tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-147750452024-03-08T02:56:43.565+00:00Armchair ArchaeologistpistonJWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10272683849661370549noreply@blogger.comBlogger140125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14775045.post-76558375502753175982011-06-17T00:07:00.000+01:002011-06-17T00:08:44.240+01:00Catalunya is NOT Spain(written on July 2nd, 2010)<br /><br />這是一個微妙的時機, 讓以下這些和巴薩, 加泰隆尼亞和西班牙<br />相關的事實和現象同時發生, 也促成了我寫下這篇文字的動機.<br /><br />如果它們閱讀起來無甚條理, 或許是因為解釋現實世界中這三者<br />的糾葛本來就是件極其困難的任務.<br /><br />------<br /><br />當 Xavi, Iniesta, Puyol, Pique, Busguets, Pedro, Victor Valdes<br />和 David Villa 代表西班牙隊在世界盃擊敗葡萄牙挺進八強的同時,<br />諷刺的是,他們所效力的巴塞隆納與加泰隆尼亞地區,卻遭受了政治上<br />的嚴重挫敗。<br /><br />經過超過四年的糾葛,六月 28 日和 29 日,西班牙的憲法法庭<br />(Tribunal Constitucional)終於對 2006 年新修訂並通過實施的<br />加泰隆尼亞自治法(Estatut d'Autonomia de Catalunya de 2006)<br />作出裁決。<br /><br />儘管憲法法庭裁定通過了其中超過 95% 的法條(其中包括: 由於歷史<br />和文化因素,加泰隆尼亞可繼續使用「國家(nacion)」這個詞來稱呼<br />自己,即使這個字眼在目前的西班牙憲法中不具任何效力,加泰隆尼亞<br />這個自治政體,也仍屬西班牙不可分割的一部份),卻刪除了其中 14 條<br />最關鍵的條文,並「改寫」另外 27 條。<br /><br />被刪除的 14 條當中,最具代表意義的是以下這段,原自治法條文中<br />第 6.1 條,開宗明義對於加泰隆尼亞語(Catalan)的釋義:<br /><br />http://www.gencat.cat/generalitat/eng/estatut/titol_preliminar.htm#a6<br /><br />"Catalonia's own language is Catalan. As such, Catalan is the language<br />of normal and preferential use in Public Administration bodies and in<br />the public media of Catalonia, and is also the language of normal use<br />for teaching and learning in the education system."<br /><br />「加泰隆尼亞語為加泰隆尼亞之母語。因此,加泰隆尼亞語為加泰隆尼亞<br /> 『一般(normal)』且『優先(preferente)』於政府機關與大眾媒體使用之<br /> 語言文字,同時為學校教育一般使用之語言文字。」<br /><br />憲法法庭裁決,以上這段文字和西班牙憲法中載明西班牙語為「唯一官方文字」<br />的立場相衝突,因而違憲。<br /><br />其他遭憲法法庭否決的條文,主要遭剝奪的權力在於司法(包括加泰隆尼亞<br />地區這幾年逐步培養的自治法院和陪審團等機構)和稅收自主權方面。<br /><br />在憲法法院的裁決終於出爐之後,加泰隆尼亞地區一片嘩然之聲,<br />現任自治政府最高首長主席 Jose Montilla 強調,憲法法院應當尊重<br />加泰隆尼亞自治法之整體性,不可任意裁決刪除部份條文。他呼籲所有<br />自治區人民起而抗爭,並且已經決定,將於今年七月十日,聯合自治區<br />各商會和社團機構,舉辦大規模的罷工示威遊行活動。<br /><br />加泰隆尼亞地區六大主要政黨其中的四大: 集中統一聯合黨(暫譯)<br />(Convergncia i Uni, CiU)、加泰隆尼亞社會黨(暫譯)<br /> (Partit dels Socialistes de Catalunya, PSC)、<br />加泰隆尼亞共和左傾黨(暫譯)(Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya, ERC)、<br />與加泰隆尼亞綠黨(暫譯) (Iniciativa per Catalunya Verds, ICV) ,<br />平時對各政治議題立場大相逕庭,現在合計佔加泰隆尼亞議會八成席次的他們<br />卻決定組成聯合陣線,準備在西班牙國會提案,企圖提出憲法法院的裁決無效之訴。<br /><br />看到這裡,一定會有人會問,為何加泰隆尼亞要對西班牙憲法法院的裁決<br />如此群情激憤?尤其在自治法當中超過 95% 的條文都獲得通過的情況下?<br /><br />這個問題的原因,除了之前所提,自治法當中遭刪除的部份包括了語言、司法<br />和稅收等攸關加泰隆尼亞自主發展的關鍵部份外,另一個重要的原因,在於<br />這部自治法被送上憲法法院釋憲過程之荒謬。<br /><br />2006 年六月,在先後經過加泰隆尼亞和西班牙國會多數通過之後, 加泰隆尼亞<br />自治法得以舉行公民投票, 並獲得 73.24% 的選票支持, 順利通過<br />(儘管這次自治法公投, 創下了有史以來投票率首度低於五成 (48.85%) 的紀錄) ,<br />並在同年八月交付執行.<br /><br />然而, 在加泰隆尼亞和西班牙國會表決階段, 都對此一自治法投下反對票的西班牙<br />人民黨 (Partido Popular, PP, 西班牙國會目前最大的反對黨, 立場中間偏右,<br />保守主義) , 提案將自治法當中的 125 條交付憲法法庭裁決. 在西班牙憲法法庭的<br />大法官成員已經超過六年沒有正常改選的情況下 (諷刺的是, 當時阻擋憲法法庭改選<br />成員的最有力力量, 正是西班牙人民黨), 由這個憲法法庭作出的裁決,<br />會引起加泰隆尼亞絕大部分民眾的憤怒, 也就不難想像了.<br /><br />對於已經因經濟問題焦頭爛額的西班牙總理 JosLuis Rodrguez Zapatero 來說,<br />加泰隆尼亞和西班牙在這個時候再起爭端, 絕對是他最不願意看見的事情.<br />目前最新的消息是, 他已經承諾將盡快與自治區政府主席 Jose Montilla 見面,<br />尋求解決目前爭端, 滿足大多數人民預期的方式.<br /><br />------<br /><br />看完以上這段新聞提要, 許多人一定會問, 這些政治上的紛擾, 和 FC Barcelona<br />有什麼關係?<br /><br />這個問題的答案, 難以用三言兩語解釋.<br /><br />如果說, 在甫卸任的巴薩主席 Joan Laporta 帶領下, 巴薩獲得了隊史以來<br />競技上最大的成功, 絕不是一句誇大之辭: 兩座歐冠, 四座聯賽冠軍,<br />國王盃冠軍, 世俱盃冠軍, 和其他大大小小的獎盃...<br /><br />然而, Laporta 的功績並不止於此. 在他任內, 巴薩勇於擁抱全球化的浪潮,<br />不只是一支 "加泰隆尼亞人的軍隊". 巴薩同時用傲人的成績和正面的形象宣傳<br />(尤其是與 UNICEF 的合作), 讓球迷數目在世界各地迅速增加, 成為全世界商業<br />收益前幾名的球隊. 在穩定成長的商業收益下, 球隊的經濟狀況, 也比 2003 年<br />Laporta 接任時, 有了長足的進步和改善.<br /><br />簡而言之, Laporta 的功業, 絕對會讓他的繼任者備感壓力, 因為目前這支球隊<br />已經站在隊史上前所未有的高峰.<br /><br />但是, 在巨大的功績底下, Laporta 的個人形象一直備受爭議. 除了擅於利用<br />媒體的敢言作風之外, Laporta 更是個不折不扣的加泰隆尼亞獨立運動支持者.<br />不只一次, Laporta 都公開表示過對加泰隆尼亞獨立的支持; 儘管讓巴薩成為<br />全球球迷人數最多的球隊之一, 但 Laporta 也不只一次公開表示, 巴薩過去,<br />現在和未來, 都將是加泰隆尼亞人最重要的象徵.<br /><br />儘管 Laporta 勇於表達個人政治立場的作風, 近年來不斷遭受來自馬德里方面<br />和他的競爭對手的批評, 指責他以巴薩主席的身分, 把這支球隊當作散播個人<br />政治立場的工具, 但 Laporta 帶領下球隊的成就, 又讓這些指責和雜音缺乏力道.<br /><br />種種跡象更顯示, 熱衷政治的 Laporta, 在卸下巴薩主席的身分後, 即將投入<br />加泰隆尼亞的政治圈. 過去一年來, 不斷有各種猜測, Laporta 將會加入<br />分離主義政黨之一的 ERC, 投身今年秋天的加泰隆尼亞國會大選; Laporta<br />家喻戶曉的公眾形象, 和擔任巴薩主席的成就, 讓他成為每個政黨都想拉攏的<br />對象.<br /><br />結果, Laporta 再度令所有人大吃一驚. 剛卸下巴薩主席的他, 已經立刻決定<br />將成立一個新的政黨: 加泰隆尼亞民主黨 (暫譯) (Democracia Catalana, DC) .<br /><br />Laporta 將代表這個積極支持獨立運動的政黨<br />(口號: Som una nacio (We are a nation)), 出征今年秋天的國會大選.<br /><br />儘管 Laporta 和 DC 未來的組織, 計畫和動向, 要等到明後天正式記者會後<br />才會更加明朗, 但考慮 Laporta 至今累積的人脈和聲望, 和他在巴薩主席任內<br />所展現出的處事手腕, DC 對於加泰隆尼亞, 乃至於西班牙政治未來的影響, 都是<br />不可小覷的. 憲法法庭裁決加泰隆尼亞自治法違憲, 導致民情激憤的事件,<br />更有可能成為讓 Laporta 政治生涯起飛的最大助力.<br /><br />儘管 Laporta 離開了巴薩, 但他未來可能在不同的位置上, 帶給這支球隊<br />和加泰隆尼亞更大的影響.<br /><br />------<br /><br />Sandro Rosell 以破紀錄的得票率 (61.35%) 當選新任主席的事實, 除了說明了<br />他的競爭對手都太過彆腳之外, 也象徵著有不在少數的會員已經厭煩 Laporta<br />體制中的某些特徵: 政治體育不分, 作風獨裁, 用人唯親...<br /><br />然而, Rosell 上任後, 除了必須馬上對於前任主席留下的球員轉會僵局<br />(Ibra, Yaya, Juan Mata...) 作出決定之外, 他對於加泰隆尼亞政治的態度,<br />更是一個值得觀察的課題. 他能否保持 (到目前為止) 目前保守謹慎低調少言<br />的舉止? 從過去的言行看來, 令人很難有太高的信心.<br /><br />更重要的是, 儘管 Rosell 在競選期間選擇對許多重要議題都模糊以對,<br />不提出具體的意見, 但他未來對於會員 (Socio) 的政策傾向 -<br /><br />將對外國籍會員人數作出限制, 加泰隆尼亞籍的會員將享有比西班牙籍和其他國籍<br />的會員享有更高的權力 -<br /><br />除了點出了 Rosell 也是個投機主義者 (當然, 2003 年宣傳將簽下 Beckham 的<br />Laporta 也是), 而這也是一種譁眾取寵騙取選票的招式之外, 更令人擔心的是,<br />這種極端強調加泰隆尼亞正統性的思惟, 是否只是一種針對 Laporta 帶領下巴薩<br />擁抱全球化政策的反動, 但卻將讓這支球隊走上另一條封閉, 更具排外主義的道路?<br />這是另一個需要觀察的重點.<br /><br />一個新時代即將到來. 巴薩會員們 (絕大多數是加泰隆尼亞籍) 作出了選擇.<br />但這個選擇將會由全球的巴薩球迷們共同承擔.<br /><br />------<br /><br />回到西班牙隊和巴薩的問題. 沒有人能否認的是, 2010 的西班牙國家隊,<br />不只擁有史上最多人數的巴薩球員, 巴薩球員佔據了前中後場三線的骨幹,<br />踢的更是巴薩控球在腳, 中場傳導的球風 (最新一個這樣講的人, 是葡萄牙<br />總教練 Carlos Queiroz).<br /><br />歷史上, 西班牙國家隊從來沒有這麼依賴過巴薩的球員和戰術體系<br />(以前是聞所未聞, 難以想像的) ; 而這支西班牙的成功與失敗,<br />也將直接與巴薩球員的表現相關.<br /><br />然而, 在自治法釋憲判決出爐, 加泰隆尼亞醞釀大規模抗爭的這個時機,<br />巴薩球員 - 尤其是曾踢過加泰隆尼亞代表隊的 Puyol, Xavi 等球員 -<br />在西班牙隊當中的心境勢必是十分微妙的.<br /><br />微妙的原因, 不只因為身為加泰隆尼亞人卻替西班牙隊效力的事實 -<br />儘管這是台灣主流不求甚解, 習慣簡化現實環境的皇馬球迷最簡單貼上的<br />標籤, 儘管這可能只佔極小一部分 - 更重要的原因是, 這些加泰隆尼亞<br />球員對於加泰隆尼亞和西班牙兩個政治實體都擁有高度認同, 並且渴望<br />替西班牙爭取榮譽的事實.<br /><br />不只是西班牙需要加泰隆尼亞 - 以奪冠提振民心士氣, 讓目前極度蕭條的經濟現況<br /> 注入一記強心針.<br /><br />加泰隆尼亞也需要西班牙 - 加入西班牙隊讓球員獲得在世界舞台上發揮,<br /> 贏得世界盃冠軍, 加強自我意識的機會.<br /><br />這兩種認同之間同時存在, 互相衝突卻又能在某種情感基礎上取得和諧.<br />這種現象在 2008 年歐錦賽上已經出現, 但在今年世界盃上顯著到令人難以忽略.<br />對我而言, 這種雙重認同是觀察今年的西班牙隊場上表現之外最感興趣的部分.<br /><br />從某種角度來看, 今年的西班牙隊 (加泰隆尼亞勢力佔據越來越重要的地位)<br />或許也是目前西班牙處境的縮影.<br /><br />------<br /><br />無論你喜愛與否, FC Barcelona 的誕生, 成長與茁壯, 和加泰隆尼亞<br />地區 / 國家的政治發展密不可分, 是不爭的事實.<br /><br />漠視政治和歷史存在的球迷, 終究無法理解球隊精神的來源, 以致於<br />對於球隊的感情無法深入.<br /><br />而在目前這個加泰隆尼亞和西班牙政治和體育正巧互相露出糾纏痕跡的時機,<br />希望能有更多球迷起而關注這兩者之間過去的歷史和目前的關係, 而不至於<br />把巴薩, 加泰隆尼亞, 西班牙和皇馬之間的關係流於一廂情願的二元論述.pistonJWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10272683849661370549noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14775045.post-30331941855991881662009-08-10T19:11:00.001+01:002009-08-10T19:12:48.588+01:00<span id="profile_status"><span id="status_text"><br /><br />Sat in front of my desk dully after running aimlessly in a rainy and gloomy Sunday morning. Turn on the old guilty pleasure eventually and trying to recall those times when I am all alone, traveling and having fun with myself near the center of the universe. And what else is able to lift your spirit immediately than hearing Underworld chanting "You bring lights in..." with raucous IBIZA crowds in the background?</span></span>pistonJWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10272683849661370549noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14775045.post-28770473981171415112009-05-21T20:42:00.000+01:002009-05-21T20:43:22.585+01:00<p><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;">John: So, you came here to tell me that even if I can’t walk I can still hear the birds sing? Enjoy the rainbow, and feeling the sun shine on my face? </span></p><p><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;">House: Those things are fun. Okay, life sucks. Your life sucks more than most. It’s not as bad as some, which is depressing all by itself. But do me a favor. Just let me find out what’s wrong with you. And if you still want to kill yourself, I’ll give you a hand. That sound fair? </span></p><p><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;">John: Yeah, sure. I’ll stick around to indulge your obsession. It’s over. I lost my air. The session the other night, with those kids? That was a test to see if I could still play. I can’t. </span></p><p><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;">House: And that’s all you are? A musician? </span></p><p><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;">John: I got one thing, same as you. </span></p><p><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;">House: Really? Apparently, you know me better than I know you. </span></p><p><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;">John: I know that limp. I know the empty ring finger. And that obsessive nature of yours, that’s a big secret. You don’t risk jail and your career just to save somebody who doesn’t want to be saved unless you got something, anything, one thing. The reason normal people got wives and kids and hobbies, whatever. That’s because they don’t got that one thing that hits them that hard and that true. I got music, you got this. The thing you think about all the time, the thing that keeps you south of normal. Yeah, makes us great, makes us the best. All we miss out on is everything else. No woman waiting at home after work with the drink and the kiss, that ain’t gonna happen for us. </span></p><p><span style="font-family:verdana;font-size:85%;">House: That’s why God made microwaves. </span></p>pistonJWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10272683849661370549noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14775045.post-28633212233771084852009-05-19T19:41:00.003+01:002009-05-19T19:49:41.952+01:00[Life]I like it that I am not even going to take any time and review it. It's just so lovely messy as I wanted: Instant happiness is the only goal at the moment.<br /><br />Another tiny thing to vent. Job sucks, more than a few colleagues are self-acclaimed smart-asses that I can do nothing but only laugh at for the most of time. Wish they stay as pathetic as they are.pistonJWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10272683849661370549noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14775045.post-4040968670524542482009-03-10T18:21:00.002+00:002009-03-10T18:26:15.034+00:00[Baseball]When a bomb falling onto a shit hole, with the deafening crescendo,<br />every maggot is ripped out, wriggling in awe, screaming, and pointing<br />finger at each other.<br /><br />This is Taiwan, my inseparable homeland.<br /><br />This so-called "national pastime" and its environment is rooted in<br />an unholy ground. It sucked in 1968, it sucked in 1984, it sucked in<br />1992, and it sucked in 2009.<br /><br />The majority of people here either are too naive to see it or too<br />sophisticated not to manipulate it for their own merit.<br /><br />Either way, the collective excitement and anger toward baseball has<br />been so hopelessly cheap, that I do not even disdain to shed a tear.<br />The only proper act is a sardonic laugh.<br /><br />You are not going to understand the system until you are into THE<br />system. And you will not care about everything, including the system<br />itself, after you are into it. All you are trying to do, then,<br />is to survive.<br /><br />Being an unwanted, unwelcomed survivor, the only thing I am able to do,<br />is to keep the eyes open and witness it get even worse, before, if<br />very fortunately, it has any chance to get better.pistonJWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10272683849661370549noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14775045.post-56765140016890669162009-01-28T18:42:00.003+00:002009-01-28T18:53:10.062+00:00[Copy] John Updike: Hub Fans Bid Kid Adieu<p><br /><a href="http://0rz.tw/oAN7n">New Yorker (October 22, 1960)</a><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;"><br /><br />Fenway Park, in Boston, is a lyric little bandbox of a ballpark. Everything is painted green and seems in curiously sharp focus, like the inside of an old-fashioned peeping-type Easter egg. It was built in 1912 and rebuilt in 1934, and offers, as do most Boston artifacts, a compromise between Man’s Euclidean determinations and Nature’s beguiling irregularities. Its right field is one of the deepest in the American League, while its left field is the shortest; the high left-field wall, three hundred and fifteen feet from home plate along the foul line, virtually thrusts its surface at right-handed hitters. On the afternoon of Wednesday, September 28th, as I took a seat behind third base, a uniformed groundkeeper was treading the top of this wall, picking batting-practice home runs out of the screen, like a mushroom gatherer seen in Wordsworthian perspective on the verge of a cliff. The day was overcast, chill, and uninspirational. The Boston team was the worst in twenty-seven seasons. A jangling medley of incompetent youth and aging competence, the Red Sox were finishing in seventh place only because the Kansas City Athletics had locked them out of the cellar. They were scheduled to play the Baltimore Orioles, a much nimbler blend of May and December, who had been dumped from pennant contention a week before by the insatiable Yankees. I, and 10,453 others, had shown up primarily because this was the Red Sox’s last home game of the season, and therefore the last time in all eternity that their regular left fielder, known to the headlines as TED, KID, SPLINTER, THUMPER, TW, and, most cloyingly, MISTER WONDERFUL, would play in Boston. “WHAT WILL WE DO WITHOUT TED? HUB FANS ASK” ran the headline on a newspaper being read by a bulb-nosed cigar smoker a few rows away. Williams’ retirement had been announced, doubted (he had been threatening retirement for years), confirmed by Tom Yawkey, the Red Sex owner, and at last widely accepted as the sad but probable truth. He was forty-two and had redeemed his abysmal season of 1959 with a—considering his advanced age—fine one. He had been giving away his gloves and bats and had grudgingly consented to a sentimental ceremony today. This was not necessarily his last game; the Red Sox were scheduled to travel to New York and wind up the season with three games there.<br /><br />I arrived early. The Orioles were hitting fungos on the field. The day before, they had spitefully smothered the Red Sox, 17–4, and neither their faces nor their drab gray visiting-team uniforms seemed very gracious. I wondered who had invited them to the party. Between our heads and the lowering clouds a frenzied organ was thundering through, with an appositeness perhaps accidental, “You maaaade me love you, I didn’t wanna do it, I didn’t wanna do it . . .”<br /><br />The affair between Boston and Ted Williams has been no mere summer romance; it has been a marriage, composed of spats, mutual disappointments, and, toward the end, a mellowing hoard of shared memories. It falls into three stages, which may he termed Youth, Maturity, and Age; or Thesis, Antithesis, and Synthesis; or Jason, Achilles, and Nestor.<br /><br />First, there was the by now legendary epoch when the young bridegroom came out of the West, announced “All I want out of life is that when I walk down the street folks will say ‘There goes the greatest hitter who ever lived.’ ” The dowagers of local journalism attempted to give elementary deportment lessons to this child who spake as a god, and to their horror were themselves rebuked. Thus began the long exchange of backbiting, hat-flipping, booing, and spitting that has distinguished Williams’ public relations. The spitting incidents of 1957 and 1958 and the similar dockside courtesies that Williams has now and then extended to the grandstand should be judged against this background: the left-field stands at Fenway for twenty years have held a large number of customers who have bought their way in primarily for the privilege of showering abuse on Williams. Greatness necessarily attracts debunkers, but in Williams’ ease the hostility has been systematic and unappeasable. His basic offense against the fans has been to wish that they weren’t there. Seeking a perfectionist’s vacuum, he has quixotically desired to sever the game from the ground of paid spectatorship and publicity that supports it. Hence his refusal to tip his cap to the crowd or turn the other cheek to newsmen. It has been a costly theory—it has probably cost him, among other evidences of good will, two Most Valuable Player awards, which are voted by reporters—but he has held to it from his rookie year on. While his critics, oral and literary, remained beyond the reach of his discipline, the opposing pitchers were accessible, and he spanked them to the tune of .406 in 1941. He slumped to .356 in 1942 and went off to war.<br /><br />In 1946, Williams returned from three years as a Marine pilot to the second of his baseball avatars, that of Achilles, the hero of incomparable prowess and beauty who nevertheless was to be found sulking in his tent while the Trojans (mostly Yankees) fought through to the ships. Yawkey, a timber and mining maharajah, had surrounded his central jewel with many gems of slightly lesser water, such as Bobby Doerr, Dom DiMaggio, Rudy York, Birdie Tebbetts, and Johnny Pesky. Throughout the late forties, the Red Sox were the best paper team in baseball, yet they had little three-dimensional to show for it, and if this was a tragedy, Williams was Hamlet. A succinct review of the indictment—and a fair sample of appreciative sports-page prose—appeared the very day of Williams’ valedictory, in a column by Hock Finnegan in the Boston American (no sentimentalist, Huck):<br /><br /><br /><blockquote><span style="font-size:85%;">Williams’ career, in contrast [to Babe Ruth’s] has been a series of failures except for his averages. He flopped in the only World Series he ever played in (1946) when he batted only .200. He flopped in the playoff game with Cleveland in 1948. He flopped in the final game of the 1949 season with the pennant hinging on the outcome (Yanks 5, Sox 3). He flopped in 1950 when he returned to the lineup after a two-month absence and ruined the morale of a club that seemed pennant-bound under Steve O’Neill. It has always been Williams’ records first, the team second, and the Sox non-winning record is proof enough of that.</span></blockquote><br /><br />There are answers to all this, of course. The fatal weakness of the great Sox slugging teams was not-quite-good-enough pitching rather than Williams’ failure to hit a home run every time he came to bat. Again, Williams’ depressing effect on his teammates has never been proved. Despite ample coaching to the contrary, most insisted that they liked him. He has been generous with advice to any player who asked for it. In an increasingly combative baseball atmosphere, he continued to duck beanballs docilely. With umpires he was gracious to a fault. This courtesy itself annoyed his critics, whom there was no pleasing. And against the ten crucial games (the seven World Series games with the St. Louis Cardinals, the 1948 playoff with the Cleveland Indians, and the two-game series with the Yankees at the end of the 1949 season, winning either one of which would have given the Red Sox the pennant) that make up the Achilles’ heel of Williams’ record, a mass of statistics can be set showing that day in and day out he was no slouch in the clutch. The correspondence columns of the Boston papers now and then suffer a sharp flurry of arithmetic on this score; indeed, for Williams to have distributed all his hits so they did nobody else any good would constitute a feat of placement unparalleled in the annals of selfishness.<br /><br />Whatever residue of truth remains of the Finnegan charge those of us who love Williams must transmute as best we can, in our own personal crucibles. My personal memories of Williams begin when I was a boy in Pennsylvania, with two last-place teams in Philadelphia to keep me company. For me, “W’ms, lf” was a figment of the box scores who always seemed to be going 3-for-5. He radiated, from afar, the hard blue glow of high purpose. I remember listening over the radio to the All-Star Game of 1946, in which Williams hit two singles and two home runs, the second one off a Rip Sewell “blooper” pitch; it was like hitting a balloon out of the park. I remember watching one of his home runs from the bleachers of Shibe Park; it went over the first baseman’s head and rose meticulously along a straight line and was still rising when it cleared the fence. The trajectory seemed qualitatively different from anything anyone else might hit. For me, Williams is the classic ballplayer of the game on a hot August weekday, before a small crowd, when the only thing at stake is the tissue-thin difference between a thing done well and a thing done ill. Baseball is a game of the long season, of relentless and gradual averaging-out. Irrelevance—since the reference point of most individual games is remote and statistical—always threatens its interest, which can be maintained not by the occasional heroics that sportswriters feed upon but by players who always care; who care, that is to say, about themselves and their art. Insofar as the clutch hitter is not a sportswriter’s myth, he is a vulgarity, like a writer who writes only for money. It may be that, compared to managers’ dreams such as Joe DiMaggio and the always helpful Stan Musial, Williams is an icy star. But of all team sports, baseball, with its graceful intermittences of action, its immense and tranquil field sparsely settled with poised men in white, its dispassionate mathematics, seems to me best suited to accommodate, and be ornamented by, a loner. It is an essentially lonely game. No other player visible to my generation has concentrated within himself so much of the sport’s poignance, has so assiduously refined his natural skills, has so constantly brought to the plate that intensity of competence that crowds the throat with joy.<br /><br />By the time I went to college, near Boston, the lesser stars Yawkey had assembled around Williams had faded, and his craftsmanship, his rigorous pride, had become itself a kind of heroism. This brittle and temperamental player developed an unexpected quality of persistence. He was always coming back—back from Korea, back from a broken collarbone, a shattered elbow, a bruised heel, back from drastic bouts of flu and ptomaine poisoning. Hardly a season went by without some enfeebling mishap, yet he always came back, and always looked like himself. The delicate mechanism of timing and power seemed locked, shockproof, in some case outside his body. In addition to injuries, there were a heavily publicized divorce, and the usual storms with the press, and the Williams Shift—the maneuver, custom-built by Lou Boudreau, of the Cleveland Indians, whereby three infielders were concentrated on the right side of the infield, where a left-handed pull hitter like Williams generally hits the ball. Williams could easily have learned to punch singles through the vacancy on his left and fattened his average hugely. This was what Ty Cobb, the Einstein of average, told him to do. But the game had changed since Cobb; Williams believed that his value to the club and to the game was as a slugger, so he went on pulling the ball, trying to blast it through three men, and paid the price of perhaps fifteen points of lifetime average. Like Ruth before him, he bought the occasional home run at the cost of many directed singles—a calculated sacrifice certainly not, in the case of a hitter as average—minded as Williams, entirely selfish.<br /><br />After a prime so harassed and hobbled, William was granted by the relenting fates a golden twilight. He became at the end of his career perhaps the best old hitter of the century. The dividing line came between the 1956 and the 1957 seasons. In September of the first year, he and Mickey Mantle were contending for the batting championship. Both were hitting around .350, and there was no one else near them. The season ended with a three-game series between the Yankees and the Sox, and, living in New York then, I went up to the Stadium. Williams was slightly shy of the four hundred at-bats needed to qualify; the fear was expressed that the Yankee pitchers would walk him to protect Mantle. Instead, they pitched to him—a wise decision. He looked terrible at the plate, tired and discouraged and unconvincing. He never looked very good to me in the Stadium. (Last week, in Life, Williams, a sportswriter himself now, wrote gloomily of the Stadium, “There’s the bigness of it. There are those high stands and all those people smoking—and, of course, the shadows. . . . It takes at least one series to get accustomed to the Stadium and even then you’re not sure.”) The final outcome in 1956 was Mantle .353, Williams .345.<br /><br />The next year, I moved from New York to New England, and it made all the difference. For in September of 1957, in the same situation, the story was reversed. Mantle finally hit .365; it was the best season of his career. But Williams, though sick and old, had run away from him. A bout of flu had laid him low in September. He emerged from his cave in the Hotel Somerset haggard but irresistible; he hit four successive pinch-hit home runs. “I feel terrible,” he confessed, “but every time I take a swing at the ball it goes out of the park.” He ended the season with thirty-eight home runs and an average of .388, the highest in either league since his own .406, and, coming from a decrepit man of thirty-nine, an even more supernal figure. With eight or so of the “leg hits” that a younger man would have beaten out, it would have been .400. And the next year, Williams, who in 1949 and 1953 had lost batting championships by decimal whiskers to George Kell and Mickey Vernon, sneaked in behind his teammate Pete Runnels and filched his sixth title, a bargain at .328.<br /><br />In 1959, it seemed all over. The dinosaur thrashed around in the .200 swamp for the first half of the season, and was even benched (“rested,” Manager Mike Higgins tactfully said). Old foes like the late Bill Cunningham began to offer batting tips. Cunningham thought Williams was jiggling his elbows; in truth, Williams’ neck was so stiff he could hardly turn his head to look at the pitcher. When he swung, it looked like a Calder mobile with one thread cut; it reminded you that since 1953 Williams’ shoulders had been wired together. A solicitous pall settled over the sports pages. In the two decades since Williams had come to Boston, his status had imperceptibly shifted from that of a naughty prodigy to that of a municipal monument. As his shadow in the record books lengthened, the Red Sox teams around him declined, and the entire American League seemed to be losing life and color to the National. The inconsistency of the new superstars—Mantle, Colavito, and Kaline—served to make Williams appear all the more singular. And off the field, his private philanthropy—in particular, his zealous chairmanship of the Jimmy Fund, a charity for children with cancer—gave him a civic presence somewhat like that of Richard Cardinal Cushing. In religion, Williams appears to he a humanist, and a selective one at that, but he and the Cardinal, when their good works intersect and they appear in the public eye together, make a handsome and heartening pair.<br /><br />Humiliated by his ’59 season, Williams determined, once more, to come back. I, as a specimen Williams partisan, was both glad and fearful. All baseball fans believe in miracles; the question is, how many do you believe in? He looked like a ghost in spring training. Manager Jurges warned us ahead of time that if Williams didn’t come through he would be benched, just like anybody else. As it turned out, it was Jurges who was benched. Williams entered the 1960 season needing eight home runs to have a lifetime total of 500; after one time at bat in Washington, he needed seven. For a stretch, he was hitting a home run every second game that he played. He passed Lou Gehrig’s lifetime total, then the number 500, then Mel Ott’s total, and finished with 521, thirteen behind Jimmy Foxx, who alone stands between Williams and Babe Ruth’s unapproachable 714. The summer was a statistician’s picnic. His two-thousandth walk came and went, his eighteen-hundredth run batted in, his sixteenth All-Star Game. At one point, he hit a home run off a pitcher, Don Lee, off whose father, Thornton Lee, he had hit a home run a generation before. The only comparable season for a forty-two-year-old man was Ty Cobb’s in 1928. Cobb batted .323 and hit one homer. Williams batted .316 but hit twenty-nine homers.