The Importance of Alphonso Davies

[red card]

Only Canadian football player with mainstream appeal or mainstream superstar status in history has been Sinclair only. Now with Davies going to Bayern and being put in a global Nike ad, this puts him on the path to being our second superstar - assuming he continues to deliver on the pitch and does something on note in a future World Cup.

The ad itself standard Nike fare seen over the years - rebel against plain vanilla views and/or the celebration of non plain vanilla people. The clear majority of Nike wearers are under 40 and key segment is under 30. Its their data analytics and proven record of capturing the right zeitgeist against the emotions of a segment of the population who largely don't buy their product. They own the rights to uniform the NFL for another few years and yet they gave the finger to the NFL. This is them just doing it as expressed in the ad - very powerful inspiration for the under 30 crowd who can't stand boomers.

Edited September 7, 2018 by red card

[BuzzAndSting]

On 9/5/2018 at 8:45 PM, SpursFlu said:

Anyone find it a little cowardly that the MLS isnt taking credit for this ad in any way. Went on their site and lots of excitement on a player scoring a goal in a meaningless friendly but nothing about Alphonso featuring in a major Nike ad campaign. How damaged is that country down there?

Probably because they have a major deal with Adidas.

[Grizzly]

3 hours ago, Blackdude said:

Ok. If you want to talk about Kaepernick or the ad and not really talk about what it does for Davies. Go do it there. http://www.thevoyageurs.org/forums/forum/16-general-off-topic-discussion/

If you want to talk about Alphonso Davies,  you can talk about it in this thread. 

With the group we have, I think Davies might score 2 and play the last 30 minutes at left back.

Alphonso Davies is famous for two things, being the most promising young Canadian player and being the player who every thread we open about him on the Voyageurs gets derailed and off topic.  It was one month ago today that SoccerOnly closed the previous Davies thread and opened this one with the words:

New Davies thread tomorrow with zero of this shit.

[aloyol]

On 9/5/2018 at 2:58 PM, Obinna said:

woman boxing in a burka

Please, check the difference between a hijab and a burka.

As for the commercial, I liked it and I'm glad the new face of Canadian soccer is a part of it.

[Macksam]

I decided to ignore this thread for a few days and to my delight, I came back to this

It's time for Deus Ex Macksam to come down from the heavens and fire a machine gun of red pills into this thread. It's time to stop this none-sense and set things straight.

 

On ‎9‎/‎5‎/‎2018 at 4:40 PM, villus said:

The US President who is a rambling racist idiot yes.  I'm going to bet Nike has a lot more analytics on the issue then we do.  Its not really insane, Kaepernick is probably wildly popular amongst their target audience for their gear and people who are cool and edgy are going to be more likely to rock Nike gear.  They aren't worrying about white 45 y/o Larry from Arkansas who doesn't like Kaepernick because he kneels for the anthem.  I'm not even going to get into the people who hate on Kaepernick are wholly misguided and characterizing his protest on their own twisted narrative completely ignoring his words or what he's bringing attention to.  

The thing is, he hasn't even fully articulated what he's protesting about. 

On ‎9‎/‎5‎/‎2018 at 4:51 PM, villus said:

I personally think it will end up good or at worst neutral for them, more people are moving away from Trumpism then towards and Nike is already front and center in black culture.    

Says who? Like Obinna pointed out, populism is rising....a lot of it due to the irrational insanity of the left.

On ‎9‎/‎5‎/‎2018 at 5:08 PM, Unnamed Trialist said:

Every single worried post so far on this thread, wondering why Nike is shooting themselves in the foot, saying it is going to hurt them, are surprisingly short-sighted about exactly what Nike is, where and to what degree.

A sweat shop brand manufactured by children from Vietnam?

On ‎9‎/‎5‎/‎2018 at 5:43 PM, Unnamed Trialist said:

This article, which a friend from England sent me a few months ago, has really gotten me thinking about why the American anthem is even allowed in Canada. You could make an argument: its roots are deeply offensive and a case could be made to ban its playing in Canada.

Its original version did not only glorify killing slaves, it also was proud about killing our British Canadian forefathers. 

https://www.chicagosportsbreakingnews.com/2018/05/24/is-the-nfl-is-enabling-white-contempt-for-african-americans/

Sure, a few stanzas allude to those things. O' Canada has a stanza that delves heavy in Roman Catholicism but it's never apart of the stadium friendly version we hear. Not a great equivalency mind you but still.

On ‎9‎/‎5‎/‎2018 at 5:48 PM, Obinna said:

Money aside, the court of public opinion can enhance brands, but it can also hurt them.

