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Sports Arena
Why Brazil Lost
The beautiful game is dead.
The soccer giant favored to win its sixth World Cup has lost its touch, and Brazil’s jogo bonito, that spirited and smooth choreography, is no longer the veritable samba it used to be.
Watching Pelé’s deceptive dribble of the ball was like watching the passo de samba, the stationary, speedy steps of those bronzed, glittered, feathered beautiful bodies that light up the Carnaval samba school parades. Obsess for yourself:
You can even anticipate the next moves – no matter the theme of the samba school, no matter the Brazilian team — because somehow the spirit of the action is, well, moving. Our bodies unconsciously yank about as if we are kicking that ball right into the net.
But why is the jogo bonito so delicious to watch? Is there a seductive “moving” gene in the Brazilian DNA?
Turns out that we — that raucous, vuvuzela-tooting crowd — enjoy watching the action because it is all happening right inside our head. We are our own audience.
But how can this be?
When research subjects watched films of ballet or capoeira (a Brazilian martial art), scans showed that the same areas in the brain are activated as those used to execute the very movements they were watching. Our brain virtually “moves” along every step of the way, so much so that it stimulates physiological responses — such as increased oxygen consumption, increased heart-rate — to the point where the weak hearted might suffer a heart attack merely by watching strenuous sports.
But how does the brain do this?
Giacomo Rizzolatti and his colleagues at the University of Parma, Italy, discovered that the brain has specialized cells, aptly called mirror neurons, which mimic the actions of others. This was illustrated in “point light” experiments where people watched films of people dancing, cycling and doing other activities in a dark room with tiny lights attached to their shoulders, elbows, wrists, knees and ankles. The observers easily identified not just the actions of the “performers” but their intentions, emotions, beliefs, genders and personalities, too. Just from the point lights alone!
This is why mentally “going through the motions” is just about as good as rehearsing to improve a dancer’s or a golfer’s or, to the point, a soccer player’s performance. To observe, then, is to dance. Or to dribble, kick, or score a goal.
This finely facilitated perception of human movement is behind our ability to read body language and to readily express our own. It’s social intelligence, or a capacity to navigate our social world that allows us to figure out “where others are coming from” (are they angry or happy?), “where they are going” (are they coming to yell at me or to ask for help?) or what their next play is going to be (pass or dribble), so we know how to react accordingly.
But whether you call this social intelligence, or a mental mirroring of others, it also happens to be our ability to empathize because it uses the same mental rehearsal of the motions of others to allow us to…you guessed it…put ourselves in someone else’s shoes. Some of us fail miserably, while others can truly “feel your pain.”
If empathy is the great imitator and lubricant of social life it naturally plays a role in dancing. So when someone says, I can’t dance, you can be sure to catch this introvert stiffly jerking about on the dance floor. I know you’ve seen them and, if you’re half empathetic, you feel their pain to the point of cringing with embarrassment. Am I right?
But when someone says, “I’ve got rhythm,” they will no doubt have the graceful social movements of an extrovert that translate well on the dance floor. It’s why Bill Clinton can “cut a rug.” And Hillary can’t.
This is the Brazilians. It’s not for nothing that an American Airlines ad said Brazilians are the warmest people in all of Latin America. Like a litter of puppies physically entangled with one another, Brazilians can never seem to let go. Goodbyes last forever with a thousand kisses. Even in emails. And talking to strangers? Well, there aren’t any. When I buy a pair of shoes in Brazil, I don’t just acquire footwear but some new good girlfriends who swoon over me with heart and, um, sole as they rang up my purchase.
Letter to the Editor View all comments (24) | Leave a comment
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Kitty| 7.6.10 @ 7:11AM
So, Brazil got too big for its cleats.
ggoblue| 7.6.10 @ 8:43AM
their brains were dead
the s. american temperament is easy to predict...put them under any kind of adversity and they just get furious...and collapse.
the germans play a beautiful game, and any team than can beat them will have to do the same...
Kipling| 7.6.10 @ 8:53AM
Perhaps Ms. Duffles is correct about why Brazil lost, but this article does not make me think the author has much insight into soccer. And calling Brazil "[t]he soccer giant favored to win its sixth consecutive World Cup" is incorrect. Brazil did not win the last five World Cups, although it did win five World Cups in the past.
loulou| 7.6.10 @ 9:55AM
Correct me if I'm wrong, but Brazil is a lawless country. If Brazillians can dance and play soccer, great--that's about all they can do. Oops. They have oil. I love Brazil.
canuckistani| 7.6.10 @ 11:48AM
Turner: Do we have plans?
Higgins: No. Absolutely not. We have games. That's all. We play games. What if? How many men? What would it take? Is there a cheaper way to destabilize a team? That's what we're paid to do.
Turner: So Brazil just took the games too seriously. Suppose I hadn't stumbled on their plan?
