Perception
So we're watching the Peru vs Brazil game, the 2019 Copa America final. We're at the local pub called The Toffee Club in Portland, Oregon. It's packed with many Peruvians (very few Brazilians). The street is closed off for the event with an outdoor area where the game plays projected on a big screen. The Peruvians have brought a large drum and a lot of spirit.
And things happen during the match. A penalty is awarded against Peru nearing the ninetieth minute. The foul is clear, indisputable, the kind that leaves no room for interpretation. But the fans around us have a difficult time accepting the call. They wag "no" with their fingers at the different screens. They gesticulate the VAR sign, making rectangles with their index fingers at a referee who is in another country, another time-zone, on the other side of a camera feed, demanding a review because there is no way he has gotten the call right. They yell there was no foul.
Thanks to technology and popularized editing techniques, those of us watching through screens (the millions of us who aren't watching it at the Maracana) have the opportunity to watch the foul over and over, several times, at varying speeds and angles. We have the means to make judgments through a technology that not until recently the referees had no access to. And each time it is televised, the foul is still a foul. If anything, that the referee made the correct decision becomes clearer and clearer.
And yet, all around, those wearing white and red continue to express unwavering denial. In their heart of hearts, do the Peruvians around us really think it wasn't? Are they demonstrating patriotic loyalty by being blind to the truth? Have I ever been as unaccepting of the truth when Argentina plays and it's my turn to be a fan?
This June, we went to watch Boca Jrs play against Chivas, an exhibition match in Seattle, Washington and the same dynamic played out. This case was different in that events are occurring in real time and space, few fans are close to the action, and the numbers at this event are incomparable. Waves of boos go up when the ref makes a call that goes against Chivas (there are very few Boca fans in attendance) regardless its sensibility and clarity. It is denial en masse. It is a blatant disregard for reality and truth, even when in the presence of reality and truth.
In Argentina they do not sell beer at stadiums. I believe there are even laws prohibiting places in proximity of the stadiums from selling alcohol as well on match days.
There is no need for alcohol to impair judgement; passion alone will narrow our scope.
And things happen during the match. A penalty is awarded against Peru nearing the ninetieth minute. The foul is clear, indisputable, the kind that leaves no room for interpretation. But the fans around us have a difficult time accepting the call. They wag "no" with their fingers at the different screens. They gesticulate the VAR sign, making rectangles with their index fingers at a referee who is in another country, another time-zone, on the other side of a camera feed, demanding a review because there is no way he has gotten the call right. They yell there was no foul.
Thanks to technology and popularized editing techniques, those of us watching through screens (the millions of us who aren't watching it at the Maracana) have the opportunity to watch the foul over and over, several times, at varying speeds and angles. We have the means to make judgments through a technology that not until recently the referees had no access to. And each time it is televised, the foul is still a foul. If anything, that the referee made the correct decision becomes clearer and clearer.
And yet, all around, those wearing white and red continue to express unwavering denial. In their heart of hearts, do the Peruvians around us really think it wasn't? Are they demonstrating patriotic loyalty by being blind to the truth? Have I ever been as unaccepting of the truth when Argentina plays and it's my turn to be a fan?
This June, we went to watch Boca Jrs play against Chivas, an exhibition match in Seattle, Washington and the same dynamic played out. This case was different in that events are occurring in real time and space, few fans are close to the action, and the numbers at this event are incomparable. Waves of boos go up when the ref makes a call that goes against Chivas (there are very few Boca fans in attendance) regardless its sensibility and clarity. It is denial en masse. It is a blatant disregard for reality and truth, even when in the presence of reality and truth.
In Argentina they do not sell beer at stadiums. I believe there are even laws prohibiting places in proximity of the stadiums from selling alcohol as well on match days.
There is no need for alcohol to impair judgement; passion alone will narrow our scope.
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