The Love-in

I won't say much about Korea's bizarre love for a man who they probably wouldn't have given the time of day if he hadn't caught a ball in the endzone to help the Steelers win the Super Bowl. Jodi at The Asia Pages has a good post, and The Marmot's Hole also deals with this topic quite well. I am more interested in Hines Ward, the man. He seems like a nice man. He's not the most articulate person on TV, but he is, after all, just a football player (a darn good one for sure). I don't understand why he is here.

I can't say that I've ever really understood the burning desire of any people to find their "roots." As a 3rd generation Canadian whose grandparents came from Scotland, I admit with absolutely no embarassment that I don't feel drawn to Scotland at all. I wouldn't mind going to see it, and Braveheart was cool. And, maybe I'm wrong; perhaps I would feel something. Bagpipes do get my toes tapping. I don't think, though, that I'd be telling everyone in Scotland that I was a Scot.

If Scottish government decided to invite me to Scotland, I'd undoubtedly go. If they decided to make me a knight, and perhaps, if Sean Connery himself gave me the key to Edinburgh, I could squeeze out a tear, but I have to say, if my wee grandmother (you have to imagine me saying that with an abominable fake Scottish accent to get the full effect), said, "Those bloody Scottish wankers used to spit on me," there is no way that I would fly halfway around the world to let someone kiss my ass (and then use me for crass commercial and political ends).

I mean, honestly, his mother left Korea because Koreans treated her badly. Korean-American kids treated Hines so badly that his mother told him not to play with them anymore. She didn't really look very happy to be here on this trip. So, I can't imagine her raising him to love his "homeland."

Kim (Hine's mother), said she had spent 30 years “without looking at Koreans and without thinking about them. What do you think would have become of us if I had kept living here with Hines? He would probably never have been able to be anything but a beggar. Do you think I would even have been able to get work cleaning houses?”

So, why is he here? Is he at all embarrassed to be part of this dog and pony show? Is this just a money thing? Is he just going to make more money modelling clothes for Fubu?

As for him tattooing his name on his arm in hangul, I suspect that's just another version of a westerner getting a Chinese tattoo because it looks cool. I, myself, have often thought of getting some hangul on my bicep - perhaps stud (종마 Someone whose Korean is better than mine might comment on this.) - but I'm afraid that it would come out meaning something like construction stud (i.e. a piece of wood 샛기둥). And, then, of course, the connotations of "stud" in the west tend to be somewhat positive, it probably wouldn't go over so well here. I doubt that it would help me score. The whole thing is kind of stupid. Besides which, I kind of like the shape of this Korean word more than any other Korean word 꽃 and it means flower - guaranteed not to help me.