Sportsiology

This weekend I watched several basketball games and, like others noticed the “Spanish” jersey. Before this, I had only ever noticed the Knicks and the Mets using the custom jerseys as a celebration of their Spanish speaking fans. It never even occurred to me to be annoyed by the fact that the jersey’s suddenly had the word “the” on them when they never had before. In the case of the Mets and the Knicks, the lack of translation of the actual team names made sense because, as the name Knicks refers to the Knickerbockers which was a nickname for the first Dutch settlers of New York, there is unlikely to be a Spanish translation (also, I believe the translation that occurred on Knicks jerseys was Nueva York). However, this weekend I noticed the problem. When you have the Bulls and the Heat playing each other, the absurdity in the half-done translation becomes clear. Bulls and heat can actually be translated into Spanish and, since they are already making new jerseys with Spanish words on them, it doesn’t seem unreasonable to change the team name as well.

To me, this seems like a conflict between real and ideal culture. America has always had this image as a melting pot. The American Dream is built on the idea that with hard work and healthy dreams, everyone who comes here can achieve their goals. This exported image of America is what we refer to as ideal culture—the idealized version of a group’s culture. Sadly, I think the fact that the team jerseys were only half translated is an example of real culture. While America presents itself as a country where all dreams come true for all people, the jerseys showed the reality—a poor understanding of, a lack of interest in or respect for the Spanish language and, in turn, the people who speak it. Maybe there will be more consideration when the Spanish jerseys are made again…after all, think of how much money could be made from people who actually speak another language when its properly represented on a jersey.