<br /><br />In sum, though generally conceded to be the greatest hitter of his era, he did not establish himself as “the greatest hitter who ever lived.” Cobb, for average, and Ruth, for power, remain supreme. Cobb, Rogers Hornsby, Joe Jackson, and Lefty O’Doul, among players since 1900, have higher lifetime averages than Williams’ .344. Unlike Foxx, Gehrig, Hack Wilson, Hank Greenberg, and Ralph Kiner, Williams never came close to matching Babe Ruth’s season home-run total of sixty. In the list of major-league batting records, not one is held by Williams. He is second in walks drawn, third in home runs, fifth in lifetime averages, sixth in runs batted in, eighth in runs scored and in total bases, fourteenth in doubles, and thirtieth in hits. But if we allow him merely average seasons for the four-plus seasons he lost to two wars, and add another season for the months he lost to injuries, we get a man who in all the power totals would be second, and not a very distant second, to Ruth. And if we further allow that these years would have been not merely average but prime years, if we allow for all the months when Williams was playing in sub-par condition, if we permit his early and later years in baseball to be some sort of index of what the middle years could have been, if we give him a right-field fence that is not, like Fenway’s, one of the most distant in the league, and if—the least excusable “if”—we imagine him condescending to outsmart the Williams Shift, we can defensibly assemble, like a colossus induced from the sizable fragments that do remain, a statistical figure not incommensurate with his grandiose ambition. From the statistics that are on the books, a good case can be made that in the combination of power and average Williams is first; nobody else ranks so high in both categories. Finally, there is the witness of the eyes; men whose memories go hack to Shoeless Joe Jackson—another unlucky natural—rank him and Williams together as the best-looking hitters they have seen. It was for our last look that ten thousand of us had come.<br /><br />Two girls, one of them with pert buckteeth and eyes as black as vest buttons, the other with white skin and flesh-colored hair, like an underdeveloped photograph of a redhead, came and sat on my right. On my other side was one of those frowning, chestless young-old men who can frequently be seen, often wearing sailor hats, attending ball games alone. He did not once open his program but instead tapped it, rolled up, on his knee as he gave the game his disconsolate attention. A young lady, with freckles and a depressed, dainty nose that by an optical illusion seemed to thrust her lips forward for a kiss, sauntered down into the box seats and with striking aplomb took a seat right behind the roof of the Oriole dugout. She wore a blue coat with a Northeastern University emblem sewed to it. The girls beside me took it into their heads that this was Williams’ daughter. She looked too old to me, and why would she be sitting behind the visitors’ dugout? On the other hand, from the way she sat there, staring at the sky and French-inhaling, she clearly was somebody. Other fans came and eclipsed her from view. The crowd looked less like a weekday ballpark crowd than like the folks you might find in Yellowstone National Park, or emerging from automobiles at the top of scenic Mount Mansfield. There were a lot of competitively well-dressed couples of tourist age, and not a few babes in arms. A row of five seats in front of me was abruptly filled with a woman and four children, the youngest of them two years old, if that. Someday, presumably, he could tell his grandchildren that he saw Williams play. Along with these tots and second-honeymooners, there were Harvard freshmen, giving off that peculiar nervous glow created when a quantity of insouciance is saturated with insecurity; thick-necked Army officers with brass on their shoulders and lead in their voices; pepperings of priests; perfumed bouquets of Roxbury Fabian fans; shiny salesmen from Albany and Fall River; and those gray, hoarse men—taxidrivers, slaughterers, and bartenders who will continue to click through the turnstiles long after everyone else has deserted to television and tramporamas. Behind me, two young male voices blossomed, cracking a joke about God’s five proofs that Thomas Aquinas exists—typical Boston College levity.<br /><br />The batting cage was trundled away. The Orioles fluttered to the sidelines. Diagonally across the field, by the Red Sox dugout, a cluster of men in overcoats were festering like maggots. I could see a splinter of white uniform, and Williams’ head, held at a self-deprecating and evasive tilt. Williams’ conversational stance is that of a six-foot-three-inch man under a six-foot ceiling. He moved away to the patter of flash bulbs, and began playing catch with a young Negro outfielder named Willie Tasby. His arm, never very powerful, had grown lax with the years, and his throwing motion was a kind of muscular drawl. To catch the ball, he flicked his glove hand onto his left shoulder (he batted left but threw right, as every schoolboy ought to know) and let the ball plop into it comically. This catch session with Tasby was the only time all afternoon I saw him grin.<br /><br />A tight little flock of human sparrows who, from the lambent and pampered pink of their faces, could only have been Boston politicians moved toward the plate. The loudspeakers mammothly coughed as someone huffed on the microphone. The ceremonies began. Curt Gowdy, the Red Sox radio and television announcer, who sounds like everybody’s brother-in-law, delivered a brief sermon, taking the two words “pride” and “champion” as his text. It began, “Twenty-one years ago, a skinny kid from San Diego, California . . .” and ended, “I don’t think we’ll ever see another like him.” Robert Tibolt, chairman of the board of the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce, presented Williams with a big Paul Revere silver bowl. Harry Carlson, a member of the sports committee of the Boston Chamber, gave him a plaque, whose inscription he did not read in its entirety, out of deference to Williams’ distaste for this sort of fuss. Mayor Collins presented the Jimmy Fund with a thousand-dollar check.<br /><br />Then the occasion himself stooped to the microphone, and his voice sounded, after the others, very Californian; it seemed to be coming, excellently amplified, from a great distance, adolescently young and as smooth as a butternut. His thanks for the gifts had not died from our ears before he glided, as if helplessly, into “In spite of all the terrible things that have been said about me by the maestros of the keyboard up there . . .” He glanced up at the press rows suspended above home plate. (All the Boston reporters, incidentally, reported the phrase as “knights of the keyboard,” but I heard it as “maestros” and prefer it that way.) The crowd tittered, appalled. A frightful vision flashed upon me, of the press gallery pelting Williams with erasers, of Williams clambering up the foul screen to slug journalists, of a riot, of Mayor Collins being crushed. “. . . And they were terrible things,” Williams insisted, with level melancholy, into the mike. “I’d like to forget them, but I can’t.” He paused, swallowed his memories, and went on, “I want to say that my years in Boston have been the greatest thing in my life.” The crowd, like an immense sail going limp in a change of wind, sighed with relief. Taking all the parts himself, Williams then acted out a vivacious little morality drama in which an imaginary tempter came to him at the beginning of his career and said, “Ted, you can play anywhere you like.” Leaping nimbly into the role of his younger self (who in biographical actuality had yearned to be a Yankee), Williams gallantly chose Boston over all the other cities, and told us that Tom Yawkey was the greatest owner in baseball and we were the greatest fans. We applauded ourselves heartily. The umpire came out and dusted the plate The voice of doom announced over the loudspeakers that after Williams’ retirement his uniform number, 9, would be permanently retired—the first time the Red Sox had so honored a player. We cheered. The national anthem was played. We cheered. The game began.<br /><br />Williams was third in the batting order, so he came up in the bottom of the first inning, and Steve Barber, a young pitcher who was not yet born when Williams began playing for the Red Sox, offered him four pitches, at all of which he disdained to swing, since none of them were within the strike zone. This demonstrated simultaneously that Williams’ eyes were razor-sharp and that Barber’s control wasn’t. Shortly, the bases were full, with Williams on second. “Oh, I hope he gets held up at third! That would be wonderful,” the girl beside me moaned, and, sure enough, the man at bat walked and Williams was delivered into our foreground. He struck the pose of Donatello’s David, the third-base bag being Goliath’s head. Fiddling with his cap, swapping small talk with the Oriole third baseman (who seemed delighted to have him drop in), swinging his arms with a sort of prancing nervousness, he looked fine—flexible, hard, and not unbecomingly substantial through the middle. The long neck, the small head, the knickers whose cuffs were worn down near his ankles—all these points, often observed by caricaturists, were visible in the flesh.<br /><br />One of the collegiate voices behind me said, “He looks old, doesn’t he, old; big deep wrinkles in his face . . .”<br /><br />“Yeah,” the other voice said, “but he looks like an old hawk, doesn’t he?”<br /><br />With each pitch, Williams danced down the baseline, waving his arms and stirring dust, ponderous but menacing, like an attacking goose. It occurred to about a dozen humorists at once to shout “Steal home! Go, go!” Williams’ speed afoot was never legendary. Lou Clinton, a young Sox outfielder, hit a fairly deep fly to center field. Williams tagged up and ran home. As he slid across the plate, the ball, thrown with unusual heft by Jackie Brandt, the Oriole center fielder, hit him on the back.<br /><br />“Boy, he was really loafing, wasn’t he?” one of the boys behind me said.<br /><br />“It’s cold,” the other explained. “He doesn’t play well when it’s cold. He likes heat. He’s a hedonist.”<br /><br />The run that Williams scored was the second and last of the inning. Gus Triandos, of the Orioles, quickly evened the score by plunking a home run over the handy left-field wall. Williams, who had had this wall at his back for twenty years, played the ball flawlessly. He didn’t budge. He just stood there, in the center of the little patch of grass that his patient footsteps had worn brown, and, limp with lack of interest, watched the ball pass overhead. It was not a very interesting game. Mike Higgins, the Red Sox manager, with nothing to lose, had restricted his major-league players to the left-field line—along with Williams, Frank Malzone, a first-rate third baseman, played the game—and had peopled the rest of the terrain with unpredictable youngsters fresh, or not so fresh, off the farms. Other than Williams’ recurrent appearances at the plate, the maladresse of the Sox infield was the sole focus of suspense; the second baseman turned every grounder into a juggling act, while the shortstop did a breathtaking impersonation of an open window. With this sort of assistance, the Orioles wheedled their way into a 4–2 lead. They had early replaced Barber with another young pitcher, Jack Fisher. Fortunately (as it turned out), Fisher is no cutie; he is willing to burn the ball through the strike zone, and inning after inning this tactic punctured Higgins’ string of test balloons.<br /><br />Whenever Williams appeared at the plate—pounding the dirt from his cleats, gouging a pit in the batter’s box with his left foot, wringing resin out of the bat handle with his vehement grip, switching the stick at the pitcher with an electric ferocity—it was like having a familiar Leonardo appear in a shuffle of Saturday Evening Post covers. This man, you realized—and here, perhaps, was the difference, greater than the difference in gifts—really intended to hit the ball. In the third inning, he hoisted a high fly to deep center. In the fifth, we thought he had it; he smacked the ball hard and high into the heart of his power zone, but the deep right field in Fenway and the heavy air and a casual east wind defeated him. The ball died. Al Pilarcik leaned his back against the big “380” painted on the right-field wall and caught it. On another day, in another park, it would have been gone. (After the game, Williams said, “I didn’t think I could hit one any harder than that. The conditions weren’t good.”)<br /><br />The afternoon grew so glowering that in the sixth inning the arc lights were turned on—always a wan sight in the daytime, like the burning headlights of a funeral procession. Aided by the gloom, Fisher was slicing through the Sox rookies, and Williams did not come to bat in the seventh. He was second up in the eighth. This was almost certainly his last time to come to the plate in Fenway Park, and instead of merely cheering, as we had at his three previous appearances, we stood, all of us—stood and applauded. Have you ever heard applause in a ballpark? Just applause—no calling, no whistling, just an ocean of handclaps, minute after minute, burst after burst, crowding and running together in continuous succession like the pushes of surf at the edge of the sand. It was a sombre and considered tumult. There was not a boo in it. It seemed to renew itself out of a shifting set of memories as the kid, the Marine, the veteran of feuds and failures and injuries, the friend of children, and the enduring old pro evolved down the bright tunnel of twenty-one summers toward this moment. At last, the umpire signalled for Fisher to pitch; with the other players, he had been frozen in position. Only Williams had moved during the ovation, switching his hat impatiently, ignoring everything except his cherished task. Fisher wound up, and the applause sank into a hush.<br /><br />Understand that we were a crowd of rational people. We knew that a home run cannot be produced at will; the right pitch must be perfectly met and luck must ride with the ball. Three innings before, we had seen a brave effort fail. The air was soggy; the season was exhausted. Nevertheless, there will always lurk, around a corner in a pocket of our knowledge of the odds, an indefensible hope, and this was one of the times, which you now and then find in sports, when a density of expectation hangs in the air and plucks an event out of the future.<br /><br />Fisher, after his unsettling wait, was wide with the first pitch. He put the second one over, and Williams swung mightily and missed. The crowd grunted, seeing that classic swing, so long and smooth and quick, exposed, naked in its failure. Fisher threw the third time, Williams swung again, and there it was. The ball climbed on a diagonal line into the vast volume of air over center field. From my angle, behind third base, the ball seemed less an object in flight than the tip of a towering, motionless construct, like the Eiffel Tower or the Tappan Zee Bridge. It was in the books while it was still in the sky. Brandt ran back to the deepest corner of the outfield grass; the ball descended beyond his reach and struck in the crotch where the bullpen met the wall, bounced chunkily, and, as far as I could see, vanished.<br /><br />Like a feather caught in a vortex, Williams ran around the square of bases at the center of our beseeching screaming. He ran as he always ran out home runs—hurriedly, unsmiling, head down, as if our praise were a storm of rain to get out of. He didn’t tip his cap. Though we thumped, wept, and chanted “We want Ted” for minutes after he hid in the dugout, he did not come back. Our noise for some seconds passed beyond excitement into a kind of immense open anguish, a wailing, a cry to be saved. But immortality is nontransferable. The papers said that the other players, and even the umpires on the field, begged him to come out and acknowledge us in some way, but he never had and did not now. Gods do not answer letters.<br /><br />Every true story has an anticlimax. The men on the field refused to disappear, as would have seemed decent, in the smoke of Williams’ miracle. Fisher continued to pitch, and escaped further harm. At the end of the inning, Higgins sent Williams out to his leftfield position, then instantly replaced him with Carrol Hardy, so we had a long last look at Williams as he ran out there and then back, his uniform jogging, his eyes steadfast on the ground. It was nice, and we were grateful, but it left a funny taste.<br /><br />One of the scholasticists behind me said, “Let’s go. We’ve seen everything. I don’t want to spoil it.” This seemed a sound aesthetic decision. Williams’ last word had been so exquisitely chosen, such a perfect fusion of expectation, intention, and execution, that already it felt a little unreal in my head, and I wanted to get out before the castle collapsed. But the game, though played by clumsy midgets under the feeble glow of the arc lights, began to tug at my attention, and I loitered in the runway until it was over. Williams’ homer had, quite incidentally, made the score 4–3. In the bottom of the ninth inning, with one out, Marlin Coughtry, the second-base juggler, singled. Vic Wertz, pinchhitting, doubled off the left-field wall, Coughtry advancing to third. Pumpsie Green walked, to load the bases. Willie Tasby hit a double-play ball to the third baseman, but in making the pivot throw Billy Klaus, an ex-Red Sox infielder, reverted to form and threw the ball past the first baseman and into the Red Sox dugout. The Sox won, 5–4. On the car radio as I drove home I heard that Williams had decided not to accompany the team to New York. So he knew how to do even that, the hardest thing. Quit. </span></p>pistonJWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10272683849661370549noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14775045.post-5099792371167736792008-12-08T13:53:00.004+00:002008-12-09T04:17:42.944+00:00[Life] been there, done that<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyhsJO1OZMXFmW3dhT3hPyyDvdHf7qSMfRCtuHuvR8iOgLKWwClnLsCMZsw_aK0hmZY4MRhBx64aGlHQfGZIst9mXf2VyCaVSZ5eUsTyd1l_dva176HuCMWRBytBIHOlzKAhL7/s1600-h/ticket+el+clasico.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyhsJO1OZMXFmW3dhT3hPyyDvdHf7qSMfRCtuHuvR8iOgLKWwClnLsCMZsw_aK0hmZY4MRhBx64aGlHQfGZIst9mXf2VyCaVSZ5eUsTyd1l_dva176HuCMWRBytBIHOlzKAhL7/s400/ticket+el+clasico.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5277417742101175698" /></a><br /><p><br /><p><br /><p><br /><p><br /><p><br /><p><br /><p><br /><p><br /><p><br /><p><br />and always a vital inspiration.<br /><br /><br /><br /><span class="fullpost"></span>pistonJWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10272683849661370549noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14775045.post-32906361567188438712008-06-18T16:37:00.005+01:002008-06-20T09:35:38.725+01:00[Celtics] No. 17<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4AUs8FKmyc2y1sQ4y-eZFSdPbqAsqZnfuZK4JG_SJ7TZtbg78yqD5wJLaotGUdmajBZewlT51-TyENj8_VlGngS3xmVTGbdtMlEAQh6LlmE2lAdTZ3_oKiTe2ZcplQSAqhtkv/s1600-h/1213792981_0961.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4AUs8FKmyc2y1sQ4y-eZFSdPbqAsqZnfuZK4JG_SJ7TZtbg78yqD5wJLaotGUdmajBZewlT51-TyENj8_VlGngS3xmVTGbdtMlEAQh6LlmE2lAdTZ3_oKiTe2ZcplQSAqhtkv/s400/1213792981_0961.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5213246835547018770" /></a><br /><br />Surprisingly, grown up I was never a Celtics fan. Far away from it. In contrary to the ultimately dominant Celtics led by Larry, I appreciated the 76ers and Rockets much more, which was resemble to my character to always root for the underdogs, in the 80s' during my childhood while I could only watched recorded NBA game weekly. In the 90's like everyone I was a Michael's fan. Then it's my lifelong relationship with the Kings starting from 1999. The support to Celtics more came from that of Redsox and my friendship with vantora. <br /><br />The affection toward this No.17 team gradually grew during the season. You can tell the team spirit is always there and they bond with each other tighter and tighter during tough stretches. Eventually, they merged into one incredible Hulk.<br /><br />Today they gave me a great deal of jubilance by trouncing the Lakers out of this universe. When was the last time you see a team led by Phil Jackson received such an ass-whooping in a NBA Final's game? <br /><br />I think comparing to any other identities (even Kings' fan included), I am just more favoured to be an anti-Lakers fan. And this gives me a very strong reason to keep watching Celtics' game, as they are the most successful team in this league to defeat Lakers, some times in a totally dominant way like today.<br /><br />Cherishing every moment as you should. For once, "Beat L.A." is executed in resounding fashion.pistonJWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10272683849661370549noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14775045.post-38495778525231675122007-11-25T07:31:00.000+00:002007-11-25T07:53:33.400+00:00[Life] I'm the singer, you are the song I sing<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggCvS942bxly-M2eL21P2aNeNDdKdiYUrRD8JN4DKBth8l1iZMW3zTRgjAQV6t3o4G16WnSR_5jo3TTUX1sfDQmQAEaDsoB1jGU8DiLqrq9N4OVUwY6WVfXuPSTO0Fzb4Pt_bs/s1600-h/CIMG1626.JPG"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggCvS942bxly-M2eL21P2aNeNDdKdiYUrRD8JN4DKBth8l1iZMW3zTRgjAQV6t3o4G16WnSR_5jo3TTUX1sfDQmQAEaDsoB1jGU8DiLqrq9N4OVUwY6WVfXuPSTO0Fzb4Pt_bs/s320/CIMG1626.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5136680665343367042" /></a><br /><br><br />在經過了那麼多事情之後,天母終於成為了我生命當中永難忘懷的地方:這四十多天當中每一件發生的事情,都彷彿是照著事前精心策劃好的劇本一般推演。<br /><br />------<br /><br />我想念那些早上無預警的抹茶 Latte,晚上分給小朋友的楓糖煎餅。那杯中午替妳買的熱巧克力,小巷子裡的餛飩麵、魯肉飯和會誇妳好漂亮的老闆娘。<br /><br />而這個世界上沒有任何一個地方比起天母更適合搬演這些劇情。<br /><br />-------<br /><br />我也喜歡妳在電話裡的笑聲和說 byebye 的聲音,語調聽起來永遠是那麼的歡快。<br /><br /><br />I am the luckiest person in the whole fuking TienMu stadium. No one can take that away from me.<br /><br /><span class="fullpost"></span>pistonJWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10272683849661370549noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14775045.post-91248642350459548952007-10-29T15:22:00.000+00:002007-10-29T18:13:55.155+00:00[Red Sox] 2004-2007<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1258/538546702_d9f94b6825.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px;" src="http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1258/538546702_d9f94b6825.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><br /><p><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">October 17th, 2004</span><br /><br />大風雨中,跟地下的朋友們像瘋子一樣的跑到中崙高中的室內場去打球。打到一半,急著問晚來的朋友們比數。「沒救了啦!連 Wakefield 都上來了!」我們只能圍坐成一圈,訕訕的談笑著。今年大概也就這樣了吧,我想。<br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">October 18th, 2004</span><br /><br />颱風天停止上班上課,讓我有機會自 1999 跟 2003 年之後又一次親眼目睹這支球隊被洋基隊幹掉。<br /><br />出乎意料之外的,Derek Lowe 沒有跟昨天殘破的投手陣一樣自爆。雙方的比數一直很接近,不過當比賽進行到八局時,我幾乎已經放棄所有的希望了。<br /><br />然後是 Dave Roberts 的那個盜壘。當他真的在 Rivera 投的第一個球就起跑時,我怒不可抑,簡直不敢相信自己的眼睛-這是什麼他媽的白癡戰術!透過電視轉播,我肉眼的第一印象是球比人快。幸好,二壘審的名字叫 Joe West。<br /><br />事情開始變得有趣起來,因為在打擊區的那個人叫做 Bill Mueller。果然!<br /><br />然後是漫長的煎熬和拉扯,直到 Ortiz 終於決定結束所有人的煎熬。<br /><br />We have another day, and that's all we can ask for.<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">October 19th, 2004</span><br /><br />下午五點的開賽時間很體貼地配合身在台灣的上班族,讓我可以熬夜看球。當 Pedro 在六局上半被打下三分時,我一度曾經以為這就會是今年的句點了。但比賽進行到八局時,我卻感覺到自己的自信心比起昨天已經高出了不少。<br /><br />當洋基換上 Tom Gordon 時,我很清楚地感覺到我們的機會來了-這不是說 Gordon 是個多差勁的投手,而只是一種難以解釋的直覺。接著,他們又太晚才把 Rivera 推出來,讓他多了一次 BS。<br /><br />進入延長賽,我和公司編了個理由可以晚點進去。奇怪的事情接二連三的發生,洋基隊似乎再怎麼樣都得不了分,甚至連 Jason Varitek 連續三次想接好 Wakefield-那個昨天已經被打爆過,2003 年還被人再見的傢伙-的球,卻還是失誤之後,他們也得不了分。似乎所有人都把比賽交到 Ortiz 的手裡,希望他能再一次結束這場比賽,而他也真的做到了。<br /><br />我開始感覺到,自己可能正在目睹一個可以留名青史的季後賽對戰系列。<br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">October 21th, 2004</span><br /><br /><br />第七戰開賽前的十二小時,我從郵箱裡收到了自己從 ebay 定的紅襪隊棒球外套。從下標到收到夾克只花了八天。<br /><br />我寫了一封致謝函給住在美國的這隊賣家夫婦,謝謝他讓我能在這個時刻收到。八分鐘之後,我收到了回應:<br /><br />"I have been a diehard Sox fan since the mid-70's, and it's time to lose all the baggage and go to the Series in the most dramatic fashion possible - coming back from three games down and winning in Yankee Stadium.<br /> <br />BELIEVE, my friend!"<br /><br /><br />------<br /><br />隔天中午,公司的阿姨看著我誇讚著:「這件紅色外套很漂亮喔!」<br /><br />「謝謝。」我笑容滿面地回答。<br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">December 17th, 2006</span><br /><br />時間接近下午三點左右。我一個人在 Fenway Park 的商店裡等待著稍後的導覽行程。買票時,一個白髮蒼蒼,穿著紅色球隊外套的老先生大概怕我走失,特別用他的大嗓門對我喊:「小子,你別緊張,導覽等下的出發點就在這裡,你到時候再回來就可以。」<br /><br />我是隊伍裡唯一的東方面孔。老先生在聽到我來自台灣時,一開始有點迷惑,但隨即用恍然大悟的眼神看著我說:「是了,你就是跟那個王建民同一個國家的對吧?」,接著露出不懷好意的神情。<br /><br />全部的人都看著我笑,包括一個掛著單眼相機,戴著黑框眼鏡的單眼皮年輕女生。<br /><br />唱作俱佳的老先生,把導覽的氣氛營造的很熱烈,當講到例如 "the red seat" 等典故時,更是搞得全場哈哈大笑。已經有點感冒的我,在風勢頗大的 Green Monster 頂端不停按著快門,一邊還得注意身旁的參觀人潮是不是已經移動到下個景點去。偶爾回頭一看,那個單眼皮女生或許是全場除了我之外拍下最多照片的人。<br /><br />導覽結束後,人潮很快地散去,街上又回復週日下午的一片死寂。我懶得翻開手上的地圖,索性就沿著球場周圍繞行。紀念今年球季球迷進場人數破紀錄的感謝看板,懸掛在一旁的房屋頂端,Gate B 前面,Ted Williams 的銅像佇立在四下無人的街角。在已經偏暗的冬日天色裡,我停下腳步,想像著當明年春暖花開時,人聲鼎沸的場景。<br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">October 2nd, 2007</span><br /><br /><br />"Hey, you know that the division series are going to play in few days?" 我一邊和 Kirk McCaskill 與 Mark Langston 講話,一邊故意轉動著自己手腕上的紅襪隊手錶。這個舉動果然引起了他們的白眼。<br /><br />接下來幾天,當我們有機會一同欣賞季後賽的電視轉播時,他們總是故意喊著:"Leave George alone, he's gonna enjoy his Red Sox games!";當某天我穿著 Matsuzaka 的 tshirt 時,Kirk 也沒有放過揶揄我的機會。儘管如此,當我問他們覺得紅襪和天使的系列戰誰會贏球時,他們也總是誠實地回答,看起來紅襪隊的勝算比較高一點。<br /><br />"But game 2 is crucial." 我回應。"Matsuzaka was inconsistent during the past month, and Escobar has been great."<br /><br />"Yes. Who won game 2 probably will win the series."<br /><br />他們兩個人對於目前的這支紅襪隊已經很不熟悉了,除了一個人之外。<br /><br />"Manny is great." Mark 給了一個令我很驚訝的答案。"Manny is my man."<br /><br />"But how about what we saw and read from all the medias about Manny?"<br /><br />"That's not him. You gotta know him. He is a just great guy. I love Manny." Mark 回答。"Let me tell you a story about him."<br /><br />"It was 1999. I was in the Indians dugout at Jacobs field, full-packed. 2 outs, bases loaded, Manny at bat." "And he got struck out."<br /><br />"He sat next to me after he got struck out. He turned toward me, with his eyes wide." 回想這段往事的 Mark 眼睛裡閃爍著光芒。"And he said to me, with his naive tone: 'It is ok. Sometimes, they got me. Sometimes, I got him.'" <br /><br />"I can guarantee you, this is the best advice I have ever heard from someone in facing adversity." "Few innings later, he hit a homerun."<br /><br /><br /><br />三天之後,我結束這次出差,在颱風裡冒著大風雨回家。好不容易能坐在家裡的沙發上,準備享用媽媽的佳肴,一打開電視,就看到 Manny 把 K-Rod 的球掃到外太空去。<br /><br />In those moments, life is good.<br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">October 30th, 2007</span><br /><br /><br />在又一天累人的工作和瑣事之後,我躺在沙發上,看著 Papelbon 興奮的丟開帽子狂吼,全隊衝出來抱在一起。我發現自己的眼眶裡充滿淚水。棒球或許成為了我的工作,但我的人生卻離開運動越來越遠。如今,我發現自己和朋友與工作夥伴聊天的話題,更多地圍繞在金錢或是女人身上。我距離上一次認真運動流汗的時間越來越久,把目光停留在體育新聞相關網站的時間卻越來越短。我的頭銜和身份越來越多(雖然可能還是沒有我的球衣收藏多),但真正能夠了解我心境轉折的朋友卻越來越少。<br /><br />很幸運的,我能擁有像今天這樣的短暫片刻。它讓我重新想起了當年觀賞運動比賽的初衷,也提醒了我,這個世界上或許還是有一些能夠恆久如新的事物。<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span class="fullpost"></span>pistonJWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10272683849661370549noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14775045.post-53621475290500131982007-10-12T18:47:00.000+01:002007-10-12T19:08:55.745+01:00[Job] A Brief Job DescriptionTitle: Interpreter<br />Industry: Sports, Leisure & Recreations<br />Alternate Titles: Translator; Coordinator; Guide; Photographer; Troubleshooter; Babysitter<br /><br /><br />The Ordinary Plot:<br /><br />My clients and I meet at the airport. We shake hands. The trip<br />from airport to hotel is mostly filled with meaningless casual talks<br />to ease the nerves. Both side show certain degree of oiliness toward each<br />other during the first day working together. More than a few times<br />I misunderstand the meanings of my clients during their oral expressions<br />initially and cover it up later nearly seamlessly with my speedy reactions<br />or/and previous working experiences. The degree of strangeness between<br />my clients and I usually is at the peak in the morning of the second day,<br />then falling down sharply. We gradually open ourselves little by little<br />to each other. I get a nickname (in some occasions accompanied with a<br />silly folksong) derived from my formal nickname George in the second<br />afternoon from my clients. Tensions rise between my clients and local<br />people due to drastically different working concepts and methods. Tensions<br />fall moderately between my clients and local people due to quirky ways of<br />social interactions started from the local people with my clients.<br />My clients and I begin chat about various topics during meals, with the<br />specific focus on Taiwanese and oriental females. I show my broad<br />range of knowledges to my clients by answering different kinds of<br />questions from my clients about Taiwan and Taiwanese with limited<br />vocabularies and poor grammar without much hesitation. The quality of<br />my interpretation improves by better understanding and repeated listening<br />of my clients' expressions, but still leaves much to desire. My clients<br />start say hello to strangers/girls/bartenders/female clerks/waitress<br />without notice and get positive responses most of the time. My clients<br />and I talk more about women during meals and drinking. My clients<br />ask why I am still single, the question which I have wondered for a long<br />time as well. My clients start to introduce me to the girls/bartenders/<br />female clerks/waitress with the opening phrase like "This is George,<br />he is a very fine young man..." very often. I feel embarrassed, smile<br />and say sorry to the girls/bartenders/female clerks/waitress politely<br />in Chinese. Some of the girls/bartenders/female clerks/waitress agree<br />with my clients that I am a very shy person. My clients begin to notice that <br />I have the permissive nature within that I love self-blaming. My clients get angry<br />with my permissive nature and reiterate that I am a smart, humorous and<br />good-looking young man and should be proud of myself. My clients and I<br />drink more the night before my clients leave. I begin to show my true<br />colors to my clients with the help of alcohol. The conversation topic<br />shifts to the situation of sexual/racial discriminations in different<br />societies. My clients, all of them are white Americans, get uneasy with<br />this topic. The conversation shifts to another topic. My clients offer<br />me opportunities to work oversea and invite me to their place once I<br />traveled to the United States again. We drink more and take photos<br />together. We shake hands. We say goodbye to each other. I ride my scooter<br />home in chilly rain.