Greek Independence Day, Tsipras Edition

Happy Greek Independence Day!  Ζήτω Η Ελλας!

This year's Greek Independence Day once again finds Greece in the headlines, as new Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and the Syriza government try to negotiate better terms for paying back the nation's massive loans in the wake of the lingering financial crisis.

That crisis continues to frame most things Greek. But one of the greatest things about being Greek is the ability to shrug off  problems and not let them affect your sense of self, your Hellenism.

I continue to brag about being a Greek, so much so that a friend at work recently commented "I can't believe you still brag about that in the face of the crisis." Bragging about being Greek in times of crisis is one of THE Greekest things you can EVER do.* A Hellene knows that over the course of 2,500 years of history, you are going to have some valleys - self-imposed ones like the current situation, or external ones like the fall of Constantinople, the Anatolian catastrophe, etc. - and we are likely to brag about the valleys, too.

To paraphrase Louis Armstrong, 'If you have to ask what Hellenism is, you'll never know.'**

As I've written before, I'm not crazy about Tsipras but you can not question his Hellenism. What else would give you the courage - or θρασος - to go to Germany, as he did this week, and say 'despite our screw ups and fiscal irresponsibility you have to cut us some slack"?***

Only a people who invented logic can confidently push such an illogical idea.

One of the Hellenic highlights of 2014 was Greece's stirring victory over Ivory Coast in the group stage of the World Cup. The win propelled Ellas into the knock-out round and was delivered in dramatic fashion by George Samaras' penalty kick.****  As his shot hit the back of the net I screamed to the throng and our παρέα gathered in Public Tenley "H Ελλάδα ποτέ δεν πεθαίνει! Greece will never die!"

And we'll never stop bragging, either!  ΖΗΤΟ Η ΕΛΛΑΣ! Long live Greece!

* I was bragging about one of our recent triumphs, Archbishop Iakovos' participation in the March on Selma. His role was highlighted in the film 'Selma' where Iakovos tells Martin Luther King, Jr. 'You are not alone my friend.' Apparently a second line of dialogue - 'Really? I'm the ONLY white guy here?' - was cut from the final version of the film.
** Armstrong lived for a time in Astoria, Queens, aka Greektown, USA
*** Cutting Greece some slack by easing up on austerity makes sense, too. Witness the US, who passed a stimulus bill under President Obama, versus the eurozone, suffering years of stagnation thanks in large part to German-imposed austerity. When the chips are down, a supposedly socialist-leaning Europe helps their banks not the people.
**** Coincidentally enough, this clip is in German! 

6 great minutes

For six minutes on Friday, the world seemed back in balance.  After George Samaras tied Greece's game versus Germany in the EURO 2012 championships in the 55th minute - on a beautiful pass from Dimitri Salpingidis - it was as if Ellas was finally able to draw on some of it's civilization equity to make things even with the EU, European Central Bank and the IMF (AKA the troika).


We owe you billions in bailout money, you owe us for inventing most of what makes up modern western society.  Let's call it even, 1 to 1.


Then stubborn reality showed up in the form of a blizzard of goals from Germany, and all of a sudden it was 1453 again.  After overachieving, we lost Constantinople and the football game 4 to 2. 


Germany is very, very good.  They made great passes and were aggressive the entire game.  Ellas was on her heels most of the game, yet resiliently stayed in the EURO longer than anyone expected. 


Of course, the country looks likely to stay in the euro zone longer than expected, too.  All the hand wringing leading up to last weekend's election proved to be nothing more than that.  The Greek electorate was pretty mature (something you can't say about our electorate, at least in 2010) and elected enough members of parliament from the 3 'stay in the euro zone' parties - New Democracy, PASOK, and the Coalition of the Democratic Left - to form a new coalition government and ease fears that the motherland would leave the common European currency.


Much like the performance of our football team, the elections turned out as well as could have been expected. Though Greeks elected a pro-euro coalition into power, almost 60 percent of the electorate voted for anti-bailout parties. That number gives the new government some leverage to renegotiate the terms of the bailout with the troika.


With Merkel stubbornly opposing euro bonds or a EU stimulus package, Greece's best hope for economic recovery is a renegotiated debt repayment schedule. One reason so many Greeks voted for Syriza (the Radical Coalition of Leftist Parties) and other anti-bailout parties is the accurate assessment that Germany and the European Central Bank are more concerned with repaying loans to German banks then in helping Greece out of it's current crisis.  


Of course, that perception helped make the Germany-Greece football match so news worthy and prominent on front pages - not just sports pages - around the world. 


The Ethniki played hard and well in advancing to the elite 8 of the European championships.  Let's hope their play shows Greeks what can happen when the nation rallies together and thus inspires Greeks to pay their taxes and keep their heads up as they face the crisis. 


Let's also hope the elections inspire the troika to cut Ellas some slack and renegotiate our debt repayment schedule.  


After all, the Germans scored 4 goals to our 2 - how much more do they want?


And don't forget, for six minutes everything was in balance with our contributions off-setting our debt.  Zito H Ellas!


A few more EURO 2012 notes:

• What are the odds that 3 days after Antonis Samaras is inaugurated as prime minister that George Samaras scores our game-tying goal? Big week for Ellas and that sir name.
• Though the game was not really THAT close, would have loved to see what would have happened if suspended Greek captain George Karagounis had played against Germany.  Tough way for him to go out.  At 35 you have to wonder if he will play for Greece again even if Ellas does qualify for the 2014 World Cup.
• Sports is always full of 'what ifs.' For Greece, hard NOT to wonder what would have happened if Karagounis had converted that penalty kick versus Poland.  If Ellas wins that game we play Portugal instead of Germany, a team we defeated twice in Lisbon on our way to the 2004 European championship. Tι εάν ...
• I'll blog about this later, but congrats to Labron James and the Heat.  I'm not a big fan of Dwayne Wade and strongly dislike Pat Riley, but James is clearly the best hoopster on the planet, worked hard after last year's humbling loss to Dallas, and Miami was the best team.  The decision show and the stupid and preening celebration with Wade and Chris Bosh will always be viewed as huge, ego-driven mistakes. However, James learned from those mistakes. Isn't that the point of life?  Congrats to him.