Imagine you are into a third beer at the local pub and this subject comes up. It is likely to be more fun than it is on your iPhone riding the bus, waiting to get your hair cut or hanging out ‘til quitting time. But you could liven it up for all of us by your comments at the end of this post.

The goal here is not to get total agreement but to have some fun playing around with the idea: Do sports mirror cultures? Some may make a case for rugby or ice hockey as a match up with the Millennial generation instead of our choice of basketball. Eric is on his honeymoon, but when he gets back he will be posting on why basketball matches his generation. He plays the game, has a podcast with two of his buddies on “necessary roughness” that focuses almost exclusively on basketball.

There is general agreement on the years for the respective generations. There are some alternative names for some of the generations, for example, Baby Boomers are sometimes aptly called The Me Generation. There is also some consensus on the general characteristics of different generations and the factors that influenced them growing up. Obviously, an event that happens in one generation influences the next generation or previous generation and some events cut across all generations, such as 9/11. Choosing five icons is tougher, more an informed editorial guess, but a tricky one. We have studied four sites and settled on the University of Missouri Extension group, but now they require you to sign up for a class. There is general consensus among the various sites. We take it from there and hope you will join the conservation.

I can hold my own on the first two generations since I was born at the end of the Silent Generation and take most of my influences from the Boomers. I take Eric’s observations about Millennials. I need another beer when we start talking about GenXers who followed the Boomers and GenZers, those born in this century and who’s generation is just ending. Some have suggested ice-hockey for GenXers. We opted for soccer which is global and the most watched sport in the world. There are no team time outs in soccer and only two substitutions. It requires the most endurance to play—something GenXers might well claim for themselves.

One final important editorial point: not everyone in a generation has the same influences, characteristics, icons. Not everyone stood in a bread line during the Great Depression and not everyone went to the front lines in the Vietnam War—it fact less than 30 percent made it to the front lines. (Read the comments in the link below: some interesting details.)

Not all in the Silent Generation where patriotic, some were traders. Some would say The Beatles were more of an icon for the Boomers than Elvis. The Beatles certainly took some notes from Elvis. The average of those killed in the Twin Towers on 9/11 was between 35-39, making them GenXers. GenZers were not born yet, their generation was just beginning. And GenZers may be the only generation that has seen the US at war for their entire generation.

We are also influenced by the icons of our era and tend to see a sport through the eyes of the star how played in our generation: Pelé, Johan Cruyft, David Beckham, Lionel Messi, or in basketball Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Michael Jordon, Larry Bird, LeBron James, and if you are from Philadelphia, Dr. J. And so on. But the goal here is not a personality matchup, rather the whole of the generation and a match up with five major characteristic a sport.

Credit: sfaq.us

In the end, when we parse some of the generational differences, we are all Americans and have a shared cultural DNA. Of that there is no question.

There will be five more posts in this series of generations and sports. In chronological order, starting with the Silent Generation and Baseball.

Here is an overview of our first call:

While you are welcome to jump ahead or mix it up, feel free to do so. We will use the same structure for all the generations so that we end up with parallel construction.

Then each of us in the editorial group will write a post about how we see the matchup through our experiences. The point will be clear: Any individual in any generation can love any sport at any time. No one is forced into a locker here.

We hope you will join the conversation.

Credit: drinkoftheweeek.com

It has been a strange 31 days for me, someone for whom soccer is a passion and who has watched with interest the performance of England’s soccer team, aka the Three Lions, at the 2018 FIFA World Cup hosted by Russia this past month.

Why Three Lions?

They have a history going back to the 12^th century, when a standard with three gold lions on a red field was carried into battle to inspire the troops.

As The Guardian reports, “The first one came from Henry I—known as the lion of England—who had a lion on his standard on taking power in 1100. Shortly afterwards he married Adeliza, whose father also had a lion on his shield, and to commemorate the event he added a second lion to his standard. In 1154, two lions became three when Henry II married Eleanor of Aquitaine, who—yes, you’ve guessed it—also had a lion her family crest.

Later that century, Richard the Lionheart (1189-1199) used the three golden lions on a scarlet background as a symbol of the English throne and, after that, it appeared on the Royal Arms of every succeeding monarch.

I say “strange” because, like many other England supporters, I had given up on my team ever being successful again. Too many false dawns since 1966 when, as a callow youth, I witnessed England’s one and only success in an international competition, beating West Germany that year in the FIFA World Cup. (Historical Note: German reunification did not happen until 3^rd October 1990)

Credit: autographauctions.co.uk

Since then the emotions of England supporters across the subsequent 26 International competitions that have taken place. They have ranged from enduring two close shaves but, more often, abject failure, i.e. either not even qualifying for the final stage of the competition, or, perhaps even worse, having qualified, only to suffer earth shattering defeats to humble countries such as Iceland, as happened in the 2014 competition.

In every competition there can only ever be one winner so why should England football fans think they have any greater right to win the competition than any other soccer loving nation with a deep history in the sport?

The answer is very simple.

Dammit we invented the game!!!!!! Surely, we have a divine right?

Credit: chevygirl574.wordpress.com

Sadly however, other countries have been playing the game better than us at international level for quite some time now. For heaven’s sake, even the USA soccer team has beaten us on two occasions! Slowly but surely, the England soccer fan base had become disillusioned with its players. Too many false dawns, which brings us nicely to 2018.

Because now, suddenly, things seem to be different.

Gareth Southgate, (aged 47), the English born and bred manager, understands the importance of the national team to the country’s psyche. In the space of less than two years he has achieved a significant culture change by steadily changing the narrative about what it means to play for your country and he has galvanised a disparate group of young men into a force to be reckoned with on the international stage.

England did not win the 2018 FIFA World Cup but, looking to the longer term, perhaps it now has something even more significant, the emotional reconnection with its fan base?

Perhaps this reconnection is best illustrated by the crowds watching the games in Russia and at home, all singing “football’s coming home,” a reference to a song released by two English comedians in 1996 about the England soccer team titled the “Three Lions,” which included the phrase “football’s coming home.”

Of course, there is a wonderful irony in England fans singing “football’s coming home” that has probably passed over many of their heads. Referring back to the title of this dispatch, the sting in the tale here is that our French cousins, in what they might call a dénouement, would contend that, in 2018, football did indeed come home to its rightful place, which is France, not England.

We English may have invented and codified the game but is was a Frenchman by the name of Jules Rimet, a French football administrator and 3^rd President of FIFA, who is recognised as the founding father of the World Cup concept, first played in 1930. Such was his standing in the game that the original trophy was named in his honour.

That fact should help to keep us arrogant, soccer loving: we invented the game, English in our place!

There was a time when baseball was considered America’s favorite pastime. Then came steroids, night games, cheaters, and betters—further reflecting American culture as it moved from easier-paced pastoral life to a frenzied city jungle. The game hasn’t changed much and the traditions linger from stick ball to softball, from Little League to The Show. Above all, the poetry remains and Casey will get to play another day.

Consider how baseball reflects American culture:

1. It’s the only team sport where the person scores not the object
2. You come home to score. You don’t “invade” the opponent’s turf
3. Every infield has the same dimensions—there is no variation
4. All the outfields are different in terms of distance from home plate and type of wall
5. Everyone places offense and defense
6. Defense is a team effort. Offense, for the most part, is an individual effort
7. Anyone can make the difference in the outcome at any point in the game
8. The game is not played against the clock: it can go on “forever”
9. _____________________________________

This is just a start. Your turn at bat. You can fill in the blank and add extra “innings”