<br /><p>pistonJWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10272683849661370549noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14775045.post-90887290843246710772007-09-09T11:30:00.000+01:002007-09-09T11:40:07.567+01:00[Travel] Dance to Death<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3NiOWQRvkfDmFuWMOG-0DwxfC35bilY2lqtkQegZB1tnZBS9SWqHfvmKFfjgOhODBkdsZJx1ckVRjH1_KpIjNe32Bt2KpMyOEs11-cXEW3QceIfNp9aZtiFC0iZ05DMval9V_/s1600-h/CIMG3926.JPG"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3NiOWQRvkfDmFuWMOG-0DwxfC35bilY2lqtkQegZB1tnZBS9SWqHfvmKFfjgOhODBkdsZJx1ckVRjH1_KpIjNe32Bt2KpMyOEs11-cXEW3QceIfNp9aZtiFC0iZ05DMval9V_/s320/CIMG3926.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5108150452372667682" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br />在過去十二個月之後,我在旅行時只信賴兩樣東西:我的<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/pistonjw/">相機</a>、<br />和我的 iPod。<br /><br />----<br /><br />我猛然驚醒在三萬呎的高空上。窄小的座位旁邊,一對荷蘭夫婦正睡<div style="direction: ltr;"><wbr>得香甜。漆黑的夜空裡,紅色火把排成的幾何圖案,連綿不斷地散佈<br />在<wbr>山嶺和原野之間。底下的陸地應該是印度或巴基斯坦吧<wbr>?我一邊呆<br />望著窗外一邊心想著。<br /><br />混合著興奮和焦慮的情緒,我把 iPod 轉到了當時自己最喜歡的一首。<br />沒有任何曲子,比起 Evidence,能夠更精確地捕捉到 Monk 和 Coltrane<br />兩位宗師的夢幻組合在 Carnegie Hall 激盪而出的火花。<br /><br />酸痛的身體被限制在狹小的座位裡寸步難行,心靈卻早已跟著音樂振<wbr>翅高飛。<br /><br />約莫三個月後,當我在 Village Vanguard 裡聽到莊重穩健的 Cedar Walton<br />彈出這首曲子的第一個音符時,心頭一陣狂喜,眼淚幾乎要立刻奪眶<wbr>而出。<br /><br />----<br /><br />儘管久仰盛名,法國領事館前面的人龍還是比我想像的要長上許多。<br />我認命地排在隊伍裡,前後的人潮多半有伴。<br /><br />本來陰沈的天空終於開始下起雨來。水滴從小顆很快地變成大顆<wbr>,落下的<br />頻率也越來越頻繁。我的周圍開起了一朵朵傘花,而我只是把防水外<wbr>套的<br />拉鍊拉到最高,同時把 iPod 的音量調大。Daft Punk 的 Homework 不管<br />在什麼時間、什麼場合和什麼情境下聆聽,永遠是那麼的鮮活躍動。<br /><br />它們的音樂幫助我暫時忽略了溼冷的天氣、陪伴我渡過了四個小時在<wbr>冷漠<br />無禮的法國領事館辦理簽證的時光,也在我後來飛往巴黎的班機上肆<wbr>意忘<br />形地大唱著。<br /><br />----<br /><br />三月份從 BCN 回家的班機上,我從來沒有那麼歸心似箭過。<br /><br />My My 的 RA Podcast 不只是我過去一年來聽過最棒的 DJ Mix,它更在<br />這個時刻讓我的心靈得到了釋放壓力的出口。不只是靈巧流暢的接歌<wbr>技巧<br />和品味脫俗的歌曲選擇,整個 mix 山外更有一山的情境轉折,以及在輕鬆<br />寫意的 mix 旅程當中隱含對 house 音樂的認真執著,都是在其他 DJ<br />mixing 當中鮮有達到的境界。<br /><br />樂以忘憂,不知老之將至云爾。<br /><br />----<br /><br />一夜不得好睡的我,狼傖地拖著行李闖入了 Berlin 的大街上。<br />在似乎已經全自動化的捷運、巨大的建築物和眾多的歷史遺跡相比,<br />人類的蹤影似乎是這個城市裡最缺少的東西。<br /><br />把行李丟在 Hostel,我漫無目的地在 Berlin 的街道上散步著。<br />接近正午的太陽晒的人有點發昏,路上充斥著各式各樣的塗鴉,<br />耳機裡 Booka Shade 的 Movements 這張專輯儘管已經不知道重覆<br />幾次了,然而在那個當下,這些我本來已經十分熟悉的優秀曲子突<br />然有了更加撼動人心的力量。<br /><br />這個城市就是 Booka Shade 出身的地方;這個城市也是電子音樂<br />發跡的源頭...一邊散步一邊這樣想的我,心情突然變得激動無比<wbr>。<br /><br />從這個城市開始,我無論到哪裡旅行都會隨身戴著 iPod-不論是<br />靜寂無人的博物館、或是眾聲喧譁的觀光景點皆然。對於總是獨自<br />一人旅行的我來說,也許隔絕外界的聲音,才能讓我對於眼前的<br />景物更加專注和投入。<br /><br />----<br /><br />人聲鼎沸的 Prague Castle 一角,已經感到連日旅行疲憊的我,<br />斜靠著牆站立,一邊看著眼前興奮的各國旅客們擺著各種姿勢拍照,<br />一邊聽著 Will Saul 在 Beats in Space 節目當中的 guest mix。<br /><br />我不停地轉動 iPod,重覆著 mix 當中的高潮段落。不時會有奇特的<br />眼光向我的方向投射過來。然而,過去幾個月來頻繁的旅行終於改變<br /><script><!-- D(["mb","了我。\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>----\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>凌晨兩點半,氣溫五度左右的公車候車亭裡,倦意濃厚的我孑然一人\u003cwbr /\>趴\u003cbr /\>在冰涼的鐵製狹窄板凳上一邊昏迷一邊發抖著。已經裹滿了所有可以\u003cwbr /\>上\u003cbr /\>身的厚重保暖裝備,耳機裡卻連 My My 的 DJ Mixing 也不能帶來一絲絲\u003cbr /\>的暖意。\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>於是我把 iPod 轉給 Ella Fitzgerald。在她寬厚溫柔的 Gershwin 兄弟\u003cbr /\>歌曲聲中,我終於得到了片刻的歇息。\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>----\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>在走向 Malmo 海邊的那個早上,我把 iPod 轉到了 Dixon 的 RA Podcast。\u003cbr /\>自此之後,我在整趟 Scandinavia 的旅途中再也少不了他的音樂。\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>一首又一首懾人心魄的 Deep House 選曲,樂而不淫,哀而不傷,一層又一層\u003cbr /\>的緩慢釋放蘊藏已久的細緻情感,直到第四十六分鐘那宛如命運註定\u003cwbr /\>般的甜美\u003cbr /\>木琴聲響起,把我拖進充滿誘惑的深淵。即使在北歐的耀眼陽光底下\u003cwbr /\>,這首\u003cbr /\>Telepopmusic - Love Can Damage Your Health (Ferrer Remix) 也能立刻讓\u003cbr /\>四周的世界一片漆黑,把我帶回在 Berlin 的 Watergate 第一次聽到這首曲子\u003cbr /\>時身旁杯觥交錯,眼前河岸倒影著環球影城霓紅燈的醉人情景。\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>高潮過後,mixing 最後的女聲唱著:\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>"...we don\'t need...any kind of big parade\u003cbr /\> just once a little serenade\u003cbr /\> celebrate this loving mate\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\> ...we don\'t need...any kind of big fanfare\u003cbr /\> this is just my heartly felt\u003cbr /\> for anyone who might care"\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>陽光、海水、綠意、流線型建築和戴著墨鏡的美女,加上 Dixon 的音樂,\u003cbr /\>讓這次旅行成為我生命中最永難忘懷的一次。\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>----\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>在去過這麼多地方之後,其實 BCN 的海灘對我而言並沒有特別吸引人,儘管\u003cbr /\>海邊有著被人猛念著一定得拍照留念的魚和球等新式建築。\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>對我而言,更值得留念的,或許是當天的海風、浪花打在妳腳上的樣\u003cwbr /\>子、\u003cbr /\>以及最適合在這個季節的海邊一起聆聽的 Ewan Pearson 的 RA Podcast。\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>----\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>Alex Smoke 的冷冽電氣節拍伴隨著我迎接第一個在蘇格蘭的紫色清晨,而\u003cbr /\>Phonique 的 mixing 則成為了我在 Edinburgh 的主題音樂。他多元化的選曲\u003cbr /\>和寬闊深刻的情感含量,讓我在這座城市每個歇息的角落都得到了內\u003cwbr /\>在的寧靜。\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>這是一座用再多言語都難以描述的美麗城市。那些一邊眺望著自然景\u003cwbr /\>色,\u003cbr /\>一邊沈浸在音樂中的時刻,直到現在還是記憶猶新。\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>----\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>最後一次從 BCN 飛回倫敦的班機上,我把自己塞在飛機最後一排的窗戶邊。\u003cbr /\>不想理會 Easyjet 空服員矯揉造作的英式口吻,也不想理會身旁嘻笑打鬧\u003cbr /\>的英國祖父與孫女,即使是這次旅行裡一向最愛聽的 Ame 的 Coast2Coast\u003cbr /\>也被我棄如鄙履。一邊怔怔地看著飛機緩慢滑過眼前還在興建當中的\u003cwbr /\>機場新\u003cbr /\>航廈,我把 iPod 的音量調到最大,任憑 Cerrone - In The Smoke 誇張的\u003cbr /\>唱腔一次次淹沒我:\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>"Just wanna spend my time with you..."\u003cbr /\>"babe I...just wanna spend my time with you..."\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>\u003c/div\>",0] ); //--></script>了我。<br /><br />----<br /><br />凌晨兩點半,氣溫五度左右的公車候車亭裡,倦意濃厚的我孑然一人<wbr>趴<br />在冰涼的鐵製狹窄板凳上一邊昏迷一邊發抖著。已經裹滿了所有可以<wbr>上<br />身的厚重保暖裝備,耳機裡卻連 My My 的 DJ Mixing 也不能帶來一絲絲<br />的暖意。<br /><br />於是我把 iPod 轉給 Ella Fitzgerald。在她寬厚溫柔的 Gershwin 兄弟<br />歌曲聲中,我終於得到了片刻的歇息。<br /><br />----<br /><br />在走向 Malmo 海邊的那個早上,我把 iPod 轉到了 Dixon 的 RA Podcast。<br />自此之後,我在整趟 Scandinavia 的旅途中再也少不了他的音樂。<br /><br />一首又一首懾人心魄的 Deep House 選曲,樂而不淫,哀而不傷,一層又一層<br />的緩慢釋放蘊藏已久的細緻情感,直到第四十六分鐘那宛如命運註定<wbr>般的甜美<br />木琴聲響起,把我拖進充滿誘惑的深淵。即使在北歐的耀眼陽光底下<wbr>,這首<br />Telepopmusic - Love Can Damage Your Health (Ferrer Remix) 也能立刻讓<br />四周的世界一片漆黑,把我帶回在 Berlin 的 Watergate 第一次聽到這首曲子<br />時身旁杯觥交錯,眼前河岸倒影著環球影城霓紅燈的醉人情景。<br /><br />高潮過後,mixing 最後的女聲唱著:<br /><br />"...we don't need...any kind of big parade<br />just once a little serenade<br />celebrate this loving mate<br /><br />...we don't need...any kind of big fanfare<br />this is just my heartly felt<br />for anyone who might care"<br /><br />陽光、海水、綠意、流線型建築和戴著墨鏡的美女,加上 Dixon 的音樂,<br />讓這次旅行成為我生命中最永難忘懷的一次。<br /><br />----<br /><br />在去過這麼多地方之後,其實 BCN 的海灘對我而言並沒有特別吸引人,儘管<br />海邊有著被人猛念著一定得拍照留念的魚和球等新式建築。<br /><br />對我而言,更值得留念的,或許是當天的海風、浪花打在妳腳上的樣<wbr>子、<br />以及最適合在這個季節的海邊一起聆聽的 Ewan Pearson 的 RA Podcast。<br /><br />----<br /><br />Alex Smoke 的冷冽電氣節拍伴隨著我迎接第一個在蘇格蘭的紫色清晨,而<br />Phonique 的 mixing 則成為了我在 Edinburgh 的主題音樂。他多元化的選曲<br />和寬闊深刻的情感含量,讓我在這座城市每個歇息的角落都得到了內<wbr>在的寧靜。<br /><br />這是一座用再多言語都難以描述的美麗城市。那些一邊眺望著自然景<wbr>色,<br />一邊沈浸在音樂中的時刻,直到現在還是記憶猶新。<br /><br />----<br /><br />最後一次從 BCN 飛回倫敦的班機上,我把自己塞在飛機最後一排的窗戶邊。<br />不想理會 Easyjet 空服員矯揉造作的英式口吻,也不想理會身旁嘻笑打鬧<br />的英國祖父與孫女,即使是這次旅行裡一向最愛聽的 Ame 的 Coast2Coast<br />也被我棄如鄙履。一邊怔怔地看著飛機緩慢滑過眼前還在興建當中的<wbr>機場新<br />航廈,我把 iPod 的音量調到最大,任憑 Cerrone - In The Smoke 誇張的<br />唱腔一次次淹沒我:<br /><br /><br />"Just wanna spend my time with you..."<br />"babe I...just wanna spend my time with you..."<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></div>pistonJWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10272683849661370549noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14775045.post-8864248266083453872007-09-05T10:53:00.000+01:002007-09-05T11:10:54.245+01:00[Travel] Everyone lives on a lonely planet.<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_pokhYMyu_Y9GuwHpavyr55SNwx1QZ7VtCEoHQ7aajf6R9joH7g-OQPlXubyNLxvgBxwuMG925SRRFFJ6wTGPV4yiboG0ZtJZ1ULdgiyiuU_5ojsyKVoLjG5vQlUYa5Q5s5Jq/s1600-h/CIMG7527-01.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_pokhYMyu_Y9GuwHpavyr55SNwx1QZ7VtCEoHQ7aajf6R9joH7g-OQPlXubyNLxvgBxwuMG925SRRFFJ6wTGPV4yiboG0ZtJZ1ULdgiyiuU_5ojsyKVoLjG5vQlUYa5Q5s5Jq/s320/CIMG7527-01.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5106660227569974546" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;"><br /><br />"I've seen things you people wouldn't believe. Attack ships</span> <span style="font-style: italic;">on fire off the shoulder of Orion. I watched c-beams glitter</span> <span style="font-style: italic;">in the dark near the Tanhauser Gate. All those ... moments</span> <span style="font-style: italic;">will be lost in time, like tears...in rain. Time to die."<br /><br /><br /><br /></span>pistonJWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10272683849661370549noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14775045.post-27291099361286852502007-08-09T22:57:00.001+01:002007-08-10T11:06:03.831+01:00[Barca] Nicolau Casaus 過逝<span class="q" id="q_1144c9e2ac4201b3_0"><span style="font-weight: bold;">R.I.P. Nicolau Casaus (1913-2007)</span><br /><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIyIL_b2TnoQspNXP1OpjccwtTnyy6Fh5AwycPhMx0_WNYtHxXBzo1RiG8lPqoCd8RnrAb862vtdFyWmZGwgRvaI3tlYgpET6GcJxhMGMjGc0CbnGX5xDJvlwBFk_qlq6Dy8-V/s1600-h/nicolai+casaus.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIyIL_b2TnoQspNXP1OpjccwtTnyy6Fh5AwycPhMx0_WNYtHxXBzo1RiG8lPqoCd8RnrAb862vtdFyWmZGwgRvaI3tlYgpET6GcJxhMGMjGc0CbnGX5xDJvlwBFk_qlq6Dy8-V/s320/nicolai+casaus.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5096827232855482658" border="0" /></a><br /><span class="q" id="q_1144c9e2ac4201b3_0"><br /><br /><br />巴薩百年隊史上最重要的人物之一,曾經擔任副主席職務長達 25 年<br />(1978-2003)的 Nicolau Casaus,昨天病逝於 Catalunya 境內的小城<br />Castelldefels。<br /><br />為紀念 Casaus,俱樂部從今天起將降半旗默哀。巴薩現任主席 Joan<br />Laporta 在接獲 Casaus 過逝的消息之後,也取消個人在亞洲的行程,專程<br />飛回 BCN 參加告別式。<br /><br />「今天是所有的巴薩人(barcelonista<wbr>)一同默哀的日子。」Laporta 在離開<br />香港之前接受記者採訪時表示。「他是巴薩隊史上最受歡迎的人物之<wbr>一,非常<br />具有個人風采,並且是球隊的和平大使。」<br /><br />除了 Laporta 之外,其他曾經擔任過球隊重要職務的大人物們也都將趕回奔喪。<br />各方賢達-包括西班牙國王 Juan Carlos I -也以電文等方式表達哀悼之意。<br /><br />Casaus 九十四年人生當中對於巴薩的貢獻和影響力,絕對不只是他副主席職<wbr>務<br />的頭銜所能概括的。如果把巴薩比喻成一個國家,那從 Franco 專制時代一直到<br />上世紀結束前的漫長時光當中,Casaus 一直是這個國家最重要的外交大使。<br />他在人群面前優雅溫文、翩翩有禮的紳士形象,不僅是巴薩歷年來高<wbr>級官員當中<br />的特例,也幫助球隊在全世界各地連結了不少友誼關係<wbr>。而他無論面對任何困難<br />永遠保持微笑的樂觀形象,更是當年一同走過 Franco 專制時代的巴薩迷最重要<br />的精神支柱之一。<br /><br />除了外交工作之外,Casaus 對於球隊另一項極為巨大的貢獻,就是他幫助球隊<br />大幅拓展了 "penya" (英譯 supporter's club,中文或可翻譯為「後援會」)<br />的規模和數目。在 Franco 專政時代,公開的集會結社遭到禁止,人民的生活<br />受到高度監控;然而,在反抗中央最烈的 Catalunya 地區,人們逐漸懂得利用<br />penya 的名義,在餐廳、酒吧或其他公開場合每週舉行非正式的聊天或聯誼<wbr>,<br />除了藉此連絡感情之外,更重要的目的還包括了交換政治意見<wbr>,或甚至是教導<br />和傳遞給下一代當時被禁止公開使用的 Catalan(加泰隆尼亞語)。有學者指出<br />,penya 的存在和興盛,對於 Catalunya 地區在 Franco 專政體制下的文化傳遞<br />與保存,甚至是之後 Catalunya 尋求自治運動的興起,都有著不可磨滅的重要<br />影響<span style="font-size:85%;"> [1]</span> 。<br /><br />在 Catalunya 地區當時的 penya 種類繁多,包括了舞蹈、民歌、健行、當然<br />也包括了巴薩的後援會,而 Casaus 正是巴薩後援會成長茁壯最重要的推手。<br />在他的領導之下,巴薩後援會的數量從他剛接掌職務時的 60 個,直到今天<br />的 1,500 個。後援會的分布也從原先的僅限於 Catalunya 地區,到今天全世<br />界都有分布。<br /><br />1913 年出生於阿根廷 Mendoza 的 Casaus,在五歲時跟著出版事業遭受失敗的<br />雙親一起返回 Catalunya 定居。在九歲時,Casaus 觀賞了人生當中第一場巴薩<br />的比賽,並且從那時起就立志成為一個巴薩球迷。<br /><br />「我那時候住在 Barcelona 省境內一個叫做 Igualada 的小鎮。」已經白髮蒼蒼<br />的 Casaus 在上個世紀末接受訪問時回憶著 <span style="font-size:85%;">[2]</span>。「當時,巴薩來到我們的小鎮<br />,準備和我們的球隊來一場友誼賽。」<br /><script><!-- D(["mb","\u003cbr /\>「當時我的偶像是 Pepe Samitier [3],而他也跟著球隊一起來了,因此我很想\u003cbr /\> 去看,但是我沒錢。」\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>「當時的我就和同伴們想了個法子。我們先在巴薩的巴士要停放的地\u003cwbr /\>方等,等到\u003cbr /\> 巴士一到,我們就去幫忙提行李和搬東西。」\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>「我非常的好運,能幫 Samitier 先生拿到行李。他很喜歡我-儘管我那時候長得\u003cbr /\> 又胖又矮-然而他不但讓我能看到比賽,還幫助我成為了巴薩的會員\u003cwbr /\>。」\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>1927 年,Casaus 正式成為了巴薩會員 (socio),同時還和朋友們創辦了巴薩隊史\u003cbr /\>上最早成立的後援會之一:Penya Germanor。1937 年,西班牙內戰(Guerra Civil\u003cbr /\>Espanola)的戰火燒到了 Igualada,讓當時正在幫忙家族紡織事業的 Casaus\u003cbr /\>不得不中斷自己的工作。當時支持西班牙第二共和(Segunda Repblica Espanola)\u003cbr /\>的 Casaus 對於自己由於是外國人(阿根廷)身分而不能親赴前線作戰感到很難\u003cwbr /\>過,\u003cbr /\>不過他很快就找到了另一個發揮自己政治熱情的舞台。Casaus 當選了加泰隆尼亞作\u003cbr /\>家協會(Catalan Journalists\' Union)的主席,並且成為一本叫做「地平線」\u003cbr /\>(Horizonts)的雜誌的編輯,用一個叫做 "Oswald" 的化名撰寫了不少反對 Franco\u003cbr /\>的文章。\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>然而,當 1939 年一月 Barcelona 淪陷於 Franco 代表的西班牙右派國族主義軍\u003cbr /\>\u003c/span\>\u003c/div\>",1] ); D(["mb","\u003cdiv style\u003d\"direction:ltr\"\>(Estado Espanol)之手之後,Casaus 明瞭自己很快就會遇上大麻煩。果不其然\u003cbr /\>,Casaus 很快地就被國族主義軍逮捕,並且在經過簡略的軍事法庭審理之後\u003cwbr /\>,被\u003cbr /\>\u003c/div\>",1] ); //--></script><br />「當時我的偶像是 Pepe Samitier <span style="font-size:85%;">[3]</span>,而他也跟著球隊一起來了,因此我很想<br />去看,但是我沒錢。」<br /><br />「當時的我就和同伴們想了個法子。我們先在巴薩的巴士要停放的地<wbr>方等,等到<br />巴士一到,我們就去幫忙提行李和搬東西。」<br /><br />「我非常的好運,能幫 Samitier 先生拿到行李。他很喜歡我-儘管我那時候長得<br />又胖又矮-然而他不但讓我能看到比賽,還幫助我成為了巴薩的會員<wbr>。」<br /><br />1927 年,Casaus 正式成為了巴薩會員 (socio),同時還和朋友們創辦了巴薩隊史<br />上最早成立的後援會之一:Penya Germanor。1937 年,西班牙內戰(Guerra Civil<br />Espanola)的戰火燒到了 Igualada,讓當時正在幫忙家族紡織事業的 Casaus<br />不得不中斷自己的工作。當時支持西班牙第二共和(Segunda Republica Espanola)<br />的 Casaus 對於自己由於是外國人(阿根廷)身分而不能親赴前線作戰感到很難<wbr>過,<br />不過他很快就找到了另一個發揮自己政治熱情的舞台。Casaus 當選了加泰隆尼亞作<br />家協會(Catalan Journalists' Union)的主席,並且成為一本叫做「地平線」<br />(Horizonts)的雜誌的編輯,用一個叫做 "Oswald" 的化名撰寫了不少反對 Franco<br />的文章。<br /><br />然而,當 1939 年一月 Barcelona 淪陷於 Franco 代表的西班牙右派國族主義軍<br /></span><div style="direction: ltr;">(Estado Espanol)之手之後,Casaus 明瞭自己很快就會遇上大麻煩。果不其然<br />,Casaus 很快地就被國族主義軍逮捕,並且在經過簡略的軍事法庭審理之後<wbr>,被<br /></div><script><!-- D(["mb","\u003cdiv style\u003d\"direction:ltr\"\>\u003cdiv class\u003dea\>\u003cspan id\u003de_1144c9e2ac4201b3_2\>- Show quoted text -\u003c/span\>\u003c/div\>\u003cspan class\u003de id\u003dq_1144c9e2ac4201b3_2\>判處死刑。\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>「有 72 天,我待在牢房裡,每天聽著我左右牢房裡的同伴們被拖出去槍決,\u003cbr /\> 同時等待著行刑隊來敲我的門。」將近七十年後,Casaus 回憶著 [4]。\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>最後 Casaus 得以逃過一劫的原因眾說紛紜,有人說這是因為他有一個很有辦法\u003cbr /\>的叔叔,不過 Casaus 本人有另外的說法。\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>「他們太喜歡我後來替他們寫的歌功頌德的文章了。」Casaus 回憶著。\u003cbr /\>「喜歡到他們還把我安插在監獄的商店裡工作。」\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>「這大概是我當時沒有餓死的唯一原因。」\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>經過五年的牢獄生活,Casaus 終於在 1944 年重獲自由。根據他自己回憶,在這\u003cbr /\>五年的時光裡他唯一得到的,大概就是養成了抽雪茄和睡吊床的習慣\u003cwbr /\>。Casuas 和\u003cbr /\>他的家人搬到了 BCN,而在 Samitier 的友情金錢贊助(他永遠也不會忘記這\u003cbr /\>400,000 pesetas)之下,Casaus 和他的家人得以生活無虞。\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>之前的牢獄之災,讓 Casaus 喪失了部份的西班牙公民權(直到 1975 年 Franco\u003cbr /\>死後才恢復),也讓他無法進入巴薩的董事會當中。然而\u003cwbr /\>,Casaus 仍然參與了許多\u003cbr /\>改變巴薩未來的重大計畫和建設。在 1954 年三月十八日,他是第一批參與把\u003cbr /\>Les Corts 的基座搬遷到 Camp Nou 的球迷之一;他更是 Camp Nou 興建計畫的\u003cbr /\>重要決策者之一。而 Casaus 的非官方身分,事實上在某些情況下是更方便他替\u003cbr /\>球隊做事的,例如之前提到關於 penya (後援會)的組織和擴張,他並且擔任\u003cbr /\>Penya Solera 這個當時或許是巴薩最重要後援會的地下首腦長達十八年之久。\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>而仍然被西班牙政府和許多當地人認為是外國人的 Casaus,在 Franco 專政時期\u003cbr /\>也持續地有麻煩上身。在 1954 年,他就曾經因為在 Penya Solera 裡面要求人家\u003cbr /\>把門上的 Franco 畫像移開,而差點被趕出西班牙國境之外。被 Franco 視為好朋友\u003cbr /\>之一的 Samitier 在這時再度成為了 Casaus 的貴人,讓這件事最後得以大事化小。\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>1978 年,在 Franco 去世後的第一次巴薩主席選舉當中,Casaus 最後以 23.41%\u003cbr /\>的投票率敗給了 Josep Llus Nunez (39.38%),屈居第二 [5]。然而,Nunez 後來\u003cbr /\>成功地說服了 Casaus 加入他的陣營,並且讓他成為球隊的副主席。在這個位置上\u003cbr /\>,Casaus 得以繼續加強球隊的後援會組織,並且成為球隊最重要的社交公關和\u003cbr /\>外交大使。而 Casaus 手上擁有的龐大後援會資源,後來也證明了對於 Nunez\u003cbr /\>一共 22 年(1978-2000)的主席連任之路有著很大的幫助。\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>Casaus 的阿根廷背景和長袖善舞的人格特質,讓他成為了 1982 年球隊得以簽下\u003cbr /\>Maradona 的關鍵人物。早在 1977 年,Casaus 就從他阿根廷朋友的線報當中,\u003cbr /\>了解到 Maradona 將會成為撼動世界的天才。Nunez 的工作團隊為了簽下 Maradona\u003cbr /\>前後一共花了四年的時間,而被 Maradona 視為父親一般敬重的 Casaus 最後終於\u003cbr /\>成功地把他帶來巴塞隆納。然而,Maradona 在球場之外放浪行骸的私生活(尤其是\u003cbr /\>吸食古柯鹼的習慣),和縱容這一切發生的經紀人 Jorge Cyterszpiler,逐漸地讓\u003cbr /\>Casaus 和 Maradona 兩人之間的關係開始疏遠,而 Maradona 在球場上所遭受的嚴\u003cbr /\>重運動傷害則更讓一切雪上加霜,也是讓他在巴薩的時光如此短暫的\u003cwbr /\>重要原因之一。\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>1999 年,在巴薩的百年慶典當中,Casaus 接受了全體巴薩會員的特別表揚,\u003cbr /\>球隊並且致贈了一座銅製的半身像作為禮物。當時發表賀電的人物包\u003cwbr /\>括了前\u003cbr /\>加泰隆尼亞自治區(Generalitat de Catalunya)主席 Jordi Pujol、和前\u003cbr /\>\u003c/span\>\u003c/div\>",1] ); //--></script><div style="direction: ltr;"><span class="q" id="q_1144c9e2ac4201b3_2">判處死刑。<br /><br />「有 72 天,我待在牢房裡,每天聽著我左右牢房裡的同伴們被拖出去槍決,<br />同時等待著行刑隊來敲我的門。」將近七十年後,Casaus 回憶著 <span style="font-size:85%;">[4]</span>。<br /><br />最後 Casaus 得以逃過一劫的原因眾說紛紜,有人說這是因為他有一個很有辦法<br />的叔叔,不過 Casaus 本人有另外的說法。<br /><br />「他們太喜歡我後來替他們寫的歌功頌德的文章了。」Casaus 回憶著。<br />「喜歡到他們還把我安插在監獄的商店裡工作。」<br /><br />「這大概是我當時沒有餓死的唯一原因。」<br /><br />經過五年的牢獄生活,Casaus 終於在 1944 年重獲自由。根據他自己回憶,在這<br />五年的時光裡他唯一得到的,大概就是養成了抽雪茄和睡吊床的習慣<wbr>。Casaus 和<br />他的家人搬到了 BCN,而在 Samitier 的友情金錢贊助(他永遠也不會忘記這<br />400,000 pesetas)之下,Casaus 和他的家人得以生活無虞。<br /><br />之前的牢獄之災,讓 Casaus 喪失了部份的西班牙公民權(直到 1975 年 Franco<br />死後才恢復),也讓他無法進入巴薩的董事會當中。然而<wbr>,Casaus 仍然參與了許多<br />改變巴薩未來的重大計畫和建設。在 1954 年三月十八日,他是第一批參與把<br />Les Corts 的基座搬遷到 Camp Nou 的球迷之一;他更是 Camp Nou 興建計畫的<br />重要決策者之一。而 Casaus 的非官方身分,事實上在某些情況下是更方便他替<br />球隊做事的,例如之前提到關於 penya (後援會)的組織和擴張,他並且擔任<br />Penya Solera 這個當時或許是巴薩最重要後援會的地下首腦長達十八年之久。<br /><br />而仍然被西班牙政府和許多當地人認為是外國人的 Casaus,在 Franco 專政時期<br />也持續地有麻煩上身。在 1954 年,他就曾經因為在 Penya Solera 裡面要求人家<br />把門上的 Franco 畫像移開,而差點被趕出西班牙國境之外。被 Franco 視為好朋友<br />之一的 Samitier 在這時再度成為了 Casaus 的貴人,讓這件事最後得以大事化小。<br /><br />1978 年,在 Franco 去世後的第一次巴薩主席選舉當中,Casaus 最後以 23.41%<br />的投票率敗給了 Josep Lluis Nunez (39.38%),屈居第二 <span style="font-size:85%;">[5]</span>。然而,Nunez 後來<br />成功地說服了 Casaus 加入他的陣營,並且讓他成為球隊的副主席。在這個位置上<br />,Casaus 得以繼續加強球隊的後援會組織,並且成為球隊最重要的社交公關和<br />外交大使。而 Casaus 手上擁有的龐大後援會資源,後來也證明了對於 Nunez<br />一共 22 年(1978-2000)的主席連任之路有著很大的幫助。<br /><br />Casaus 的阿根廷背景和長袖善舞的人格特質,讓他成為了 1982 年球隊得以簽下<br />Maradona 的關鍵人物。早在 1977 年,Casaus 就從他阿根廷朋友的線報當中,<br />了解到 Maradona 將會成為撼動世界的天才。Nunez 的工作團隊為了簽下 Maradona<br />前後一共花了四年的時間,而被 Maradona 視為父親一般敬重的 Casaus 最後終於<br />成功地把他帶來巴塞隆納。然而,Maradona 在球場之外放浪行骸的私生活(尤其是<br />吸食古柯鹼的習慣),和縱容這一切發生的經紀人 Jorge Cyterszpiler,逐漸地讓<br />Casaus 和 Maradona 兩人之間的關係開始疏遠,而 Maradona 在球場上所遭受的嚴<br />重運動傷害則更讓一切雪上加霜,也是讓他在巴薩的時光如此短暫的<wbr>重要原因之一。<br /><br />1999 年,在巴薩的百年慶典當中,Casaus 接受了全體巴薩會員的特別表揚,<br />球隊並且致贈了一座銅製的半身像作為禮物。當時發表賀電的人物包<wbr>括了前<br />加泰隆尼亞自治區(Generalitat de Catalunya)主席 Jordi Pujol、和前<br /></span></div><script><!-- D(["mb","\u003cdiv style\u003d\"direction:ltr\"\>歐洲足協(UEFA)主席 Lennart Johansson。整個西甲當時共有十三支球隊\u003cbr /\>送給了 Casaus 禮物,其中包括皇家馬德里。\u003cbr /\>\u003c/div\>",1] ); //--></script><div style="direction: ltr;">歐洲足協(UEFA)主席 Lennart Johansson。整個西甲當時共有十三支球隊<br />送給了 Casaus 禮物,其中包括皇家馬德里。<br /></div><script><!-- D(["mb","\u003cdiv style\u003d\"direction:ltr\"\>\u003cdiv class\u003dea\>\u003cspan id\u003de_1144c9e2ac4201b3_4\>- Show quoted text -\u003c/span\>\u003c/div\>\u003cspan class\u003de id\u003dq_1144c9e2ac4201b3_4\>\u003cbr /\>2003 年,Casaus 接受了球隊榮譽副主席的職務。在同年夏天 Laporta 當選新任\u003cbr /\>巴薩主席之後,由於新人新政和 Casaus 的健康問題,他終於從二十五年的副主席\u003cbr /\>的職務當中退下,但仍然對於球隊有著巨大的影響力。\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>去年二月,Casaus 歡度他的 93 歲生日。雖然當時他的身體狀況已經無法見客,\u003cbr /\>但仍然透過他的女兒 Roser 對於外界的祝賀表達感激之意。\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>Casaus 的葬禮將於週五中午十二點在 BCN 市內的 Tanatorio de Les Corts\u003cbr /\>舉行。同時,為紀念 Casaus,球隊將會在週五面對香港 Mission Hills\u003cbr /\>Invitation XI 的友誼賽當中戴上黑色臂章,並且在賽前靜默一分鐘致意。\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>----\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>Casaus 和他的女兒 Roser 公開露面的照片:\u003cbr /\>\u003ca onclick\u003d\"return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)\" href\u003d\"http://0rz.tw/3e2XI\" target\u003d_blank\>http://0rz.tw/3e2XI\u003c/a\>\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>在阿根廷為紀念 Casaus,以他為名的巴薩後援會:\u003cbr /\>\u003ca onclick\u003d\"return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)\" href\u003d\"http://www.penyaba.com.ar/\" target\u003d_blank\>http://www.penyaba.com.ar/\u003c/a\>\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>Penya Barcelonista Nicolau Casaus 的內部照片:\u003cbr /\>\u003ca onclick\u003d\"return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)\" href\u003d\"http://farm1.static.flickr.com/24/89647902_3974f95a3e_o.jpg\" target\u003d_blank\>http://farm1.static.flickr.com\u003cwbr /\>/24/89647902_3974f95a3e_o.jpg\u003c/a\>\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>Casaus & Maradona\u003cbr /\>\u003ca onclick\u003d\"return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)\" href\u003d\"http://0rz.tw/722Xs\" target\u003d_blank\>http://0rz.tw/722Xs\u003c/a\>\u003cbr /\>\u003ca onclick\u003d\"return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)\" href\u003d\"http://farm1.static.flickr.com/14/94150668_d86096ceb9_b.jpg\" target\u003d_blank\>http://farm1.static.flickr.com\u003cwbr /\>/14/94150668_d86096ceb9_b.jpg\u003c/a\>\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>Casaus & Laporta\u003cbr /\>\u003ca onclick\u003d\"return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)\" href\u003d\"http://www.sport.es/vivo/recursos/fotos/foto_235024_CAS.jpg\" target\u003d_blank\>http://www.sport.es/vivo\u003cwbr /\>/recursos/fotos/foto_235024\u003cwbr /\>_CAS.jpg\u003c/a\>\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>Casaus with Cigar\u003cbr /\>\u003ca onclick\u003d\"return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)\" href\u003d\"http://www.nortecastilla.es/RC/200708/09/Media/casaus1--200x160.jpg\" target\u003d_blank\>http://www.nortecastilla.es/RC\u003cwbr /\>/200708/09/Media/casaus1-\u003cwbr /\>-200x160.jpg\u003c/a\>\u003cbr /\>\u003ca onclick\u003d\"return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)\" href\u003d\"http://www.sport.es/vivo/recursos/fotos/foto_235025_CAS.jpg\" target\u003d_blank\>",1] ); //--></script><div style="direction: ltr;"><span class="q" id="q_1144c9e2ac4201b3_4"><br />2003 年,Casaus 接受了球隊榮譽副主席的職務。在同年夏天 Laporta 當選新任<br />巴薩主席之後,由於新人新政和 Casaus 的健康問題,他終於從二十五年的副主席<br />的職務當中退下,但仍然對於球隊有著巨大的影響力。<br /><br />去年二月,Casaus 歡度他的 93 歲生日。雖然當時他的身體狀況已經無法見客,<br />但仍然透過他的女兒 Roser 對於外界的祝賀表達感激之意。<br /><br />Casaus 的葬禮將於週五中午十二點在 BCN 市內的 Tanatorio de Les Corts<br />舉行。同時,為紀念 Casaus,球隊將會在週五面對香港 Mission Hills<br />Invitation XI 的友誼賽當中戴上黑色臂章,並且在賽前靜默一分鐘致意。<br /><br /><br />----<br /><br />Casaus 和他的女兒 Roser 公開露面的照片:<br /><a onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://0rz.tw/3e2XI" target="_blank">http://0rz.tw/3e2XI</a><br /><br />在阿根廷為紀念 Casaus,以他為名的巴薩後援會:<br /><a onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.penyaba.com.ar/" target="_blank">http://www.penyaba.com.ar/</a><br /><br />Penya Barcelonista Nicolau Casaus 的內部照片:<br /><a onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/24/89647902_3974f95a3e_o.jpg" target="_blank">http://farm1.static.flickr.com<wbr>/24/89647902_3974f95a3e_o.jpg</a><br /><br />Casaus & Maradona<br /><a onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://0rz.tw/722Xs" target="_blank">http://0rz.tw/722Xs</a><br /><a onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://farm1.static.flickr.com/14/94150668_d86096ceb9_b.jpg" target="_blank">http://farm1.static.flickr.com<wbr>/14/94150668_d86096ceb9_b.jpg</a><br /><br />Casaus & Laporta<br /><a onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.sport.es/vivo/recursos/fotos/foto_235024_CAS.jpg" target="_blank">http://www.sport.es/vivo<wbr>/recursos/fotos/foto_235024<wbr>_CAS.jpg</a><br /><br />Casaus with Cigar<br /><a onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.nortecastilla.es/RC/200708/09/Media/casaus1--200x160.jpg" target="_blank">http://www.nortecastilla.es/RC<wbr>/200708/09/Media/casaus1-<wbr>-200x160.jpg</a><br /><a onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.sport.es/vivo/recursos/fotos/foto_235025_CAS.jpg" target="_blank"><script><!-- D(["mb","http://www.sport.es/vivo\u003cwbr /\>/recursos/fotos/foto_235025\u003cwbr /\>_CAS.jpg\u003c/a\>\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>----\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>Notes:\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>[1] Pi-Sunyer, O. (1971). The Maintenance of Ethnic Identity in Catalonia,\u003cbr /\> In Pi-Sunyer (ed.), [1;37mThe Limits of Integration: Ethnicity and Nationalism\u003cbr /\> in Modern Europe [m, pp. 130. Amherst, MA: Department of Anthropology\u003cbr /\> Research Reports, no.9.\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>[2] Burns, J. (1998). [1;37mBarca: A People’s Passion [m, pp. 30.\u003cbr /\> London: Bloomsbury.\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>[3] Pepe Samitier 是巴薩在 1920-30 年代的傳奇巨星之一,綽號 "El Sami"。\u003cbr /\> 1919 年,他以十九歲之姿成為巴薩一隊的成員,並且在後來巴薩職業化之\u003cwbr /\>後\u003cbr /\> 成為全隊最高薪的球員。他對球迷的謙和和平易近人眾所皆知\u003cwbr /\>,尤其喜歡\u003cbr /\> 和小孩子與窮人相處。在球員生涯結束之後,他曾經擔任過球隊的球\u003cwbr /\>探和\u003cbr /\> 技術總監。\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>[4] Ibid., pp.125-6.\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>[5] Ibid., pp.240.\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>----\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>Extensive Reading Materials:\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>FCBarcelona.cat: A life dedicated to Barca\u003cbr /\>\u003ca onclick\u003d\"return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)\" href\u003d\"http://0rz.tw/7c2SK\" target\u003d_blank\>http://0rz.tw/7c2SK\u003c/a\>\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>DiarioSport: Hasta siempre, Nicolau\u003cbr /\>\u003ca onclick\u003d\"return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)\" href\u003d\"http://0rz.tw/462Vv\" target\u003d_blank\>http://0rz.tw/462Vv\u003c/a\>\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>DiarioSport: Casaus, un personaje singular y de enorme carisma\u003cbr /\>\u003ca onclick\u003d\"return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)\" href\u003d\"http://0rz.tw/852TH\" target\u003d_blank\>http://0rz.tw/852TH\u003c/a\>\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>el Periodico: Un fichaje csmico\u003cbr /\>\u003ca onclick\u003d\"return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)\" href\u003d\"http://0rz.tw/1d2XJ\" target\u003d_blank\>http://0rz.tw/1d2XJ\u003c/a\>\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>--\u003cbr /\>※ 發信站: 批踢踢實業坊(ptt.cc)\u003cbr /\>◆ From: \u003ca onclick\u003d\"return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)\" href\u003d\"http://131.231.233.247\" target\u003d_blank\>131.231.233.247\u003c/a\>\u003cbr /\>\u003c/span\>\u003c/div\>",1] ); //--></script>http://www.sport.es/vivo<wbr>/recursos/fotos/foto_235025<wbr>_CAS.jpg</a><br /><br />----<br /><br />Notes:<br /><br />[1] Pi-Sunyer, O. (1971). The Maintenance of Ethnic Identity in Catalonia,<br />In Pi-Sunyer (ed.), <span style="font-style: italic;">The Limits of Integration: Ethnicity and Nationalism</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;"> in Modern Europe</span>, pp. 130. Amherst, MA: Department of Anthropology<br />Research Reports, no.9.<br /><br />[2] Burns, J. (1998). <span style="font-style: italic;">Barca: A People’s Passion</span>, pp. 30.<br />London: Bloomsbury.<br /><br />[3] Pepe Samitier 是巴薩在 1920-30 年代的傳奇巨星之一,綽號 "El Sami"。<br />1919 年,他以十九歲之姿成為巴薩一隊的成員,並且在後來巴薩職業化之<wbr>後<br />成為全隊最高薪的球員。他對球迷的謙和和平易近人眾所皆知<wbr>,尤其喜歡<br />和小孩子與窮人相處。在球員生涯結束之後,他曾經擔任過球隊的球<wbr>探和<br />技術總監。<br /><br />[4] Ibid., pp.125-6.<br /><br />[5] Ibid., pp.240.<br /><br />----<br /><br />Extensive Reading Materials:<br /><br />FCBarcelona.cat: A life dedicated to Barca<br /><a onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://0rz.tw/7c2SK" target="_blank">http://0rz.tw/7c2SK</a><br /><br />DiarioSport: Hasta siempre, Nicolau<br /><a onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://0rz.tw/462Vv" target="_blank">http://0rz.tw/462Vv</a><br /><br />DiarioSport: Casaus, un personaje singular y de enorme carisma<br /><a onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://0rz.tw/852TH" target="_blank">http://0rz.tw/852TH</a><br /><br />el Periodico: Un fichaje cosmico<br /><a onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://0rz.tw/1d2XJ" target="_blank">http://0rz.tw/1d2XJ</a><br /><br />----<br /><br /><object height="350" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/Zmo0VzPaHek"><param name="wmode" value="transparent"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/Zmo0VzPaHek" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" height="350" width="425"></embed></object><br /></span><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:100%;" >Les eleccions a la presidència del Barça de 1978</span><br /><br /><br /><object height="350" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/FqNvBSsUgv0"><param name="wmode" value="transparent"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/FqNvBSsUgv0" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" height="350" width="425"></embed></object><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;font-size:100%;" >La inauguració del Camp Nou (24/09/1957)</span><br /><br /><br /><object height="350" width="425"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/rtD65JSbcrk"><param name="wmode" value="transparent"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/rtD65JSbcrk" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" height="350" width="425"></embed></object><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Festes en motiu de la inauguració del Camp Nou (24/09/1957)</span><br /><br /><br /><br /></div>pistonJWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10272683849661370549noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14775045.post-23022895518091931112007-08-04T13:04:00.000+01:002007-08-04T13:50:51.143+01:00[Travel] gotta love those Scots<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTA6SnF4CwA50SgeGRjKmpEbEUYNXDyb5z2mgw45dqxe2JCn_vorchrJJIqqHj1cL5s6D1Cda56NwWOCaWxDwaOlhqBlwWkph9NnuTQ-LQ7JNv3RLntgu7G3JEe7LJk8SzUHLS/s1600-h/CIMG6244-01.