Talk Story
WATCHING the World Cup Tuesday night, gave me a sense of what globalism is all about. Global competition
tests American mettleEmulating Tiger Woods, the Russian team wears stylish Nike uniforms while defeating Tunisia 2-0. Meanwhile, ESPN's announcers are in suits that look like products of Krushchev's Socialist Republic.
When the United States takes the field against Portugal, both teams flaunt the Nike swoosh. John O'Brien scores quickly for team USA and the favorite, Portugal, is on the ropes early.
Landon Donvan keeps pestering and in the 20th minute, he banks a shot off a defender's head. It's USA 2, Portugal 0. I notice there are even Nike swooshes on the players' socks.
By halftime, we've scored three goals, our best World Cup performance in decades. The Portuguese scored one. Nike scored big, too.
"This is stopping traffic all over Europe," gushes the color man. We're 45 minutes away from a "Titanic upset."
>>>><<<< SPEAKING OF globalism, there's a Web site called "2 Rent A Coder" (www.2rentacoder.com) where you post computer software jobs and programmers bid to do them.
Lee Gomes of the Wall Street Journal (and a former Star-Bulletin reporter) wanted a program to use his Palm computer to practice French verbs. Most bids were in the $15 to $25 range and most bidders were from Eastern Europe and India. Gomes gave his job to a programmer from Bangalore.
Rent A Coder works like pick-up labor, Gomes says. Many American cities have a spot where day laborers, mostly immigrants, gather to wait for contractors to come by in their trucks. The men compete for work, pushing and yelling, "Hey, mister, I work cheap."
Pick-up labor is a cruel but perfect market, purely supply and demand. That's where the Internet is headed, Gomes says. "Stay away from any job that can be done online, or you'll be competing with my (Bangalore) buddy -- and people eager to underbid him, too," Gomes wrote. "I found a good programmer in 5 minutes. I'm still looking for a good carpenter."
>>>><<<< In the 63rd minute, the familiar chant starts: "USA, USA." The American team hangs on, but when U.S. defender, Jeff Agoo, tries to clear the ball from in front of our goal, he deflects it past the goalie and it's 3-2.
It seems only a matter of time before the superior Portuguese stick it to us. But, with less than 10 minutes to go, we're still hanging on. "It's not easy to get wins at this level," says the announcer.
>>>><<<< SOMETIMES global competition means you tip the playing field your way. That's what happens when a government subsidizes farmers or raises tariffs on steel.
Or, take court reporters. "Voice writers" using computers and speech-recognition software now threaten to take work away from stenotypists, who use old-fashioned, 10-key, mechanical shorthand machines. Voice writers just repeat everything that's said into a special, cup-shaped microphone and let the computer create a transcript.
Stenotypists have successfully lobbied many states to require all court reporters to be certified by their own national organization. Rather than compete, they've now voted 4-to-1 to ban voice writers from membership, shutting them out.
It's like John Henry vs. the steam hammer -- or the Jones Act protecting U.S. shipping.
>>>><<<< Back in Korea, it's about defense. We drag it out, delay. Keep the ball in their end. "Hey, hey, hey, goodbye," sings the crowd.
Beasley gets a yellow card for delaying tactics. It's one last chance for Portugal, but no - the game's over. Score: USA 3, Portugal 2. "Mine eyes have seen the glory!" screams the announcer. It's 12:50 a.m. in Hawaii.
Brian McBride scored the game winner. "We bunkered in and held them off," says striker John O'Brien.
Who says we can't compete globally?
John Flanagan is the Star-Bulletin's contributing editor.
He can be reached at: jflanagan@starbulletin.com.