They lost a few billion dollars of market cap when this announcement was made so that's telling. It might actually be a good time to buy.

On ‎9‎/‎5‎/‎2018 at 6:12 PM, villus said:

Diversity overkill you say?  Thanks for finally coming out and saying it at least, when a couple posts up you clearly were trying to disguise what you meant by saying it was "odd".  There has been rises of Nationalism and racism throughout history and when economic issues raise its head there are always people waiting to exploit ignorance to gain power and lay blame on immigrants and those who look different to the majority, nothing new and we've seen what it leads to in the past.  

Racism does not equal nationalism. 

As for the bolded, please provide evidence of who has done this recently.

On ‎9‎/‎5‎/‎2018 at 10:13 PM, Kent said:

Am I the only one that doesn’t think the commercial is a departure from previous Nike campaigns? Inspirational speeches and/or slogans is what they aim for. This commercial is about believing in your dreams and working your tail off to achieve them. It’s just that Colin Kaepernick was the guy reading it.

Yes, ironic isn't it.

23 hours ago, villus said:

Trump supporters at this point are fine with open bigotry, he got his start calling Mexican's rapists its not a big stretch.  

Oh my, are we really playing this angle? This is some CNN/MSNBC level false narrative my man.

He said some illegal Mexicans crossing the borders are rapists. He never called Mexicans rapists.

22 hours ago, villus said:

People try to draw a moral equivalence on the left and the right in the United States, currently that's a tactic to muddy the waters.  I call it the way I see it, the right is looney and dangerous in the US and Trump and the whole GOP and their base is proving that every day we've never seen anything like that in North America.  I appreciate your viewpoint and am happy to hear different views to my own.  

Yes, because it's crazy right-wing organizations like BAM (by an means necessary) and Antifa that attack innocent people from practicing their freedom of speech and assembling peacefully.....oh wait, they're actually looney lefty groups.

You had my sides hurting with that one.

21 hours ago, villus said:

Muhammed Ali is referenced as the greatest because he didn't shy away from what was difficult, people forget he was massively controversial and divisive but he stood up for what he believed in and is called the greatest ever not simply because his athletic accomplishments.  Sports are one part of life, Kaepernick is going to be remembered much more fondly and have a bigger impact because of his stance, the people who would hold the commercial against Alphonso are not the people you'd want in your corner anyways imo.  

He protested something legit, tangible, something people understood. Kaepernick is just an opportunist trying to save his career.

13 hours ago, Unnamed Trialist said:

Kaepernick was not on his way out. That is a patent error. He was a starter for a leading team in the NFL. And has the talent to still be.  

He was ranked 31 of 32 QBs when he first kneeled. He lost his starting position. He had one good season and fell off the map. This was an attempt at publicity to save his career. People even initially asked him if he was protesting not being a starting QB and he kind of mumbled something half coherent about police brutality and mission accomplished, he is still relevant. 

Also, the Broncos offered him a deal when he was a free agent so the collusion thing is probably not going to go his way.

10 hours ago, Keegan said:

Find me an example of someone calling someone the N word with a hard “er”.. where it was somehow culturally acceptable.  

I think Kap is a confused individual who probably felt a little left out of the black community and so he’s gone extreme.  I think it bothered him that he wasn’t considered a black QB, that he grew up with white parents etc. And you know, he clearly strayed from one extreme to the other instead.  

This.

5 hours ago, villus said:

Oh you mean all the soldiers who have come out and said that they risked their lives for the freedom for people like Kaepernick to protest?  Anyone can be offended for any reason they want, whether its logical or in any way related is a different story.  

Besides all that an anthem is simply a song, if people are more worried about the sacred anthem then they are of real people who are mistreated by police every day then I think their priorities are misplaced.  People are going to have an issue with however people protest if its against what they agree with, they always criticize protest for being violent or for disrupting businesses why can't they simply be peaceful?  His protest is peaceful and respectful and people still bitch and go after him, its not the protest or the manner but the fact that they do not want to consider or hear the reasons behind the protest. 

Is he protesting police brutality against the black community? If so, that is misguided.

4 hours ago, Acid-Tone said:

And many veterans have come out and said that they have no problem with his protest.   That they had proudly fought for freedom.  Which includes the freedom to peacefully protest injustices when they see them.

Yes, freedom to protest was never the issue, it was the NFL's inaction on the issue. The First Amendment does not protect you from your employer laying the smack down on you. This is why NFL ratings tanked, the owner's inaction on handling the situation. All they had to do was levy fines to players doing it and it would have stopped immediately. 

Edited September 7, 2018 by Macksam

[finchster]

*Thinks to myself* I wonder what all the latest information is on Davies, I'd better check the V's site.