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTA6SnF4CwA50SgeGRjKmpEbEUYNXDyb5z2mgw45dqxe2JCn_vorchrJJIqqHj1cL5s6D1Cda56NwWOCaWxDwaOlhqBlwWkph9NnuTQ-LQ7JNv3RLntgu7G3JEe7LJk8SzUHLS/s320/CIMG6244-01.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5094824750724220882" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><br /><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5QPPx0-H2ZXBxnuSvy_TzHCdFWv_f2G0YBBOtDqHiwYkmWy-FYOrdJbtbshlDpyp66ZIQPI3slB-B33nRebjigIMmE2UurrMOhoNfcOkBIv-ZYRs_j-OZnjML4tUCQKkMMocy/s1600-h/CIMG6717-01.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5QPPx0-H2ZXBxnuSvy_TzHCdFWv_f2G0YBBOtDqHiwYkmWy-FYOrdJbtbshlDpyp66ZIQPI3slB-B33nRebjigIMmE2UurrMOhoNfcOkBIv-ZYRs_j-OZnjML4tUCQKkMMocy/s320/CIMG6717-01.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5094824196673439682" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><br /><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUqocqVb0w4LxZiurvB7KSnm9iUHwYa7RshIr5h8iNKnn_HUwvPt-ZAAPoBLwD-2AZ5e2fEJDWiRBEVP6IGgRQCAS4RyZyIAy92afG8TwO3OAdG1nIsb4oHstdtEA_3aJ-aE84/s1600-h/CIMG6986-01.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUqocqVb0w4LxZiurvB7KSnm9iUHwYa7RshIr5h8iNKnn_HUwvPt-ZAAPoBLwD-2AZ5e2fEJDWiRBEVP6IGgRQCAS4RyZyIAy92afG8TwO3OAdG1nIsb4oHstdtEA_3aJ-aE84/s320/CIMG6986-01.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5094823724227037106" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><br /><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUDw3bWw9c8dzaESCtg6wnMANNO_1yDVjHo_ycDMwwTWVFF210oO5M43kdovo0Ce0dKIk6t-AJBOyn37TbuR45-n4z8W1UdkihNPfqXasiDuDzoxEVak2kuxXT9JqQtO8d1GtX/s1600-h/CIMG7141-01.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUDw3bWw9c8dzaESCtg6wnMANNO_1yDVjHo_ycDMwwTWVFF210oO5M43kdovo0Ce0dKIk6t-AJBOyn37TbuR45-n4z8W1UdkihNPfqXasiDuDzoxEVak2kuxXT9JqQtO8d1GtX/s320/CIMG7141-01.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5094822405672077218" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><br /><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzmfFSohhiWZAWlmnjVwmaQEjt07kCFizDby7w2S7YEZNsmqtrk1VI37rUCvLnAAmtH7jprs4n4YSndskwapk0qUWZ16U9fwBbSfBdMrpLMLlJGEslKVVtnNwoxCFF3MmNgOqE/s1600-h/CIMG7402-01.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzmfFSohhiWZAWlmnjVwmaQEjt07kCFizDby7w2S7YEZNsmqtrk1VI37rUCvLnAAmtH7jprs4n4YSndskwapk0qUWZ16U9fwBbSfBdMrpLMLlJGEslKVVtnNwoxCFF3MmNgOqE/s320/CIMG7402-01.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5094821675527636882" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><br /><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghh6-E5TJcsK67Exqg_PSmagyj5S5SbGQ5YmSX1i6bwLg3bdO8Ix7wjkN_a3ouTAFepJTZ8lMO6lll-0ylQOVMkG5349zec6PSkdEBT03_Qo7Zs5bKdAk8ot5xS1GnwNbaqShz/s1600-h/CIMG7490-01.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghh6-E5TJcsK67Exqg_PSmagyj5S5SbGQ5YmSX1i6bwLg3bdO8Ix7wjkN_a3ouTAFepJTZ8lMO6lll-0ylQOVMkG5349zec6PSkdEBT03_Qo7Zs5bKdAk8ot5xS1GnwNbaqShz/s320/CIMG7490-01.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5094820953973131138" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><br /><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8pO0jq8LjH0Lb2z4S2WQf-qkOEK2lVI2S5ffFOoWiVo6OoqycIt9SB8pIDCybrSJJS-WWtbn84QRR4Rv4MTIfbPHyYG5gZxO1Ntz0AQ5Z8F53GHdU1lfH3hYJ806bYAh6ziLO/s1600-h/CIMG7957-01.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8pO0jq8LjH0Lb2z4S2WQf-qkOEK2lVI2S5ffFOoWiVo6OoqycIt9SB8pIDCybrSJJS-WWtbn84QRR4Rv4MTIfbPHyYG5gZxO1Ntz0AQ5Z8F53GHdU1lfH3hYJ806bYAh6ziLO/s320/CIMG7957-01.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5094820537361303410" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><br /><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhw0hWNKQH0kojUz-O0zjtwmn2dM9lSo5_4Elxsali8M0R1O7qDBQyewgVeeEXOonKAsKSfIF4a-hq9_b7hfLNl3OslH65iEG5oY674M5Uv1pLJvy6xJcGFEe60k1svYbDRUB7r/s1600-h/CIMG8031-01.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhw0hWNKQH0kojUz-O0zjtwmn2dM9lSo5_4Elxsali8M0R1O7qDBQyewgVeeEXOonKAsKSfIF4a-hq9_b7hfLNl3OslH65iEG5oY674M5Uv1pLJvy6xJcGFEe60k1svYbDRUB7r/s320/CIMG8031-01.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5094819914591045474" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><br /><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWOPigVDY-p-vXMnXwIV_vIkBOO6rfnkjLuO4hktoyfIyQsWS4AfKb0EHenJuTbzPU7vhgwo7sheAaFRf0xF4jrqABUuPmCCwFVX3p6VuE97J7UldQyMqPl1VIZDi0XmcbCv_z/s1600-h/CIMG8323-01.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWOPigVDY-p-vXMnXwIV_vIkBOO6rfnkjLuO4hktoyfIyQsWS4AfKb0EHenJuTbzPU7vhgwo7sheAaFRf0xF4jrqABUuPmCCwFVX3p6VuE97J7UldQyMqPl1VIZDi0XmcbCv_z/s320/CIMG8323-01.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5094819309000656722" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><br /><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjW_JIJC-wkQIk5KMeTsiT7sBSf67I1dxaZ8Kc3J638c2wLCMLHK1S0maC-HMLwh174smowSH0gWz3Q5yFq8ahQmIcNoSkg_X0LyFI8TyvD0jEAYS36jwPibfUD-y1lLNKX7coo/s1600-h/CIMG8402-01.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjW_JIJC-wkQIk5KMeTsiT7sBSf67I1dxaZ8Kc3J638c2wLCMLHK1S0maC-HMLwh174smowSH0gWz3Q5yFq8ahQmIcNoSkg_X0LyFI8TyvD0jEAYS36jwPibfUD-y1lLNKX7coo/s320/CIMG8402-01.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5094818548791445314" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><br /><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEC12t5gF7_ZfoLLQzERMjbbXnFlkvEvQrpGbfLtLPeae28PVMwSsec-s3YouJz1XuOPbw3YucMexClQnGbEqqdpSsTjWIV316iGrky9YlTLgvDYast7S841p0n_Efql9yxNgo/s1600-h/CIMG8429-01.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEC12t5gF7_ZfoLLQzERMjbbXnFlkvEvQrpGbfLtLPeae28PVMwSsec-s3YouJz1XuOPbw3YucMexClQnGbEqqdpSsTjWIV316iGrky9YlTLgvDYast7S841p0n_Efql9yxNgo/s320/CIMG8429-01.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5094817698387920690" border="0" /></a><br /><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><br /><br /></span><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaPthJtY2Qo4h8dwbPejZVDVmTqhyphenhyphenega3gdayxIdAPScjePWIJ41tFq76m4qEiioiFtIjytJLTTvXEWp9Y57ZG7UArfqmcWjzXrRzVF_ceF7-ZMouKCoZpHiebIBS1EH8xx_NX/s1600-h/CIMG8462-01.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaPthJtY2Qo4h8dwbPejZVDVmTqhyphenhyphenega3gdayxIdAPScjePWIJ41tFq76m4qEiioiFtIjytJLTTvXEWp9Y57ZG7UArfqmcWjzXrRzVF_ceF7-ZMouKCoZpHiebIBS1EH8xx_NX/s320/CIMG8462-01.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5094817062732760866" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br />這次的旅行有個意料之外的有趣開端。<br /><br />人潮洶湧的 Victoria 巴士站裡,我好不容易擠到了正確的閘門,<br />接著就聽到了讓人不禁莞爾的奇妙口音。<br /><br />"You need to go to another coach! This coach is not for you!"<br />"This is coach 591 to Edinburgh! Coach 591!"<br /><br />真是太神奇了,我呆站在那裡一邊聽著這串吆喝一邊心想著。這兩個<br />司機應該是蘇格蘭人吧?他們剛剛講的真的是英文嘛?怎麼連罵人聽<br />起來都那麼有趣?我真的不是要去另一個國家嘛?<br /><br />長途夜車的第一排已經被這兩個司機給霸佔了,因此我坐在他們的後<div style="direction: ltr;"><wbr>面一排。他們的座位上已經擺好了棉被跟枕頭,等到正式發車<wbr>,其中<br />一個司機用他奇特的口音宣讀完注意事項之後,就豪邁地橫躺在第一<br />排的<wbr>四個座位上,身體的一部份還懸空在走道上。<br /><br />只有一個座位能勉強伸長腿的我,看了真是相當的羨慕。<br /><br />八小時的夜車其實沒有想像中的難熬。凌晨三點多,遼闊的蘇格蘭天<wbr>空<br />已經褪去了大半夜色,呈現的是只有在油畫裡會看到的濃郁藍色基底<wbr>。<br />和英國中部秀氣婉約的牧場和流水相比,北方的草原更加一望無際,<br />偶爾可以瞥見幾隻綿羊溫馴地啃著草地。畫布上的顏色隨著巴士持續<br />向北行進開始清澈透明起來,雖然天藍色的基調仍舊不變。<br /><br />半夢半醒之間,司機們已經在五點半左右執行了最後一次交班。巴士<br />接著駛入了蜿蜒狹窄的小徑,在高低起伏和緩的山勢裡,綠意盎然的<br />蘇格蘭風光盡入眼底。儘管地勢其實並不陡峭,但這裡比起英國中部<br />似乎多了一點蒼涼蕭瑟的氣氛。<br /><br />巴士比預期之中的時間早了半小時到站。約莫二十分鐘之後<wbr>,背著大背<br />包的我正盯著眼前遼闊的景象,有點不敢相信自己的眼睛<wbr>。儘管這裡距離<br />市中心只不過幾個 block 之遙,但在這個小山丘頂端已經可以看見山坡<br />下的大型公園,和更遠處海天相接的景致。<br /><br />----<br /><br />Edinburgh 可能是我到過的城市當中最適合自助旅行的其中之一。<br /><br />沿著山勢興建起來的重要建築,包括古堡、教堂和博物館等<wbr>,都很有默契<br />地比鄰而居,只要不討厭在略有坡度的山路上健走,市中心可以在一<wbr>兩個<br />小時之內踏遍。<br /><br />就連五零年代這個城市把輕軌電車撤除,改成讓一台台的雙層巴士在<wbr>狹窄<br />的山路上穿梭繞行的決定,在我看來都是十分正確的<wbr>。儘管輕軌電車能帶<br />給行路人的方便性勝過巴士,但它帶給市容的負面影響卻也是難以估<wbr>計的<br />(Praha 就是這方面很好的例子)。另外,沒有電車,從另一方面來說也<br />更鼓勵行人靠著自己的雙腳探索這個城市裡的每一個角落。<br /><br />在 Edinburgh 最繁華的一條街道 Royal Mile 上面,你會看到和其他觀光<br />都市的熱鬧大街上很類似的景象:彈著吉他的賣藝人<wbr>、擺滿自製手工飾品的<br />攤位、五分鐘內能幫你完成自畫像的畫家、和表演在一定時間內掙脫<wbr>捆滿自<br />己身上鐵索的玩命之徒(有趣的是,表演的這傢伙卻是來自美國中西<wbr>部)。<br /><br />然而,多走幾步路,你會發現這條大街其實上也藏著一些祕密<wbr>。街道的兩側<br />有著一個又一個的 close 可以彎進去一窺洞天,就像是這個島嶼的人們複雜<br />性格的縮影。除了已經被商業化的 Mary King's Close 之外,許多 close<br />可以讓習慣大街喧囂的旅客們找到幽靜的片刻。<br /><br />我一開始是因為紀念品攤位的標示走進這個 close 的。走進空無一人的店裡<br />,之後沿著背後傳來的腳步聲回頭一看,一位有著黃皮膚黑頭髮<wbr>、穿著綠色<br />夾克的店員小姐正有點放心地對我說著奇特腔調的 Hello。<br /><br />走出這間沒有太多新意的紀念品商店,一旁有人正靠著牆壁小憩<wbr><script><!-- D(["mb","。在這個被\u003cbr /\>公寓圍繞著的封閉空間裡,路樹旁有著一個不知道給誰的小小紀念碑\u003cwbr /\>,旁邊\u003cbr /\>有隨意停放著的腳踏車。\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>我駐足片刻之後,從另一條小徑步出這個 close。兩旁是建築物的斑駁褐色\u003cbr /\>牆壁和水管,地上有著滿滿的鴿子糞便痕跡,兩個在工作片刻偷閒出\u003cwbr /\>來抽煙\u003cbr /\>的男人正以奇特的眼光打量著我。\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>繼續往 Royal Mile 的下坡走,我在向晚時分來到這個墓園。墓園的門是半\u003cbr /\>開著的,從十八世紀開始就有居民在裡面沈睡著。和之前探訪歐洲其\u003cwbr /\>他地方\u003cbr /\>的墓園時一樣的,我不知道他們的生平事蹟,只發現了這裡是眺望整\u003cwbr /\>個\u003cbr /\>Edinburgh 的絕佳地點之一。\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>四周一片靜寂,只有越來越大的風聲,我不停按下快門。\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>----\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>我喜歡 Edinburgh 的一個很重要的原因,是因為和英格蘭的城市相比,\u003cbr /\>它嫻靜寂寥、與自然融合的氛圍,和我造訪過的北歐城市更加相近。\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>在 Royal Mile 的終點,一望無際的原野和山脈,就座落在融合新潮和\u003cbr /\>復古的蘇格蘭國會大廈旁邊。我現在不得不相信 Trainspotting 裡 Ewan\u003cbr /\>和朋友們在夢境裡置身的遼闊原野是真實存在的。\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>國會大廈前的水池旁,已經有小孩子在十度左右的氣溫下迫不及待的\u003cwbr /\>脫衣服\u003cbr /\>準備跳下去玩水。我沿著親水走道步行,風勢大得我不得不穿起夾克\u003cwbr /\>,前方\u003cbr /\>的山坡上健行的人們男女老少都有。\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>我後來並沒有爬上山去,只是學著身旁的蘇格蘭女孩\u003cwbr /\>,坐在山下的長凳上,\u003cbr /\>一邊把 ipod 拿出來聽,一邊欣賞著眼前的風景,看著大批自行車隊和巨大\u003cbr /\>的雙層巴士依序緩慢地通過我眼前。\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>----\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>Murrayfield Stadium 的旁邊有著大片的草地,許多球迷懶散地或躺或臥,\u003cbr /\>享受著下午的陽光。\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>幾個小時之後,近乎全滿的球場裡,充斥著令我不由得微笑的蘇格蘭\u003cwbr /\>腔調\u003cbr /\>談笑或咒罵。不過,當來自巴塞隆納的球員們有著精彩的表現時\u003cwbr /\>,球迷們\u003cbr /\>也不吝惜給予熱情的掌聲和歡呼。\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>比賽結束,我等到球隊巴士離開之後才走路回家。有許多人和我走著\u003cwbr /\>同樣\u003cbr /\>的方向回到市中心,一旁藏身在古老房子裡的高級酒吧已經準備開啟\u003cwbr /\>大門\u003cbr /\>迎接週末夜的瘋狂。塞車的路上,超長型禮車裡的辣妹們手持白酒\u003cwbr /\>,拉下\u003cbr /\>窗戶不停地和過路人大拋媚眼。\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>----\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>在 Calton Hill 上面,你可以輕易地眺望整個 Edinburgh 和周遭的自然\u003cbr /\>風景。原野上的小黃花被風吹的四處搖擺,山下的建築物和雙層巴士\u003cwbr /\>彷彿\u003cbr /\>就在幾步之遙的距離,頭頂上的雲層似乎是被某種力量壓的十分緊密\u003cwbr /\>厚實\u003cbr /\>,一路延伸到遠處和海相接,才沒入一片令人心曠神怡的深藍色當中\u003cwbr /\>。�\u003cbr /\>山上的紀念碑和砲台是遊人們拍照留念的好景點。一位身穿黑衣白裙\u003cwbr /\>,一頭\u003cbr /\>紅髮的白人女孩子,似乎對四周的喧鬧視若無睹,逕自看著自己手上\u003cwbr /\>的資料\u003cbr /\>,在我幾次刻意經過她身邊時都沒有抬起頭來。\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>離開山頂,沿著山路漫步,一旁的綠地裡,有個紀念碑安靜地在正午\u003cwbr /\>的倒影\u003cbr /\>裡座落著。紀念碑上,來自蘇格蘭三十二個地區的石頭圍成一個圓形\u003cwbr /\>,這是\u003cbr /\>為了紀念蘇格蘭新國會成立而建造的。\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>多走幾步路,我發現了有趣的景象。一群身穿整齊 polo 衫和長褲的老人,\u003cbr /\>正認真地在草地上滾球,比賽誰能把球滾得離目標的小白球最近。\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>我躲在圍籬旁邊偷看了一下,拍了一些照片,一個也在滾球的老太太\u003cwbr /\>看到我\u003cbr /\>也報以微笑。拍完照片之後,我正準備離開,卻瞥見一旁坐著的老先\u003cwbr /\>生正向\u003cbr /\>我招手。\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>我一開始不太敢相信自己的眼睛,直到他又跟我多招了幾次手\u003cwbr /\>。頭髮稀疏的他\u003cbr /\>有點駝背,戴著粗框眼鏡的眼睛看來相當溫和,穿著一件土黃色和咖\u003cwbr /\>啡色相間\u003cbr /\>的格紋毛衣,用聽來十分有趣的腔調開口問我說:「你是從倫敦來的\u003cwbr /\>嗎?」\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>我盡力想解釋自己其實來自英國中部,不過他似乎聽不太懂。\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>「這是 bowling 嗎?」我看到場地旁邊寫著 "Regent Bowling Club -\u003cbr /\>",1] ); //--></script>。在這個被<br />公寓圍繞著的封閉空間裡,路樹旁有著一個不知道給誰的小小紀念碑<wbr>,旁邊<br />有隨意停放著的腳踏車。<br /><br />我駐足片刻之後,從另一條小徑步出這個 close。兩旁是建築物的斑駁褐色<br />牆壁和水管,地上有著滿滿的鴿子糞便痕跡,兩個在工作片刻偷閒出<wbr>來抽煙<br />的男人正以奇特的眼光打量著我。<br /><br />繼續往 Royal Mile 的下坡走,我在向晚時分來到這個墓園。墓園的門是半<br />開著的,從十八世紀開始就有居民在裡面沈睡著。和之前探訪歐洲其<wbr>他地方<br />的墓園時一樣的,我不知道他們的生平事蹟,只發現了這裡是眺望整<wbr>個<br />Edinburgh 的絕佳地點之一。<br /><br />四周一片靜寂,只有越來越大的風聲,我不停按下快門。<br /><br />----<br /><br />我喜歡 Edinburgh 的一個很重要的原因,是因為和英格蘭的城市相比,<br />它嫻靜寂寥、與自然融合的氛圍,和我造訪過的北歐城市更加相近。<br /><br />在 Royal Mile 的終點,一望無際的原野和山脈,就座落在融合新潮和<br />復古的蘇格蘭國會大廈旁邊。我現在不得不相信 Trainspotting 裡 Ewan<br />和朋友們在夢境裡置身的遼闊原野是真實存在的。<br /><br />國會大廈前的水池旁,已經有小孩子在十度左右的氣溫下迫不及待的<wbr>脫衣服<br />準備跳下去玩水。我沿著親水走道步行,風勢大得我不得不穿起夾克<wbr>,前方<br />的山坡上健行的人們男女老少都有。<br /><br />我後來並沒有爬上山去,只是學著身旁的蘇格蘭女孩<wbr>,坐在山下的長凳上,<br />一邊把 ipod 拿出來聽,一邊欣賞著眼前的風景,看著大批自行車隊和巨大<br />的雙層巴士依序緩慢地通過我眼前。<br /><br />----<br /><br />Murrayfield Stadium 的旁邊有著大片的草地,許多球迷懶散地或躺或臥,<br />享受著下午的陽光。<br /><br />幾個小時之後,近乎全滿的球場裡,充斥著令我不由得微笑的蘇格蘭<wbr>腔調<br />談笑或咒罵。不過,當來自巴塞隆納的球員們有著精彩的表現時<wbr>,球迷們<br />也不吝惜給予熱情的掌聲和歡呼。<br /><br />比賽結束,我等到球隊巴士離開之後才走路回家。有許多人和我走著<wbr>同樣<br />的方向回到市中心,一旁藏身在古老房子裡的高級酒吧已經準備開啟<wbr>大門<br />迎接週末夜的瘋狂。塞車的路上,超長型禮車裡的辣妹們手持白酒<wbr>,拉下<br />窗戶不停地和過路人大拋媚眼。<br /><br />----<br /><br />在 Calton Hill 上面,你可以輕易地眺望整個 Edinburgh 和周遭的自然<br />風景。原野上的小黃花被風吹的四處搖擺,山下的建築物和雙層巴士<wbr>彷彿<br />就在幾步之遙的距離,頭頂上的雲層似乎是被某種力量壓的十分緊密<wbr>厚實<br />,一路延伸到遠處和海相接,才沒入一片令人心曠神怡的深藍色當中<wbr>。<br /><br />山上的紀念碑和砲台是遊人們拍照留念的好景點。一位身穿黑衣白裙<wbr>,一頭<br />紅髮的白人女孩子,似乎對四周的喧鬧視若無睹,逕自看著自己手上<wbr>的資料<br />,在我幾次刻意經過她身邊時都沒有抬起頭來。<br /><br />離開山頂,沿著山路漫步,一旁的綠地裡,有個紀念碑安靜地在正午<wbr>的倒影<br />裡座落著。紀念碑上,來自蘇格蘭三十二個地區的石頭圍成一個圓形<wbr>,這是<br />為了紀念蘇格蘭新國會成立而建造的。<br /><br />多走幾步路,我發現了有趣的景象。一群身穿整齊 polo 衫和長褲的老人,<br />正認真地在草地上滾球,比賽誰能把球滾得離目標的小白球最近。<br /><br />我躲在圍籬旁邊偷看了一下,拍了一些照片,一個也在滾球的老太太<wbr>看到我<br />也報以微笑。拍完照片之後,我正準備離開,卻瞥見一旁坐著的老先<wbr>生正向<br />我招手。<br /><br />我一開始不太敢相信自己的眼睛,直到他又跟我多招了幾次手<wbr>。頭髮稀疏的他<br />有點駝背,戴著粗框眼鏡的眼睛看來相當溫和,穿著一件土黃色和咖<wbr>啡色相間<br />的格紋毛衣,用聽來十分有趣的腔調開口問我說:「你是從倫敦來的<wbr>嗎?」<br /><br />我盡力想解釋自己其實來自英國中部,不過他似乎聽不太懂。<br /><br />「這是 bowling 嗎?」我看到場地旁邊寫著 "Regent Bowling Club -<br /><script><!-- D(["mb","All Visitors Welcome" 的告示牌。\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>「對。」老人似乎覺得我這傢伙很有趣似的回答著。\u003cwbr /\>「你知道這個怎麼玩嗎?」\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>「是把球丟的離小白球越近越好是吧?」\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>「對。你知道我們球不是丟直線的嗎?因為距離太遠\u003cwbr /\>,要讓球有點弧線的出手。」\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>老人想盡力向我解釋球出手的物理作用,無奈我的英文太差似乎聽不\u003cwbr /\>太懂。\u003cbr /\>眼看用嘴巴解釋似乎不夠,老人跟我說:「等一下。\u003cwbr /\>」之後就轉身步入休息室。\u003cbr /\>他出來時,手上拿著一顆滾球。原來是滾球上的紋路\u003cwbr /\>,在草地上滾動時會造成\u003cbr /\>球的旋轉。\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>看著老人們分成好幾組在草地上快樂地滾球,我突然覺得人生似乎也\u003cwbr /\>就不過如此。\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>「你叫什麼名字?」要告辭之前,老人問我。\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\> "George." 我一講完,老人突然大笑起來-這是我在這段談話當中第一次看他笑\u003cwbr /\>。\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>「這不是我真實的名字,但在這個國家你需要有一個讓人可以方便稱\u003cwbr /\>呼的名字...」\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>「我叫 Jim。」老人伸出手和我相握。"Hopefully see you in the future!"\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\> "I will." 我笑著回答。\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>----\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>五分鐘之後,我拎著剛買的 Sunday Herald 走回這個球場。Jim 還是悠閒地\u003cbr /\>在場邊晒太陽,旁邊圍觀的民眾比起我偷看時增加了不少。\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>----\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>我又走回 Royal Mile。這座小山城的天空開始變暗,接著終於下起蘇格蘭傳說裡\u003cbr /\>終年不斷的陣雨。David Hume 雕像旁的風笛手仍然敬業地大聲吹奏著歌單裡第\u003cbr /\>一百零一條曲子,一邊還要應付不斷上前希望合照的觀光客\u003cwbr /\>。一旁的雕像頭部已經\u003cbr /\>被調皮的觀光客擺上了三角錐,雕像底座上用粉筆寫的 "End London Rule"\u003cbr /\>字樣在雨中仍舊清晰可辨。\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>雨越來越大,我躲進某家在週日關門的商店門口避雨\u003cwbr /\>,一邊像是個熟門熟路的當地\u003cbr /\>人似的打量著被雨淋的全身溼的路人們。雨勢漸小,我走出商店門口\u003cwbr /\>,繞進\u003cbr /\>The Writer\'s Museum 所在地的 close 當中,牆上除了塗鴉之外還有用粉筆寫的\u003cbr /\>"Scottish Not British" 字樣。拍了幾張照片後,我凝視著地上刻著的蘇格蘭文\u003cbr /\>豪嘉言。\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\> "WE CAN ONLY PAY OUR DEBT TO THE PAST\u003cbr /\> BY PUTTING THE FUTURE IN DEBT TO US"\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\> JOHN BUCHAN (1875-1940)\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>----\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>我這次在 Edinburgh 住的 hostel 在許多方面都和其他次旅行不同。\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>當我扛著大背包,在早上七點多第二次按下這間 hostel 的門鈴時,出來開門的\u003cbr /\>是一個頭髮凌亂,全身只裹著一件厚棉被的中年人。從他開口的第一\u003cwbr /\>句話,我就\u003cbr /\>驚訝於他毫無蘇格蘭腔的美國口音。\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>我向他致歉自己打擾了他的睡眠,然而他仍然親切地讓我把行李擱著\u003cwbr /\>,還讓我\u003cbr /\>免費享用廚房裡的土司和熱咖啡。\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>直到在這裡居住的第一個晚上,我才發現這間 hostel 的工作人員只有老闆一\u003cbr /\>個人。他每天都和旅客們一起住在這棟小小的房子裡\u003cwbr /\>,晚上也和我們一起看\u003cbr /\>電視、電影或上網,白天的清掃、鋪棉被等工作也是他自己一個人來\u003cwbr /\>",1] ); //--></script>All Visitors Welcome" 的告示牌。<br /><br />「對。」老人似乎覺得我這傢伙很有趣似的回答著。<wbr>「你知道這個怎麼玩嗎?」<br /><br />「是把球丟的離小白球越近越好是吧?」<br /><br />「對。你知道我們球不是丟直線的嗎?因為距離太遠<wbr>,要讓球有點弧線的出手。」<br /><br />老人想盡力向我解釋球出手的物理作用,無奈我的英文太差似乎聽不<wbr>太懂。<br />眼看用嘴巴解釋似乎不夠,老人跟我說:「等一下。<wbr>」之後就轉身步入休息室。<br />他出來時,手上拿著一顆滾球。原來是滾球上的紋路<wbr>,在草地上滾動時會造成<br />球的旋轉。<br /><br />看著老人們分成好幾組在草地上快樂地滾球,我突然覺得人生似乎也<wbr>就不過如此。<br /><br />「你叫什麼名字?」要告辭之前,老人問我。<br /><br />"George." 我一講完,老人突然大笑起來-這是我在這段談話當中第一次看他笑<wbr>。<br /><br />「這不是我真實的名字,但在這個國家你需要有一個讓人可以方便稱<wbr>呼的名字...」<br /><br />「我叫 Jim。」老人伸出手和我相握。"Hopefully see you in the future!"<br /><br />"I will." 我笑著回答。<br /><br /><br />----<br /><br />五分鐘之後,我拎著剛買的 Sunday Herald 走回這個球場。Jim 還是悠閒地<br />在場邊晒太陽,旁邊圍觀的民眾比起我偷看時增加了不少。<br /><br />----<br /><br />我又走回 Royal Mile。這座小山城的天空開始變暗,接著終於下起蘇格蘭傳說裡<br />終年不斷的陣雨。David Hume 雕像旁的風笛手仍然敬業地大聲吹奏著歌單裡第<br />一百零一條曲子,一邊還要應付不斷上前希望合照的觀光客<wbr>。一旁的雕像頭部已經<br />被調皮的觀光客擺上了三角錐,雕像底座上用粉筆寫的 "End London Rule"<br />字樣在雨中仍舊清晰可辨。<br /><br />雨越來越大,我躲進某家在週日關門的商店門口避雨<wbr>,一邊像是個熟門熟路的當地<br />人似的打量著被雨淋的全身溼的路人們。雨勢漸小,我走出商店門口<wbr>,繞進<br />The Writer's Museum 所在地的 close 當中,牆上除了塗鴉之外還有用粉筆寫的<br />"Scottish Not British" 字樣。拍了幾張照片後,我凝視著地上刻著的蘇格蘭文<br />豪嘉言。<br /><br /><br />"WE CAN ONLY PAY OUR DEBT TO THE PAST<br />BY PUTTING THE FUTURE IN DEBT TO US"<br /><br /><br /> JOHN BUCHAN (1875-1940)<br /><br />----<br /><br />我這次在 Edinburgh 住的 hostel 在許多方面都和其他次旅行不同。<br /><br />當我扛著大背包,在早上七點多第二次按下這間 hostel 的門鈴時,出來開門的<br />是一個頭髮凌亂,全身只裹著一件厚棉被的中年人。從他開口的第一<wbr>句話,我就<br />驚訝於他毫無蘇格蘭腔的美國口音。<br /><br />我向他致歉自己打擾了他的睡眠,然而他仍然親切地讓我把行李擱著<wbr>,還讓我<br />免費享用廚房裡的土司和熱咖啡。<br /><br />直到在這裡居住的第一個晚上,我才發現這間 hostel 的工作人員只有老闆一<br />個人。他每天都和旅客們一起住在這棟小小的房子裡<wbr>,晚上也和我們一起看<br />電視、電影或上網,白天的清掃、鋪棉被等工作也是他自己一個人來<wbr><script><!-- D(["mb","。\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>在這間 hostel 裡,我渡過了在 Edinburgh 的最後幾小時,和滿屋子的旅客\u003cbr /\>(多半是美國女生)一起看著 Anne Hathaway 被 Meryl Streep 惡整,在我\u003cbr /\>熟悉的 NYC 和 Paris 街景裡東奔西跑,令人有一種說不出來的奇妙感覺。\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>隨興的老闆連在我要走時都差點忘了收旅費。\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>"I need to use all these Scottish notes!" 我大笑著把錢交給他,同時瞥見\u003cbr /\>旁邊一個黑頭髮黃皮膚,長得十分秀氣的女生正偷偷地看著我們微笑\u003cwbr /\>著。\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>背上背包,我站在小山丘上,最後一次眺望山腳下的公園\u003cwbr /\>、建築和遠處的海景。\u003cbr /\>我的快門不停閃動著,夕陽西下時的雲彩呈現出醉人的粉紅和金黃色\u003cwbr /\>,和我離開\u003cbr /\>Paris 那天早上看到的顏色一模一樣。\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>----\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>我又回到了 Victoria 巴士站。拖著沈重的行李和疲憊的身軀,當我準備搭車\u003cbr /\>回家時,那個熟悉的腔調又在耳邊出現。\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>抬頭一看,原來是那個來回都載到我的壯碩司機,正神采奕奕的一邊\u003cwbr /\>和同僚\u003cbr /\>大聲談笑,一邊虧著準備上車的女孩子們。那是一班準備開往 Leeds 的巴士。\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>\u003c/div\>",0] ); D(["ce"]); //--></script>。<br /><br />在這間 hostel 裡,我渡過了在 Edinburgh 的最後幾小時,和滿屋子的旅客<br />(多半是美國女生)一起看著 Anne Hathaway 被 Meryl Streep 惡整,在我<br />熟悉的 NYC 和 Paris 街景裡東奔西跑,令人有一種說不出來的奇妙感覺。<br /><br />隨興的老闆連在我要走時都差點忘了收旅費。<br /><br />"I need to use all these Scottish notes!" 我大笑著把錢交給他,同時瞥見<br />旁邊一個黑頭髮黃皮膚,長得十分秀氣的女生正偷偷地看著我們微笑<wbr>著。<br /><br />背上背包,我站在小山丘上,最後一次眺望山腳下的公園<wbr>、建築和遠處的海景。<br />我的快門不停閃動著,夕陽西下時的雲彩呈現出醉人的粉紅和金黃色<wbr>,和我離開<br />Paris 那天早上看到的顏色一模一樣。<br /><br />----<br /><br />我又回到了 Victoria 巴士站。拖著沈重的行李和疲憊的身軀,當我準備搭車<br />回家時,那個熟悉的腔調又在耳邊出現。<br /><br />抬頭一看,原來是那個來回都載到我的壯碩司機,正神采奕奕的一邊<wbr>和同僚<br />大聲談笑,一邊虧著準備上車的女孩子們。那是一班準備開往 Leeds 的巴士。</div>pistonJWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10272683849661370549noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14775045.post-79733972136286315072007-07-17T23:15:00.000+01:002007-07-18T11:34:53.884+01:00[Barca] La Masia 的天才們想寫這篇文章有一段時間了,不過一直因為其他的事情(包括<br />轉會新聞)耽擱著。在一隊即將前往蘇格蘭展開暑訓和友誼賽<br />之前,也許現在是個適合的時機。<br /><br />以下的文字將概略介紹目前巴薩青訓系統當中最出色的年輕球員<br />們。相信應該還有許多專家比我對這些球員有更深入的了解,文章<br />之疏漏或謬誤在所難免,屆時還請不吝指正或補充。<br /><br />內文的重點將擺在對於年輕球員們的介紹,也會略微提到目前<br />Barca B 隊在降級之後目前力圖重振的大概情況。不過,這篇<br />文章要從今年夏天 La Masia 又一個重大的損失開始。<br /><br />----<br /><br />六月底,巴薩青訓系統當中最優秀的前鋒射手之一,綽號「殺手」<br />(The Killer)的 Dani Pacheco 決定接受利物浦提供的職業合約<br />,成為近年來自 Cesc Fabregas、Gerard Pique 和 Fran Merida<br />之後,又一位自巴薩青訓營「叛逃」的優秀年輕球員。<br /><br />出身 Malaga 的 Pacheco,擁有各一半的西班牙和捷克血統,今年<br />一月五日才剛滿十六歲。自十三歲加入巴薩青訓之後<div style="direction: ltr;"><wbr>,Pacheco 迅速地成長為出色的前鋒球員,在剛結束的 2006-07<br />球季當中,他以 28 個進球成為 FCB Cadete A 隊(級別上算是<br />巴薩四隊,前面三隊分別是 Barca A - Barca B - Barca C (Juvenli A))<br />當中的進球王。然而,如今巴薩唯一從他身上得到的,只有利物浦<br />付出的35 萬英鎊象徵性的賠償金。<br /><br />(<a onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://0rz.tw/112Nr" target="_blank">http://0rz.tw/112Nr</a><br />三位優秀的小將:Gai Assulin、Thiago Alcantara 和 Dani Pacheco<br />的合照。Pacheco 是站在最右邊的那位。)<br /><br />Pacheco 的出走,無疑是對於巴薩青訓又一次重大的打擊。儘管巴薩<br />主席 Laporta 去年已經公開批評包括 Arsenal 和 Chelsea 在內<br />的英超球會們不停企圖撒錢挖角巴薩青訓球員的舉動,還要求 FIFA<br />要對此有所動作,然而在這一年來,英超豪門們類似的挖角舉動不僅<br />沒有停止,反而越演越烈。<br /><br />必須要指出的是,巴薩並不是西甲當中唯一青訓球員被挖角的球隊。<br />2005 年,利物浦就從同樣身處 Catalunya 地區的 UE Lleida 隊(這隊<br />目前身處的聯賽級別是西丙 (Segunda División B);附帶一提的是,<br />Bojan Krkic 就是 Lleida 這個地方出身的球員 )挖角了身材高大的<br />年輕中衛 Miki Roque。去年夏天,西班牙人隊的優秀中場小將,年僅<br />十五歲的 Sergio Tejero 也被 Chelsea 挖角成功。今年一月,利物浦<br />又從西乙的 Malaga C.F. 挖走了年僅十八歲的中場球員 Francis Duran。<br /><br />Francis 的例子特別值得一提。在被利物浦挖角之前,Francis 甚至已經<br />在 Malaga 一隊正式登場打了一個多月;然而,在他還沒有跟 Malaga<br />簽署正式職業合約的情況下,利物浦得到了趁虛而入的機會。而最後<wbr>,<br />Malaga C.F. 只得到了利物浦方面大約一萬八千歐元左右的象徵性補償。<br /><br />在發生了這麼多案例之後,所有人一定都會問,為什麼西班牙職業球<wbr>隊們<br />(包括巴薩),對於英超球隊們的挖角彷彿是束手無策呢?<br /><br /><br />最重要的原因有兩個。<br /><br /><br />1. 西班牙體育法規明文記載,球員必須要年滿十六歲,才能和職業球隊<wbr>簽署<br />正式的職業合約。而沒有簽署職業合約,只和原隊有業餘合約或草約<wbr><script><!-- D(["mb","的球\u003cbr /\> 員,假使被其他職業球隊用職業合約簽走了,母隊事實上是得不到任\u003cwbr /\>何實\u003cbr /\> 質的補償的,FIFA 也無法插手干涉。\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\> 這個年滿十六歲才能簽署職業合約的規定,在之前 Cesc Fabregas 和 Fran\u003cbr /\> Merida 的案例當中,就被球員經紀人和 Arsenal 雙方拿來大鑽漏洞。\u003cbr /\> Cesc 和 Merida 兩位球員都在十六歲生日之前突然在巴薩的青訓營「失蹤」\u003cbr /\> ,之後公開露面時,兩人都已經過了十六歲生日,並且已經和 Arsenal\u003cbr /\> 簽好了職業合約。\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\> 經紀人和英超球隊下手的目標還不只限於球員本身。他們會幫助球員\u003cwbr /\>的父母\u003cbr /\> 或至親在倫敦或英國其他地方找尋工作和住處,讓還年幼的球員有因\u003cwbr /\>為依親\u003cbr /\> 而必須跟著遷徙住處的絕佳理由。\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\> 比起其他歐洲國家的體育相關法規,西班牙對於年輕球員的保護是比\u003cwbr /\>較妥善\u003cbr /\> 的。會訂出簽訂職業合約的年齡下限,多半也是因為擔心年輕球員的\u003cwbr /\>未來在\u003cbr /\> 太過年輕時就被綁死。然而,這樣的良善立意,證明是給了其他國家\u003cwbr /\>的足球\u003cbr /\> 豪門們可趁之機。\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\> 這個問題在短時間內應該是無解的。除了期待修改法規之外\u003cwbr /\>,大概也只能期待\u003cbr /\> 巴薩青訓系統目前苦心培養出來的遠景和向心力能持續下去。\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>2. 就算球員年滿十六歲了,究竟要不要馬上用職業合約綁下他\u003cwbr /\>,是另一個大問題。\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\> 十六歲雖然已經可以大概看出年輕球員的天賦能力,但過早的和球員\u003cwbr /\>簽訂職業\u003cbr /\> 合約,會不會影響球員往後的心智發展,讓他提前喪失了進步的動力\u003cwbr /\>呢?就算\u003cbr /\> 真的要簽訂職業合約,合約的長度和金額,能不能讓球員身邊的經紀\u003cwbr /\>人和家人\u003cbr /\> 滿意呢?這些都是在實務操作上不能忽略的問題。\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\> 參照目前在世界上其他風行的球類職業運動:NBA 已經提高了選秀的年齡下限\u003cbr /\> 到十九歲;MLB 規定至少要是高中畢業生(十八歲左右)才可參加選秀;\u003cbr /\> NFL 更規定至少要是高中畢業三年以上的球員才能參加選秀\u003cwbr /\>。和這些規定相比\u003cbr /\> 之下,歐洲職業足球無疑的是對於年輕球員的限制最為開放的\u003cwbr /\>,然而這也讓\u003cbr /\> 巴薩在對於青訓球員的栽培上,遇到了不小的難題,而 Pacheco 的「叛逃」\u003cbr /\> 則是再度曝露了這樣的困境。\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\> 在這幾年青訓優秀的進攻球員層出不窮的情況下(後文會有對其他球\u003cwbr /\>員的介紹),\u003cbr /\> 球隊究竟需不需要和每個球員都用職業合約綁下來呢(小時了了\u003cwbr /\>、大未必佳\u003cbr /\> 的例子,事實上在 La Masia 也不少,例如 Gaspart 時代出品的 Nano (雖然\u003cbr /\> 這個球員可能已經沒幾個人記得了))?而如果球隊真的肯花大錢\u003cwbr /\>,又有沒有\u003cbr /\> 辦法讓這些球員在一隊都得到表現的舞台呢?這又是目前的巴薩遇到\u003cwbr /\>的一個問題\u003cbr /\> ,而類似今年夏天簽下 Thierry Henry 的動作,事實上會讓年輕進攻球員們\u003cbr /\> 的卡位戰更加激烈。\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>在以上兩個原因影響之下,事實上,可以說目前能夠從 La Masia 一路打拼,\u003cbr /\>最後終於在巴薩一隊發光發亮的球員,事實上都是非常了不起的\u003cwbr /\>。不只是他們\u003cbr /\>的球技過人,或許更重要的是,他們願意暫時忍受比較低廉的薪水\u003cwbr /\>,拒絕其他\u003cbr /\>球隊一再的高薪誘惑,只為了能有穿上紅藍球衣,接受 Camp Nou 全場球迷\u003cbr /\>熱情歡呼的那一刻。\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>也就是因為這樣,才讓 Lionel Messi 在今年三月的德比大戰演出帽子戲法之後,\u003cbr /\>忘情地撫摸親吻巴薩徽章的動作,看來如此的珍貴和感人。\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>\u003ca onclick\u003d\"return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)\" href\u003d\"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v\u003d4rXizKWFnDQ\" target\u003d_blank\>",1] ); //--></script>的球<br />員,假使被其他職業球隊用職業合約簽走了,母隊事實上是得不到任<wbr>何實<br />質的補償的,FIFA 也無法插手干涉。<br /><br />這個年滿十六歲才能簽署職業合約的規定,在之前 Cesc Fabregas 和 Fran<br />Merida 的案例當中,就被球員經紀人和 Arsenal 雙方拿來大鑽漏洞。<br />Cesc 和 Merida 兩位球員都在十六歲生日之前突然在巴薩的青訓營「失蹤」<br />,之後公開露面時,兩人都已經過了十六歲生日,並且已經和 Arsenal<br />簽好了職業合約。<br /><br />經紀人和英超球隊下手的目標還不只限於球員本身。他們會幫助球員<wbr>的父母<br />或至親在倫敦或英國其他地方找尋工作和住處,讓還年幼的球員有因<wbr>為依親<br />而必須跟著遷徙住處的絕佳理由。<br /><br />比起其他歐洲國家的體育相關法規,西班牙對於年輕球員的保護是比<wbr>較妥善<br />的。會訂出簽訂職業合約的年齡下限,多半也是因為擔心年輕球員的<wbr>未來在<br />太過年輕時就被綁死。然而,這樣的良善立意,證明是給了其他國家<wbr>的足球<br />豪門們可趁之機。<br /><br />這個問題在短時間內應該是無解的。除了期待修改法規之外<wbr>,大概也只能期待<br />巴薩青訓系統目前苦心培養出來的遠景和向心力能持續下去。<br /><br /><br />2. 就算球員年滿十六歲了,究竟要不要馬上用職業合約綁下他<wbr>,是另一個大問題。<br /><br />十六歲雖然已經可以大概看出年輕球員的天賦能力,但過早的和球員<wbr>簽訂職業<br />合約,會不會影響球員往後的心智發展,讓他提前喪失了進步的動力<wbr>呢?就算<br />真的要簽訂職業合約,合約的長度和金額,能不能讓球員身邊的經紀<wbr>人和家人<br />滿意呢?這些都是在實務操作上不能忽略的問題。<br /><br />參照目前在世界上其他風行的球類職業運動:NBA 已經提高了選秀的年齡下限<br />到十九歲;MLB 規定至少要是高中畢業生(十八歲左右)才可參加選秀;<br />NFL 更規定至少要是高中畢業三年以上的球員才能參加選秀<wbr>。和這些規定相比<br />之下,歐洲職業足球無疑的是對於年輕球員的限制最為開放的<wbr>,然而這也讓<br />巴薩在對於青訓球員的栽培上,遇到了不小的難題,而 Pacheco 的「叛逃」<br />則是再度曝露了這樣的困境。<br /><br />在這幾年青訓優秀的進攻球員層出不窮的情況下(後文會有對其他球<wbr>員的介紹),<br />球隊究竟需不需要和每個球員都用職業合約綁下來呢(小時了了<wbr>、大未必佳<br />的例子,事實上在 La Masia 也不少,例如 Gaspart 時代出品的 Nano (雖然<br />這個球員可能已經沒幾個人記得了))?而如果球隊真的肯花大錢<wbr>,又有沒有<br />辦法讓這些球員在一隊都得到表現的舞台呢?這又是目前的巴薩遇到<wbr>的一個問題<br />,而類似今年夏天簽下 Thierry Henry 的動作,事實上會讓年輕進攻球員們<br />的卡位戰更加激烈。<br /><br /><br />在以上兩個原因影響之下,事實上,可以說目前能夠從 La Masia 一路打拼,<br />最後終於在巴薩一隊發光發亮的球員,事實上都是非常了不起的<wbr>。不只是他們<br />的球技過人,或許更重要的是,他們願意暫時忍受比較低廉的薪水<wbr>,拒絕其他<br />球隊一再的高薪誘惑,只為了能有穿上紅藍球衣,接受 Camp Nou 全場球迷<br />熱情歡呼的那一刻。<br /><br />也就是因為這樣,才讓 Lionel Messi 在今年三月的德比大戰演出帽子戲法之後,<br />忘情地撫摸親吻巴薩徽章的動作,看來如此的珍貴和感人。<br /><br /><a onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4rXizKWFnDQ" target="_blank"><script><!-- D(["mb","http://www.youtube.com/watch?v\u003cwbr /\>\u003d4rXizKWFnDQ\u003c/a\>\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>----\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>以下,將按照可能登上一軍的先後順序介紹目前巴薩青訓系統內\u003cbr /\>的傑出球員們。\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>在介紹之前,先提供一個蒐集 La Masia 年輕球員影片網站:\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>\u003ca onclick\u003d\"return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)\" href\u003d\"http://www.airfutbol.com/canterabarca.htm\" target\u003d_blank\>http://www.airfutbol.com\u003cwbr /\>/canterabarca.htm\u003c/a\>\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>目前所有能在網路上能看到的 La Masia 球員影片,幾乎都是從這個\u003cbr /\>來源發佈的。因此,除了特別漂亮的進球之外,我下面就不貼個別球\u003cbr /\>員的影像連結了,各位自己從這個網站找或在 Youtube 搜尋球員名字\u003cbr /\>等關鍵字就可以。\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>另外,在這個網站上面發佈的青訓球員相關消息,我個人認為也是有\u003cbr /\>相當的可信度。\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>----\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>Bojan Krkic\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>不只是目前巴薩青訓營當中最出色的前鋒球員,還可能是整個歐洲二\u003cwbr /\>十歲\u003cbr /\>以下的前鋒當中最出色的球員之一。\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>還沒滿十七歲的他,在進入巴薩青訓營的八年時光當中\u003cwbr /\>,已經在各級比賽\u003cbr /\>打進了超過九百顆進球,並且是 Barca B 去年球季球隊的最有價值球員。\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>在五月份的 U-17 歐洲杯當中,Bojan 在四強賽面對比利時的關鍵進球,\u003cbr /\>讓西班牙得以追平,並且在之後的 PK 大戰中獲勝。在決賽面對英格蘭\u003cbr /\>的比賽當中,Bojan 又射入了首開紀錄的一球,幫助西班牙奪得最後的\u003cbr /\>冠軍。而事實上,在前一年的 U-17 歐洲杯當中,Bojan 個人就射進了\u003cbr /\>大會最多的五球,並且全部都是以替補身分踢進的。\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>(Bojan 面對比利時一戰的進球:\u003cbr /\> \u003ca onclick\u003d\"return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)\" href\u003d\"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v\u003dy7CHd9jd03M\" target\u003d_blank\>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v\u003cwbr /\>\u003dy7CHd9jd03M\u003c/a\> )\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>Bojan 原本還有意願參加目前還在加拿大舉行的 U-20 世界杯,但後來\u003cbr /\>並沒有成行,據說原因是巴薩方面不願意放人,因為球隊的計畫是讓\u003cwbr /\>他\u003cbr /\>依照兩年前的 Messi 模式,全程參與一隊的季前訓練和熱身賽行程。