Haggis and kilts? No Yanks

**Jimmy** · 25th January 10, 02:13 AM

Two American stars of the famous Glasgow Rangers attended the club's official Burns Supper last week but refused to wear kilts or eat Haggis, they chose to get stuck into two juicy steaks instead.
Demarcus Beasley and Maurice Edu claimed that the haggis looked more like an american football.
Maurice wrote on his twitter website 'on my way to Burns Dinner with DeMarcus Beasley... should be an interesting night, LOL, definitely not wearing a kilt and I have never tried haggis, and its not likely that it will happen tonight either'

so there is lots of work to be done with these two boys while they are playing in the dark side of Glasgow

**English Bloke** · 25th January 10, 02:20 AM

You can take the horse to water as they say Jimmy.

**McClef** · 25th January 10, 04:18 AM

Sounds like it was a case of:

Fair fa' yer honest sonsie face
Great Chieftain o' the Sirloin race!

**Chas** · 25th January 10, 04:41 AM

Seems rather pointless to me to go to a Burns Dinner and then not partake of a Burns Dinner.

I suppose all publicity is good publicity.

Regards

Chas

**OC Richard** · 25th January 10, 05:17 AM

As a US citizen I take great pride in our footballers playing at the highest levels overseas. It's a mark of us starting to "grow up" as a nation in the field of sports and beginning to take a place alongside the other nations of the world.

For too long our sports have buried their heads in the sand and acted as if only the USA (and to a lesser extent Canada) existed as sports nations.

We love our native sports, sports that evolved here and which until recently were pretty much only played here: American football, Baseball, and Basketball. I listen to US sports talk radio fairly often and to hear the way they talk, these are the only sports that exist. It's very common for these commentators to hail an American Football team that's had success as "the greatest team in the history of the world of sports" or an American head coach/manager who has had success as "the greatest coach in the world" etc etc. These people have never heard of Sir Alex Ferguson or Manchester United or any other non-US coaching figure or team. One sports radio show does a daily feature called "spanning the globe" which, of course, only spans the US. Mention soccer to most US sports fans and they'll roll their eyes and call soccer a "sissy" game because their only exposure to it is 1) seeing their kids play it (it's the No1 Youth Sport in the US) and 2) seeing highlights which dwell on "simulation" where players who are barely touched sprawl on the ground writhing in fake agony.

We US fitbaw/soccer supporters have a long uphill fight on our hands.

Actually, one of the best matches to show an American, to show off soccer as a gritty physical battle with no "simulation" going on, was the English Premiership match played a couple weeks ago in the freezing snow. (This was the day that all but two Premiership matches were cancelled due to the weather.) Early on, the Match Official made it known that he would not abide by any "simulation" and the result was a match full of the sort of body "checking" usually only seen in Ice Hockey, strong tackles worthy of Rugby or American Football, etc. That day it was "play on" regardless. One of the best matches I've ever seen.

By the way the SPL is difficult to see here because the matches are not broadcast on any regular network. They can only be seen in special Rangers Supporters Pubs or Celtic Supporters Pubs, of which we have several in Los Angeles. You get charged $20 per match at the door.

Also, why are so few keepers English? The EPL is full of US, Danish, Icelandic, German, etc etc keepers. What about the SPL?

**Paul** · 25th January 10, 05:28 AM

Trust you, Jimmy!
I'm actually surprised that Rangers have a Burns Supper. I just googled it with some expectations and they were certainly met. Donald Findlay QC addressed them this year. To be honest I knew of his position with various matters but did not know of his involvement with Rangers for some reason!

As far as some rich footballers attending such an event then not at least being involved in the culture a little, I think that's very poor. It's sort of like going to an Indian restaurant and ordering... a steak!

**Tobus** · 25th January 10, 05:46 AM

As far as some rich footballers attending such an event then not at least being involved in the culture a little, I think that's very poor. It's sort of like going to an Indian restaurant and ordering... a steak!

Actually, I would rather that they do just what they did, rather than be forced into something they don't like.

Apparently, kilts at a Burns supper are not mandatory by any means and indeed (so I'm told by many on this board) lots of people wear pants. Including Scots. So why is it a big deal if two Americans who don't even own kilts attend it pants too?

If other things are on the menu besides haggis, I see no cultural insult in ordering them, either. As long as they weren't downright disrespectful about any of it (hey, let's face it, a haggis does look like an American football), I think they did just fine. At least they had the courtesy to go, while not pretending to be something they're not.

**Paul** · 25th January 10, 08:32 AM

Originally Posted by Tobus

Actually, I would rather that they do just what they did, rather than be forced into something they don't like.

Apparently, kilts at a Burns supper are not mandatory by any means and indeed (so I'm told by many on this board) lots of people wear pants. Including Scots. So why is it a big deal if two Americans who don't even own kilts attend it pants too?

If other things are on the menu besides haggis, I see no cultural insult in ordering them, either. As long as they weren't downright disrespectful about any of it (hey, let's face it, a haggis does look like an American football), I think they did just fine. At least they had the courtesy to go, while not pretending to be something they're not.

I wasnt making reference to them not wearing kilts. That would be rediculous. In my experience, here in Scotland only around half of gentlemen wear kilts to Burns Suppers.
As you used "disrespectful", I feel that from what I gained from the twitter post I could very much relate it to that word. That's where I drew my opinions of them not being involved in the culture - even for one night that is based on celebrating culture through Robert Burns' works and memory.
Even trying vegetarian haggis (which was available) would have allowed them to try something, and it doesnt look like an American football when it's on your plate.

**Jimmy** · 25th January 10, 08:57 AM

Originally Posted by McClef

Sounds like it was a case of:

Fair fa' yer honest sonsie face
Great Chieftain o' the Sirloin race!

Brilliant last line, you should take up poetry

**wvpiper** · 25th January 10, 09:04 AM

Originally Posted by Jimmy

Two American stars of the famous Glasgow Rangers attended the club's official Burns Supper last week but refused to wear kilts or eat Haggis, they chose to get stuck into two juicy steaks instead.
Demarcus Beasley and Maurice Edu claimed that the haggis looked more like an american football.
Maurice wrote on his twitter website 'on my way to Burns Dinner with DeMarcus Beasley... should be an interesting night, LOL, definitely not wearing a kilt and I have never tried haggis, and its not likely that it will happen tonight either'

so there is lots of work to be done with these two boys while they are playing in the dark side of Glasgow

Why is there work to be done? It was a club function so they had to be there. They're not Scottish, so they weren't going to wear kilts, no big deal, and to be honest, how many of you want to eat haggis?

Much Ado about nothing.