*Enters the tread* Where is the Davies stuff? All I see are Canadian's acting self-righteous about American politics and social issues. Canadians never do that sort of thing ever!

*Shows myself out*

[Shway]

Sigh...Everyone has their own perspectives - whether right or wrong but let's leave the politics out of this thread. Leave American issues outside of Canada (although they sometimes coesist), but quiet frankly I don't give two shits about the piece of shit country below us.

But what I know is that Alphonso Davies proudly sings the CANADIAN national anthem, with his hand over his heart, and Canada is sponsored by Umbro. 

[El Hombre]

8 hours ago, Macksam said:

I decided to ignore this thread for a few days and to my delight, I came back to this

It's time for Deus Ex Macksam to come down from the heavens and fire a machine gun of red pills into this thread. It's time to stop this none-sense and set things straight.

....

The thing is, he hasn't even fully articulated what he's protesting about. 

Says who? Like Obinna pointed out, populism is rising....a lot of it due to the irrational insanity of the left.

...

They lost a few billion dollars of market cap when this announcement was made so that's telling. It might actually be a good time to buy.

...

Oh my, are we really playing this angle? This is some CNN/MSNBC level false narrative my man.

He said some illegal Mexicans crossing the borders are rapists. He never called Mexicans rapists.

Yes, because it's crazy right-wing organizations like BAM (by an means necessary) and Antifa that attack innocent people from practicing their freedom of speech and assembling peacefully.....oh wait, they're actually looney lefty groups.

You had my sides hurting with that one.

...

He protested something legit, tangible, something people understood. Kaepernick is just an opportunist trying to save his career.

He was ranked 31 of 32 QBs when he first kneeled. He lost his starting position. He had one good season and fell off the map. This was an attempt at publicity to save his career. People even initially asked him if he was protesting not being a starting QB and he kind of mumbled something half coherent about police brutality and mission accomplished, he is still relevant. 

Also, the Broncos offered him a deal when he was a free agent so the collusion thing is probably not going to go his way.

In order to "red pill" effectively, you have to provide facts and not just claims and opinions.  There are a number of things that are problematic here:

1) Colin Kaepernick first sat during the national anthem during the first preseason game in 2016.  It is hard to be ranked effectively at that point in the season.  However it is true that the 2015 season was not a good one for him under his new coach and was shortened by injury.  As a lifelong Detroit Lions fan, I am intimately familiar with how changes in coaches/management can affect a player's performance.

2) He was pretty clear as to what message he was sending based on the coverage around that time.  I will admit that he was about as articulate as most football players, which is to say, not very.  To me, that points to it being less of a publicity stunt and more of a message as publicity stunts are usually thought out and prepared for.  That's just my opinion though however, it is hard to lambast him for being an opportunist and inarticulate in the same breath.  Those run counter to each other.

3) You are correct that he lost his starting job, however he won it back later that season and went on to play the majority of the games for his team.  Not sure he needed to continue to save his career at that point.  By starting 11 of the team's games that season, he had proven that he can play at that level and actually set his high mark for yards per rush that season.  With the emergence of Cam Newton and, to a lesser extent, Russell Wilson as dual-threat QBs, it is hard to make an argument that a team hasn't needed him in some role over the last little while.  Especially when guys like Mark Sanchez and Josh Mccown were able to find work in that time.  Even the guy he replaced in SF found work with the Cardinals and is now with the Titans.

3) The Broncos offer was made after he demanded a trade in February of 2016.  The Broncos presented him with a two year contract sometime in March or April of that year (unless there was another one I haven't heard of).  Note that this was before his first protest.

4) For someone that decried "...far left/communist tactic(s) of engaging in ad hominem attacks..." in your other thread, your points would be lot more effective if you didn't dismiss things as "irrational insanity", "false narratives" or "looney lefty".

I'm more than happy to continue this conversation elsewhere if you want.

[Oranje]

[Boominbooty]

time to lock and re-start the thread (again). It almost made it though the week. 

[Unnamed Trialist]

Just now, Boominbooty said:

time to lock and re-start the thread (again). It almost made it though the week. 

The Importance of AD is not betrayed by a discussion about Nike and him being in a commercial narrated by Kaepernick. It is perfectly in line with it, and he is part of that ad, and that narrative. Like it or not. 

[aloyol]

6 minutes ago, Unnamed Trialist said:

The Importance of AD is not betrayed by a discussion about Nike and him being in a commercial narrated by Kaepernick. It is perfectly in line with it, and he is part of that ad, and that narrative. Like it or not. 

