I spent part of the evening perusing various UK soccer sites, including the Guardian’s section on the World Cup and football365.com. Of special attention were their message boards and user comments sections. I was simply astounded by the amount of negative response to US success by a citizens of the nation we Americans consider our friend and closest ally.
Here’s a sampler from posts before and after the game:
“That’s a shame - oh well they’ll still be world champions at Baseball, Gridiron, and winching 500 pound white trash beached whales onto talk shows stages where they can blub about how they’ve tried every diet known (apart from the one which actually involves not stuffing 20 cheeseburgers into their fat gobs every 5 minutes).”
“Not forgetting that speciality of the southern states synchronised inbreeding.”
“I suspect that people all over the world will want the pleasure of stuffing the Yanks. I would hope that they will be hammered in the group stages by: Iran Iraq Cuba
Wishful thinking I know…”
“American Football is so stupid that no-one who remains unaddled by tons of hyper-processed food and extreme ignorance can possible interested.
Basketball? What’s all that about? Lanky blokes bouncing a ball, that’s what.
And while you’re on Yankee, piss off out of Europe. And I don’t think the Japanese like you too much. Or the Chinese. Or the South Americans. Or the Africans. Or the Russians.
I’m busy burning the stars and stripes right now.
If that doesn’t encourage CIA interest in this web site I don’t know what will. If they can get off their fat yank arses.”
OK, here’s a little news for UK football enthusiasts. American soccer fans are your biggest supporters. Do you think we’re glued to the MLS? When this World Cup is over, we’ll go right back to watching YOUR league, following YOUR teams, admiring YOUR players, and importing Man Utd jerseys by the score. My friends and I are rooting for England, and not just because David Beckham is playing on their side. You guys are supposed to be our friends and allies, and AFAIK the vast majority of Americans think of you that way in all walks of life, including sport.
I hate to break this to anyone, but to the greater part of the world, Americans and English (I won’t drag Scots or Welsh into this) are the same shit; with a different stink.
Well, “synchronized inbreeding” made me chuckle. That and, “Basketball? What’s all that about? Lanky blokes bouncing a ball, that’s what.” There’s just something about that that’s so precious. Like he thinks it’s such a great slam, yet doesn’t realize that he forgot to include any actually insulting content. I mean, yes, it is lanky blokes bouncing a ball. So what? How is that bad?
Soccer? That’s just skinny dudes kicking a ball. <snicker>
Football365 is just an arsehole’s playground, and every person on it seems purely to have turned up to see how much vitriol they can throw at each and every possible target. I’d imagine that was the source of most of your quotes.
Combine that with the natural tendency of sport fans to be insulting about other teams, and I’m really not sure why you’re surprised.
I doubt that those boards attract the intelligentsia. Still, as Cuate implies, are Americans and Brits all that different when it comes to cuisine (OK, diet), tendency to be overweight, obsession with tiresome sports, and ignorance of foreigners?
Think back to Americans booing the Canadian national anthem a few weeks back. No matter which nation or which sport, it’s pretty easy to find fans behaving like wankers.
So are they supposed to be fawning sycophants because of 9/11? Football365, as mentioned, is a black hole of idiocy that dosent have a decent football conversation on it.
Sure, they’re being wankers, but at least they made me chuckle. Mind you, I would have chuckled too had they used Dutch stereotypes rather than American. I’m just easily amused, I guess.
And RexDart, if you let their behaviour get to you this easily, the wankers have already won.
Oh, come now. It wouldn’t be a true sporting contest if you didn’t try to get a rise out of the other side. These comments pail in comparison to the constant jeering I’d receive for being a Cubs fan on the South Side of Chicago. And I had to endure 11 straight years (I think) of the Cubs never winning a crosstown classic. It’s all part of the turf; I wouldn’t take it seriously.
Another vote here for not taking it so seriously. Football fans traditionally put down other teams for fun, and you’d no doubt hear similar comments from the same people on the German team, Italian team, etc. etc.
I, for one, have been impressed with the USA team in this competition and wish them well.
IMHO, the more exposed the public is to international sport on a regular basis (almost weekly), the easier it becomes to separate the idiot, xenophobic mentality of a media-friendly minority from those who truly appreciate sport played at the highest levels.
Stuff like that in the OP is just Wildest Bill revisited, but with better grammar. IMHO.
