On Tuesday, the head coach of the Tennessee football team, Derek Dooley, made a clumsy reference to his team's struggles being akin to the German reaction to the Allied invasion of Normandy, "Right now we're like the Germans in World War II. Here comes the boats, they're coming. You have the binoculars, and it's like, 'Oh, my God, the invasion is coming." He made some further comments, mentiong Patton, Rommel and the fact that the Germans were in general disarray at the start of the invasion.
First off, Derek Dooley's statements are clearly, to put it bluntly, stupid. Comparing sports and war is something best left to the realm of overly dramatic poetry and highlight reels, where the comparisons are known to be there only for dramatic effect and where they contain no specific historical references. Bringing a serious historical event into the realm of sports just doesn't make any sense. It only serves to create needless controversy, as there will undoubtedly be people offended by any kind of allusion to an event where people were killed or where core beliefs were at stake.
With that being said, what really bothers me about this whole situation is that it showcases the horrific historical ignorance that is rife in the U.S. This is seen in the reactions to the comments. In particular, two ESPN commentators who are also journalists, Tim Cowlishaw of the Dallas Morning News, and Bob Ryan of the Boston Globe. Tim Cowlishaw remarked that the comments were not only in poor taste but historically inaccurate, and Bob Ryan chipped in by boisteroisly proclaiming that "Rommel was in Africa!" At this time, I had what you might call a "face palm" moment.
In Bob Ryan's sad attempt at displaying his historical knowledge, he managed to make a fool out of himself. Yes, Rommel was the head of the Africa Korps, but by the time of D-Day, in 1944, the Germans and Italians had long since been driven out of North Africa (Axis activities there ceased in 1943). Rommel was recalled to Europe where he was a key commander in Northern France, working to improve coastal defences there. So no, Bob Ryan, he was NOT in Africa. If you are going to make a definitive statement like that you should be sure you are correct.
As for Tim Cowlishaw's general reference to "historical inaccuracies" in what Dooley said, this too is wrong. Examining Dooley's statements (which can be read here) shows no inaccuracies. He correctly mentions that the Germans were in disarray (they expected an invasion in the Calais region, which was closer to England), that Germans were looking for orders (in a general sense, as Rommel and other high ranking staffers were notably absent from the front at the time of the invasion) and also mentions the decoy tanks which Patton presided over in England in an attempt to further convince the Germans that the invasion was to occur at Calais.
What really bothers me about this sequence of events isn't so much Bob Ryan making a fool out of himself or Tim Cowlishaw incorrectly stating that Dooley got his historical facts wrong, It's that this kind of thing symbolic of a something that is commonplace in the U.S. Americans love to talk about how important history is in dramatic language (especially if it involves military history). Americans love to tout their historical knowledge as proof of their position. The problem is most Americans' historical knowledge is barely above that of a 1st grader. Most Americans couldn't tell you what year the civil war started and anything remotely specific, like Wilson's 14 points, would be met with blank stares. Americans lovingly talk of history when in reality they know nothing about it.
Don't get me wrong, I realize my view is slightly (greatly) slanted by the fact that I'm a history major. And I realize that specific historical knowledge can be something that's difficult to retain and is oftentimes pretty useless for day to day life. But if you don't know when the civil war started, and if you don't have even a general knowledge of how events transpired in the past, please do everyone a favor and refrain from acting as if you do have some kind of deep historical knowledge. In other words, keep your mouth shut, especially if you are criticizing others about something history related (here's looking at you Bob Ryan and Tim Cowlishaw).
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