I have to admit that I don't get the complaints about going a bit "off topic" here. Davies is part of a commercial that has been widely discussed this week. It's normal that his thread went in that direction and I don't have a problem with that TBH. You probably can expect the thread to go back to his normal informative purposes in a few days.

[Boominbooty]

6 minutes ago, Unnamed Trialist said:

The Importance of AD is not betrayed by a discussion about Nike and him being in a commercial narrated by Kaepernick. It is perfectly in line with it, and he is part of that ad, and that narrative. Like it or not. 

I do like the ad. I want to read about his soccer exploits rather than sanctimonious windbags say why this is good or not. I can read the comments in Facebook or online articles if I want my fill of ill informed political opinions. 

[Shakmur]

lol, i wanted to check out what people had to say about Davies recently and I fall on a dude trying to mesure his dick, talking like a wingnut, speaking of the irrationalism of others politics. This place sometimes, man.

[SpursFlu]

Keep in mind its 1 guy

[SpursFlu]

Ill make a big bold comment 

 

Within 5 years Alphonso Davies will be the most famous Canadian athlete globally... ever

 

With all due respect.. Gretzky, Nash, GSP. Am i missing anyone?

Edited September 7, 2018 by SpursFlu

[Keegan]

8 minutes ago, SpursFlu said:

Ill make a big bold comment 

 

Within 5 years Alphonso Davies will be the most famous Canadian athlete globally... ever

 

With all due respect.. Gretzky, Nash, GSP. Am i missing anyone?

This is a bold/crazy prediction since even if he breaks into Bayern he’s not going to be more well known globally than any of those listed (or Raonic) until he does something at the top level I.e World Cup or champions league within the next 5 years.

But of course I’ll take your advice:

59 minutes ago, SpursFlu said:

Keep in mind its 1 guy

 

 

Edited September 7, 2018 by Keegan

[Kent]

1 hour ago, SpursFlu said:

Ill make a big bold comment 

 

Within 5 years Alphonso Davies will be the most famous Canadian athlete globally... ever

 

With all due respect.. Gretzky, Nash, GSP. Am i missing anyone?

Interesting. I've never been that clear on just how big Formula 1 is. Would Jacques Villeneuve have ever been as famous as that list of athletes? If we shrink the time range of their fame down to the proverbial 15 minutes or so, what about Donovan Bailey? Or for that matter, for the right then wrong reasons, Ben Johnson?

[villus]

17 hours ago, Macksam said:

I decided to ignore this thread for a few days and to my delight, I came back to this

It's time for Deus Ex Macksam to come down from the heavens and fire a machine gun of red pills into this thread. It's time to stop this none-sense and set things straight.

 

The thing is, he hasn't even fully articulated what he's protesting about. 

Says who? Like Obinna pointed out, populism is rising....a lot of it due to the irrational insanity of the left.

A sweat shop brand manufactured by children from Vietnam?

Sure, a few stanzas allude to those things. O' Canada has a stanza that delves heavy in Roman Catholicism but it's never apart of the stadium friendly version we hear. Not a great equivalency mind you but still.

They lost a few billion dollars of market cap when this announcement was made so that's telling. It might actually be a good time to buy.

Racism does not equal nationalism. 

As for the bolded, please provide evidence of who has done this recently.

Yes, ironic isn't it.

Oh my, are we really playing this angle? This is some CNN/MSNBC level false narrative my man.

He said some illegal Mexicans crossing the borders are rapists. He never called Mexicans rapists.

Yes, because it's crazy right-wing organizations like BAM (by an means necessary) and Antifa that attack innocent people from practicing their freedom of speech and assembling peacefully.....oh wait, they're actually looney lefty groups.

You had my sides hurting with that one.

He protested something legit, tangible, something people understood. Kaepernick is just an opportunist trying to save his career.

He was ranked 31 of 32 QBs when he first kneeled. He lost his starting position. He had one good season and fell off the map. This was an attempt at publicity to save his career. People even initially asked him if he was protesting not being a starting QB and he kind of mumbled something half coherent about police brutality and mission accomplished, he is still relevant. 

Also, the Broncos offered him a deal when he was a free agent so the collusion thing is probably not going to go his way.

This.

Is he protesting police brutality against the black community? If so, that is misguided.

Yes, freedom to protest was never the issue, it was the NFL's inaction on the issue. The First Amendment does not protect you from your employer laying the smack down on you. This is why NFL ratings tanked, the owner's inaction on handling the situation. All they had to do was levy fines to players doing it and it would have stopped immediately. 

I'm not gonna clutter this thread anymore with politics and to be frank for people who don't understand Trump's appeal to bigotry at this point there isn't really any point in trying to convince them otherwise or trying to debate that, there is ample evidence to the contrary.

