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Mister Sam's Going To Westminster?
A profile on 'Red Sammy' the man who won the World Cup last week and is talking politics.




It still confuses Americans that not only are the Brits fond of baseball, but are actually pretty good at it.

Britain is a land of culture, history, and people who speak the same language as us but spell it wrong. It is also a land of stuffy gents, a class-based society, and a sense of politics still rooted in empire and a determination to stay as far away from Europe as possible. That last one is more the view of our last President and the State Department, but most of the above is true. It's an old country, for good and for ill, in the eyes of Americans from San Francisco to New York City.

And yet it was from San Francisco to New York City that Perfidious Albion snatched victory from the jaws of defeat against Japan and came up triumphant against the home of baseball in front of tens of thousands of screaming fans in London. The Brits didn't just win, they won hard. And to make it worse, now they're in the lead in a series of games that haven't always been friendly. From the US tour in 1944 (or even back when they first won it in 1938) to the strange new world of 2017, Britain and America have fought over who truly dominates the nation's favourite past time.

London Stadium might have been built for the Soccer World Cup last year, but soccer and baseball in Britain have always shared stadiums. Where it had been the stage for a humiliating crash out of the quarter-finals, now it was the grand and best end for the coach of what has arguably been Britain's top team. In 2007, the headlines could be summed up by an edition of the The Sun; "Britain Is Fat". Well, in light of the past decade, the Prime Minister has every right to stand up and say that Britain Is Fit Again.

Although he may not be so eager to give credit to a certain man who's been the talk of the town. Red Sammy, the affectionate nickname for the man behind Blighty's Boys that most Americans know him by, is now giving way for a new but likely older man to take charge while he goes off to the next big journey. He started off young and has his whole life to dedicate to his adventure.

And just what is that adventure? Normally sports coaches go on to teach other teams, but where do you go after achieving national glory? Others just kick back on retirement funds, or their wives' success at the bar, but he's got no interest in that.

As to reports of him getting into politics?

"I'm not putting anything down on paper until the cup's over." That's always been 'Red Sammy's' line when asked about taking his political career outside of the internet and Question Time. But what about now?

Time for a history lesson, for those not in the know about the UK's prodigal son.

He's not been the first member of Britain's baseball team to get political and he's not even made the most political moves. Red Sox fans still haven't entirely forgiven him for being a part of the baseball team that refused to even shake their Senator's hand during the 1980 World Cup. That they had won a victory much like this year's and dedicated it to 'a recent victim, and all victims of, terrorist thugs' made it all the worse. Brits still snap back at accusations of disrespect that it's a bold claim from the nation that didn't dip the flag in 1908. Their head of state's consort hadn't been blown up either.

It was a strong line that discomforted extreme British liberals as much as it enraged the Irish community in New York. But that doesn't mean Red Sammy is a rare exception. His predecessor turned his back to Prime Minister Clarke over healthcare reform when offered a handshake. Like the Church and the Crown, baseball in England isn't as right-wing as it used to be. They may still rise for King Charles and Queen Amanda Mountbatten when they visited last week with their son, but it's the Prime Minister they'd stand and applaud.

But this is about the coach of the team. Not the shoulders he's stood on or the people he's shaken hands with. This is about a man who fell in love with the game watching it with his father. This is a man bold enough to wear a Red Sox hat and have a British accent, the courage of which probably made the team and state of Massachusetts learn to love Britain again. His show of respect for Ted Kennedy helped too.

He had dreams of playing in front of thousands and holding up the cup for Great Britain. Sometimes dreams do come true and sometimes you have to improvise. For all his love of the sport, trying to play at the professional level failed as badly as the Crown Prince's attempt at throwing the first pitch at the game just yesterday.

But for those who can't do, they teach.

And teach he did. He rose up the ranks from a local team to regional to national. Cup after cup, win after win, and success after success. He's beloved by social media, and not just because of his sharp wit against trolls and right-wing politicians, and respected by his fellow coaches of all sports for his experience. He's not like a certain American counterpart who has achieved national success in 'sport' and has turned that success into political gain. The only thing they have in common is that neither are afraid of controversy. It's a fool's game to think that a man who commits to body-building at the age of seventy wouldn't win a physical fight and it's a good thing that there's an ocean between the two. But that hasn't stopped Britain's newest sporting hero's comments from being admirable, if the exact words weren't as catchy as they probably sounded in his head.