Higgins: Different ballgame. Fact is, there was nothing wrong with the plan. Oh, the plan was all right, the plan would've worked.
Turner: Boy, what is it with you people? You think not getting caught in a lie is the same thing as telling the truth?
Higgins: No. It's simple economics. Today it's soccer, right? In ten or fifteen years, beach volleyball. Jai alai. And maybe even sooner. Now, what do you think the people are gonna want us to do then?
Turner: Ask them.
Higgins: Not now — then! Ask 'em when they're running out. Ask 'em when there's no heat in their homes and they're cold. Ask 'em when their emotions stop. Ask 'em when people who have never known losing start going mad. You wanna know something? They won't want us to ask 'em. They'll just want us to get it for 'em!
Turner: Boy, have you found a home. There were goals and red cards, Higgins.
Higgins: The country didn't order it.
Turner: Brazil did. And who the hell is Brazil? He's you. He's all you guys. A tournament over, and you play games!
Higgins: Right. And the other side does, too.
Charles Martel| 7.6.10 @ 2:06PM
Bravo! Three Days of the... Parrot?
+++
AMENBRO| 7.6.10 @ 11:50AM
loulou,,,You ain't seen nothin yet. Your observation is shall we say a polite UNDERSTATEMENT..
IT WILL BE OPEN SEASON ON TOURIST IN RIO DURING THE OLYMPICS.
Course would it have been much different in the studiously OBAMAS ORGANIZED neighborhoods of Valerie Jarrett's Families enterprizing Public Housing ownings. Corrupt brick & mortar bid rigging to lack of management into condemning of the buildings to sell off the real estate to build the Olympic grounds those paragons of virtue from Chicago intended.
Probable not much safer. Another reason for DALEY to disarm the lawful that's all. CHICAGO dodged a bullet so ta speak loosing their bribe err I mean bid for the Olympics. Look for ever effort possible to be foisted upon Chicago's citizenry to keep them from their constitutional Rights, RECENTLY REITERATED by 5/4 Decision, to own HANDGUNS and other forms of self defense.
OBAMAS organizing includes MICHELLE, the 324K paid to do what, "AMERICA is a MEAN PLACE", dimwit.
Among her other activities she was a huge promulgator of RACISM. Public Allies is a Chicago organization of tax payer funded protesters. Barack Obama founded Public Allies in Chicago in 1992, and Michelle Obama became the executive director. The group uses tax payer dollars to pay people who sign up. The Public Allies paid members spend most of their time protesting. Public Allies teaches the young adults that work for them that America is a racist, oppressive place in need of "social change."
Public Allies was intended , probable still is being turned into the domestic security apparatus BAMMI BAM Barry yaps about less now than before America's dumbasses elected him.
Just flat out AMAZZZZING isn't it!!!
Lisa| 7.6.10 @ 1:57PM
Excuse me, but is this The American Spectator or Sports Illustrated?
Charles Martel| 7.6.10 @ 2:09PM
The American Spectator -- sizzling politics, cultural observation, movie reviews, and on the rare occasion, sport. Or hadn't you noticed?
+++
JmsA| 7.6.10 @ 5:45PM
The end result has nothing to do with brain function or rhythm: Brazil lost because the Dutch team, a better team, and the only one to so far have won all of its tournament games, played better than Brazil.
Pete| 7.6.10 @ 8:15PM
That game was an embarrassing flop-a-thon that was difficult to watch. I don't care for either team, but am fairly certain Brazil would have advanced if not for the softest goal in the tournament bringing the score level. Call me racist, but I can take a long haired South American diving around acting as if he had just received news that his family had been beheaded, but to see the Dutch do the same made me sick to my stomach.
Mark| 10.11.10 @ 1:54AM
Oi Marilia,
Sou norte-americano e ha 3 anos que moro e trabalho aqui no Brasil. Acho legal que voce adora as pessoas aqui e a cultura. Mas acho estranho que voce pensa que brasileiros tem empatia. Nunca vi um povo tao superficial como o brasileiro. So porque a palavra "coitado" nao existe em ingles nao quer dizer nada. You can translate it as "poor thing" if you like. Eh comum em ingles usa duas palavras para uma idea. Por isso temos muito phrasal verbs. Durante meus tres anos no brasil nunca vi tantos pessoas obsesivas sobre aperencia ou roupas de marca ou viagens para fazer compras no Miami, ou gastando $600 BRL por um par de Nike Shox enquanto a maioria do povo brasileiro sofrem pra caramba! Vc nem viu as criancas na rua, ja conversou com os "pobres coitados" daqui e perguntou se este pais realmente tem empatia? Maybe Americans have become rude in day to day behavior but our society is 10,000 times more just than Brazilian society. Brasileiros are great at welcoming gringos their country and bedazzling them with their charm. But beware... there is a very, very dark side to this very unjust society that you seem to adore. Not to rain on your parade, I thought just like you the first year that I was working here.