 

[Obinna]

As most of you know, Davies so far has 3 goals in 6 caps. I don't think it's outside of the realm of possibility for him to score 4 on sunday. That would put him at 7 in 7...and that would easily be the best start to a canadian national team career we have ever seen. 

[Macksam]

10 hours ago, El Hombre said:

4) For someone that decried "...far left/communist tactic(s) of engaging in ad hominem attacks..." in your other thread, your points would be lot more effective if you didn't dismiss things as "irrational insanity", "false narratives" or "looney lefty".

I'm more than happy to continue this conversation elsewhere if you want.

I'm pretty sure I backed up everything I said...without references but ask and you shall receive.

Looney lefty organizations and the irrational insanity of the left go hand in hand so there are a tonne of examples to cite:

https://youtu.be/G8UGYEP69-0

https://youtu.be/UtBBo2_FmC0

https://youtu.be/1NG7h3rw41E

If you're not aware, you can find all these examples of the left attacking the right for peacefully demonstrating. 100% of these attacks are always organizations like Antifa coming to pick a fight with whoever it may be (Patriot Prayer, Proud Boys, etc.). I wish it wasn't the case but it's never the other way around. Even something as extreme as the Alt-right doing their Unite the Right demonstration was angry, unhinged leftists attacking the alt-right, who were just demonstrating. I don't like the alt-right as much as the next guy but they had a permit and the first amendment applies to them so they're allowed to assemble and say what they had to say. If they were just left alone, none of those bizarre incidents and scuffles would have happened but of course, the extreme left is always looking for a fight it seems. 

Irrational insanity of the left? Just look at that first video where Yvette Felarca attacks that guy. This is a mentally unhinged person and now she's trying to argue in court that the charges should be dropped because she thinks she was "fighting dem Nazis *derp*" You can find a lot of videos on YouTube about her but here's an interview with Tucker Carlson:

https://youtu.be/-g5kX88Wviw

This is an irrational individual...to the point of stupidity IMO.

False narratives? Well it's true, he never called Mexicans rapists. He said illegal Mexicans are crossing the border and some are murderers and rapists, which his true. I'll leave this one to you, if you can find a video where he calls all Mexicans rapists, I'll eat my words. 

 

3 hours ago, villus said:

I'm not gonna clutter this thread anymore with politics and to be frank for people who don't understand Trump's appeal to bigotry at this point there isn't really any point in trying to convince them otherwise or trying to debate that, there is ample evidence to the contrary.

 

You must provide the facts. That's the issue with the left these days, a lot of emotions, very little facts. 

I'm not going to deny that some people with bigoted views have latched onto him but that is far from the majority of Trump supporters.

Edited September 8, 2018 by Macksam

[Macksam]

I'm not trying to be the bad guy here. I'm just trying to give another view to these things and I may rub people the wrong way, which I will take some ownership of.

I consider everyone here my brother, my Voyageurs brothers you all are to me. It's hard (will hopefully change in the near future) finding other people who are as passionate about Canadian soccer as all of us.

@Bertuzzi44@RS@Grizzly@Unnamed Trialist@villus@Keegan@Obinna@Oranje@El Hombre@SpursFlu@Jahinho Guerro

Edited September 7, 2018 by Macksam

[Guest]

6 hours ago, Keegan said:

This is a bold/crazy prediction since even if he breaks into Bayern he’s not going to be more well known globally than any of those listed (or Raonic) until he does something at the top level I.e World Cup or champions league within the next 5 years.

But of course I’ll take your advice:

 

 

I’d argue it would not be that hard to be more famous than Gretzky considering how insignificant hockey is to every country other than upper N.A and a handful of European countries.

[El Hombre]

1 hour ago, Macksam said:

Looney lefty organizations and the irrational insanity of the left go hand in hand so there are a tonne of examples to cite:

If you're not aware, you can find all these examples of the left attacking the right for peacefully demonstrating. 100% of these attacks are always organizations like Antifa coming to pick a fight with whoever it may be (Patriot Prayer, Proud Boys, etc.).

I wish it wasn't the case but it's never the other way around.

Even something as extreme as the Alt-right doing their Unite the Right demonstration was angry, unhinged leftists attacking the alt-right, who were just demonstrating.

the extreme left is always looking for a fight it seems. 

False narratives? Well it's true, he never called Mexicans rapists. He said illegal Mexicans are crossing the border and some are murderers and rapists, which his true. I'll leave this one to you, if you can find a video where he calls all Mexicans rapists, I'll eat my words. 

I don't think I've ever been more disappointed in something written here than I am now.

[Scorpion26]

Herdman on Davies

Nice article from MLS.com