"The President is welcome is visit London if he wishes, but he should probably expect a similar reception to what he got back when he was a character on the TV screen." He tweeted. When a followed asked if he thought Britain should speak up against America's newest source of entertainment and anguish. "In the words of his arch-nemesis, hell yes we should be tough enough."

What it sparked was a social media spat between Red Sammy and the Union Party's most infamous firebrand that is still going on today. "Baffling to hear the Left nowadays. Are we really going to spit in our oldest and greatest ally? To quote our friend in Washington, no chance in hell! #AngloSolidarity" came up against "Calling out score-settling with the FBI, bullying in the White House, and a mafia-style approach to foreign politics isn't drivel. The Tories' refusal to speak out shows how empty their promises of change are."

It's a welcome change from the Prime Minister's refusal to match that language and a not-subtle message.

Both may be Labor men, and neither are the picture-perfect image of a politician old and new, but the tensions are obvious. Number 10's staff view him as another urban intellectual who's bitter about his brother being sacked for the same reason and who hates that Labour is back to the days of Clement Attlee and Ernest Bevan who were more British than socialist. What truly poisoned the waters was last year when one said that the IRA would never be forgiven for what they've done, without mentioning extreme Protestant terrorists bombing Catholic communities, while the other all but said that both sides had done something wrong.

The Prime Minister of Britain is not someone who looks at these cases with a nuanced eye. Not for nothing that the Prime Minister was praised as "a glorious titan of a leader" in his first session after winning the election. He keeps busts of Lenin and Zhou Enlai, but he's too committed to the Special Relationship to match Red Sammy. Too much is at stake and too much has been invested to throw it all away.

In a time of insurgency from the far-right, he'd be welcomed as a reliable and consistent pillar for the world we thought we lived in, if a bit too 'jingo' for London or New York's tastes. For the left, however, his patriotism comes off as crude and as does his refusal to support Home Rule for Scotland. Rumors that he wants to introduce something similar to our Pledge of Allegiance haven't gone down well, nor does the sign that yet again a Prime Minister can't bear to even consider a deal with Europe or re-open talks with the IRA. There's a bust of Queen Elizabeth II in his office as well.

It's not just the liberals, however, but his policies also make conservatives uncomfortable, especially his 'Americanization' of the civil service. Business leaders have complained that the Prime Minister has also started to turn the screws on those who attack his policies which may sound familiar to Americans right now. Others say that if they don't want to be criticised by the PM, they shouldn't make political statements. It's a great comeback to some, a chilling precedent to others. There's a reason a picture of him shaking hands and being chummy with infamous communist Tony Benn is so prominent.

Maybe Britain's tired of the Prime Minister, judging from Labor's poll rating. Maybe Britain really does think 'I agree with Nick' like the Union Party do.

Or maybe this is a lesson for a baseball-coach looking to get into politics. Just because you can win a game of baseball, it doesn't mean you can take the gold. British baseball happily co-exists with cricket, rounders, soccer, rugby, and all kinds of sports, but it doesn't make a man a billionaire or President. It might not be enough that he has academic friends willing to help on policy. Maybe he can only tweet human.

So why not go for the safer bet?

He's popular in his hometown and he has an identity outside of the party he's a proud member of. The Union Party's deployed an eccentric campaign though to match an eccentric candidate. He's not your typical Union candidate; relatively young, a political outsider, and he looks more like London with its ethnic diversity and relaxation with the globalised world than past challengers to Labor. That might be why he's bringing a chill to their spine as a threat to what's been a Labor town for decades.

Can Sol Campbell be stopped?

"All I can do for now is congratulate the team on a job well-done and give thanks for everyone who's cheered us on for all these years." Is the line I got when I asked about his plans for London. "As for politics, well, I'm not one for pre-distributing answers to questions I haven't answered yet."

If Ed 'Red Sammy' Miliband is thinking of running for politics and scoring that home run, then he might need to hire a good speech-writer in the future.

Also, after listening to his victory speech again, maybe this coach needs some coaching of his own in the vocal department.
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