\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>在 Giuly 和 Ezquerro 確定離隊的情況下,Bojan 預計能在國王杯和聯\u003cbr /\>賽當中得到一定的上場機會。當然,目前球隊的前鋒在上述兩人確定\u003cwbr /\>離\u003cbr /\>開之後,看來還是呈現人滿為患的狀態,因此巴薩 B 隊的新任總教練\u003cbr /\>Pep Guardiola 已經公開向 Bojan 提出「邀請」,認為他下一季在平時\u003cbr /\>訓練時還是可以跟一隊一起訓練,但同時也可以繼續在 Barca B 隊上場\u003cbr /\>比賽。然而,Bojan 和他的家人們對這樣的邀請並不是太有興趣,而事實\u003cbr /\>上,以 Bojan 目前的能力,下一季還讓他在丁級聯賽 (Tercera\u003cbr /\>Divisin)上場,也的確有點委屈他。\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>看到 Bojan 目前在巴薩可能面臨的困境,不少球隊已經對他伸出了橄欖\u003cbr /\>枝。這其中包括了剛降到西乙的 Nastic、和由前巴薩名宿 Hristo\u003cbr /\>Stoichkov 領軍的 Celta 隊。Stoichkov 本人更已經在幾天前親自來到\u003cbr /\>Camp Nou 拜訪,希望巴薩能把 Bojan 租借給他們。然而,巴薩高層已經\u003cbr /\>明確地拒絕了這樣的提議,表示 Bojan 下季一定會留在巴薩,球隊並且\u003cbr /\>會儘量給予他在一軍發揮的機會。\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>身高普通(172 cm) 的 Bojan,在場上多半是靠著速度、靈巧和拼勁\u003cbr /\>得到一個又一個的進球機會。如果要粗淺地把他和現役的有名射手們\u003cwbr /\>相\u003cbr /\>對比的話,我個人認為他的風格最類似於目前在瓦倫西亞效力的 David\u003cbr /\>Villa:儘管沒有任何一項能力鶴立雞群,然而多才多藝\u003cwbr /\>",1] ); //--></script>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v<wbr>=4rXizKWFnDQ</a><br /><br /><br />----<br /><br /><br />以下,將按照可能登上一軍的先後順序介紹目前巴薩青訓系統內<br />的傑出球員們。<br /><br />在介紹之前,先提供一個蒐集 La Masia 年輕天才球員影片的網站:<br /><br /><a onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.airfutbol.com/canterabarca.htm" target="_blank">http://www.airfutbol.com<wbr>/canterabarca.htm</a><br /><br />目前所有能在網路上能看到的 La Masia 球員影片,幾乎都是從這個<br />來源發佈的。因此,除了特別漂亮的進球之外,我下面就不貼個別球<br />員的影像連結了,各位自己從這個網站找或在 Youtube 搜尋球員名字<br />等關鍵字就可以。<br /><br />另外,在這個網站上面發佈的青訓球員相關消息,我個人認為也是有<br />相當的可信度。<br /><br />----<br /><br />Bojan Krkic<br /><br /><br />不只是目前巴薩青訓營當中最出色的前鋒球員,還可能是整個歐洲二<wbr>十歲<br />以下的前鋒當中最出色的球員之一。<br /><br />還沒滿十七歲的他,在進入巴薩青訓營的八年時光裡,已經在各級比賽<br />打進了超過九百顆進球,並且是去年球季 Barca B 球隊當中的最有價值<br />球員。<br /><br />在五月份的 U-17 歐洲杯當中,Bojan 在四強賽面對比利時的關鍵進球,<br />讓西班牙得以追平,並且在之後的 PK 大戰中獲勝。在決賽面對英格蘭<br />的比賽當中,Bojan 又射入了首開紀錄的一球,幫助西班牙奪得最後的<br />冠軍。而事實上,在前一年的 U-17 歐洲杯當中,Bojan 個人就射進了<br />大會最多的五球,並且全部都是以替補身分踢進的。<br /><br />(Bojan 面對比利時一戰的進球:<br /><a onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y7CHd9jd03M" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v<wbr>=y7CHd9jd03M</a> )<br /><br />Bojan 原本還有意願參加目前還在加拿大舉行的 U-20 世界杯,但後來<br />並沒有成行,據說原因是巴薩方面不願意放人,因為球隊的計畫是讓<wbr>他<br />依照兩年前的 Messi 模式,全程參與一隊的季前訓練和熱身賽行程。<br /><br />在 Giuly 和 Ezquerro 確定離隊的情況下,Bojan 預計能在國王杯和聯<br />賽當中得到一定的上場機會。當然,目前球隊的前鋒在上述兩人確定<wbr>離<br />開之後,看來還是呈現人滿為患的狀態,因此巴薩 B 隊的新任總教練<br />Pep Guardiola 已經公開向 Bojan 提出「邀請」,認為他下一季在平時<br />訓練時還是可以跟一隊一起訓練,但同時也可以繼續在 Barca B 隊上場<br />比賽。然而,Bojan 和他的家人們對這樣的邀請並不是太有興趣,而事實<br />上,以 Bojan 目前的能力,下一季還讓他在丁級聯賽 (Tercera<br />Division)上場,也的確有點委屈他。<br /><br />看到 Bojan 目前在巴薩可能面臨的困境,不少球隊已經對他伸出了橄欖<br />枝。這其中包括了剛降到西乙的 Nastic、和由前巴薩名宿 Hristo<br />Stoichkov 領軍的 Celta 隊。Stoichkov 本人更已經在幾天前親自來到<br />Camp Nou 拜訪,希望巴薩能把 Bojan 租借給他們。然而,巴薩高層已經<br />明確地拒絕了這樣的提議,表示 Bojan 下季一定會留在巴薩,球隊並且<br />會儘量給予他在一軍發揮的機會。<br /><br />身高普通(172 cm) 的 Bojan,在場上多半是靠著速度、靈巧和拼勁<br />得到一個又一個的進球機會。如果要粗淺地把他和現役的有名射手們<wbr>相<br />對比的話,我個人認為他的風格最類似於目前在瓦倫西亞效力的 David<br />Villa:儘管沒有任何一項能力鶴立雞群,然而多才多藝<wbr><script><!-- D(["mb","、肯拼肯纏的他\u003cbr /\>,懂得用各種方式幫助球隊,並且擁有超乎生理年齡甚多的成熟心理\u003cwbr /\>素質。\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>----\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>Geovanni dos Santos\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>身為墨西哥代表隊陣中主將的他,在加拿大舉行的 U-20 世界杯當中打進\u003cbr /\>三球,並且帶領球隊打入八強。\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>不過,比起 Bojan,dos Santos 下個球季在巴薩一隊的發揮機會可能會有\u003cbr /\>一些問題,而原因是出在球隊的非歐盟名額不足。目前\u003cwbr /\>,球隊的三個非歐盟\u003cbr /\>名額分別給了 Ronaldinho、Eto\'o 和 Yaya Toure,而如果要讓 dos Santos\u003cbr /\>也能在一軍上場,目前可能的解決方案有兩個,一個是 dos Santos 拿到\u003cbr /\>西班牙護照,另一個是小羅或 Eto\'o 拿到西班牙護照,而兩個其中任一個\u003cbr /\>都必須要在八月三十一日之前完成。\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>從數天前 Marca 的報導看起來,目前似乎是 dos Santos 自己先拿到西班牙\u003cbr /\>護照的可能性比較大,不過要在期限內完成據說也有相當的難度\u003cwbr /\>。因此,\u003cbr /\>目前又傳出了他在新賽季有可能被租借出去的風聲。有興趣的球隊包\u003cwbr /\>括了\u003cbr /\>Deportivo 和 Real Sociedad。\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>另一方面,目前合約到 2009 年期滿的 dos Santos 仍舊是英超各大豪門\u003cbr /\>亟欲暗中爭取的對象之一,尤其是 Chelsea。根據 AS 報導,Chelsea\u003cbr /\>首席球探暨青訓總管 Frank Arnesen 據說希望今夏能夠至少簽下 Bojan、\u003cbr /\>dos Santos 和之後會介紹到的 Iago Falque 三者其中一人。\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>綽號「新小羅」的 dos Santos,不論是體型和在場上的一舉一動,都和目\u003cbr /\>前的巴薩十號有些神似,甚至包括腳下無球時比較懶散的作風都類似\u003cwbr /\>,這一\u003cbr /\>點可能是他最需要加強之處。\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>另外,Geovanni 的弟弟 Jonathan 目前也在巴薩,他據說是名速度快的\u003cbr /\>翼鋒型球員,下一季有望升上 Barca C (Juvenli A)隊。\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>----\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>Marc Crosas\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>在去年球季的國王杯第一次得到上場的機會,並且在去年球季的最後\u003cbr /\>一場比賽(作客南非的友誼賽)當中,射進了他身披一隊戰袍的第一\u003cbr /\>球,同時也是巴薩在 2006-07 球季的最後一個進球。\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>典型巴薩出品的中場球員:有技術、盤帶能力好、傳球意識突出,\u003cbr /\>然而需要加強的是防守的硬度和身體對抗性。前輩 Andres Iniesta\u003cbr /\>是他可以學習的榜樣。\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>在巴薩一隊技術型中場眾多的情況下,他可能在新球季仍然沒有太多\u003cbr /\>發揮的空間,可能會採和之前 Bojan 類似的方式,與一隊一起訓練,\u003cbr /\>但是以打二隊的比賽為主。\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>也不排除會被租借出去的可能性。事實上,在六月份曾經傳出利物浦\u003cbr /\>企圖租借他的風聲。然而,在 Pacheco 的「搶劫」事件過後,這個\u003cbr /\>謠言看來沒有太多實現的可能。\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>Crosas 在對南非友誼賽的生涯一隊初進球:\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>\u003ca onclick\u003d\"return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)\" href\u003d\"http://www.youtube.com/watch?v\u003dsKPl7tVyYHc\" target\u003d_blank\>http://www.youtube.com/watch?v\u003cwbr /\>\u003dsKPl7tVyYHc\u003c/a\>\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>----\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>Marc Valiente\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>和另一名已經被賣到希臘聯賽 Aris 隊的 Toni Calvo,是巴薩這次唯二\u003cbr /\>入選西班牙 U-20 國家隊的球員。他並且是去年球季開始之前,四位被\u003cbr /\>總教練 Frank Rijkaard 叫上一軍陪練的球員其中之一。\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>可以打中衛和防守中場。加強體格對抗性仍然是他這個年紀最重要的\u003cwbr /\>課題。\u003cbr /\>坦白說,要成為有這麼多機會上場被噓的 Oleguer,也並不是那麼容易的事。\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>----\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>Iago Falque\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>這位剛滿十七歲的左邊鋒球員上季在 Barca C 隊有突出的表現,同樣也引來\u003cbr /\>",1] ); //--></script>、肯拼肯纏的他<br />,懂得用各種方式幫助球隊,並且擁有超乎生理年齡甚多的成熟心理<wbr>素質。<br /><br /><br />----<br /><br />Giovanni dos Santos<br /><br /><br />身為 U-20 墨西哥代表隊陣中主將的他,在加拿大舉行的 U-20 世界杯當中<br />打進三球,並且帶領球隊打入八強。<br /><br />不過,比起 Bojan,dos Santos 下個球季在巴薩一隊的發揮機會可能會有<br />一些問題,而原因是出在球隊的非歐盟名額不足。目前,球隊的三個非歐盟<br />名額分別給了 Ronaldinho、Eto'o 和 Yaya Toure,而如果要讓 dos Santos<br />也能在一軍上場,目前可能的解決方案有兩個,一個是 dos Santos 拿到<br />西班牙護照,另一個是小羅或 Eto'o 拿到西班牙護照,而兩個其中任一個<br />都必須要在八月三十一日之前完成。<br /><br />從數天前 Marca 的報導看起來,目前似乎是 dos Santos 自己先拿到西班牙<br />護照的可能性比較大,不過要在期限內完成據說也有相當的難度。因此,<br />目前又傳出了他在新賽季有可能被租借出去的風聲。有興趣的球隊包括了<br />Deportivo 和 Real Sociedad。<br /><br />(updated: 巴薩主席 Laporta 在昨天(週二)下午已經表示,<br /> dos Santos 將能在西甲開季之前拿到西班牙護照,<br /> 因此下一季要在一隊看到他應該沒有太大的問題。<br /><a href="http://www.elmundodeportivo.es/20070717/NOTICIA357065266.html"> http://www.elmundodeportivo.es/20070717/NOTICIA357065266.html</a> )<br /><br />另一方面,目前合約到 2009 年期滿的 dos Santos 仍舊是英超各大豪門<br />亟欲暗中爭取的對象之一,尤其是 Chelsea。根據 AS 報導,Chelsea<br />首席球探暨青訓總管 Frank Arnesen 希望今夏能夠至少簽下 Bojan、<br />dos Santos 和之後會介紹到的 Iago Falque 三者其中一人,目前據說<br />台面下挖牆腳的動作也持續不斷。<br /><br />綽號「新小羅」的 dos Santos,不論是體型和在場上的一舉一動,都和目<br />前的巴薩十號有些神似,甚至包括腳下無球時比較懶散的作風都類似,這一<br />點可能是他最需要加強之處。<br /><br />另外,Giovanni 的弟弟 Jonathan 目前也在巴薩,他據說是名速度快的<br />翼鋒型球員,下一季有望升上 Barca C (Juvenli A)隊。<br /><br />----<br /><br />Marc Crosas<br /><br /><br />在去年球季的國王杯第一次得到上場的機會,並且在去年球季的最後<br />一場比賽(作客南非的友誼賽)當中,射進了他身披一隊戰袍的第一<br />球,同時也是巴薩在 2006-07 球季的最後一個進球。<br /><br />典型巴薩出品的中場球員:有技術、盤帶能力好、傳球意識突出,<br />然而需要加強的是防守的硬度和身體對抗性。前輩 Andres Iniesta<br />是他可以學習的榜樣。<br /><br />在巴薩一隊技術型中場眾多的情況下,他可能在新球季仍然沒有太多<br />發揮的空間,可能會採和之前 Bojan 類似的方式,與一隊一起訓練,<br />但是以打二隊的比賽為主。<br /><br />也不排除會被租借出去的可能性。事實上,在六月份曾經傳出利物浦<br />企圖租借他的風聲。然而,在 Pacheco 的「搶劫」事件過後,這個<br />謠言看來沒有太多實現的可能。<br /><br />Crosas 在對南非友誼賽的生涯一隊初進球:<br /><br /><a onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sKPl7tVyYHc" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v<wbr>=sKPl7tVyYHc</a><br /><br />----<br /><br />Marc Valiente<br /><br /><br />和另一名已經被賣到希臘聯賽 Aris 隊的 Toni Calvo,是巴薩這次唯二<br />入選西班牙 U-20 國家隊的球員。他並且是去年球季開始之前,四位被<br />總教練 Frank Rijkaard 叫上一軍陪練的球員其中之一。<br /><br />可以打中衛和防守中場。加強體格對抗性仍然是他這個年紀最重要的<wbr>課題。<br />坦白說,要成為有這麼多機會上場被噓的 Oleguer,也並不是那麼容易的事。<br /><br /><br />----<br /><br />Iago Falque<br /><br /><br />這位剛滿十七歲的左邊鋒球員上季在 Barca C 隊有突出的表現,同樣也引來<br /><script><!-- D(["mb","了眾多豪門的追求,其中以 Chelsea 最為積極。然而,Falque 已經在五月份\u003cbr /\>正式回絕了來自倫敦的邀請。今年夏天,Celta 也曾經希望租借他,而據說\u003cbr /\>Sevilla 更提出了 150 萬歐元的轉會費企圖買下他,但在巴薩要求對方必須\u003cbr /\>付出全額買斷費用(六百萬歐元)的情況下告吹。\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>在五月份的 U-17 歐洲杯當中,他在左邊路也有不俗的表現,在 UEFA 官網\u003cbr /\>上和 Bojan 的名字一起被提及為本屆賽會的希望之星之一。\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>B 隊的總教練 Guardiola 已經公開表示,他期待 Falque 在新賽季為自己效力,\u003cbr /\>一起為重返西丙而努力。\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>----\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>Gai Assulin\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>儘管上一季還只在 Cadete A 隊效力,但這個剛滿十六歲的少年卻已經被\u003cbr /\>認為是目前巴薩青訓當中最類似 Messi 球路的球員。兩人都打左邊鋒的\u003cbr /\>位置,並且一樣身材單薄但卻速度奇快。\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>自從 2005 年三月正式披上巴薩職業隊的紅藍球衣以來,Assulin 的名字\u003cbr /\>一直是英超各大豪門覬覦的主要對象之一。包括曼聯和 Chelsea 都曾傳出\u003cbr /\>幾乎要簽下他的消息。更有消息表示,Chelsea 剛上任的足球部門事務總管\u003cbr /\>,以色列籍的 Avram Grant,上任的目的之一就是要發掘並掌握以色列地區\u003cbr /\>的優秀年輕球員,而同樣出身以色列的 Assulin 更是他們的頭號目標。\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>可喜的是,Assulin 已經在日前在 \u003ca onclick\u003d\"return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)\" href\u003d\"http://airfutbol.com\" target\u003d_blank\>airfutbol.com\u003c/a\> 上面發表了正式聲明,\u003cbr /\>表示自己已經決定未來將會繼續留在巴薩。這個聲明應該有相當的參\u003cwbr /\>考價值。\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>Assulin 和 Bojan 類似,都有雙重護照而必須選擇該替哪隻國家隊效力的問題\u003cbr /\>(Assulin 已經在去年拿到西班牙護照)。目前,他的父親表示除非以色列\u003cbr /\>當局願意免除 Assulin 所有的兵役義務,否則他兒子將拒絕為以色列出賽。\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>下個球季,Assulin 應該會跳級晉升 Barca C 隊,也不排除直接升上 Barca B\u003cbr /\>隊的可能性。\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>----\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>Thiago Alcantara\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>這位膚色微黑、身材不高但肩膀寬闊的中場小將,是巴西一代名將 Mazinho\u003cbr /\>的孩子。球員時期擔任進攻中場的 Mazinho,是 1994 年巴西世界冠軍隊\u003cbr /\>的成員之一,目前則在希臘 Aris 隊擔任技術總監。\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>Alcantara 球風和父親類似,是位極具技術的中場球員,特點是兩腳都能\u003cbr /\>控球和出球,並且擁有不俗的帶球速度。已經有人拿他和 Deco 做比較。\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>上一季,Alcantara 和 Assulin 以及 Pacheco 被稱為 Cadete A 隊陣中\u003cbr /\>的三劍客。而這一季,Alcanta 更已經被選為代表巴薩在八月份參加青年\u003cbr /\>冠軍盃(Champions Youth Cup)的成員之一。\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>(Champions Youth Cup 官網:\u003cbr /\> \u003ca onclick\u003d\"return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)\" href\u003d\"http://www.thechampionsyouthcup.com/\" target\u003d_blank\>http://www.thechampionsyouthcu\u003cwbr /\>p.com/\u003c/a\> )\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>預計在新的球季當中,Alcantara 將會和 Assulin 一起在 Barca C 隊\u003cbr /\>努力,也不排除兩人一起跳級到 Barca B 隊的可能。\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>----\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>Jos Carlos Terrn\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>這位剛滿十六歲的中後衛已經是巴薩青訓系統內最令人期待的後衛之\u003cwbr /\>一,\u003cbr /\>然而目前已經傳出 Arsenal 即將對他挖角成功的消息。\u003cbr /\>(相關新聞可見 Arsenal 板 4538 篇)\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>據說他的經紀人和 Fabregas 以及 Merida 是同一位。巴薩想要留下他\u003cbr /\>",1] ); //--></script>了眾多豪門的追求,其中以 Chelsea 最為積極。然而,Falque 已經在五月份<br />正式回絕了來自倫敦的邀請。今年夏天,Celta 也曾經希望租借他,而據說<br />Sevilla 更提出了 150 萬歐元的轉會費企圖買下他,但在巴薩要求對方必須<br />付出全額買斷費用(六百萬歐元)的情況下告吹。<br /><br />在五月份的 U-17 歐洲杯當中,他在左邊路也有不俗的表現,在 UEFA 官網<br />上和 Bojan 的名字一起被提及為本屆賽會的希望之星之一。<br /><br />B 隊的總教練 Guardiola 已經公開表示,他期待 Falque 在新賽季為自己效力,<br />一起為重返西丙而努力。<br /><br />----<br /><br />Gai Assulin<br /><br /><br />儘管上一季還只在 Cadete A 隊效力,但這個剛滿十六歲的少年卻已經被<br />認為是目前巴薩青訓當中最類似 Messi 球路的球員。兩人都打左邊鋒的<br />位置,並且一樣身材單薄但卻速度奇快。<br /><br />自從 2005 年三月正式披上巴薩職業隊的紅藍球衣以來,Assulin 的名字<br />一直是英超各大豪門覬覦的主要對象之一。包括曼聯和 Chelsea 都曾傳出<br />幾乎要簽下他的消息。更有消息表示,Chelsea 剛上任的足球部門事務總管<br />,以色列籍的 Avram Grant,上任的目的之一就是要發掘並掌握以色列地區<br />的優秀年輕球員,而同樣出身以色列的 Assulin 更是他們的頭號目標。<br /><br />可喜的是,Assulin 已經在日前在 <a onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://airfutbol.com/" target="_blank">airfutbol.com</a> 上面發表了正式聲明,<br />表示自己已經決定未來將會繼續留在巴薩。這個聲明應該有相當的參<wbr>考價值。<br /><br />Assulin 和 Bojan 類似,都有雙重護照而必須選擇該替哪隻國家隊效力的問題<br />(Assulin 已經在去年拿到西班牙護照)。目前,他的父親表示除非以色列<br />當局願意免除 Assulin 所有的兵役義務,否則他兒子將拒絕為以色列出賽。<br /><br />下個球季,Assulin 應該會跳級晉升 Barca C 隊,也不排除直接升上 Barca B<br />隊的可能性。<br /><br />----<br /><br />Thiago Alcantara<br /><br /><br />這位膚色微黑、身材不高但肩膀寬闊的中場小將,是巴西一代名將 Mazinho<br />的孩子。球員時期擔任進攻中場的 Mazinho,是 1994 年巴西世界冠軍隊<br />的成員之一,目前則在希臘 Aris 隊擔任技術總監。<br /><br />Alcantara 球風和父親類似,是位極具技術的中場球員,特點是兩腳都能<br />控球和出球,並且擁有不俗的帶球速度。已經有人拿他和 Deco 做比較。<br /><br />上一季,Alcantara 和 Assulin 以及 Pacheco 被稱為 Cadete A 隊陣中<br />的三劍客。這一季,Alcantara 更已經被選為代表巴薩在八月份參加青年<br />冠軍盃(Champions Youth Cup)的成員之一。<br /><br />(Champions Youth Cup 官網:<br /><a onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.thechampionsyouthcup.com/" target="_blank">http://www.thechampionsyouthcu<wbr>p.com/</a> )<br /><br />預計在新的球季當中,Alcantara 將會和 Assulin 一起在 Barca C 隊<br />努力,也不排除兩人一起跳級到 Barca B 隊的可能。<br /><br />----<br /><br />Jose Carlos Terrón<br /><br />這位剛滿十六歲的中後衛已經是巴薩青訓系統內最令人期待的後衛之<wbr>一,<br />然而目前已經傳出 Arsenal 即將對他挖角成功的消息。<br /><br />據說他的經紀人和 Fabregas 以及 Merida 是同一位。巴薩想要留下他<br /><script><!-- D(["mb","可能並不是那麼簡單的任務。\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>Jos Carlos Terrn 的個人官網:\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>\u003ca onclick\u003d\"return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)\" href\u003d\"http://www.josecarlosterron.com/\" target\u003d_blank\>http://www.josecarlosterron\u003cwbr /\>.com/\u003c/a\>\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>----\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>Oier Olazabel\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>還不滿十八歲的他雖然才剛正式穿上巴薩球衣沒幾天,但可能已經是\u003cbr /\>整個巴薩青訓系統內最令人期待的守門員人才。\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>身高 190 cm 的 Olazabel 是巴薩 B 隊新任總教練 Guardiola 上任\u003cbr /\>之初就簽下的四名球員之一,同樣對他表示出興趣的包括了利物浦、\u003cbr /\>皇馬和 Levante 等球隊。上一季在西丙 Real Union de Irun 青訓\u003cbr /\>球隊當中效力的他,已經常和一隊一起練球,在門前冷靜沈著的風格\u003cbr /\>被譽為和前西班牙國門 Andoni Zubizarreta 神似,而他本人也表示\u003cbr /\>Zubizarreta 是他學習的目標。\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>和巴薩簽下五年合約的 Olazabel,下一季將直接從 Barca B 隊開始\u003cbr /\>打起。而 Olazabel 的加入,或許也是球隊在今年夏天的轉會市場上\u003cbr /\>對於守門員人才的追逐並不熱烈的原因之一。\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>Olazabel 的照片:\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>\u003ca onclick\u003d\"return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)\" href\u003d\"http://0rz.tw/462Rl\" target\u003d_blank\>http://0rz.tw/462Rl\u003c/a\>\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>\u003ca onclick\u003d\"return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)\" href\u003d\"http://0rz.tw/a62TL\" target\u003d_blank\>http://0rz.tw/a62TL\u003c/a\>\u003cbr /\>\u003c/div\>",1] ); //--></script>可能並不是那麼簡單的任務。<br /><br />Jose Carlos Terrón 的個人官網:<br /><br /><a onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.josecarlosterron.com/" target="_blank">http://www.josecarlosterron<wbr>.com/</a><br /><br /><br />----<br /><br />Oier Olazabel<br /><br /><br />還不滿十八歲的他雖然才剛正式穿上巴薩球衣沒幾天,但可能已經是<br />整個巴薩青訓系統內最令人期待的守門員人才。<br /><br />身高 190 cm 的 Olazabel 是巴薩 B 隊新任總教練 Guardiola 上任<br />之初就簽下的四名球員之一,同樣對他表示出興趣的包括了利物浦、<br />皇馬和 Levante 等球隊。上一季在西丙 Real Union de Irun 青訓<br />球隊當中效力的他,已經常和一隊一起練球,在門前冷靜沈著的風格<br />被譽為和前西班牙國門 Andoni Zubizarreta 神似,而他本人也表示<br />Zubizarreta 是他學習的目標。<br /><br />和巴薩簽下五年合約的 Olazabel,下一季將直接從 Barca B 隊開始<br />打起。而 Olazabel 的加入,或許也是球隊在今年夏天的轉會市場上<br />對於守門員人才的追逐並不熱烈的原因之一。<br /><br />Olazabel 的照片:<br /><br /><a onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://0rz.tw/462Rl" target="_blank">http://0rz.tw/462Rl</a><br /><br /><a onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://0rz.tw/a62TL" target="_blank">http://0rz.tw/a62TL</a></div>pistonJWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10272683849661370549noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14775045.post-79681371652874466912007-07-07T00:27:00.000+01:002007-07-07T00:28:04.399+01:00Re: [Travel] sin título兩隻手臂上被晒傷的白色脫皮已經開始有痊癒的跡象。向晚時分,<br />這個英國小鎮上照例是下著忽急忽緩的細雨,參雜在橙色的夕照<br />之間。打開 e-mail 信箱,紐約愛樂通知我他們下禮拜要走進紐<br />約市各大公園演出了。<br /><br />itunes 剛好又放到 Dave Brubeck Quartet 的 "These Foolish<br />Things"。這是我去年出國前最愛聽的曲子。pistonJWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10272683849661370549noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14775045.post-36985550463259967152007-07-02T16:13:00.000+01:002007-07-03T15:22:36.695+01:00[Music] Sonar 2007 CommentsAll Bootleg Videos of Sonar 2007 (still uploading):<br /><br /><a onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.dailymotion.com/pistonjw/sonar" target="_blank">http://www.dailymotion.com<wbr>/pistonjw/sonar</a><br /><br />--<br /><br />James Holden: 8.5<br /><br /><br />事後回顧起來,可以說這次 Sonar 當中最大的驚喜在第一天<br />下午就出現了。<br /><br />Holden 和他的 Border Community 唱片公司自 2005 年以來<br />成為了電子舞曲音樂界最熱門的名字之一,然而 Holden 本人<br />極度講求折衷多元、百家齊放(從 Aphex Twin 到 Trans am)<br />的風格,卻也並不是每個人都能接受。去年的 At the controls<br />的確是電子音樂界最有趣的 mixing album 之一,然而它近乎<br />刻意地花費太長時間醞釀高潮、和某些時刻莫名所以的轉折,<br />的確讓一般的電子舞曲樂聽眾有些難以適應。<br /><br />而 Holden 個人去年的專輯 "The Idiots Are Winning" 則是<br />更加具有實驗性質的 IDM,類似九零年代 Aphex Twin 或<br />Plaid 等前輩的風格。然而,這樣有些自閉沈溺的電子合成器<br />聲響,擺在 2006 年來看,難免令人會有時空錯亂之感。<br />加上出發前曾聽到的 live set 當中,Holden 似乎在現場還是<br />堅持他那套冗長而不明所以的音樂探索,因此在實地前往 Holden<br />的場子之前,個人對他這次的演出並沒有抱著太大的期望。<br /><br />然而,就像 Sonar 官方網站之前的宣傳詞句一樣,Holden 這次<br />帶來的是完全不同於以往風格的 mixing。似乎是擺脫了慘綠少年<br />的自閉情感包袱,Holden 在這兩小時當中盡情揮灑,他豐富的唱<br />片收藏也再度得到了絕佳的展示機會。和以往他的現場 mix 不同<br />的是,這次 Holden 終於願意 feed on 台下觀眾的熱情,絕大部<br />份的轉折都令人驚喜,並且合情合理。在一串令人不自覺搖頭晃腦<br />的 minimal techno 節奏之後,接出來 Four Tet 的 untangle<br />這條清涼無比的天籟之音,更成為了全場的高潮。<br /><br />儘管由於比較多的中斷再繼續,在第二個小時的後半氣氛比較<br />冷了下來,但綜觀全場,Holden 的 mixing 仍然是極為成功的。<br /><br />----<br /><br />Beastie Boys - A Gala Event - Exclusive Instrumental Show: 9<br /><br />表演遲了快半個小時才開始,全場已經多次響起了鼓譟的聲浪和噓聲<div style="direction: ltr;"><wbr>。<br />然而當布幕終於拉起,身穿 Dick Tracy 式二三○年代西裝的六個人<br />步上舞台時,他們還是受到了最高分貝的歡呼。<br /><br />而他們的表演的確也沒讓所有人失望。這應該是今年 Sonar 三天以來<br />全場最 high 的演出。<br /><br />儘管 Beastie Boys 這次的新專輯大改他們過去穩居樂界白人 hip-hop<br />團體 no.1 的泰山北斗角色,而作出了一張純粹器樂的 punk/rock/funky/dub<br />演奏專輯,難免讓我在事前會擔心這樣的曲目會讓現場演出比較難熱<wbr>絡<br />起來(是的,我已經在正式專輯發行前一個多月聽到了所有曲目)。<br />然而,事實證明我之前的擔心是多餘的。三位年過四十的 Beastie Boys<br />在舞台上仍然熱力十足,即使不開口 rap,但誇張的肢體動作和彼此之間<br /><script><!-- D(["mb","充滿默契的互動,仍然讓人無法把目光移開。\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>位居舞台右前方的 Adrock,無疑是三人當中動作最多,最好笑的一位,\u003cbr /\>演奏時除了誇張地用力刷吉他之外,還會跟著搖頭晃腦或用腳踏拍子\u003cwbr /\>,\u003cbr /\>跟台下觀眾的互動也是最多的:或是示意台下的觀眾跟著一起打拍子\u003cwbr /\>、\u003cbr /\>或是把耳朵靠過去聽觀眾的吶喊、甚至會接過觀眾傳來的小紙條回答\u003cbr /\>問題。\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>擔任鼓手的 Mike D 儘管平時位居舞台較深處,和觀眾互動的機會比較少\u003cbr /\>,然而身穿大紅色西裝,還帶著船長帽的他,每次放下鼓棒一跳進舞\u003cwbr /\>台\u003cbr /\>中央,通常就是全場要開始 high 翻天的時刻了。尖銳的聲音和勁爆的言辭\u003cbr /\>,讓他不論是和觀眾講話或是 rap 時總能恰好搔到觀眾情緒的爆點;而由\u003cbr /\>他帶動的幾首快歌,則是讓全場瞬間爆發,所有人的腳都非得離開地\u003cwbr /\>板不可。\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>一頭灰髮、帶著墨鏡、穿著灰色西裝的 MCA 儘管在這三人裡面算是比較低調的,\u003cbr /\>但吉他彈奏十分認真,而輪到他 rap 的場合,沙啞的嗓音也有他獨特的韻味。\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>而提到 Beastie Boys,近年來絕對少不了的另一號人物,就是位居唱片\u003cbr /\>轉盤身後的 scratching-mixing 大師 Mix Master Mike。身著土黃色\u003cbr /\>西裝、蓄鬍身材微胖的他位在舞台最左方,乍看之下並不起眼\u003cwbr /\>,但刮唱盤\u003cbr /\>的快手仍然在許多曲子當中發揮起了關鍵的作用。\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>"Hi! We are Beastie boys from New York City." Adrock 這句簡單的\u003cbr /\>開場白,就讓全場的氣氛沸騰;在表演中途,Adrock 更囂張的和台下說,\u003cbr /\>「你們知道嗎?我們明天還要(在 Sonar)表演一場,不過明天的曲目\u003cbr /\>會跟今天完全不一樣。」「這只有我們才做得到!」\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>一個多小時的表演當中,除了新專輯 "The Mix-Up" 當中的器樂演奏曲\u003cbr /\>之外,Beastie Boys 也穿插了一些他們過去的經典名曲,幾乎每一首\u003cbr /\>都能得到比新專輯的曲目更熱烈的回應。\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>壓軸的倒數第二首曲子,Mike D 終於鄭重介紹了全場在幕後支撐音樂骨幹\u003cbr /\>的 Mix Master Mike,搭配的當然是 "3 MCs & 1 DJ" 這條 high 到不行\u003cbr /\>的刮盤炫技曲。看著 Mike D 等三人排成經典的 Beastie Boys 超人隊形,\u003cbr /\>這絕對是全場最瘋狂的時刻。最後一首曲子 "So What Cha Want" 開始之前\u003cbr /\>,只見 Mix Master Mike 鬆了領帶、倒著香檳、一邊輕鬆的喝著,一邊拿\u003cbr /\>著數位相機朝著台下猛拍;同時,三位 Beastie Boys 仍然生猛有力的又唱\u003cbr /\>又跳。\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>絕對是這次 Sonar 當中最熱鬧的演出。\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>----\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>Narod Niki: 6\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>集合八名世界最頂尖的 minimal-techno & microhouse DJ 同時 mixing\u003cbr /\>的夢幻組合,照理來說,應該會是一場令人永生難忘的聽覺饗宴才是\u003cwbr /\>。\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>然而,事實是 DJ 彼此之間難以統合的個人風格,讓這場全長兩個多\u003cbr /\>小時的 DJ Show,儘管充斥著令人血脈賁張的片段,整體來看卻缺乏\u003cbr /\>統一的風格和明確的走向。\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>開場時位居中央 DJ 台主控大局的當然是 Ricardo Villalobos,這位\u003cbr /\>Narod Niki 的發起和組織者。身材高大、滿臉鬍鬚的他在 DJ 台上的\u003cbr /\>動作可以用「瀟灑飄逸」四個字來形容,雖然在某些時刻他撥頭髮的\u003cbr /\>動作會令人感到有點女性化。約略過了一個多小時之後\u003cwbr /\>,Villalobos\u003cbr /\>開始把主控台的位置交給朋友們輪流發揮,包括他的智利同鄉和好友\u003cbr /\>Dandy Jack、和 minimal techno 界的開山始祖,如今已經成為雄霸\u003cbr /\>一方的 M_Nus 唱片公司老闆的加拿大 DJ Richie Hawtin。\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>儘管 Sonar 之前對於 Narod Niki 的宣傳詞句上,曾提到會有神祕的\u003cbr /\>guest DJ 現身,但距我兩個多小時的觀察,這次出現的八名 DJ,都是\u003cbr /\>之前已經在例如 2003 Mutek 上面出現過的熟面孔,並沒有太多的驚喜;\u003cbr /\>",1] ); //--></script>充滿默契的互動,仍然讓人無法把目光移開。<br /><br />位居舞台右前方的 Adrock,無疑是三人當中動作最多,最好笑的一位,<br />演奏時除了誇張地用力刷吉他之外,還會跟著搖頭晃腦或用腳踏拍子<wbr>,<br />跟台下觀眾的互動也是最多的:或是示意台下的觀眾跟著一起打拍子<wbr>、<br />或是把耳朵靠過去聽觀眾的吶喊、甚至會接過觀眾傳來的小紙條回答<br />問題。<br /><br />擔任鼓手的 Mike D 儘管平時位居舞台較深處,和觀眾互動的機會比較少<br />,然而身穿大紅色西裝,還帶著船長帽的他,每次放下鼓棒一跳進舞<wbr>台<br />中央,通常就是全場要開始 high 翻天的時刻了。尖銳的聲音和勁爆的言辭<br />,讓他不論是和觀眾講話或是 rap 時總能恰好搔到觀眾情緒的爆點;而由<br />他帶動的幾首快歌,則是讓全場瞬間爆發,所有人的腳都非得離開地<wbr>板不可。<br /><br />一頭灰髮、帶著墨鏡、穿著灰色西裝的 MCA 儘管在這三人裡面算是比較低調的,<br />但吉他彈奏十分認真,而輪到他 rap 的場合,沙啞的嗓音也有他獨特的韻味。<br /><br />而提到 Beastie Boys,近年來絕對少不了的另一號人物,就是位居唱片<br />轉盤身後的 scratching-mixing 大師 Mix Master Mike。身著土黃色<br />西裝、蓄鬍身材微胖的他位在舞台最左方,乍看之下並不起眼<wbr>,但刮唱盤<br />的快手仍然在許多曲子當中發揮起了關鍵的作用。<br /><br />"Hi! We are Beastie boys from New York City." Adrock 這句簡單的<br />開場白,就讓全場的氣氛沸騰;在表演中途,Adrock 更囂張的和台下說,<br />「你們知道嗎?我們明天還要(在 Sonar)表演一場,不過明天的曲目<br />會跟今天完全不一樣。」「這只有我們才做得到!」<br /><br />一個多小時的表演當中,除了新專輯 "The Mix-Up" 當中的器樂演奏曲<br />之外,Beastie Boys 也穿插了一些他們過去的經典名曲,幾乎每一首<br />都能得到比新專輯的曲目更熱烈的回應。<br /><br />壓軸的倒數第二首曲子,Mike D 終於鄭重介紹了全場在幕後支撐音樂骨幹<br />的 Mix Master Mike,搭配的當然是 "3 MCs & 1 DJ" 這條 high 到不行<br />的刮盤炫技曲。看著 Mike D 等三人排成經典的 Beastie Boys 超人隊形,<br />這絕對是全場最瘋狂的時刻。最後一首曲子 "So What Cha Want" 開始之前<br />,只見 Mix Master Mike 鬆了領帶、倒著香檳、一邊輕鬆的喝著,一邊拿<br />著數位相機朝著台下猛拍;同時,三位 Beastie Boys 仍然生猛有力的又唱<br />又跳。<br /><br />絕對是這次 Sonar 當中最熱鬧的演出。<br /><br />----<br /><br />Narod Niki: 6<br /><br />集合八名世界最頂尖的 minimal-techno & microhouse DJ 同時 mixing<br />的夢幻組合,照理來說,應該會是一場令人永生難忘的聽覺饗宴才是<wbr>。<br /><br />然而,事實是 DJ 彼此之間難以統合的個人風格,讓這場全長兩個多<br />小時的 DJ Show,儘管充斥著令人血脈賁張的片段,整體來看卻缺乏<br />統一的風格和明確的走向。<br /><br />開場時位居中央 DJ 台主控大局的當然是 Ricardo Villalobos,這位<br />Narod Niki 的發起和組織者。身材高大、滿臉鬍鬚的他在 DJ 台上的<br />動作可以用「瀟灑飄逸」四個字來形容,雖然在某些時刻他撥頭髮的<br />動作會令人感到有點女性化。約略過了一個多小時之後<wbr>,Villalobos<br />開始把主控台的位置交給朋友們輪流發揮,包括他的智利同鄉和好友<br />Dandy Jack、和 minimal techno 界的開山始祖,如今已經成為雄霸<br />一方的 M_Nus 唱片公司老闆的加拿大 DJ Richie Hawtin。<br /><br />儘管 Sonar 之前對於 Narod Niki 的宣傳詞句上,曾提到會有神祕的<br />guest DJ 現身,但距我兩個多小時的觀察,這次出現的八名 DJ,都是<br />之前已經在例如 2003 Mutek 上面出現過的熟面孔,並沒有太多的驚喜;<br /><script><!-- D(["mb","而即使有所謂的神祕 DJ 出現,事實上整場 mixing 的主導權,還是在\u003cbr /\>Villalobos 和 Hawtin 身上。\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>整場 DJ show 當中,音樂走向不明所以,讓群眾呆立原地的情況不只\u003cbr /\>發生過一次,而這個時候往往需要由 Dandy Jack 接出一條 funky/latin house\u003cbr /\>tune 來轉化場子裡的氣氛。有些禿頭、身穿大花襯衫的 Dandy Jack\u003cbr /\>(同時也是 Junction SM 雙人組合其中一員)也是全場最樂於和台下\u003cbr /\>觀眾揮手和互動的 DJ,與台上其他身穿黑色系或緊身 t-shirt,表情冷酷\u003cbr /\>的「隊友」們,形成有趣的對比。而這樣的對比並不只存在於外在的\u003cwbr /\>行為\u003cbr /\>表現上,事實是,Dandy Jack 擅長的 funky/latin house,也和其他 DJ\u003cbr /\>們冷酷的 minimal techno 有著相當的落差,這讓全場 DJ Show 僅管有著\u003cbr /\>各方高手們頻頻丟出一首又一首的精彩曲目,但整場放完\u003cwbr /\>,能夠讓人回憶\u003cbr /\>起的精華片段和轉折卻不多,像是入了大觀園,最後卻發現留在腦海\u003cwbr /\>裡的\u003cbr /\>只有鏡花水月般的倒影而已。\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>----\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>The Cornelius Group: 8\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>在表演開始之前,就可以感覺到場子裡的日本聽眾明顯增多\u003cwbr /\>。偌大的帆布\u003cbr /\>蓋住了場上的音樂器材和表演者,大多數的西方聽眾都和我一樣夾雜\u003cwbr /\>著不\u003cbr /\>安和期待的情緒期待著。\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>帆布上開始出現紅色的長條方塊,接著是藍色、黃色..\u003cwbr /\>.觀眾開始興奮的\u003cbr /\>鼓譟著。方塊的出現和遞換頻率越來越快,樂手們的倒影開始浮現,\u003cbr /\>音樂的節拍和方塊的出現頻率正好契合,接著出現的是 "HELLO" 這五個\u003cbr /\>英文字母。觀眾回報以熱情的鼓掌和歡呼,同時 "The Cornelius Group"\u003cbr /\>這幾個大字浮現在帆布上。\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>帆布拉開,四個同樣戴著黑色禮帽,綠色上衣罩著高領白襯衫的日本\u003cwbr /\>樂手\u003cbr /\>開始賣力的彈奏,同時後方的大螢幕開始出現和音樂相配合的視覺特\u003cwbr /\>效或\u003cbr /\>動畫。選擇以 Live Band 形式在 Sonar 現身的 Cornelius,有個傑出的\u003cbr /\>開場。\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>就如同帆布還沒拉開前曾出現的字幕一樣,這場秀號稱是所謂的\u003cbr /\>"Sensuous Synchronized Show"(感官同步秀)。後方大螢幕和舞台的\u003cbr /\>燈光效果,也扮演著娛樂觀眾的重要效果。大螢幕除了會出現許多奇\u003cwbr /\>想\u003cbr /\>天外的視覺特效之外,也有眾多令人忍俊不住的絕妙影片剪輯\u003cwbr /\>。而重點\u003cbr /\>是,所有的視覺效果,都和音樂本身搭配的絲絲入扣\u003cwbr /\>,讓觀眾可以同時\u003cbr /\>享受到影音配合的絕妙刺激。某些歌曲,例如 "Gum" 或是 "The fit song"\u003cbr /\>等,搭配的背後影片效果都讓人大呼過癮。而與千變萬化的視覺特效\u003cwbr /\>相比\u003cbr /\>,四到五名的 The Cornelius Group 團員整齊劃一,令人難分彼此的\u003cbr /\>服裝和打扮,不但造成了一定的趣味和反差,也恰巧符合西方人刻板\u003cwbr /\>印象\u003cbr /\>當中,對於日本人高度團體性,泯除個人特質的民族特性。\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>一個小時的演出,以 Cornelius 去年專輯 "Sensuous" 當中的曲目佔\u003cbr /\>絕大多數。依舊保留澀谷系(Shibuya-K)清新、流暢\u003cwbr /\>、甜美的音樂\u003cbr /\>風格,然而這次採用現場 live band 形式演出的 Cornelius,無疑地\u003cbr /\>讓音樂多了不少現場蹦出的火花和力道,不只是原本專輯裡的精緻流\u003cwbr /\>暢\u003cbr /\>而已。開場第二首曲子 "Wateridori" 無疑是整場表演裡最大的高潮之一。\u003cbr /\>如果來聽表演之前已經對 "Sensuous" 這張專輯瞭若指掌的話,應該能夠\u003cbr /\>得到更多的驚喜和感動,而不只是被這些精巧的電子音樂所深深吸引\u003cwbr /\>而已。\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>表演唯一的缺點,可能就是時間太短了。在我前面原本拘謹的日本人\u003cbr /\>多半也跟著 Cornelius 的音樂跳著不停。其中一個留著短髮、肩上\u003cbr /\>背著黑色大提包的日本女生,更是像花蝴蝶一般隨著音樂輕巧地飛舞\u003cwbr /\>",1] ); //--></script>而即使有所謂的神祕 DJ 出現,事實上整場 mixing 的主導權,還是在<br />Villalobos 和 Hawtin 身上。<br /><br />整場 DJ show 當中,音樂走向不明所以,讓群眾呆立原地的情況不只<br />發生過一次,而這個時候往往需要由 Dandy Jack 接出一條 funky/latin house<br />tune 來轉化場子裡的氣氛。有些禿頭、身穿大花襯衫的 Dandy Jack<br />(同時也是 Junction SM 雙人組合其中一員)也是全場最樂於和台下<br />觀眾揮手和互動的 DJ,與台上其他身穿黑色系或緊身 t-shirt,表情冷酷<br />的「隊友」們,形成有趣的對比。而這樣的對比並不只存在於外在的<wbr>行為<br />表現上,事實是,Dandy Jack 擅長的 funky/latin house,也和其他 DJ<br />們冷酷的 minimal techno 有著相當的落差,這讓全場 DJ Show 僅管有著<br />各方高手們頻頻丟出一首又一首的精彩曲目,但整場放完<wbr>,能夠讓人回憶<br />起的精華片段和轉折卻不多,像是入了大觀園,最後卻發現留在腦海<wbr>裡的<br />只有鏡花水月般的倒影而已。<br /><br />----<br /><br />The Cornelius Group: 8<br /><br />在表演開始之前,就可以感覺到場子裡的日本聽眾明顯增多<wbr>。偌大的帆布<br />蓋住了場上的音樂器材和表演者,大多數的西方聽眾都和我一樣夾雜<wbr>著不<br />安和期待的情緒期待著。<br /><br />帆布上開始出現紅色的長條方塊,接著是藍色、黃色..<wbr>.觀眾開始興奮的<br />鼓譟著。方塊的出現和遞換頻率越來越快,樂手們的倒影開始浮現,<br />音樂的節拍和方塊的出現頻率正好契合,接著出現的是 "HELLO" 這五個<br />英文字母。觀眾回報以熱情的鼓掌和歡呼,同時 "The Cornelius Group"<br />這幾個大字浮現在帆布上。<br /><br />帆布拉開,四個同樣戴著黑色禮帽,綠色上衣罩著高領白襯衫的日本<wbr>樂手<br />開始賣力的彈奏,同時後方的大螢幕開始出現和音樂相配合的視覺特<wbr>效或<br />動畫。選擇以 Live Band 形式在 Sonar 現身的 Cornelius,有個傑出的<br />開場。<br /><br />就如同帆布還沒拉開前曾出現的字幕一樣,這場秀號稱是所謂的<br />"Sensuous Synchronized Show"(感官同步秀)。後方大螢幕和舞台的<br />燈光效果,也扮演著娛樂觀眾的重要效果。大螢幕除了會出現許多奇<wbr>想<br />天外的視覺特效之外,也有眾多令人忍俊不住的絕妙影片剪輯<wbr>。而重點<br />是,所有的視覺效果,都和音樂本身搭配的絲絲入扣<wbr>,讓觀眾可以同時<br />享受到影音配合的絕妙刺激。某些歌曲,例如 "Gum" 或是 "The fit song"<br />等,搭配的背後影片效果都讓人大呼過癮。而與千變萬化的視覺特效<wbr>相比<br />,四到五名的 The Cornelius Group 團員整齊劃一,令人難分彼此的<br />服裝和打扮,不但造成了一定的趣味和反差,也恰巧符合西方人刻板<wbr>印象<br />當中,對於日本人高度團體性,泯除個人特質的民族特性。<br /><br />一個小時的演出,以 Cornelius 去年專輯 "Sensuous" 當中的曲目佔<br />絕大多數。依舊保留澀谷系(Shibuya-K)清新、流暢<wbr>、甜美的音樂<br />風格,然而這次採用現場 live band 形式演出的 Cornelius,無疑地<br />讓音樂多了不少現場蹦出的火花和力道,不只是原本專輯裡的精緻流<wbr>暢<br />而已。開場第二首曲子 "Wateridori" 無疑是整場表演裡最大的高潮之一。<br />如果來聽表演之前已經對 "Sensuous" 這張專輯瞭若指掌的話,應該能夠<br />得到更多的驚喜和感動,而不只是被這些精巧的電子音樂所深深吸引<wbr>而已。<br /><br />表演唯一的缺點,可能就是時間太短了。在我前面原本拘謹的日本人<br />多半也跟著 Cornelius 的音樂跳著不停。其中一個留著短髮、肩上<br />背著黑色大提包的日本女生,更是像花蝴蝶一般隨著音樂輕巧地飛舞<wbr><script><!-- D(["mb","著。\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>----\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>Richie Hawtin: 5\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>其實沒有太多可提的。\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>It\'s 2 hours of typical Richie Hawtin.\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>近年來現場接歌已經有點刻意鄙棄製造高潮的 Hawtin,在這兩小時之內\u003cbr /\>雖然沒有像其他我所聽過他的現場一樣,出現一些每個 DJ 都會放的芭樂歌,\u003cbr /\>但他宛如機器人(包括熟練的接歌技巧)一般的接歌模式\u003cwbr /\>,不斷持續丟出\u003cbr /\>一個又一個的 loop 和機械化的 minimal 節拍,每次當意念高潮可能出現\u003cbr /\>時,通常節拍也開始漸弱,讓人只能期待下一條接進來的曲子。\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>兩小時的表演仍然吸引了如潮水一般的聽眾。也許他仍然是這個世界\u003cwbr /\>上最酷\u003cbr /\>的 minimal-techno DJ,但我個人對於他的風格已經開始感到有些厭倦了。\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>----\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>Simien Mobile Disco: 6.5\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>在 Hawtin 兩小時的規律機械節拍轟炸之後,也許這對英國組合的\u003cbr /\>disco/funky house style 是最好的調劑。\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>儘管聽不到太多的新意,放到一半大螢幕還壞掉(或是刻意效果,\u003cbr /\>不得而知),顯示出他們兩個人電腦螢幕上接下來要放的每首曲子,\u003cbr /\>但我還是在他們的音樂當中得到了更多的樂趣。