U.S. Senator Jon Tester and US Agriculture Deputy Secretary Kathleen Merrigan flew into Glendive Saturday evening on Tester's Local Foods Tour of the state of Montana. In Glendive, the Senator was hosted by the Farm-to-Table Cooperative that helps local farmers move their products to market.
Merrigan focused on the USDA's 'Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food' initiative which promotes local and regional food systems by stimulating community economic development and ensuring equitable access to fresh and local foods.
In the Audio to the left of this column, Tester and Merrigan spoke to The Examiner about the local foods movement and how it fits into the 2012 Farm Bill preparation.
In Glendive, Tester and Merrigan dined at the Elk's Club, hosted by Farm to Table Chef Garth Clingingsmith who is also the manager of the Farm-to-Table Coop's Food and Ag Development Center. The pair tasted area wines, locally grown produce, and beef alongside coop members who provided the locally grown raw goods for Chef Clingingsmith to prepare.Senator Jon Tester and US Agriculture Deputy Secretary Kathleen Merrigan flew into Glendive Saturday evening on Tester's Local Foods Tour of the state of Montana. In Glendive, the Senator was hosted by the Farm-to-Table Cooperative that helps local farmers move their products to market.
All the skills of a soccer nation were wrapped up in one audacious move. The little man in the orange shoes skittered to where he had no business being, yards from the goal.
Then he flipped a ball through a moving obstacle, namely Carlos Bocanegra’s legs.
“Unbelievable,” Bocanegra, the American captain, said of the gall of Argentina’s Lionel Messi. “My legs are not that far apart, and he puts it through. I’m like, ‘Come on.’ ”
The accumulated nerve and talent of an entire country led to an Argentina goal on a subsequent rebound late in the first half Saturday night, but the United States dug in and rallied for a 1-1 draw in a friendly match in front of 78,936 fans at New Meadowlands Stadium.
Bob Bradley, the Americans’ coach, has visited Argentina to study up close how that nation produced not just Diego Maradona and Messi, but also the hundreds of professionals who have migrated to the best leagues in Europe, players who won the World Cup in 1978 and 1986.
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In a casual moment in training camp last week, Bradley recalled a visit to Argentina to get the feel of how that nation develops its vast talent. He saw how major clubs worked, and was then taken to a neighborhood club where children learn the sport.
“I get to a social hall, where they are serving cappuccinos in front, and probably there’s a bar somewhere,” Bradley said, “and in the back there’s a wood floor, and here come all these kids being dropped off, different sizes and shapes. The parents come and drop them off, and they don’t say a word, and now, the kids come in to their little stations, standing in lines.”
Bradley recalled that many of the children had a picture of a favorite player on their T-shirts, and wore their socks in his style and imitated his mannerisms — “each one having spent a lot of time with a soccer ball,” he said, perhaps enviously.
The instructors ran a game, tossing a ball into a scrum of children — “and every three seconds you have to jump.”
“All these little kids are jumping trying to win headers,” Bradley said.
Bradley also recalled, “When training is over, all these kids give the coach a kiss, ‘thank you.’ ” His respectful tone said he had journeyed to the heart of soccer, where children imitate players the way American children grow up imitating Kobe Bryant and Albert Pujols.
On Saturday night, playing for exhibition dollars and flying their brand in North America, the Argentines went ahead. And then the Yanks bounced back.
This is the problem of the United States, where the best athletes migrate to other sports. Little kids play the sport but do not watch it or emulate it. In Latin America and Europe — and most places around the world — the children want to grow up to be Messi, who plays for the superpower Barcelona, who is so prominent that Adidas makes a lightweight orange shoe in his honor.
Messi freelanced all over the field Saturday, not waiting in the weeds the way Maradona sometimes did, but moving so quickly the defense could not track him.
“He’s got complete freedom to go anywhere,” said Bocanegra, who plays for St. Etienne in France.
“He’s something special,” Bocanegra added.
The first half was almost an embarrassment, the way the United States could not clear the ball or connect a few passes. In the 42nd minute, Messi flitted inside, put the ball between Bocanegra’s wickets. Tim Howard stopped one shot by Angel Di Maria, but the sturdy Esteban Cambiasso put in the rebound.