. There truly was a huge "Debordian" spectacle created, especially for a 90 minute game.

There are many ways to view sports, however, soccer is truly a unique international sport. Spectacles are created, countries engage in cultural warfare throughout the acts of a few soccer players. The USMNT is no different, albeit with much fewer supporters. While the team has yet to reach the powerhouse ranking of a Brazil, Argentina, or Germany, the team is paving their way into the minds and culture of America, one 90 minute game at a time.

5 Favorites!

The following are my 5 favorite "items":

Movie: Star Wars IV: A New Hope. The funny thing about this movie is that as a kid, I never got the hype behind the film. I'd have 1st grade buddies running around talking about "Dark" Vader and I just joined in without really 'getting it.' It was not until middle school that I went out of my way to watch the old trilogy. I did this because The Phantom Menace was about to come out. I was immediately drawn into this world Lucas had created. It was all so well thought out, the planet environments, the alien designs, the architecture, the vehicles, the dialog, the story, everything. To me, especially at that time, this was the perfect example of escapist art. Even though the series may be based explicitly based off of archetypes, this film made me think of movies in a new way and with new respect/critical eyes.

Music: Metallica. Growing up I was always an "Orch Dork." I played the viola for God knows how many years. At that time I always really liked classical music and whatever was "hip" at the time, i.e. Eminem, Backstreet Boys, etc. Once I arrived at high school I began developing my musical ear a bit more. I naturally looked at metal music because of the many similarities that genre shared with classical music. I had always known about Metallica growing up, it was a name that was hard to escape, but when I finally gave it a try, "Master of Puppets" to be exact, I was immediately addicted to this rough, methodical, melodical, music. I've listened to plenty of metal since then, but with the exception of Megadeth, I never found a metal band to truly match what the 1980s Metallica were capable of.

TV Show: Sports Nation/Around the Horn (it's a freakin'tie). Sports Nation is a show on ESPN2 that was started in July 2009. It is fairly recent, but boy do I love it. The show consists of two hosts, Michelle Beadle and Colin Cowherd, a perfect duo with badass dichotomy. They attack the same Sports issues that other shows do, but they do so through internet polling and quirky, relaxed, commentary. It doesn't take itselt too seriously and that is a big appeal to me, especially in a medium where many reporters/commentators are fighting to be heard. The show Around The Horn has 4 varying sports analysts from various news agencies. They debate the recent sports issues, but at the same time can be humorous. I'm a huge sports geek so these shows naturally appeal to me and I'll be the first one to hit "record" on the DVR to make sure I don't miss them.

Advertisement: Sports related ads. These ads appeal to me because sports appeal to me. Just because Michael Jordan loves some Hanes does not mean that I go out and get them, but the ad will bring a smile to my face and doing so will naturally imprint the product into my mind. This seems to be the case with most sports related ads. The best such example for me are Payton Manning Sony commercials. The guy is a dork, a lovable one at that, and I will always remember whatever product he is selling because of that. I suppose the advertiser should be somewhat happy with that :p

Comic: Watchmen. I'll be the first to admit that the graphic novel is not my prefered literary medium. However, I have many friends who were comic book fans in high school and I have always heard of V for Vendetta and Watchmen as THE graphic novels to read and experience. Watchmen speaks out to me not because it's about super heroes fighting villains, but rather, because the novel as a whole is nothing but a commentary on the genre. I thought it was amazing that it could carry multiple comic book storylines while at the same time commentating on the genre, truly a unique feat.