\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>----\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>Timo Maas: 6.5\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>沙場老將放了許多的老歌,包括結尾最後一首耳熟能詳的\u003cbr /\>Depeche Mode - Personal Jesus (Timo Maas remix)。\u003cbr /\>伴隨著已經大亮的天空,是個很奇妙的經驗。\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>老歌不見得就不好,至少我這個老人跳得很開心。\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>----\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>Mogwai: 9\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>原本並不打算來聽這一場的我,最後卻十分感謝我有一個買票\u003cbr /\>就是為了他們而來的同伴,才不至於讓我錯過可能是本屆 Sonar\u003cbr /\>最值得的演出之一。\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>我們幸運地能夠擠到舞台的最前方,能夠看清楚每個團員的一舉一動\u003cwbr /\>。\u003cbr /\>比起 Beastie Boys,Mogwai 並沒有拖延太多時間就登上舞台。\u003cbr /\>舞台的聲光設備比起其他樂團來說可以算是樸實無華,但當第一個\u003cbr /\>音符響起,那股震撼人心的力量,卻沒有任何一個樂團比得上。\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>Mogwai 的專注和認真令人動容。身材高大的吉他手 Dominic Aitchison\u003cbr /\>時而面對、時而背對觀眾,用心地彈奏吉他,他伴隨著節奏緩慢點頭\u003cbr /\>的身影將會銘刻在我腦海裡一輩子。鼓手 Martin Bulloch 的鼓架上\u003cbr /\>永遠綁著一件綠白相間的 Celtic FC 球衣,戴著眼鏡的他打起鼓來\u003cbr /\>又準確又強勁。同時負責鍵盤和製造「音效」的 Barry Burns 溫柔地\u003cbr /\>在麥克風前「唱歌」的身影也令人難忘。至於樂團老大\u003cwbr /\>,身材並不起眼\u003cbr /\>的 Stuart Braithwaite 儘管在表演的多半時間比較容易被遺忘,但\u003cbr /\>在過場時都是由他負責和台下互動,包括把其中一首歌曲呈獻給被他\u003cwbr /\>們\u003cbr /\>認為是全世界最棒的足球隊:FC Barcelona。\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>這是一場很難用文字形容的精彩演出。\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>真正能夠凝聚熱力和傳遞情感的優秀表演,會在你的心上留下永久的\u003cbr /\>烙印,而這一晚的 Mogwai 就是如此。\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>----\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>Dixon: 6\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>身負替 Inner City Visions 唱片公司打頭陣的重責大任,在近一年來\u003cbr /\>越來越搶手的 funky house/deep house DJ Dixon 放歌還是有他一貫的\u003cbr /\>個人品味和水準,但某些原本在他的唱片 (Body Language vol.4) 裡\u003cbr /\>令人微笑神往的片段,在 Sonar Pub 這麼大的舞池裡放起來,難免會有\u003cbr /\>點失去它原本的精緻風味,儘管 Dixon 已經刻意加強了曲子當中的重拍\u003cbr /\>節奏,讓舞客更跳得起來。\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>也許他的 mixing 是更適合單獨聆聽的。\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>----\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>Chateau Flight: 7\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>這兩位法國人各拿一台蘋果電腦,mixing 常有天外飛來一筆的奇妙效果,\u003cbr /\>",1] ); //--></script>著。<br /><br />----<br /><br />Richie Hawtin: 5<br /><br />其實沒有太多可提的。<br /><br />It's 2 hours of typical Richie Hawtin.<br /><br />近年來現場接歌已經有點刻意鄙棄製造高潮的 Hawtin,在這兩小時之內<br />雖然沒有像其他我所聽過他的現場一樣,出現一些每個 DJ 都會放的芭樂歌,<br />但他宛如機器人(包括熟練的接歌技巧)一般的接歌模式<wbr>,不斷持續丟出<br />一個又一個的 loop 和機械化的 minimal 節拍,每次當意念高潮可能出現<br />時,通常節拍也開始漸弱,讓人只能期待下一條接進來的曲子。<br /><br />兩小時的表演仍然吸引了如潮水一般的聽眾。也許他仍然是這個世界<wbr>上最酷<br />的 minimal-techno DJ,但我個人對於他的風格已經開始感到有些厭倦了。<br /><br />----<br /><br />Simien Mobile Disco: 6.5<br /><br />在 Hawtin 兩小時的規律機械節拍轟炸之後,也許這對英國組合的<br />disco/funky house style 是最好的調劑。<br /><br />儘管聽不到太多的新意,放到一半大螢幕還壞掉(或是刻意效果,<br />不得而知),顯示出他們兩個人電腦螢幕上接下來要放的每首曲子,<br />但我還是在他們的音樂當中得到了更多的樂趣。<br /><br />----<br /><br />Timo Maas: 6.5<br /><br />沙場老將放了許多的老歌,包括結尾最後一首耳熟能詳的<br />Depeche Mode - Personal Jesus (Timo Maas remix)。<br />伴隨著已經大亮的天空,是個很奇妙的經驗。<br /><br />老歌不見得就不好,至少我這個老人跳得很開心。<br /><br />----<br /><br />Junior Boys: 5<br /><br />他們原本是我第三天下午的重點,為了他們,我還特別放棄了<br />同一時間演出的 Mira Calix。<br /><br />然而,他們的演出從一開始就狀況百出。包括音效出不來等問題,<br />讓他們原本預定的七點開場當然無法順利開始(我當時剛好站在<br />中場的音控台前面,因此還可以聽到舞台上與音控台的互動),<br />之後當他們終於準備就緒時,沒想到舞台另一邊的 DJ 台上,<br />兩位來自馬德里的 DJ Lovemonk Soundsystem 正放得興起,並不<br />知道這一頭的加拿大團已經準備好了,正怒目而視著他們和音控台。<br />(附帶一提,Lovemonk Soundsystem 在 Junior Boys 還沒上台<br />的前一個小時放得還挺不錯的,disco/deep house 適時的炒熱了<br />台下的氣氛)<br /><br />等到一切終於搞定之後,Junior Boys 的三名團員在不太高興的<br />情緒下開始演出(他們還酸了音控台一下,用英文說「我這邊的<br />麥克風音效出不來,不過我想也沒有人在意...」)。<br /><br />儘管他們還是賣力地表演了不到一個小時(準時八點結束),<br />在唱到例如 "Just A Child" 和 "In the Morning" 等好歌時也是<br />台下歡聲雷動,但在這樣的情緒籠罩之下,他們原本如夢似幻的<br />electro-pop 總是令人感到有些走味。<br /><br />----<br /><br />Mogwai: 9<br /><br />原本並不打算來聽這一場的我,最後卻十分感謝我有一個買票<br />就是為了他們而來的同伴,才不至於讓我錯過可能是本屆 Sonar<br />最值得的演出之一。<br /><br />我們幸運地能夠擠到舞台的最前方,能夠看清楚每個團員的一舉一動<wbr>。<br />比起 Beastie Boys,Mogwai 並沒有拖延太多時間就登上舞台。<br />舞台的聲光設備比起其他樂團來說可以算是樸實無華,但當第一個<br />音符響起,那股震撼人心的力量,卻沒有任何一個樂團比得上。<br /><br />Mogwai 的專注和認真令人動容。身材高大的吉他手 Dominic Aitchison<br />時而面對、時而背對觀眾,用心地彈奏吉他,他伴隨著節奏緩慢點頭<br />的身影將會銘刻在我腦海裡一輩子。鼓手 Martin Bulloch 的鼓架上<br />永遠綁著一件綠白相間的 Celtic FC 球衣,戴著眼鏡的他打起鼓來<br />又準確又強勁。同時負責鍵盤和製造「音效」的 Barry Burns 溫柔地<br />在麥克風前「唱歌」的身影也令人難忘。至於樂團老大<wbr>,身材並不起眼<br />的 Stuart Braithwaite 儘管在表演的多半時間比較容易被遺忘,但<br />在過場時都是由他負責和台下互動,包括把其中一首歌曲呈獻給被他<wbr>們<br />認為是全世界最棒的足球隊:FC Barcelona。<br /><br />這是一場很難用文字形容的精彩演出。<br /><br />真正能夠凝聚熱力和傳遞情感的優秀表演,會在你的心上留下永久的<br />烙印,而這一晚的 Mogwai 就是如此。<br /><br />----<br /><br />Dixon: 6<br /><br />身負替 Inner City Visions 唱片公司打頭陣的重責大任,在近一年來<br />越來越搶手的 funky house/deep house DJ Dixon 放歌還是有他一貫的<br />個人品味和水準,但某些原本在他的唱片 (Body Language vol.4) 裡<br />令人微笑神往的片段,在 Sonar Pub 這麼大的舞池裡放起來,難免會有<br />點失去它原本的精緻風味,儘管 Dixon 已經刻意加強了曲子當中的重拍<br />節奏,讓舞客更跳得起來。<br /><br />也許他的 mixing 是更適合單獨聆聽的。<br /><br />----<br /><br />Chateau Flight: 7<br /><br />這兩位法國人各拿一台蘋果電腦,mixing 常有天外飛來一筆的奇妙效果,<br /><script><!-- D(["mb","在 house music 的基本大原則底下加入許多奇妙的變化。\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>演出的前半段熱力四射,好歌頻出;後半段則是開始天馬行空起來,\u003cbr /\>坐著聆聽也有它獨特的趣味。\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>----\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>Ame: 8\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>身為 Inner City Vision 的壓軸,儘管這個 deep house/microhouse\u003cbr /\>超熱門組合只來了其中一個人,但還是接出了許多非常漂亮的段落,\u003cbr /\>比起同公司的前兩棒,Ame 真正能做到讓台下的群眾開心猛跳,然而\u003cbr /\>同時歌曲的品質又不失水準。\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>非常精彩的結束。\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>--\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>All Bootleg Videos of Sonar 2007 (still uploading):\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>\u003ca onclick\u003d\"return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)\" href\u003d\"http://www.dailymotion.com/pistonjw/sonar\" target\u003d_blank\>http://www.dailymotion.com\u003cwbr /\>/pistonjw/sonar\u003c/a\>\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>Personal reflection of Sonar and Spain trip:\u003cbr /\>\u003cbr /\>\u003ca onclick\u003d\"return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)\" href\u003d\"http://pistonjw.blogspot.com/2007/06/travel-sin-ttulo.html\" target\u003d_blank\>http://pistonjw.blogspot.com\u003cwbr /\>/2007/06/travel-sin-ttulo.html\u003c/a\>\u003cbr /\>\u003c/div\>",1] ); //--></script>在 house music 的基本大原則底下加入許多奇妙的變化。<br /><br />演出的前半段熱力四射,好歌頻出;後半段則是開始天馬行空起來,<br />坐著聆聽也有它獨特的趣味。<br /><br />----<br /><br />Ame: 8<br /><br />身為 Inner City Vision 的壓軸,儘管這個 deep house/microhouse<br />超熱門組合只來了其中一個人,但還是接出了許多非常漂亮的段落,<br />比起同公司的前兩棒,Ame 真正能做到讓台下的群眾開心猛跳,然而<br />同時歌曲的品質又不失水準。<br /><br />非常精彩的結束。<br /><a onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.dailymotion.com/pistonjw/sonar" target="_blank"></a></div>pistonJWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10272683849661370549noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14775045.post-82757540626427135852007-06-28T21:50:00.000+01:002007-06-29T20:26:28.535+01:00[Travel] sin título<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKDbF3ZMJeOdB2nSsJmVRKyeeqsMLf-uipdYe_l8fdy7JbbJVnS2_rBurdUXF-QBwks790wC8M7s3g_9mwwMj1zwU_0QIFPmjDApCkSbRGNy6G4NT5QGKpXj_JaPJtFB7qOmbc/s1600-h/CIMG0252-01.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiKDbF3ZMJeOdB2nSsJmVRKyeeqsMLf-uipdYe_l8fdy7JbbJVnS2_rBurdUXF-QBwks790wC8M7s3g_9mwwMj1zwU_0QIFPmjDApCkSbRGNy6G4NT5QGKpXj_JaPJtFB7qOmbc/s320/CIMG0252-01.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5081226722645262514" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-_cJanLSOHTAsa_dzm-7r7fPKPUAm7KPlyZMReCKtEMek4pRjqSFr7KLoQCVv3aRvt9Ihvnje4V6M9iHUoPq8tzQX5owhGMFn9Sz9tMmJ-SHHAxpbFfT0tcvV_IYkZ3zRYuNV/s1600-h/CIMG0588-01.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-_cJanLSOHTAsa_dzm-7r7fPKPUAm7KPlyZMReCKtEMek4pRjqSFr7KLoQCVv3aRvt9Ihvnje4V6M9iHUoPq8tzQX5owhGMFn9Sz9tMmJ-SHHAxpbFfT0tcvV_IYkZ3zRYuNV/s320/CIMG0588-01.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5081226469242192034" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMuu6gaLj8U9hBo7pGwzfq861Ypia4W9nsA8c0Tjpdh7gakmnqkTv_neoBKhO04OAT5yLC1cOpZGyjvoMy0lyli2QNWLQ6hBIkZKaZacvENGiqotmItKzTEudULl7uPNma_Jb9/s1600-h/CIMG1705-01.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhMuu6gaLj8U9hBo7pGwzfq861Ypia4W9nsA8c0Tjpdh7gakmnqkTv_neoBKhO04OAT5yLC1cOpZGyjvoMy0lyli2QNWLQ6hBIkZKaZacvENGiqotmItKzTEudULl7uPNma_Jb9/s320/CIMG1705-01.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5081225949551149202" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBCngThBmVD7S8dAclgDFmPXbalR6I-cKX_uJbHED3IJYS-wKwReLhXrXg0k477ioJChnaYNF6PQAt388Pap5_N3iqR2KCAPuu6Q7po33PHBZDO8Qe379FoS9QBLRR1ELBaA2-/s1600-h/CIMG2248-01.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBCngThBmVD7S8dAclgDFmPXbalR6I-cKX_uJbHED3IJYS-wKwReLhXrXg0k477ioJChnaYNF6PQAt388Pap5_N3iqR2KCAPuu6Q7po33PHBZDO8Qe379FoS9QBLRR1ELBaA2-/s320/CIMG2248-01.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5081225399795335298" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgk1T02CXbH5qEgxj6na1Yphey7-rrbTKP0GQ1X4nMqjF6HVcwNwdaikG0bTbMNPJ9ydIb615h7dui2LGMATZS8VOlDOxEJpIqFVJUgTs6h2elJ6-AzI3JEstQN2byuvYNXFjUU/s1600-h/CIMG2823-01.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgk1T02CXbH5qEgxj6na1Yphey7-rrbTKP0GQ1X4nMqjF6HVcwNwdaikG0bTbMNPJ9ydIb615h7dui2LGMATZS8VOlDOxEJpIqFVJUgTs6h2elJ6-AzI3JEstQN2byuvYNXFjUU/s320/CIMG2823-01.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5081223673218482290" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHG8UeKd5qlztkTOi1S-Zeb6b-b-4QMmP0eRxbJdHkilzqW42sRzU-b8jLZiKUrNme7FqjdanWZniAP6lNPwN1feM-JiVMTd3BZ5jkLd1Ei90H9jnKoHldQuO5a-BqEfMEmUy9/s1600-h/CIMG2881-01.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjHG8UeKd5qlztkTOi1S-Zeb6b-b-4QMmP0eRxbJdHkilzqW42sRzU-b8jLZiKUrNme7FqjdanWZniAP6lNPwN1feM-JiVMTd3BZ5jkLd1Ei90H9jnKoHldQuO5a-BqEfMEmUy9/s320/CIMG2881-01.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5081223243721752674" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj59ZNg0LmdOZIYFwn3qSrnb4N8WbMSNpc9-gIhQKD3p13LJWEp-5n5Ue_VKxdR5We1tdGz9AfS4jU2JsCHvkh4LoXocJjlx21KoQkOxuDgq2oxCe7_0InPHfLFCbCJC5TCYGRs/s1600-h/CIMG4525-01.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj59ZNg0LmdOZIYFwn3qSrnb4N8WbMSNpc9-gIhQKD3p13LJWEp-5n5Ue_VKxdR5We1tdGz9AfS4jU2JsCHvkh4LoXocJjlx21KoQkOxuDgq2oxCe7_0InPHfLFCbCJC5TCYGRs/s320/CIMG4525-01.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5081222943074041938" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1FkrR0lvf6hCMwWrjBuVMR2i0-0it25L9DZIeCZgEzJoI7OvBZCRcwidquWF3soffdaIVGOJll9ubonmKTJ7h4zyHSR2xACLhjnPyGRmcsbzJU_kJe4TbXLBCIu1D0U2XxjPJ/s1600-h/CIMG5660-01.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1FkrR0lvf6hCMwWrjBuVMR2i0-0it25L9DZIeCZgEzJoI7OvBZCRcwidquWF3soffdaIVGOJll9ubonmKTJ7h4zyHSR2xACLhjnPyGRmcsbzJU_kJe4TbXLBCIu1D0U2XxjPJ/s320/CIMG5660-01.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5081222784160251970" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKUfVMjU-G76fbfX2KJPDuCnHSV3s1LCmJlI17xll12MIYibhpA48j15pv9qJRW9i1ZtMVEklV13zW3X_dm4AYBEDrqEZSOdDFQyvjd6zcvZaEuKaj0YZgzO3Ok-EHUGAUbLpz/s1600-h/CIMG6171-01.jpg"><img style="cursor: pointer;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKUfVMjU-G76fbfX2KJPDuCnHSV3s1LCmJlI17xll12MIYibhpA48j15pv9qJRW9i1ZtMVEklV13zW3X_dm4AYBEDrqEZSOdDFQyvjd6zcvZaEuKaj0YZgzO3Ok-EHUGAUbLpz/s320/CIMG6171-01.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5081221792022806546" border="0" /></a><br /><br /><br /><br />簡陋的 Ryanair 候機室裡,擠滿了準備去享受地中海陽光的青年男女。<br />排我前面的幾個穿著清涼的典型英國女孩,一邊拿著 Sonar 的節目單<br />開始研究,一邊已經情不自禁地地開始擺動身體。<br /><br />"Oh! The Beastie Boys!"<br />"I just wanna dan~ce!" 她們高聲談笑著。<br /><br />而我只是小心地避開她們的肢體動作。<br /><br />----<br /><br />從 Girona 機場開往 BCN 市區的巴士遲遲不能發車,因為有人的<br />The North Face 旅行背包似乎被拿錯了。<br /><br />不停地有留著雷鬼頭的年輕人衝上巴士,用英文詢問上面的所有旅客<br />有沒有誰拿錯了背包。不會講英文的司機大叔看來很生氣,因為這些<br />不速之客讓他很難點人頭賣票,還有人偷拿飲料上車,讓他需要去一<br />杯一杯沒收。另一個會講簡單英文的司機在這個空檔也走上巴士,和<br />前座的漂亮女生聊天。<br /><br />"Be relax; this is Spain!" 司機用破爛的英文說。<br /><br />----<br /><br />James Holden 的 DJ 秀放的意外地好,雖然我在前半小時都找不到他<br />放歌的主舞台在哪。<br /><br />Holden 這次終於不再自閉沈溺下去,他的拍子接得很順,放的歌從<br />minimal 到 maximal 都有,讓人忍不住跟著搖頭晃腦。在我前面一群<br />本來坐在用塑膠片鋪成的草地上的女孩子,都站了起來圍成一圈跳舞,<br />跳到興起,她們還配合 Holden 的節拍,發出 "dudududududu!" 的聲音。<br /><br />儘管時間接近下午八點,太陽還是會晒得你猛流汗。有不少人還是想擠進<br />已經很擁擠的舞台前端。在我前面不只有人在捲大麻葉,還有人用著我也<br />有的 ISIC 學生證在刮一種白白的粉末吸著。<br /><br />The Smiley is back, and so are the happy days, isn't it?<br /><br />----<br /><br />在 Montserrat 的修道院外面,一對美國夫婦看著我好幾秒,<br />接著決定開口問我可不可以幫忙拍他倆的合照。<br /><br />拍完之後,他們問我需不需要幫忙拍我自己到此一遊的照片。<br /><br />"No, thanks." 我的快速回答讓他們嚇了一跳,那位美國太太<br />甚至有點受傷的感覺。<br /><br />但是我自己心理十分清楚。我非常不願意在各個景點留下自己的<br />照片,因為我知道太過醜陋的自己出現在照片裡,只會破壞當下<br />的風景。<br /><br />我只需要擁有一雙看過萬物的雙眼就夠了。<br /><br />----<br /><br />從 Montserrat 回來之後,太陽仍然高掛,而我決定去 Montjuic<br />山上那邊走一走,順便看看有沒有水舞可以看。<br /><br />剛從 Espanya 捷運站走出來,就看見堆積的木材、砂石和用柵欄<br />圍起來的羊腸小路。沿著小路慢慢地走近 MNAC,滿天都是灰塵和<br />熱氣,一台台的叉動車頻繁進出,大批工人或懶散的工作或聚在<br />一起聊天,旁邊停著的則是裝載著可能是展示車輛的長型貨櫃車。<br /><br />幾天之後,MNAC 旁邊的噴泉旁邊將會擠滿了前來參觀各大車商最新<br />名車的商人和好奇民眾們,從上個世紀初的古董車、到這個世紀初<br />的未來車,將會陳列在 Palau Nacional 的花園、噴泉和雕像旁邊。<br /><br />而現在,我只慶幸自己屆時將不必目睹這一幕的發生。<br /><br />從 MNAC 門口俯瞰 BCN 的市容依舊壯麗。沒有留下來等待水舞,<br />我夾在大批觀光客當中拍了幾張照片之後就轉身下山。<br /><br />----<br /><br />去 Cadeques 的那天,天氣對我這個死英國人觀光客來說十分<br />的棒,儘管某人一直不認同。<br /><br />在圓石灘的襯托下,Cadaques 的海水似乎特別的清澈。略微<br />帶點陰霾的晴天,在雲破天開時,波光鄰鄰的一瞬間反而更<br />令人欣喜。沿著海岸線緩慢步行,一邊是起伏不大的山勢,一邊<br />是無心插柳柳成蔭的小石灘或船埠,三兩年輕人在碼頭邊比賽著<br />誰在水裡一口氣游得比較遠,另一邊的石灘上,幾個小蘿莉連上<br />半身泳衣都不穿,正高興地跑跳玩耍著。<br /><br />我們一邊像是不速之客似的猛拍照,一邊繼續往西班牙最東邊的<br />角落前進。沿著海岸線的山勢變得更陡峭,但總能柳暗花明又一<br />村,旁邊的高級渡假小屋擁有著廣大的庭園,看來所費不錙的陶壺<br />散佈在庭園的各個角落。<br /><br />重新翻看那天的相片,發現裡面出現最多的顏色,是一種極為透明<br />的碧綠,和小城裡遍佈的白色建築和藍色樑柱搭配的十分舒適。<br />遊艇 cruise 行程的售票員,是個擁有純真無暇表情的當地女孩,<br />一頭長度到肩的頭髮微捲。當半途而廢的我們在回程途中再度遇見<br />她時,她很明顯地已經結束了一天的工作,正百無聊賴地坐在售票<br />亭旁邊等候。死觀光客們終於把握機會,把無辜的她納入記憶卡當中。<br /><br />如果我也能把當天 Cadaques 的海水和微風就這樣帶走就好了。<br /><br />回程的路上,我們差點就能到法國一遊,還差點就有幸和 Walter Benjamin<br />埋骨於同一個小城。在這個看起來更像是法國或德國小城的車站裡,<br />我把握機會拍下了幾張照片。<br /><br />我知道自己日後一定會為了 Benjamin 再回來這個地方。然而屆時<br />我又會跟誰一起回來,或是一如往常一般的隻身獨遊呢?<br /><br />----<br /><br />Madrid 並沒有我之前妖魔化想像裡的那麼糟。在許多層面,它眾多<br />的王宮、廣場、噴泉、花園、和當地人的貴族氣質,讓我想起了 Paris。<br /><br />包括骯髒無比的街道也很類似。<br /><br />儘管這個內陸城市在六月下旬悶熱的程度不會輸給台北,然而大量<br />的公園、花園和林蔭大道,讓人們總是可以找到棲身休憩之所。<br /><br />沿著 Parque del Buen Retiro 的湖畔散步,Alfonso XII 的雕像豎立<br />在湖的對岸,許多人正悠閒地划船,岸邊則是坐了男女老少,欣賞著<br />街頭藝人的表演。一旁則是有米老鼠和蜘蛛人,正拉著無辜的小朋友<br />準備合照。<br /><br />繼續走進公園的深處,穿著整齊、牽著一隻大黃狗的老先生,正一個人<br />坐在高可參天的樹下看報。旁邊的林蔭大道上,幾對情侶正有志一同地<br />比賽哪一對可以親吻比較久。<br /><br />把目光轉移到眼前的噴泉,它在藍天綠樹之下顯得氣勢開闊。拍下了好<br />幾張照片之後,我看著旁邊的解說牌。<br /><br />"FUENTE DE LA ALCACHOFA"<br /><br /><br />「Alcachofa? 那不是一種...草藥的名字嗎?」<br /><br />----<br /><br />有很多十分親切的 Madrid 人,讓我儘管沒辦法喜歡這個城市的調性,<br />卻很難討厭這個城市。<br /><br />當我要離開 Madrid 的那天,地鐵上有人會把位子讓給拖著沈重<br />行李的我。<br /><br />當我在地鐵的電梯前面猛按著按鈕抱怨著為何電梯還不來時,一個<br />小女孩跑到我前面,很吃力的用她的西班牙文,企圖和我解釋這台<br />電梯只從下往上,我得走樓梯下去。了解她的意思之後,我和她道<br />謝,接著抬頭一看,她的母親正帶著一個孩子,微笑的看著我。<br /><br />當我拖著行李準備推開地鐵的小門時,我前面的美女早就幫我把門開<br />好,接著對我回眸一笑。<br /><br />當我已經 check-out 之後又回來旅館吃冰在冰箱裡的食物時,旅館<br />老闆娘走進了廚房。在這幾天裡,每次當一看見我,年紀可以當我<br />祖母的她總是笑得眼睛都彎起來,很高興地喊著 Hola。這次她看見我<br />,突然變得有點激動起來,嘰哩咕嚕地講了幾句西班牙文之後,突然<br />把臉靠近我,接著和我進行了兩次的 cheek-kissing。<br /><br />好險這套我在幾天前已經練習過了。當然還是有點手忙腳亂就是了。<br /><br />----<br /><br />回英國的班機延誤了一個小時。等的不耐煩的所有人(包括最遵守<br />排隊禮節的英國人)早就把排隊這一套丟到九霄雲外,像是投奔自由<br />的難民一樣地往入口擠,而我只擔心自己的相機會被擠壞。<br /><br />在飛機上,當機長宣佈目前倫敦的氣溫是十四度時,我和旁邊的<br />英國老太太一起發出難以置信的輕微咒罵。<br /><br />回家的路上其實並沒有特別冷,除了最後一段之外。我拖著沈重的<br />行李提前離開了有個拿著酒瓶大聲講手機小鬼的車廂,通道旁的車<br />門因為前面的旅客要開門下車的關係,車窗老早就是開啟的。<br /><br />我探出頭,看著窗外一輪又大又黃的明月,任憑十度左右的冷風把我<br />吹的全身發寒。<br /><br /><br /><span class="fullpost"></span>pistonJWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10272683849661370549noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14775045.post-56939818676023507202007-06-06T22:42:00.000+01:002007-06-06T22:58:47.157+01:00[Soc.] Religion, Body & Sport - A Sociological Study*<span style="font-weight: bold;"><br />Introduction</span><br /><br />In this short essay, I attempt to depict the relationships between religion and body by tracing the historical developments of religion, and in the process of doing so, I argue that there is a similarity between modern sports and religious rituals or practices in its ability to generate collective exciting experiences, and this similarity reflects one of the abiding, constant needs of human beings in the society throughout the history. The centre of discussion in this essay, however, will be on the emergence of muscular Christianity from Victorian era in United Kingdom, and its diffusions and influences globally along the course. By examining the developments of muscular Christianity, which may be the most visible example of how religious concepts are able to intervene the nurture of the individuals about notions of body, morality and society, I hope to shed a glimmering light on the complicated entanglements between religion, sports and body in society.<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Religion and modern sports: The generator of sacred experiences? </span><br /><br />The discussion will begin with Durkheim’s (1961) revolutionary notion of religion as a social phenomenon. Durkheim argued that religion is the expression of substantial and intrinsic needs of people in society over time, as he stated: “If religion has given birth to all that is essential in society, that is because the idea of society is the soul of religion.” (Durkheim, 1961: 419) Using the periodic ritual practices by Australian aborigines as an example, Durkheim illustrated how different social groups of tribes reassembled together because of the religious rituals, and how the collective consciousnesses of the particular society were reinforced by the religious rituals and practices.<br /><br />For Durkheim, religions were established in the categorical distinction between sacred and profane realms, and all religions can be characterised by a dichotomy between sacred and profane. Hence, the religious beliefs, rituals and practices are made to impose the classification concepts to individuals. Furthermore, Durkheim argued that the principal notion of sacred in religion comes from the stimulations of collective strong emotional states by the religious rituals and practices, as the social relationships will be restored and cemented by deep emotional devotions of people during the practices.<br /><br />Here, one can find the resemblance between Durkheim’s notion of “collective effervescence” and the collective excitements sports are able to generate among the spectators. As Elias and Dunning (1986: 222) suggested, for some people in modern society, sports are regarded as “quasi-religious activities” as they fill the gap due to the decline of religion, and it is “not unreasonable” to value certain sports arenas like football or cricket, by the extent of collective excitements they generated, as the “sacred” or “hollowed” turfs. Similar thoughts regarding sports as a quasi-religion, or even as a formal religion, have been shared by scholars like Edwards (1973) and Novak (1992).<br /><br />Throughout the history, one can find that the creating of sacred experiences have always been the backbone of religions, especially in the case of Christianity. As Brown (1988) claimed, in the period of the emergence of early Christianity (from 40 to 430 A.D.), originated from the fundamental dualistic value judgements of good and evil, Christianity viewed the body as the symbol for Christ’s victory over adversities like death, and encourage people to overcome the existing corporeal restrictions and transform their bodies from sinful fleshes.<br /><br />In the medieval period, as Mellor and Schilling (1997: 36) argued, although the overall more insecure living environment in the medieval period, including unstable food supplement and the inability to remedy fatal diseases, has resulted to the difficulty in generating an “embodied identity-construction” among people in the medieval society, certain structured approaches to the body did have emerged. Religious rituals like baptism played as the central part in forming one’s initial religious experiences. Mellor and Schilling (1997) have pointed out that the procedures of baptism require not only preparations beforehand on one’s own body, but also including one taking off clothes to nakedness and donning the white linen garment afterwards. Consequently, through the profound sensory experiences during the baptism, one is able to transform his/her sinful flesh. Hence, Mellor and Schilling (1997: 37) argued that in medieval period, the body maintained ”a sensual relationship” with the sacred, and the Church acted as the guide to people, attempted to “harness” (1997: 64) people’s somatic experiences in helping the growth of sacred communities. To quote from Mellor and Schilling (1997: 65): “For the Church, the meaning was to be found through the body, not in spite of it.”<br /><br />I will discuss the case of muscular Christianity in following paragraphs, but here I would like to firstly jump back to Durkheim’s (1961) arguments about the lingering importance of sacred experiences. For Durkheim, the sacred cannot entirely disappeared from modern society, and the sacred experiences still played an integral part in holding interdependent individuals together in modern societies. Here, certain scholars have argued that modern sports may have become even more powerful forms of religions than the traditional counterpart in society nowadays. Reflecting on Berger and Luckmann’s (1967) account, Coles (1975) has even suggested that comparing to the place of worship where rituals eventually may dampen the religious fervours, one may find football field as an even more devotional place. Price (1992)’s argument of how the whole event of Super Bowl was represented as a religious festival in order to reinforce the American identity and promote patriotism also provided a weighty example of the issue.<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">The birth and transition of muscular Christianity </span><br /><br />Although the origin of the ideology of muscular Christianity can be traced back to more 150 years ago, Mangan (2000) have argued that the fundamental concept of masculinity in western societies has encountered rather slight changes historically. Boys will experience rigid educations in order to mould vigorous and outward personalities as the preparations to take heavier social responsibilities and deal with aggressive competitions with fellows in the future. Echoing with Mangan’s arguments, Gilmore (1990: 224) pointed out that “manhood scripts” are first and foremost “modes of integrating men into their society, as codes of belonging in a hard, often threatening world”.<br /><br />As of now, the ideology of muscular Christianity still remained profoundly persuasive toward the aristocrats and governing class in British societies, as they hold the belief firmly that sports play crucial roles for the moulding of morality and characters of young males. (Whannel, 2007; Mangan & McKenzie, 2000) Literatures promoting muscular Christianity, like Thomas Hughes’s Tom Brown’s Schooldays, have been influential in shaping the mainstream doctrines of masculinity and femininity.<br /><br />Interestingly, however, as Vance (1985) and Allen (1994) have pointed out, Hughes has deliberately omitted the narrations about the corporeal figures among the fictional characters in his literatures, and they argued that the reason for the erasure of the body was to dodge the unavoidable manifestations of ideological clashes between masculinity/Christianity and physicality/spirituality.<br /><br />In Tom Brown’s Schooldays, the incompatibility of masculinity and Christianity is unified between the contrary of two main characters: Tom and Arthur. As Allen (1994: 116) pointed out, Tom and Arthur are at different ends attempting to meet each other: the barbaric, physically-vigorous Tom is assigned to take care of Arthur, who is frail corporeally but also high-minded and sensitive. During the intercourse, the designed goals are for Tom to gradually imbue with Christian values and moral principles, while Arthur is supposedly to become sturdier physically to support his spiritual strength. Nonetheless, as the story advanced, the contradictions between the narratives of Tom and Arthur’s bodies are becoming apparent, while Arthur’s body slowly gave away. In the end of the novel, neither Tom nor Arthur was able to be identified simultaneously with both characteristics of masculinity and Christianity.<br /><br />Furthermore, Allen endeavoured to reveal the ideology of muscular Christianity in Tom Brown’s Schooldays was a product out of bourgeois hegemony. The character of Tom was created by Hughes to represent a typical bourgeoisie in British society: brave, fearless on the rugby pitch, yet is also able to prepare a tea party better than the servant employed in his teacher’s house (Hughes, 1993: 265-6). By demonstrating the prevailing ability of Bourgeois class both in working utility and rugby play, Hughes implicitly attempted to indicate the representative values of Bourgeois and upper classes among the British society. On the contrary, the proletariat class of people are deprived of utterance, as the bourgeois and upper classes people will “speak for them”, most notably in sports activities like rugby.<br /><br />Consequently, as Allen (1994: 124) argued, the sharp discrepancy between the physically vigorous body images worshiped by Bourgeois class and vague narratives of bodies in Tom Brown’s Schooldays leads one to the conclusion that the body in Hughes’s novel, as in muscular Christianity, is a “bourgeois conception, a semiotic body that articulates the transcendental”. Only by abstracting the body per se can Hughes utilize the factual physical bodily experiences from the working class people to enhance the imaginary narratives of Bourgeois bodies, whose daily labours in fact were constituted of little corporeal activities. Hence, the Bourgeoisies are able to turn themselves into the “universal signifiers” (Allen, 1994: 130) which stand for working class people as well. The construction of Bourgeoisies’s identities here in Hughes’s novel disclosed the essence of muscular Christianity, that “bourgeois male represent all male” (Allen, 1994: 130).<br /><br />Here, besides catching the glimpse of bourgeois hegemony at work, interestingly, one is also able to draw the comparison to Bourdieu’s (1990, 1993) interpretations about the invention of modern sports happening in the mid-nineteenth century, that the offspring of aristocrat and bourgeois classes altered the content of popular and vulgar games, revised the meanings and functions for the benefit of acquiring advantageous social class distinctions. Bourdieu (1990: 119-120) argued that the intention of physical exercises, which seen rugby played an integral part, in elite educational systems, was to cultivate the students to occupy a “distant, neutralizing disposition” toward sports and their own bodies. Similar disposition toward cultural phenomena, including language and arts, as Bourdieu (1990: 120) also pointed out (“an elective distance from material interests”), can be found in bourgeoisies.<br /><br />Although on the surface it may seems like Bourdieu’s descriptions about Bourgeoisie’s perceptions of sports and their bodies are sharply opposed to the praiseworthy characteristics like bold, energetic and aggressive which represent muscular Christianity, one can discover the connections between two arguments by looking at deeper contexts. As Houghton (1957) and Rosen (1994) argued, the birth of muscular Christianity was invented from dominant classes in order to regain control of the ever-changing world. The deep insecure feelings of people in Victorian era, including the scientific, industrial and territorial (the colonization due to imperialism) improvements and rapid social evolvements (including the democratisation and middle-classification process), provided the breeding ground for the need of a “foundation of manliness” (Rosen, 1994: 40). In turn, the educational systems of public schools, with most of the students from Bourgeois and upper classes, has been regarded as the crucial aspect for dominant classes to mould the Christian masculinity into next generation, hence explaining the appearance and long-lasting popularity of Tom Brown’s Schooldays.<br /><br />This kind of fabrication in the emergence of physical exercises in Victorian era echoed Bourdieu’s (1993: 119-121) descriptions about the elite sports practices being “disconnected” from the traditional games and folk games in the forming of modern sports. Bourdieu argued that only by employing a more distanced disposition toward sports practice and seeing it as “an end to itself”, can both the manly virtues and aristocratic ethics be developed through it. In this vein, sports practices were conceived as the training of personal characters, hence the blueprint of amateurism - the “fair play” spirit - was emerged.<br /><br />Interestingly, as Vance (1985: 189-195) noted, despite the fact that Tom Brown’s Schooldays became extremely popular among pupils after its first appearance in 1857, and even found the genre of “schoolboy literature”, the scene Hughes attempted to portrait in his novel that public school boys devoted themselves to rugby just for the game itself and simultaneously refine themselves morally was actually outdated. The rapid growth of public schools due to the educational needs from Bourgeois class for their offspring beginning from 1850s, has lead to the increase of popularities participated in rugby and accordingly intensified the competition levels. Consequently, the importance of spiritual and educational values in the rugby match were gradually pushed aside by the factual result. The following context quoted by MacAloon (2006: 689) in Tom Brown’s Schooldays is best suitable as a summary to Hughes’s moral intention in the novel: “Leave behind you the name of a fellow who never bullied a little boy or turned his back on the big one”; however, as MacAloon also pointed out, the happenings of abusive fagging, fisticuffs and barbaric forms of fights in turn have replaced the character moulding and ethic developing, ‘sinews of the spirit’ which Hughes originally hope to see in the results of physical exercises in public school.<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">The continuous development of muscular Christianity and the game ethic</span><br /><br />Although Hughes did not see his ideals of muscular Christianity successfully realized in the public schools during Victorian era, the subsequent influences of muscular Christianity have been profound and multi-directional.<br /><br />Mangan (1986) has argued that, by acting as the training instrument of pupils’ characters and imposing moral values – courage, endurance, assertion, self-control – muscular Christianity also strengthened the stratified relationships between rulers and labours in the society, subsequently served for the purpose of colonialism and imperialism as civilizing tools in the late nineteenth century. As Mangan (1986: 22) pointed out, the headmasters of public school have played the role of agents of “hegemonic persuasion”, spread and legitimatized the dominant ideology.<br /><br />Honey (1977) also argued that the “irresistible tides” described by Winston Churchill, that certain social classes collectively sending their offspring who were still at very young ages to public schools beginning from Victorian era, was the result of social requirements which closely related with the rise of imperialism. Tracing the historical developments, Honey pointed out that organized team sports gradually played more important roles in public educations, as they subsequently became compulsory not only for every student to participate, but also to speculate, between 1880 and 1900.<br /><br />Consequently, more than one critics in Victorian era have argued that the collective sporting experiences of young males working as a team in public school days have helped the British empire to develop not only more morally better citizens beneficial for society, but also more suitable characters to explore its imperialism around the world.<br /><br />By presenting the case of Eton in India, Mangan (1986) offered a forceful example of how the British Empire utilize the education system which followed the model of local public school to mould and create obedient generations of people on its colony. The hidden agenda of Indian public school systems could not be portrayed more clearly than the quote by Sir James Peile at the opening ceremony: “We shall discipline their (Indian boys’) bodies in the manliness and hardihood of the English public schoolboy.” (quoted in Mangan, 1986: 133). Here, just like the case in their British counterpart, the ultimate goals of sports in the Indian public school education are to improve the moral characters of pupils and subsequently create the “oriental Englishmen” (Mangan, 1986: 122)<br /><br />On the other hand, scholars have argued that the central concept of modern sports, the game ethic, is the secularized form of muscular Christianity. Here, I will use the football-related movie <span style="font-style: italic;">Goal!</span> (2006) as a example to show how different forms of game ethic have been complied by athletes and portrayed in sports narratives.<br /><br />Analyzing the movie <span style="font-style: italic;">Goal!</span>, Kwuak (2007) argued that the ideology of muscular Christianity still manifests in sports narratives, but with the transformative form of game ethic. Kwauk also pointed out that while the concept of game ethic has spread transnationally and varied differentially, the purest form of game ethic, which embodied by the leading character Santiago Muñez, would unexceptionally won out in the end. The story of <span style="font-style: italic;">Goal!</span> followed the adventures of Santiago in a professional football team, let the audience see how Santiago trying to fulfill his lifelong dream of being successful in a football pitch, while different factors, including heterosexual love, father-son relationship and materialism, intersect the plot.<br /><br />Quoting from Mangan (1986: 18), Kwauk (2007: 77) argued that Santiago embodies the essential moral values of muscular Christianity: “Santiago is like the ‘universal Tom Brown: loyal, brave, truthful, a gentleman, and…a Christian.’” By embodying the pure game ethic, Santiago is able to resist from different kinds of temptations, including money, women and alcohol, and gradually making his way to stardom.<br /><br />Around Santiago, it is sufficient to say that different characters in the story of <span style="font-style: italic;">Goal!</span> employed different kind of muscular Christianities, and eventually, Santiago’s personal charisma would prevail and altered the personalities of others which could not be accomplished by other factors. One of the best examples can be found in the character of Gavin Harris, who in a way represents a sharp contradiction to Santiago’s pure, dedicated spirit to the love of the game. A talented player who has experienced the fame and glory before, Gavin’s main objective toward football is solely for the interests of himself. To quote from Hughie Magowan, the teammate of both Santiago and Gavin: “Gavin is a glory boy…[who’s] only in it for himself. He doesn’t give a toss about which club he plays for; it’s just the money for blokes like him.” (Kwauk, 2007: 77-78) However, while all the efforts by the team manager and other players to rectify Gavin’s behaviours failed, Gavin’s deliberately attempts to lure Santiago into his material lifestyle ended in vain either. Consequently, in the end of the film, the collaborations between Santiago and Gavin on the football pitch helped fulfil the dream of playing in European champion league next season for the team. Furthermore, it appeared that Gavin has learned a lesson from Santiago’s faithfulness to the game and began to change his own mindset and demeanours.<br /><br />While in the conclusion of her literature, Kwauk (2007) argued that the film <span style="font-style: italic;">Goal!</span> demonstrated the process of how muscular Christianity needs to adapt itself to the cultural and social differences in order to become the globally doctrine in sports field, the monolithic and predictable story plot that Santiago will always turn out to be the person to get last laugh in different aspects of conflicts around him certainly has weakened her arguments. I will argue here, conversely, that it is much more convincing to interpret <span style="font-style: italic;">Goal!</span> as a film served for the purpose of advertising the power of pure form of muscular Christianity, which is embodied by Santiago, as he is able to overcome any adversities either by the efforts himself or by the timely help of significant others. Subsequently, I will argue that the major reason for movie producers to create such a football-related film is to promote the simplistic values of game ethic which not only is able to recall the familiarity but to obtain the identifications from majority of viewers worldwide who have been imposed the game ethic, albeit in different forms and occasions, through physical educations in their young ages, hence increasing the popularity and business profits. Furthermore, I argue that by reissuing the plot of promoting game ethic, the transformative form of muscular Christianity, the movie <span style="font-style: italic;">Goal!</span> should be viewed as the manifestation of hegemonic masculinity from mass media which endeavours to reinforce the social control by the dominant classes.<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Conclusion<br /></span><br />Throughout the essay, I endeavour to demonstrate two main facts in the research of religion, body and sports: firstly, the similar profound sensory experiences created by religions and modern sports in search of a sacred state require further explorations. Although overall it can be argued that modern sports still resemble only a handful of similarities with traditional forms of religions, it is undeniable that certain “taboos” and “doctrines” often exist in sports fans’ mindsets and behaviours, and more than few fans will describe that their relationships toward their supporting franchises or nations as “spiritual”. Or, as Elias and Dunning (1986) pointed out, certain fans would even like to have their ashes spread on the pitch of their supported team after they passed away. All of these behaviours and deep emotional fascinations toward sports by “fans” – a term which may need further examination as well in indicating certain group of people - certainly have exceeded the level of involvements compared to most other behaviours toward certain social institutions.<br /><br />Secondly, I argue that the pure form of game ethic has experienced little changes throughout the history and still remain as a dominant ideology not only in the physical educations, but also in mass medias, literatures and other mainstream cultural presentations in modern societies. As MacAloon (2006) argued in his informative article in reviewing the history of muscular Christianity, that the mainstream journalisms in United States nowadays have been profoundly embedded by the ideology of muscular Christianity to the extent that few critics are able to literally discern the influences of it. In some ways, the movie <span style="font-style: italic;">Goal!</span> once again proved MacAloon’s point, as it like other mainstream sports-related movies deceptively served for the purpose of promoting the values of the transformative form of muscular Christianity.<br /><br /><br /><span style="font-size:85%;"><br />*This was my course work for the "Sport, The Body and Society" module in term 2 of Msc Sociology of Sport course.<br /></span><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">References</span><br /><br /><br /><span style=";font-family:arial;font-size:85%;" >Allen, D. (1994). Young England: Muscular Christianity and the Politics of the Body in “Tom Brown’s Schooldays”, In <span style="font-style: italic;">Muscular Christianity: Embodying the Victorian Age</span>, pp. 114-132. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.<br /><br />Berger, P., & Luckmann, T. (1967). <span style="font-style: italic;">The Social Construction of Reality.</span> New York: Anchor Press.<br /><br />Bourdieu, P. (1986). <span style="font-style: italic;">Distinction. A Social Critique of the Judgment of Taste.</span> London: Routledge.<br /><br />Bourdieu, P. (1990). Programme for a Sociology of Sport. In <span style="font-style: italic;">In Other Words: Essays Toward a Reflexive Sociology</span>, pp. 156-167. Cambridge: Polity Press.<br /><br />Bourdieu, P. (1993). How Can One Be a Sportsman? In <span style="font-style: italic;">Sociology in Question</span>, pp. 117-131. London: Sage.<br /><br />Brown, P. (1988). <span style="font-style: italic;">The Body and Society: Men, Women and Sexual Renunciation in Early Christianity. </span>New York: Columbia University Press.<br /><br />Coles, R. (1975). Football as a “Surrogate” Religion? In M. Hill (Eds.) , <span style="font-style: italic;">A Sociological Yearbook of Religion in Britain</span>, Vol. 8, (pp. 61-77). London: SCM Press.<br /><br />Durkheim, E. (1961). <span style="font-style: italic;">The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life.</span> London: Allen and Unwin.<br /><br />Durkheim, E. (1984). <span style="font-style: italic;">The Division of Labour in Society</span>. Basingstoke: Macmillan.<br /><br />Edwards, H. (1973). <span style="font-style: italic;">Sociology of Sport</span>. Dorsey Press.<br /><br />Elias, N. (1991). On Human Beings and Their Emotions: A Process-sociological Essay. In <span style="font-style: italic;">The Body: Social Process and Cultural Theory</span>, pp. 103-125. London: Sage.<br /><br />Elias, N. (1994). <span style="font-style: italic;">The Civilizing Process</span>. Oxford: Blackwell.<br /><br />Elias, N. & Dunning, E. (1986). The Dynamics of Modern Sport. In <span style="font-style: italic;">Quest for Excitement: Sports and Leisure in the Civilizing Process</span>, pp. 205-223. Oxford: Blackwell.<br /><br />Foucault, M. (1989). <span style="font-style: italic;">Madness and Civilisation: A history of insanity in the age of reason</span>. London: Tavistock/Routledge.<br /><br />Foucault, M. (1989). <span style="font-style: italic;">The Birth of the Clinic: An archeology of medical perception</span>. London: Routledge.<br /><br />Foucault, M. (1991). <span style="font-style: italic;">Discipline and Punish: the birth of prison.</span> London: Penguin.<br /><br />Gilmore, D. (1990). <span style="font-style: italic;">Manhood in the making: Cultural concepts of masculinity</span>. London: Yale University Press.<br /><br />Honey, J.R. (1977). <span style="font-style: italic;">Tom Brown’s Universe: the Development of the Victorian Public School.</span> London: Millington.<br /><br />Houghton, W. (1957). <span style="font-style: italic;">The Victorian Frame of Mind: 1830-1870.</span> New Haven: Yale University Press.<br /><br />Hughes, T. (1993). <span style="font-style: italic;">Tom Brown’s Schooldays</span>. Ware: Wordsworth Editions.<br /><br />Kwauk, C. (2007). Goal! The Dream Begins: Globalizing an Immigrant Muscular Christianity. In <span style="font-style: italic;">Soccer and Society</span>, Vol. 8, 1, pp.75-89. London: Frank Cass.<br /><br />MacAloon, J.J. (2006). Introduction: Muscular Christianity After 150 Years. In <span style="font-style: italic;">The International Journal of the History of Sport</span>, Vol. 23, 5, pp.687-700.<br /><br />Mangan, J.A. (1986). <span style="font-style: italic;">The Games Ethic and Imperialism: Aspects of the Diffusion of an Ideal.</span> London: Frank Cass.<br /><br />Mangan, J.A. (2000). <span style="font-style: italic;">Making European Masculinities: Sport, Europe, Gender.</span> London: Frank Cass.<br /><br />Mangan, J.A. & McKenzie, C. (2000). The Other Side of the Coin: Victorian Masculinity, Field Sports and English Elite Education. In <span style="font-style: italic;">Making European Masculinities: Sport, Europe, Gender.</span> London: Frank Cass.<br /><br />Mellor, A. & Shilling, C. (1997). <span style="font-style: italic;">Re-forming the body: religion, community and modernity.</span> London: Sage.<br /><br />Money, T. (1997). <span style="font-style: italic;">Manly and Muscular Diversions: Public Schools and Nineteenth-Century Sporting Revival</span>. London: Duckworth.<br /><br />Novak, M. (1992). The Natural of Religion. In <span style="font-style: italic;">Sport and Religion</span>, pp. 35-42. Champaign, III: Human Kinetic Books.<br /><br />Price, J. (1992). The Super Bowl as a Religious Festival, In <span style="font-style: italic;">Sport and Religion</span>, pp. 13-16. Champaign, III: Human Kinetic Books.<br /><br />Rosen, D. (1994). The Volcano and the Cathedral: Muscular Christianity and the Origins of Primal Manliness. In <span style="font-style: italic;">Muscular Christianity: Embodying the Victorian Age</span>, pp. 17-44. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.<br /><br />Turner, B. (1991). <span style="font-style: italic;">Religion and Social Theory.</span> London: Sage.<br /><br />Turner, B. (1996). <span style="font-style: italic;">The Body and Society: Explorations in Social Theory</span>. London: Sage.<br /><br />Vance, N. (1985). <span style="font-style: italic;">The Sinews of the Spirits: The Ideal of Christian Manliness in Victorian Literature and Religious Thought. </span>Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.<br /><br />Whannel, G. (2007). Mediating Masculinities: The Production of Media representations in Sport. In <span style="font-style: italic;">Sport & Gender Identities: Masculinities, Femininities and Sexualities</span>. pp. 7-21. New York: Routledge.<br /></span>pistonJWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10272683849661370549noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14775045.post-16589643470751389692007-05-31T13:46:00.000+01:002007-05-31T14:02:15.341+01:00[Soc.] [Barca] A Brief Sociological Study of FC Barcelona*<font style="font-weight: bold;"><br /><br />Introduction</font><br /><br />In this short essay, I attempt to depict the historical background of team FC Barcelona and its profound relationships with Catalonia. By specifically focusing on its rivalry with Real Madrid, I argue that the interrelationships between FC Barcelona and Real Madrid, which may be able to be seen as a nutshell of the interrelationships between Catalonia and Spain, are not static but fluid and changeable by different variations.<br /><br /><font style="font-weight: bold;">Historical Retrospection of FC Barcelona</font><br /><br />It is safe to argue (Duke & Crolley, 1996; Burns, 1998; Llobera, 2004) that from its inauguration in 1899, the club FC Barcelona has demonstrated a strong desire in representing not only the identity of the city Barcelona, but also the region of Catalonia. For instance, the first emblem of the club – the cross of St. George on the left and the four bands of the Catalan flag on the right – was exactly the same as the emblem of the city Barcelona. The club motto, “mes que un club” (“More than a club” in Catalan), has illustrated a deep cultural and social dimension of the team that is different than other football clubs.<br /><br />The rivalry between FC Barcelona and Real Madrid, which is not only the biggest rivalries in Spanish football but also in European football to a certain extent, can be regarded as the reflection of overall social and cultural interactions between Catalonia and Spain in the twentieth century. The root of rivalry can back to early twentieth century. As early as 1911, football violence has occurred in the Copa de Riva match between FC Barcelona and another professional football club located in Barcelona, Espayol. Much different to FC Barcelona, team Espayol has took a patriotic Spain-centralist approach from its inauguration, as its symbol (royal crown) and dress codes were aimed to appeal to the fans who felt vulnerable and distrusted about all the changes in Catalonia society beginning from late nineteenth century, and did not think football should be utilized as a tool of nationalist movements. The drastic approaches between FC Barcelona and Espayol made the relationships with FC Barcelona destined to be tense. Despite the relatively uncompetitive results on the football pitch for club Espayol in recent years have made the intense level of rivalries between the two clubs watered down, nowadays every local Barcelona derby still carries on flaming atmosphere.<br /><br />Later on, the rise and dominance of Real Madrid, which continuously backed up by the central government, made the rivalries between Real Madrid and FC Barcelona inevitably formed. The rivalry was part of a big social and cultural phenomenon about the conflict between Catalonia and Spain, and despite after Civil War in 1939 Spain became a united nation under general Francisco Franco’s autocracy, it did not mean that the rivalry has been completely one-sided and oppressed.<br /><br />Duke and Crolley (1996: 36) has pointed out, under the Franco regime, languages other than the Castilian were prohibited and flags of Basque country and Catalonia were burnt. Furthermore, in 1941, all the names of Spanish football clubs have been forced to be hispanicized, as Football Club Barcelona became Club de Futbol de Barcelona, and Athletic de Bilbao became Atletico Bilbao.<br /><br />One of the most significant and dramatic examples in history of the manipulations of Franco regime on the football pitch happened in the semifinal of Generalissimo’s Cup (the formal Spanish Championship) between FC Barcelona and Real Madrid in 1943. In the first leg of home-away matches, FC Barcelona won the match 3:0 at Les Cort. The result, and the behaviours of Barca fans during the whole match (keep hollering and booing at Real Madrid and the referees) prompted the local medias of Madrid to start the anti-Catalan campaigns before the second leg of the match with the blessing of Franco regime.<br /><br />Before the second leg match in Madrid, more than one surprising guests arrived in the locker room of FC Barcelona. One of them, the Director of State Security Jose Finat y Escriva de Romani, literally told the players: “Do not forget that some of you are only playing because of the generosity of the regime that gas forgiven you for your lack of patriotism.” The referees also paid a visit and told the players that any misconduct acts would be punished severely. Other than the expected loud booing and whistling throughout the match by Madrid fans, one of the staffs in FC Barcelona, Angel Mur, recalled the experiences of speculating the match from the stands: “…our goalkeeper was so petrified of being hit by missiles that he spent most of the game as far forward from his goal as possible, allowing the Madrid players to strike the net from all directions.” (Burns, 1998: 145-146) Eventually, FC Barcelona lost the match 11-1. Up till today, this encounter between FC Barcelona and Real Madrid in 1943 was still the strongest example to illustrate the hatred rivalries between the two franchises during the past century.<br /><br />The famous Alfredo di Stefano case in 1953 was another noteworthy clash in the history between FC Barcelona and Real Madrid. Di Stefano, originally belonging to the River Plate and playing on loan for team Columbian Millonarios de Bogota, was about to finish his transferring process to become a FC Barcelona player until the Spanish Football Association intervened. The Spanish FA ruled that the transfer was invalid because Di Stefano was recognised as a player of team Millonarios, who in fact had no legal rights over him. Real Madrid stepped into the scene at the very juncture and negotiated DI Stefano’s transfer with the team Millonarios. After the attributions over the controversial double signings of FC Barcelona and Real Madrid on the same player, the Spanish FA made an absurd decision to let both team own half of the proprietary rights on Di Stefano, and the player would have to provide his service alternately to both teams. Feeling insulted by such decision, FC Barcelona declined the offer and withdrew from the deal. Hence, Di Stefano officially became the player of Real Madrid and eventually led the team to five consecutive European cups.<br /><br />As the watershed of development between both franchises (FC Barcelona did not win its first European cup until 1992), the Di Stefano issue further deepened the hostility of FC Barcelona supporters toward not only the team Real Madrid, but also the Spanish FA and referees. Duke and Crolley (1997) have argued that FC Barcelona supporters have developed a conspiracy mindset in interpreting the unfavorable calls and decisions against their team on and off the pitch over the years, and such mindset has been criticised by non-Catalans as sour grapes or paranoia reactions.<br /><br /><br /><font style="font-weight: bold;">The Political and Cultural Roles played by FC Barcelona during the Franco Regime</font><br /><br />As Conversi (1997) argued, historically, most ethnonationalist movements in Europe have been based on cultural, especially linguistic allegations. Coincidently, as Duke and Crolley (1996) pointed out, FC Barcelona’s continuous linguistic policy has been vital in reinforcing its representative among Catalans. Barca, the club magazine, firstly began utilizing Catalan as its official language in the 1950s under the Franco regime. For many immigrants, the magazine was extremely helpful in learning Catalan. In the 1974-75 season, a year before Francisco Franco passed away, FC Barcelona changed back its official name to Futbol Club Barcelona, and broadened its linguistic policy to different levels. Not only did Catalan became the official language for the club in public, the club also aggressively involved in promoting Catalan cultures and folklores, like funding through many supporters’ clubs directly related to the team itself.<br /><br />The slogan of FC Barcelona, “mes que un club”, also worked as a major merchandise tool in recruiting fans who did not support FC Barcelona but were so-called anti-madridista (anti-Madrid fans). Hence, certain football fans eventually became fans of FC Barcelona simply because they hated Real Madrid and everything the team presented.<br /><br />Conversi (1997) also pointed out that the roles of families in Catalan society during the Franco era were significant in preserving and consolidating the feelings or Catalanism and national identity. The middle-class people of Catalan society censored expressions related to national identity, which led to the extension and strengthening of solidarity and interaction within small groups. Consequently, the individuals of Catalan middle-class, regardless of ideologies and political tendencies, constituted a close inner circle with strong relationship with each other and formed a “relatively homogeneous elite inhabited a circumscribed physical and social space. Under such a situation, a village-like situation [arose]…that mitigated against anonymity and made it possible for almost everyone to know everyone else.” (Pi-Sunyer, 1971: 129)<br /><br />The bourgeoisies and middle class of people in Catalan society during the Franco era slowly and gradually developed quasi-formal associations in order to resist prevent the cultural oppressions by the authorities. For instance, a large number of penyas, which are “get together meetings held weekly at restaurants, bars and other public venues” (Conversi, 1997: 133), have emerged. As Pi-Sunyer (1971: 130) argued, the penya, with its “fairly flexible memberships…provides excellent forums of discussion”, and “the atmosphere is relaxed and talk is spirited” (Pi-Sunyer, 1971: 130). For the authorities, it was impossible in this stage to regulate the activities of every penya.<br /><br />Different kind of semi-formal social associations have increased for people in order to communicate underhand and dodge the control of regime. Different clusters of families socialized their children by sending them to different social groups according to their respective professional or leisure interests. The semi-formal social groups or associations included sardana dancers, folk-singers, hikers, choirs, and of course, the supporters of FC Barcelona. Burns (1998: 140) wrote in his literature that in the 1940s, fans would feel much more protected and comfortable when they went to Les Cort, the home stadium of FC Barcelona then, to watch the match. As he quoted from Gregorio Lopez Raimundo, a senior Barca fan who survived through the Franco era:<br /><br /><font size="2"><font style="font-style: italic;"> …strange at it may seem, in Les Cort I felt protected in a way that I didn’t in the street where I was always looking two hundred metres ahead in case I recognised a policeman…There was another big difference for me between the street and the stadium in those days. Out in the city, Fascism was very visible – the name of streets, the Falangist crests, the portraits of Franco, the flags – but in the stadium you were among the masses and I felt – maybe I was imagining it, but I felt it all the same – that everyone around me was really anti-Fascist deep down, at least where we were standing. Maybe things were a little different where people were sitting; the club management was pro-regime, hand-picked no doubt, but not the fans – they identified themselves with a democratic Catalonia. (Burns, 1998: 140)</font></font><br /><br />During the Franco era, under the political and cultural oppression, the team FC Barcelona undoubtedly has fulfilled its slogan of “mes que un club” (more than a club), as it became one of the most - if not the most – important emblems and symbols of Catalan identity. And the full-scale supports and manipulations from the Franco regime toward the football team Real Madrid and the overall football scene have only strengthened the correlation between Catalan identity and FC Barcelona, while intensifying the rivalries between FC Barcelona and Real Madrid. As Burns (1999) pointed out, for many supporters of FC Barcelona, Real Madrid was not just backed by Franco; it was Franco. On the other hand, fans of Real Madrid would see FC Barcelona and its supporters as separatists who attempt to threat the unification of Spain. To quote from Fuste, a veteran player from FC Barcelona:<br /><br /><font size="2"><font style="font-style: italic;">There were always those (fans) who wanted to mix up with politics those of us who just wanted to get on with playing football…in a sense I felt proud that they felt a need to insult us. It made me feel that we did really represent another country, another nation, even though the words they used were pretty horrendous. From 1941, the year I was born, until the day I retired from football, they always screamed the same insults. (Burns, 1998: 143)</font></font><br /><br />As quoted from Luis Maria Cazorla Prieto (quoted in Duke and Crolley, 1999: 36): “Sport is sometimes used as a political protest….A close link between sports and politics is always present in nationalist and regionalist issues and was frequently exploited as such during the Franco period.”<br /><br /><font style="font-weight: bold;">The Role of FC Barcelona in Catalan Society and the Social Movements after the Franco Regime</font><br /><br />Vazquez Montalban, a prolific journalist and novelist while being a long-time FC Barcelona fan, probably had the best summary about the political role played constantly by FC Barcelona: “It can definitely be said that FC Barcelona has served the purpose of the army that Catalonia has never had.” (interview quoted in Shaw, 1987: 23) Interestingly, similar comments regarding the relationships between Catalonia and FC Barcelona can be read from one of the former team managers, Bobby Robson:<br /><br /><font size="2"><font style="font-style: italic;">Catalonia is a nation within a nation and FC Barcelona is more than a club. That’s what the club’s motto is. It represents a nation. I used to call it the army of Catalonia. Every game we went into Spain was a battle. When we went to Zaragoza or Santander or Bilbao or Seville, they didn’t like us. They were Spanish and we were Catalan. And they were battles. Every match was a cup tie, home and away.” (The Independent, Dec. 8th, 2002)</font></font><br /><br />However, despite that FC Barcelona has always been the symbol of Catalan identity and related profoundly with Catalan nationalist movements, from 1970 onward, there was no trace to be found of any direct links between politics of Catalonia and the club. Also, the club itself has been extremely careful in erasing any suspicions and doubts about its relations with politics. For instance (Kuper, 1994), the Catalan Nationalist Party has backed a candidate, Cambra, for the club’s president elections in 1989, but he failed to win by a significant margin. Another good example is that Nunez, one of the former presidents, has been discouraged from taking any kind of political responsibilities in October 1994 (Duke & Crolley, 1996: 44). Also, during any interviews toward club members in recent years, club officials have unexceptionally refused to answer questions regarding the politics of Catalonia and Catalanism.<br /><br />Interestingly, as Duke and Crolley (1996) pointed out, starting from the 1970s and onward presidents of Real Madrid and FC Barcelona have begun to downplay the rivalry issues between both clubs. For nearly twenty years, Josep Luis Nunez, one of the former presidents of FC Barcelona, did not attend the matches held in Estacio Santiago Bernabeu, the home stadium of Real Madrid. Similar unwritten manners of not attending FC Barcelona matches held in Nou Camp have been employed by the chairmen of Real Madrid as well. Being regarded as a breakthrough, the incumbent president of FC Barcelona, Joan Laporta, has met the counterpart of Real Madrid, Jose Calderon, before the match between two clubs in October 2006 and both promised to give the fans a clean match with positive images about football despite the long-term rivalry between each other. Laporta also showed his respect toward Real Madrid during the press conference and hope to strengthen the connections and even cooperation with each other in the future. (Marca, Oct. 22nd, 2006)<br /><br />It remains to be seen that if the friendly attitudes shown by presidents of both clubs toward each other were simply the political talks at the moment. However, it is undeniable that both clubs are eagerly searching for better business benefits, and maintaining a healthy rivalry while not exceeding the line of fair competition between each other certainly is the best way financially for both clubs.<br /><br /><br /><font style="font-weight: bold;">Conclusion</font><br /><br />The alleviation of political situation beginning from the middle of 1970s in Spain has gradually brought more freedom to Catalonia, as Llobera (2004) argued that nowadays the people of Catalonia have enjoyed probably the greatest autonomy in its modern history despite the fact that perhaps as much as fifty percent of populations in the region are immigrants from no earlier than the Spanish Civil War era. Llobera’s arguments led to an important point in discussing the political situations of modern Catalonia: that the constitutions of Catalan society have been much more complicated than before, as the immigrants are not exclusively Spanish, but international immigrants as well. Consequently, the simplification of Catalan / Spanish dichotomy in analysing Catalan society has no longer accurate.<br /><br />As Keating (2001) pointed out, the ambivalences in the results of public opinion polls in Scotland and Catalonia reflected the concerns and visions about future which may be more advanced than the assumptions made by constitutional experts: that people in these respective regions would like to belong in the European Union but simultaneously still remain in their precedent countries (in the cases here, United Kingdom and Spain) in the future. In the case of Catalan society, how the diverse constitution of populations affect the politics of Catalonia will be the focal point in the future.<br /><br />As for the team FC Barcelona, its identity in Catalan society has experienced certain levels of change accompanying the evolvements of politics and economy in past twenty years. As of now, the attitude of FC Barcelona can be argued to be reminiscent of that of general people in Catalan society, that both are more willing to put political issues aside and search for better accomplishments either in economics or in sports field. The double crowns (Spanish La Liga and European Championship League) FC Barcelona won in 2005-2006 season certainly was one of the best examples in illustrating this tendency.<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><font size="2">(*) This was a failed coursework for my Sport and Globalisation module during term 2 of MSc Sociology of Sport course. </font><br /><br /><br /><font style="font-weight: bold;">References</font><br /><br /><font size="2">Barcells, A. (1996). <font style="font-style: italic;">Catalan Nationalism: Past and Present</font>. London: MacMillan.<br /><br />Burns, J. (1998). <font style="font-style: italic;">Barca: A People’s Passion.</font> London: Bloomsbury.<br /><br />Carr, R. & Aizpurua, J.P. (1993). <font style="font-style: italic;">Spain: dictatorship to democracy.</font> London: Routledge.<br /><br />Cazorla Prieto, L.M. (1979). <font style="font-style: italic;">Deporte y Estado.</font> Barcelona: Labor.<br /><br />Conversi, D. (1997). <font style="font-style: italic;">The Basques, the Catalans and Spain: alternative routes to nationalist mobilisation</font>. London: C.Hurst.<br /><br />Crolley, L. & Hand, D. (2002). <font style="font-style: italic;">Football, Europe, and the Press</font>. London: Frank Cass.<br /><br />Duke, V. & Crolley, L. (1996). Storming the Castile: football nations in Spain. In <font style="font-style: italic;">Football, Nationality and State</font>, pp. 24-49. Harlow: Longman.<br /><br />Hargreaves, J. (2000). <font style="font-style: italic;">Freedom for Catalonia? Catalan Nationalism, Spanish Identity and the Barcelona Olympic Games</font>. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.<br /><br />Hughes, R. (1992). <font style="font-style: italic;">Barcelona</font>. London: Harvill.<br /><br />Johnston, H. (1991). <font style="font-style: italic;">Tales of Nationalism. Catalonia 1939-1979</font>. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.<br /><br />Keating, M. (2001). <font style="font-style: italic;">Nations Against the State: the New Politics of Nationalism in Quebec, Catalonia, and Scotland</font>. Basingstoke: Palgrave.<br /><br />Kuper, S. (1994). <font style="font-style: italic;">Football against the Enemy</font>. London: Orion.<br /><br />Leon Solis, F. (2003). <font style="font-style: italic;">Negotiating Spain and Catalonia.</font> Bristol: Intellect Ltd.<br /><br />Llobera, J. (2004). <font style="font-style: italic;">Foundations of National Identity: From Catalonia to Europe</font>. New York: Berghahn.<br /><br />Marca. (Oct. 22nd, 2206) <font style="font-style: italic;">Calderón y Laporta esperan un clásico igualado de gran deportividad. </font><br /><br />Marshall, T. (2004). <font style="font-style: italic;">Transforming Barcelona.</font> London: Routledge.<br /><br />Pi-Sunyer, O. (1971). The Maintenance of Ethnic Identity in Catalonia, In Pi-Sunyer (ed.), <font style="font-style: italic;">The Limits of Integration: Ethnicity and Nationalism in Modern Europe</font>. Amherst, MA: Department of Anthropology Research Reports, no.9.<br /><br />Shaw, D. (1987). <font style="font-style: italic;">Futbol y franquismo</font>. Madrid: Alianza Editorial.<br /><br />Smith, A. D. (1986). <font style="font-style: italic;">The Ethnic Origin of Nations</font>. Oxford: Basil Blackwell.<br /><br />The Independent. (Dec. 8th, 2002). <font style="font-style: italic;">The Interview Sir Bobby Robson: Back to Where He Once Belonged</font>. Written by Simon Turnbull.<br /></font>pistonJWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10272683849661370549noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14775045.post-80960928030609043762007-04-25T15:39:00.000+01:002007-04-25T15:43:04.939+01:00[Travel] A stranger in Helsingborg, Sverige (2)<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTR-heAof_lSuOqIjHQooQV__DLo4WzSlEENhbns7qc2kLWljJ6xvSx1PVro4C_ITGCnySu5ss-0yiFRQPhDQBlOMatjLttvNbhyNC3XFsAznsyTNrCPkAK2D34vu_DYbxX5di/s1600-h/CIMG7377.JPG"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTR-heAof_lSuOqIjHQooQV__DLo4WzSlEENhbns7qc2kLWljJ6xvSx1PVro4C_ITGCnySu5ss-0yiFRQPhDQBlOMatjLttvNbhyNC3XFsAznsyTNrCPkAK2D34vu_DYbxX5di/s320/CIMG7377.JPG" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5057376246074258162" /></a><br /><br><br />(cont.)<br /><br />坐在很靠近場地的觀眾席上,我看著 Helsingborg IF 的球員們<br />悠閒地結束他們今天的練習。Larsson 跟其他的球員們已經先進<br />更衣室了,球場上只剩下幾個比較年輕的球員還在玩球,還有接<br />受電視台訪問的球隊相關人士們。<br /><br />跟隨著球員們的腳步,球迷們也慢慢地離開了球場。中年人跟<br />他的朋友們已經不知不覺地離開了,坐在我隔壁的老夫婦也走<br />了,遠處那群身穿紅色 "Larsson 17" t-shirt 的女性應援團<br />們也消失了蹤影。<br /><br />看台上突然顯得有點冷清。在我面前,有個褐色捲髮的孩子身穿<br />巴薩球衣,很活潑地在那跳上跳下。我想,他如果不是 Larsson<br />的孩子,也應該和他有一定的親戚關係,不過我一直沒有開口問。<br /><br />我繼續從不同角度拍著 Olympia Stadium 的照片,接近正午的陽光<br />把青草地照的翠綠可人。雖然才坐下來不到十分鐘他們的練習就已經<br />結束,也沒有抓到幾張 Larsson 在練習的畫面,但是能夠拿到球票,<br />已經是天大的好運了。我心想著。<br /><br />就在繼續拍照的同時,我開始注意到了,有兩個男孩子似乎正在一邊<br />切切私語,一邊注意著我的動作。當我們目光交接時,這兩個孩子就<br />開始吃吃的笑起來。<br /><br />很可愛的兩個小男孩。<br /><br />我一般在旅行時並不喜歡把相機對著人拍,不過在 Helsingborg 似乎<br />可以破例。於是,我用英文問他們兩個:「可以坐著讓我拍一張照片嗎?」<br /><br />兩個小男孩出乎意料之外地非常配合,比較高壯的那個孩子笑得很甜。<br /><br />快門按下。<br /><br />我把拍照的結果給他們看,兩個孩子有點不好意思的「嘿嘿」笑起來。<br />我用英文問他們,「你們喜歡 Henrik Larsson 嗎?」他們猛點頭。<br />接著,我把身上的巴薩 #7 Larsson 球衣秀給他們看,並且跟他們說<br />自己是從台灣來的。他們似懂非懂的聽著。<br /><br />聊了幾句之後,我向他們揮手道再見,接著繞到球門後面,準備再拍幾張<br />就先離開球場,繼續下一個行程。正在拍照的同時,我瞥見這兩個小孩子<br />向我跑過來。<br /><br />比較瘦削,有著遮住大半前額的褐色瀏海的孩子跑到我身邊,費力地用他<br />不太靈光的英文說:「對...不起,我們只是想要...知道...台灣在哪裡?」<br /><br /><br />----<br /><br />我的身上找不到世界地圖,北歐的旅遊書上也只有北歐四國的地圖<br />(「這是你們的國家...我的國家...恩,在很遠的地方」),於是,<br />我拿出隨身攜帶的護照給他們看,他們看到了封面上的 "ROC" 和<br />"Taiwan" 字樣,也看到了裡面的一大堆各國簽證和出入境章。<br /><br />看到兩個小孩子主動跑過來,其實我內心是蠻高興的,於是想要多了解<br />他們一點。<br /><br />"How old are you guys?"<br /><br />"Eleven."<br />"Eleven."<br /><br />"And we are Helsingborg boys' team!"<br /><br />一問之下,原來兩個孩子都是 HIF 十一歲級少年隊的球員。比較瘦削的<br /> Calle 在球隊打中場,比較壯碩、戴個洋基隊毛帽的 Pontus 則是球隊<br />的守門員。他們在大人們練習之前已經先練習過了,之後才換上便服來<br />看球。<br /><br />聊開之後,我也不急著離開了,乾脆就陪兩個小孩子一邊聊天、一邊在球場<br />裡散步。對這兩個小孩來說,Olympia 球場就像家裡的後院一樣熟悉,可以<br />亂跑亂玩,球員在場邊的休息板凳也敢坐進去聊天。<br /><br />「我家就住在 Larsson 家隔壁喔!」Calle 突然冒出這一句。<br /><br />「那你認識 Larsson 嗎?」大吃一驚的我問。<br /><br />「當然啦。我有時候會看到他開車回家,他和我爸爸也都認識,有時候我們會<br /> 到他家去吃飯。」<br /><br />我實在不太敢相信到目前為止所聽到的,然而 Calle 還沒說完:<br /><br />「等一下我老爸會開車來接我,我們可以戴你去看 Larsson 他家啊!」<br /><br /><br /><br />「恩...這個,沒關係啦,你可以告訴我他家的位置,我走路去就好。」<br />我那種不喜歡麻煩別人的彆扭個性又開始了。<br /><br />"Hmmm...it's far....far away from here." 兩個小孩露出為難的表情,<br />一邊互相詢問對方,大概在問要怎麼解釋才能讓我明白這是件不可能的任務。<br /><br />我一開始並沒有馬上答應他們,除了不想太麻煩別人之外,也覺得人家的父母<br />應該不會隨便就答應讓一個素昧平生的外國人搭自己的車。事實上,這兩個小<br />孩現在在已經沒什麼人的球場和我聊天,其實已經夠危險的了。易地而處,如<br />果我是孩子的父親,我大概一定不會答應這種要求吧。<br /><br />不過,兩個小孩看來並沒有放棄的樣子,繼續說著等一下要再打手機給老爸確認。<br /><br />與此同時,我也要求他們兩個把 E-Mail 留下,這樣我才能把照片寄給他們。<br />然而,我手邊唯一有的一支筆就是當年千里迢迢從台灣帶來的雄獅奇異筆,<br />於是就看到他們兩個拿著很粗的筆,費力地在我小小的筆記本上寫字。<br /><br />寫完之後,我們繼續聊天,這時候有一兩個穿著 HIF 運動服的年輕人從更衣室<br />裡走了出來,Calle(他英文明顯的比 Pontus 好,因此幾乎都是他主動跟我<br />說話)就和我介紹,這是 HIF 隊上的誰誰誰。我並沒有很認真聽,眼睛還在<br />看場上別的地方。<br /><br /><br />「嘿!那是 Larsson 啊,他出來了!」<br /><br />----<br /><br />我不敢相信自己的眼睛。他的個子比我想像中的稍微矮一點,走在另一個<br />比他高大的球員背後,第一眼並不容易注意到他。他的手上拿著一疊資料,<br />帶著墨鏡,穿著十分雅痞帥氣,同時右手拿著手機講個不停。<br /><br />事到如今,也顧不得那麼多了。我把外套一脫一丟,手上拿著那支當年千里<br />迢迢從台灣帶來的雄獅奇異筆,恭恭敬敬的走到他的旁邊,怕打擾到他講電話。<br />Larsson 大概已經對這種情況非常熟悉了,仍然一邊講著電話,另一手拿著<br />奇異筆,開始在我的背號上簽名。我往一旁看,發現兩個小孩子也是又興奮<br />又期待的乖乖站在一旁。<br /><br />Larsson 簽完名後把筆遞給我,我一邊拿起相機一邊比出手勢,微笑的<br />小聲跟他說: "A picture, please?" Larsson 應該也見過很多這種要求了,<br />馬上把墨鏡摘下,手機暫時不講,同時露出之前都沒有露出的微笑,讓我<br />拍下了這一張照片。<br /><br />我快門閃動之後,他立刻恢復之前的忙碌,對我說著:"Welcome, welcome!"<br />之後,就繼續往球場出口的方向走了。<br /><br />----<br /><br />等到 Larsson 離開我的視線之後,我慢慢的把外套撿回來,同時看到兩個<br />小孩子正高興的看著我。<br /><br />我無法再感謝他們更多。如果沒有他們兩個,我是絕對不可能有這個機會碰到<br />Larsson 的。我和他們兩個說了好幾次的謝謝,不過他們似乎並不了解我為何<br />要一直道謝,只是對於那件簽了名的巴薩球衣很感興趣。讓他們看過球衣之後<br />,我就把它恭敬的折好放進隨身包包裡。<br /><br />等待老爸來接他們的兩個小孩繼續在球場裡玩耍,我們走到了球門後方,<br />這裡沒有座位,只有一排排的灰色水泥階梯。<br /><br />「球迷會站在這裡看球。」Calle 很費力地用他還不太好的英文解釋。<br />同時,我注意到了看台上有一個區塊是用鐵絲網圍起來的。<br /><br />「那是給...給...」Calle 一直找不到他想講的英文單字,我拍著他的背<br />示意可以慢慢講,「其他球隊的球迷的。」<br /><br />「當 Malmo IF 來這邊比賽的時候,就會有很多球迷也跟著來。然後<br />就會有人喝酒、打架...」Malmo 是我前一天去的另一個美麗瑞典海港<br />城市。<br /><br />「真的啊?你們跟 Malmo 是敵對的嗎?」 Calle 點頭。<br /><br />「當他們來的時候,比賽結束之後,市中心就會有很多人喝酒、鬧事,<br />兩邊的球迷會打架,最後警察就會出來把他們趕走....」<br /><br />沒想到,一向看起來和善的瑞典人,也會為了足球如此瘋狂。<br /><br />「這裡還會有其他國家的球迷來嗎?」我突然想到了這個問題。<br /><br />"Scot...Scottish." Calle 說。<br /><br />「上次有好幾個蘇格蘭人來這裡。結果在那場比賽之前,Larsson 拿了<br />紅牌,所以這場比賽他不能上。」<br /><br />「結果那些蘇格蘭人還是來看比賽,賽後還在場邊一直等 Larsson,等到<br />我老爸都去跟他們說:Larsson 今天沒有來球場,你們不用等了啦!」<br /><br />在我們聊天的同時,一兩個工作人員正賣力的整理場地,把廣告看板<br />架起來。偶爾有石頭沒壓好廣告看板的地方,兩個小朋友還會幫工作<br />人員壓好。<br /><br />突然,我們頭上的喇叭響起了震耳欲聾的音樂!小朋友很開心的<br />開始「嘿嘿嘿」的又叫又跳。原來,這是 HIF 的加油歌。<br /><br />「明天你就會聽到了。我們明天也會來加油的。」Calle 很高興的說。<br />他大概很希望我能趕快學會怎麼跳。<br /><br />----<br /><br />從小朋友手中接過他們的手機,我盡量禮貌地和電話那一頭的父親說明事情<br />的經過。沒想到,他似乎一點都不擔心自己的孩子,只是一直笑著說:<br />"OK, OK."<br /><br />「我快到了,你們再等我一下就好。」<br /><br />這樣一來,我也再也沒有理由推辭了。<br /><br />我還見到了兩個孩子的教練。他是位大概三十多歲,身材並不高大的瘦削運動員。<br /><br />「明天是我們的主場開幕戰,所以大家都很興奮。」平易近人的教練說著。<br /><br />「所以,你們的賽季是從四月才開始摟?」<br /><br />"Yes, and basically, I think it's a stupid thing." 教練的回答讓我嚇了一跳。<br /><br />「我們的賽季應該跟英超等這些聯賽一樣在八九月就開始。不然的話,<br />當遇到歐洲杯或世界杯的時候,聯賽總是要暫停...」<br /><br />「眼前這片草地很漂亮吧?」教練轉移了一個話題。<br /><br />「這是在球隊成立一百年之後,這座球場第一次更換所有的草皮。」<br /><br />原來,從 1907 年成軍的 Helsingborg IF 擁有應該是瑞典聯賽裡最古老的草皮,<br />不過因為身處海港和地形變遷等等因素,草皮開始會滲水,這讓每次只要一下雨,<br />大家就得在泥獰的地上比賽。於是,在上個賽季結束後的冬天,球隊終於更換了<br />所有的草皮,而明天將會是球隊第一次在新草皮上比賽。<br /><br />沒想到明天的比賽意義這麼重大,而我竟然能免費拿到比賽的門票。<br /><br />「明天應該會滿座吧?」我問。<br /><br />「應該會啦。我們希望如此。」教練靦腆的笑著回答。<br /><br />----<br /><br />跟隨著小孩子跑動的腳步,我看到了一台豪華的 Volkswagen 黑色五門房車。<br /><br />Calle 本來想跳上前座,但馬上就被趕到後座去。車門打開,一位身材<br />壯碩,穿著黑色 tshirt 、短褲和拖鞋,留著咖啡色分邊瀏海的三十多歲<br />男人正對著我微笑。我和他粗壯有力的手相握,之後連說抱歉,帶給他和<br />他的孩子這麼多的麻煩。<br /><br />「一點也不。你喜歡我們的球場和球隊嗎?」孩子的父親笑著回答。<br /><br />「當然!」<br /><br />車子開出了 Olympia stadium,父親笑著和我道歉。「不好意思,我晚來了一點,<br />因為 F1 的比賽再二十分鐘就開始了...」他這樣一說,我就更不好意思了,<br />希望他帶我去看 Larsson 房子的時間不會耽擱到看比賽。<br /><br />「我支持的是 Alonso。」<br />「而他今年轉到了 McLaren,我最喜歡的車隊,所以對我來說再棒也不過了。」<br />父親很高興的說著。他開車的技巧也不遜於賽車手,車子飛快的在不太寬敞的<br />Helsingborg 道路上奔馳著,同時他還有空拿著手機講話。<br /><br />四周的景物快速的變換,轉眼間已經是一片綠油油的原野。車子過了一兩個彎道<br />之後,在幾棟獨立在廣大田園當中的房子前面一兩百公尺停下來。<br /><br />「這就是 Larsson 一家的房子。」<br /><br />「他們去年才搬回來,準備要改建這個莊園,所以你現在看到的是還沒改建的樣子。」<br /><br />我在車上呆呆的看著,孩子的父親隨後問我,「怎麼,想下去拍個照嗎?」<br /><br />我急忙下車,用最快的速度在周圍拍了一些照片。我並沒有更走近 Larsson<br />的家裡,只是在原地拍照,因為我不想太過於騷擾他們。在我所站的位置,<br />一眼看不完 Larsson 的這片莊園究竟有多大。<br /><br />回到車上之後,孩子的父親笑著說:「這樣就可以了嗎?好吧,我帶你去他家的<br />另一邊看看。」<br /><br />車子沿著 Larsson 的莊園開著,看得出來應該還需要一定程度的建設,因為裡面<br />除了原野之外並沒有太多人造的東西。<br /><br />「我跟 Larsson 的哥哥是好朋友,跟他家人之間也有交情,我們會在一起吃飯<br />或什麼的。」孩子的父親說著。<br /><br />「Larsson 很喜歡馬,他跟他老婆還蠻常去 Helsingborg 另一邊的原野騎馬的,<br />我想這裡以後應該會養很多馬吧!」<br /><br />車子來到了 Larsson 這片莊園的另一側之後停下,孩子的父親再度問我要不要<br />下去拍照,不過實在不想耽擱他看賽車時間的我這次婉謝了。能夠實地看到<br />Larsson 的房子和莊園,對我來說已經是意料之外的大收穫了。<br /><br />不過,孩子的父親似乎並不想這樣就結束他的導覽之旅。<br /><br />「看到對面那台黑色休旅車了嗎?」在我們開出繞著 Larsson 莊園的這條路時,<br />他指著對面的那台車說到。車上有個戴墨鏡的女人,後座似乎還有一個小孩。<br /><br />「那是 Larsson 的老婆 Magdalena。」<br /><br />「讓我們跟著她的車吧!」孩子的父親突然這樣說。於是,我們的車子轉向,<br />跟著前方的黑色休旅車往另一個方向開,前方的景色似乎越來越荒涼。<br /><br />"I think we are like paparazzi right now!" 孩子的父親大笑著說。<br /><br />----<br /><br />Magdalena 的車子開進了一大片森林,我看到旁邊還有在跑步和騎單車的人們。<br />我向孩子的父親感嘆著在 Scandinavia 生活和其他地方的差別。<br /><br />「這一切自然的景物在這裡都能很輕鬆的享受;而我是來自一個一平方公里<br /> 超過五百人的小島...」<br /><br />「是啊,這裡的生活的確和其他地方大不相同。」<br /><br />Magdalena 的車子轉到另一個方向去了,或許她們真的是要去騎馬踏青。<br />我們的車子並沒有再跟下去。<br /><br />「我把你載到 Dunkers Kulturhus 前面吧。那裡是 Helsingborg 的藝術中心,<br /> 藝術個展和藝文活動都會在那裡舉辦。旁邊就是海岸線,你可以好好的欣賞風景。」<br /><br />幾分鐘後,車子在一棟白色外牆,但是擁有類似中國式拱形屋頂的建築物前面停下。<br /><br />終於是到了要別離的時候了。兩個小孩子趴在椅背上依依不捨的看著我。<br />我請孩子的父親也留下他的 E-Mail 之後,拿著我手上的外套和袋子,<br />有點顛簸的走下車子。<br /><br />我用力地和這三個人揮手和道謝。<br /><br />孩子的父親微笑著對我說:"Hope you have a wonderful day in Helsingborg!"<br /><br /><br /><span class="fullpost"></span>pistonJWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10272683849661370549noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14775045.post-55270776463057513122007-04-24T15:13:00.000+01:002007-04-25T15:24:54.536+01:00[Travel] A stranger in Helsingborg, Sverige (1)<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIvO_H6S-8bMlMegCOn8QX0AgaaXLtHDbvNkNVGyObxVm4cIU35nbS8UyCMBhng4Hf3BIIAms7Nf_I_ilmQH3ERaTjdeh19twlJ8fzCJEXj0tE2u4R1KfKogpo3sXsg7x98fQ1/s1600-h/CIMG7019-01.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIvO_H6S-8bMlMegCOn8QX0AgaaXLtHDbvNkNVGyObxVm4cIU35nbS8UyCMBhng4Hf3BIIAms7Nf_I_ilmQH3ERaTjdeh19twlJ8fzCJEXj0tE2u4R1KfKogpo3sXsg7x98fQ1/s320/CIMG7019-01.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5057370817235596002" /></a><br /><br><br />在從 Helsingør 開往 Helsingborg 的郵輪等候室裡,我思潮如湧。<br /><br />旁邊的丹麥或瑞典老先生老太太們,紛紛對我的巴薩球衣和圍巾投以<br />奇怪的眼光,不過這大概已經是我第 1362 次在世界的任何一個角落<br />因為穿著巴薩的相關服飾而被注目了。習慣就好。<br /><br />我腦子裡想的是另外的事情。和三月份前進 Nou Camp 相比,這次<br />前往 Helsingborg 之前,我心中其實並沒有很高的期待。Helsingborg IF<br />都是瑞典文的官網讓我很難從那邊得到什麼資訊,而近日來的連番<br />旅行,也讓我有點懶得像之前一樣,在去每一個地方之前都仔細的<br />蒐集資料。<br /><br />我心裡唯一的念頭只有:我想看看 Henrik Larsson 出生和成長的<br />地方,和他職業生涯藉以成名和即將結束的球場。也因此,我並沒<br />有像大多數人一樣,來到 Helsingør 之後就去參觀赫赫有名的<br />Kronborg 城堡,而是直接準備搭乘前往對岸的郵輪。<br /><br />「今天星期天,來回票只要半價。」長相非常斯文慈祥的老太太售票員<br />用英文笑著跟買票的我說。剛聽到不確定的我還又問了她一次。<br /><br />看來今天還蠻幸運的。我心想。<br /><br />郵輪等候室裡,很多老先生老太太拿著好幾個袋子,裡面裝著滿滿的東西,<br />大概是要到對岸探親訪友吧。進了郵輪之後,我跑到頂端的甲板上。隨著<br />船隻開動,強大的海風讓其他的旅客都躲進船艙裡去,我獨自一人一邊看<br />著周圍變化的海景,一邊拍照,心情也開始好起來。<br /><br />----<br /><br />下船之後並沒有人會檢查你的護照,只花十五分鐘,你就來到了另一個國家。<br /><br />星期天早上的 Helsingborg 很安靜,海邊有著高聳的水神精靈雕像。<br />我沿著路標走到 Information center,結果發現他們星期天竟然不開門!<br /><br />看來這一天似乎沒那麼幸運。<br /><br />這下可好,我的旅遊書上也沒有標示球場的位置(事實上,我那時候<br />連球場叫什麼名字都不清楚),接下來該往哪裡去?<br /><br />問人應該是最快的方法,但是生性不喜歡麻煩別人的我,看著對我的服飾<br />投以奇特眼光的瑞典人們就是開不了口。還好,小小的 Helsingborg 市中心<br />就在港口旁邊,路上都有前往各大景點的路標。我研究了一下,決定往<br />一個叫做 "Olympia" 的地方前進,因為這個單字通常和運動場、體育競技<br />脫離不了關係,也許在那裡我會得到更多的資訊。<br /><br />Helsingborg 市中心廣場有點像捷克 Praha 的 Wenceslas Square,都是從<br />小山坡上一路延伸到平地。我慢慢地爬上山坡,眼前出現的是造型相當可愛<br />的 The Karnan tower,一旁已經有女仕準備開始享受她的日光浴。穿過公園<br />,抬頭就能看到好幾盞高聳的探照燈,通常有這種燈光的地方就是球場。<br /><br />----<br /><br />我站在空無一人的球場前面。這裡真的是 Helsingborg IF 的主場嗎?<br /><br />小小的球場外側沒有看到任何醒目的海報或標示,賣票處大門深鎖,<br />也沒有看到任何球場商店的蹤影。沿著球場外側走,我看到了<br />"Helsingborg IF 專屬入口" 的告示牌,也看到了 HIF 的車子,但是除此<br />之外,幾乎沒有看到任何人影。<br /><br />我的 Helsingborg 找尋 Larsson 之旅是不是這樣就要結束了呢?<br /><br />拍了幾張照片之後,不死心的我繼續找尋著可能進入球場的入口。<br />靠近球場,我開始聽到人聲和踢球的聲音。繼續繞著球場走,我終於<br />看見了綠色的草地,而且有球員正穿著紅色的練習衫在踢球,儘管我<br />對於 HIF 的球員除了 Larsson 之外一無所知。<br /><br />在鐵絲網旁邊有個小小的縫隙可以讓我進入球場。可是我可以進去嗎?<br />我遲疑著。這種職業球隊練習通常不一定會向外公開,如果我隨便闖入<br />,也許可能會被他們的保安攆出去,甚至把照相機沒收之類的也不一定。<br />而且,我還是個穿著奇特的異鄉人,這只會更增添他們的猜疑感。<br /><br />我躲在鐵絲網後面,找尋角度「偷拍」了幾張照片之後,在縫隙旁邊站了<br />一兩分鐘考慮。想著,我都千里迢迢來到這裡了,難道要這樣拍幾張照片<br />就回去嗎?<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />於是我走了進去。<br /><br />----<br /><br />球場裡,球員正在練球。看台上有不少人,有年輕人、有老人、也有小孩、<br />正坐著欣賞或聊天。遠處有一群穿著醒目紅色 t-shirt 的女性觀眾。<br />唯一沒看見的,是我之前所擔心的保安。<br /><br />原來大家都在這裡啊。<br /><br />我有點躡手躡腳的慢慢走進球場,第一眼並沒有看見 Larsson,也不能確定<br />這是不是就是 HIF 第一隊的練習。太陽把球場晒得暖暖的,看台上的氣氛<br />很輕鬆,我心想,到了這個地步還不問人也就太誇張了。於是,我走上看台,<br />站在一位身穿西裝、襯衫和牛仔褲,稍微稀疏的金色頭髮向後梳的帥氣中年人<br />旁邊,等他和旁邊坐著的觀眾聊天告一段落之後,小聲的問他:<br /><br />"Excuse me, is this the stadium that Henrik Larsson played?"<br />話剛出口,我就埋怨自己怎麼開口問了個笨問題。<br /><br />"Yes." 中年人笑著回答。 "And where are you from?"<br /><br />----<br /><br />這位中年人的英文在北歐人裡面應該算是很好的。他很驚訝的知道我來自台灣。<br />我們開始一邊看著球員練球一邊聊天。我告訴他,我還是不敢相信在 Helsingborg<br />,球迷只要想要來看球員練球,就可以直接走進來看。<br /><br />「我去過 Nou Camp,那是個很大很棒的球場,但是你需要付十塊歐元才能進去<br /> 看一個空的球場...」<br /><br />「我們這邊就是這樣啊。」他笑著回答。<br /><br />「那你喜歡我們的球場嗎?」<br /><br />「很棒啊,雖然不大但是感覺很好。在台灣,我們沒有幾個像這樣的足球場,<br /> 足球場都是拿來開演唱會的...」<br /><br />看台上的球迷什麼人都有,有些人或許只是利用週日早上來這裡社交、聊天<br />或晒太陽。<br /><br />「Larsson 在那邊。」中年人指向球場遠邊。光頭蓄鬍的他正在和門將練習<br />十二碼。<br /><br />「你有要看明天的比賽嗎?」中年人突然問我。其實,我來之前連 HIF 的<br />賽程都沒有研究過。「比賽的時間是明天(週一)晚上七點。」<br /><br />「這是我們本季在主場的開幕戰。」<br /><br />在我老實的回答他我不知道明天有比賽,都是瑞典文的球隊官網也找不到<br />相關資訊之後,中年人想了一下,說:「既然你來自台灣...」<br /><br />「Marcus!」 他對著場上身穿 HIF 運動服的人們叫了好幾聲。<br /><br />「等一下這個人會幫你想辦法。」中年人隨後笑著跟我說。這個時候,<br />就算是再白癡的觀光客,也看得出在我眼前的這位中年人並不是普通的角色。<br />不過,我一直不敢開口問他究竟和 HIF 之間是什麼關係,或是在球隊裡<br />擔任什麼重要的職位。<br /><br />中年人隨後還跟我介紹,「那個在場上的誰誰誰是我兒子。」很遺憾的,<br />我現在已經忘了他指的是誰就是。<br /><br />大概過了一分多鐘之後,一位身材矮小,頭髮稀疏,看起來大概五十多歲<br />年紀,身穿 HIF 運動服的人向我們跑了過來。中年人把他叫到一邊,開始<br />用瑞典文和他講話,當然我只聽得懂 "Taiwan" 之類的單字。這位 Marcus<br />先生在交談完後,看了我一眼,就先離開了。<br /><br />「等一下你找他就可以,他會給你明天的票。」中年人和我說這句話時,<br />我不太敢相信自己的耳朵。「你難得這麼遠從台灣過來...」他微笑著。<br />這時候我們已經從原來的位子移動到靠近場中央的看台這邊,我知道自己<br />不能再麻煩他,而他一定還有要事要忙,也只能盡量的用英文表達我的感謝<br />之意。中年人隨後和我笑笑揮了揮手,就回到他原來站的位置了。<br /><br />正在我還呆立在原地看著球員們練習時,Marcus 用有點隱蔽的姿態跑回來了。<br />他小心地走到我旁邊,把口袋裡的票偷偷摸摸地拿出來給我。我急忙把它<br />折起來放進錢包裡。<br /><br />「你來自台灣哪裡啊?」似乎有點不放心的 Marcus 突然又問我這個問題。<br />和他解釋我來自台北之後,他的回答是:"Oh, Formosa!"<br /><br />「我在 1996 年曾經在中國的 Shen-Huen (申花?) 擔任過教練。」<br />他隨後說。<br /><br />雖然這個時候提到票錢的事情實在很俗氣,但是基於禮貌,我想我還是要問一下,<br />沒想到他大概是猜到我的動作,急忙向我搖手,之後說:「好好享受比賽吧!」<br />隨後,他就離開了。<br /><br />等到 Marcus 離開之後,我還是不太敢相信這整件事,於是把折起來的票<br />打開來看,發現上面票價的地方打的是 0 元。我隨便找了一個靠近球場的<br />位子坐下,傻笑著感嘆怎麼會有這種事情,接著轉頭一看,旁邊一對坐著<br />看起來很和藹的老夫婦正對著我微笑。<br /><br /><br />這真是幸運的一天,不是嗎?<br /><br /><br /><span class="fullpost"></span>pistonJWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10272683849661370549noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14775045.post-24691475791423439302007-04-18T12:25:00.000+01:002007-04-18T12:32:16.960+01:00[Travel] Scandinavia<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGSNgKsKBoYoA0y7Gztnn-0MR_eRLvc67LFO0cSBvQxPbIcqEdcBP86_gFDfhKaHc5QAx5GrPYyqpXhTmT8AzOmj_ZP4pC7-zdRf0XuAE9l5r8uelG4eDUTrnI-3zbJi0Rt9bq/s1600-h/CIMG6089-01.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGSNgKsKBoYoA0y7Gztnn-0MR_eRLvc67LFO0cSBvQxPbIcqEdcBP86_gFDfhKaHc5QAx5GrPYyqpXhTmT8AzOmj_ZP4pC7-zdRf0XuAE9l5r8uelG4eDUTrnI-3zbJi0Rt9bq/s320/CIMG6089-01.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5054728463388556066" /></a><br /><br /><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/pistonjw/sets/72157600070430287/">Flickr Album</a><br /><br /><br /><br />是一個會讓你對接下來的人生產生巨大質疑的地方。<br /><br />----<br /><br />在 Copenhagen 機場,我等了五十分鐘,看著我後面排隊的歐洲人們<br />一個又一個越過我快速地通關,然後我面前的兩個移民官反覆的檢查<br />我的申根簽證,用燈照、用放大鏡看、不停地彼此小聲討論,之後其<br />中一個移民官用破爛的英文問我:「你這個法簽上的入境章怎麼來的?」<br /><br />原來並不是像傳說中一樣,每個北歐人的英文都很好。我心想。<br /><br />接著,他們開始反覆地問我那些會讓人覺得被羞辱的問題。<br />「你來 Copenhagen 做什麼?」<br />「你要在這裡待幾天?」<br />「你身上帶了多少現金?」<br />以及,最常被重複的問題,「你在丹麥有親戚嗎?」<br /><br />在不斷重複提問和回答,像是唱片跳針的過程當中,另一個對我比較友善的<br />移民官曾經走出窗口和我聊天。<br /><br />「其實這只是正常程序,你也知道,近來...」<br />「這裡非法移民的問題很嚴重嗎?」<br /><br />他沒有說話,只是眼睛朝天空看,大口地吐了一口氣。<br /><br />這個移民官後來幫我找出了法簽的問題所在。原來是白癡懶散的巴塞隆納<br />機場移民官,在三月份時把章蓋錯地方了。<br /><br />「所以,你最近去過法國、西班牙、德國、捷克...你怎麼會這麼有錢?」<br />「我在唸書之前曾經工作過。」我壓住快爆發的火氣,盡量和緩的回答。<br /> "Travel to see the world, huh?" 另一個移民官終於把護照遞回給我<br /> ,同時對我說: "Goodbye!"<br /><br />----<br /><br />在晴空萬里的 Skt. Jorgens So 湖畔,我吃著從英國家裡帶來的三明治。<br />眼前是一片湛藍無比的湖水,和很多的鴨子。在湖畔跑步、牽著狗或是推著<br />嬰兒車的當地人,紛紛以奇怪的眼光看著不停拍照的我。<br /><br />這是我在 Scandinavia 遇到最大的問題:眼前所有的美景-陽光、空氣、<br />湖水、海水和動物,對當地人來說是如此自然,垂手可得。每次旅行,我<br />都感覺自己像是個冒失闖入他人生活圈的粗俗無禮陌生人,而這樣的感覺<br />在這七天裡最為強烈。<br /><br />----<br /><br />追隨著白淨高聳的 HSB Turning Torso,我走進了 Malmo 海邊的高級社區。<br />這裡每一棟公寓,都會讓你覺得英國的房子相較之下簡直就是違章建築。<br />家家戶戶有一個突出的透明陽台,上面舒適地擺著流線型的桌子和椅子。<br /><br />然後你繼續往海邊走。時間接近正午,太陽越來越暖,綠草、沙子、白色的<br />石頭和柏油路整齊地鋪在地上,大片的木造平台上面,已經開始有人在做日<br />光浴或是坐著看報紙。<br /><br />把鞋子脫掉,聽著 ipod,看著遠方的 Oresund Link,我終於明白,<br />原來在極遠處,海跟天是同一種顏色。<br /><br />----<br /><br />在週一早上,我特別又跑回這個海邊,只是為了要躺在平台上睡個午覺。<br /><br />----<br /><br />Everyone rides a bike in Copenhagen.<br /><br />Copenhagen 在許多方面並不是一個像宣傳地一般可愛的安徒生童話城市。<br />但是,在這裡幾乎每個人都騎腳踏車。<br /><br />上班族、老人、家庭主婦、正妹、眼鏡少女、青少年、熟女、流浪漢、<br />戴太陽眼鏡的美女、歐巴桑、小朋友、文藝青年、東方人、帶小孩的父母、<br />戴耳機的少女、裝備齊全的自行車騎士、情侶檔、夫妻檔、全家一起出遊、<br />人人都騎著腳踏車。<br /><br />也許是因為 Copenhagen 市中心並不大,或許也因為這裡高昂的大眾運輸費用,<br />騎腳踏車成為了最自然也不過的移動方式。上下班時間,街頭一片自行車海,<br />也有很多人每天會把腳踏車牽上牽下近郊火車。<br /><br />路上有腳踏車道和腳踏車專用號誌(當然,還是會有人把腳踏車騎上人行道,<br />尤其是狂歡的週六晚上),市區裡有很多腳踏車店,還有從十九世紀就開始<br />營業的出租腳踏車店。<br /><br />絕大部份的腳踏車都不太新潮,但是有些主人會把自己的腳踏車加上獨特的裝飾。<br />不少腳踏車就就隨意丟在路邊,倒成一片的情況也是常常發生。<br /><br />在 Copenhagen 的最後一天,我只想把這個城市裡所有的腳踏車和騎腳踏車<br />的人們拍起來。<br /><br />----<br /><br />"I am sorry if this is impolite to you, but may I have a picture<br />of you?"<br /><br />全 Copenhagen 最美麗的女孩子-how fuking lucky I was again,她同時也是<br />我旅館的接待-一開始應該是被我這個要求嚇到了。<br /><br />"Just for the memory (in Copenhagen)." 我微笑。我沒有說出來的話比說出口<br />的多了一萬句。<br /><br />她非常迅速地恢復了自己的閃亮微笑和優雅氣質。<br />「可以啊。你需要我在電腦前,還是我在倒啤酒這裡?<br /> It's the thing we Danish always do.」她反過來詢問我這個問題。<br /><br />快門按下。<br /><br />"Thank you." As I was stunned by her beauty yet again.<br />"You are VERY welcome." With the sweetest and smoothest sounds<br /> I ever heard, she replied.<br /><br />----<br /><br />在按下快門的前兩分鐘,旅館大廳裡只有兩個人,另一杯 Carlsberg 啤酒<br />緩慢的模糊我的感覺,空氣裡正洋溢著 Iron and Wine 的 In my lady's house。<br /><br />----<br /><br />在 Louisiana 現代美術館,Henry Moore 和 Joan Miro 的雕像撒落在藍天、綠地<br />和海岸線之間。今天又是一個萬里無雲的天氣,我花了 100 DKK 吃喝著難吃的三明治<br />和淡而無味的啤酒,海鷗在眼前飛來飛去,小孩子們興奮的在雕像之間玩耍。<br /><br /><br />為什麼人生不能停留在這一刻?<br /><br /><br /><span class="fullpost"></span>pistonJWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10272683849661370549noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14775045.post-26739971621132134832007-04-09T21:24:00.000+01:002007-04-09T21:31:35.905+01:00[Travel] Praha<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEUnvsB6-vynECAoZig6_Dpi19vO8AZ8APnUZhfqI-3ssTjna26b16YgAu7eJ70ReNQz-TcsnW78Wmo2XSJJNl6UciWC2xNCP4WbS9jHN9PF5cxmwBwGIlOvotqMvL45hf8FMB/s1600-h/praha.jpg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiEUnvsB6-vynECAoZig6_Dpi19vO8AZ8APnUZhfqI-3ssTjna26b16YgAu7eJ70ReNQz-TcsnW78Wmo2XSJJNl6UciWC2xNCP4WbS9jHN9PF5cxmwBwGIlOvotqMvL45hf8FMB/s320/praha.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5051528691219034242" /></a><br /><br /><br />Praha/Prague/Praga/Prag is the ultimate travellers' city.<br /><br /><br />這個城市最多的店家不是餐廳、不是酒吧、甚至不是賣紀念品的攤子,<br />而是一間又一間寫著斗大 "CHANGE" 字樣的貨幣兌換處。<br /><br />走在觀光客聚集的城市中心地帶,動不動就會有人拿著傳單向你靠近。<br />他們是來跟你推銷今晚無聊寂寞時的去處,不過並不是像 Barcelona<br />的 La Rambla 一樣充滿著紙醉金迷的聲色場所傳單,而是向你介紹<br />古典音樂會。不過,不管表演的場所跟樂手再怎麼變,曲目永遠都是<br />Vivaldi, Mozart, Haydn, 和理所當然的,Dvorak。<br /><br />然後,當我在離開 Praha 的前一晚,置身在 Rudolfinum 當中準備<br />欣賞 Sir Charles Mackerras 和捷克愛樂的演出時,我發現富麗堂皇<br />的音樂廳並沒有滿座,並且周遭聽到的都是一群美國小孩嘈雜吵鬧的<br />聲音,討論著這場音樂會之後要去那間 pub。<br /><br />在 Wenceslas Square 上面,你可以看到來自全世界的觀光客在 Wenceslas<br />的雕像前嘻笑打鬧、或是在兩旁的長椅上排排坐看著 travel guide。<br />兩側的街道上,除了 Nike, H&M 這種跨國企業之外,你甚至能看見<br />your Marks & Spencer 的蹤影。<br /><br />Praha 的觀光客組成比起紐約、巴黎或是巴塞隆納更加多樣化,因為<br />這裡是一個 cheeseburger 只需要一塊歐元的地方。當我在廣場旁邊<br />的小攤子買了漢堡之後,順便問了賣漢堡的中年婦人一句:<br />"So is the business good?",她回給了我一個複雜的微笑。<br /><br />不像巴黎人的高傲,更加聰明的捷克人願意屈從自己的意願,只求<br />觀光客們從錢包裡掏錢出來。在這座城市裡絕大多數的地方,當你<br />講英文時,即使聽不太懂,但捷克人們還是會非常努力的用肢體語<br />言或是怪腔怪調的英文和你溝通;相似的場景,在巴黎或柏林你多<br />半只會得到冷眼相待,或甚至是被指著鼻子罵。也許是因為捷克文<br />的發音機制,讓捷克人講起英文來總讓人覺得有點大舌頭,"Soli"<br />(sorry) 是我在 Praha 這幾天裡最常聽到的英文單字,不管在地鐵<br />被要下車的人要求讓個位子,或是在 hostel 裡被要打掃的小女孩<br />要求借過時,都可以聽到這個聽久了會忍不住微笑的單字。<br /><br />在剛來到 Praha 的前十個小時,滿街的人潮和吵雜讓我一直只想著<br />要回去 Dresden(當然,我難以忘懷在 Dresden 發生的一切也是原因)<br />。直到夜幕終於開始低垂,人潮和喧鬧開始散去,整座城市染上昏黃的<br />燈光,我才開始見識到這座城市的另一面。<br /><br />而比起旅遊書上的熱門景點,我在 Praha 剩餘的時光裡更有興趣的,<br />是發掘那些在這座城市裡還沒被觀光客攻陷的幽靜角落,和認識那些<br />在接下來的人生裡必須每天承受大量觀光客干擾他們生活的當地人們。<br /><br /><br /><br />在五層樓高的 National Gallery Collection 當中,不只有不遜於<br />各大都市的國際性現代藝術館藏,更擁有你花上一整天都看不完的捷<br />克藝術家作品。當我詢問一個服務人員當天的閉館時間時,他非常努<br />力的比手畫腳,試圖告訴我是晚上八點。<br /><br />在裝飾藝術博物館裡,現在舉行的特展是日本近三十年來商業海報<br />的傑作選集。顧守衣帽間的是個年紀至少有七十歲以上的老太太,<br />當我準備把外套拿去寄放時,她正在愉快地吃糕餅,桌子上還擺了<br />茶具。我很不好意思打斷了她的午茶時光;然而她可能比我還不好<br />意思,看到我來之後嚇了一跳,之後就背對著我踱步好幾秒鐘,嘴<br />巴裡還發出「嗚、嗚」這種可能是要急忙把嘴巴裡的糕餅嚥下去的<br />聲音。<br /><br />老太太的英文不太好,所以她花了一些時間才明白我這個不速之客<br />想幹嘛。當時間接近閉館的六點,我要去拿回自己的外套時,還沒進<br />衣帽間就看見她似乎有點著急的在踱步。當我花了一點時間讓她明白<br />來意之後,她彷彿如釋重負似的,從架子上拿下剩下唯一的一件外套,<br />說: "Oh, it's you! Now I can go home!"<br /><br />我在她半推半就,著急的直說 "No" 和 "Thank you" 的情況下拍下了<br />她的照片。這是我在這次旅途當中唯一一次正面要求對方成為我拍照的<br />對象。<br /><br /><br />在我離開 Praha 的當天早上,可以容納十五個人的早餐間裡,出現<br />了一條人龍。超過五十個十幾歲的各國青少年排隊領餐、嘻笑打鬧;<br />食物掉在地上、飲料打翻、甚至連燈箱都被打碎一個。身為早餐間裡<br />唯一一個不屬於這條人龍的顧客,當我慢條斯理的吃完,把桌子擦乾淨<br />之後才離開時,早餐間裡又只剩下我一個人。我把盤子拿給長得十分漂<br />亮伶俐的黑色捲髮少女,她說 "thank you" 的表情似乎和前幾天的隨口<br />回應有些不一樣,儘管那口音聽起來還是十分的有趣。<br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span class="fullpost"></span>pistonJWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10272683849661370549noreply@blogger.com0