Americans like "war" for killing people and "sports" for community interaction and spending quality time with the kids. That's why we have family zones at the stadiums. Would you bring your kid to soccer?
One of my employees is from Morocco. He told me that Morocco had beaten the American team at some match, and that the fans were very rude and the US fans didn't respond, they "just took it." He wants to be a US citizen and he just couldn't understand why the US fans were so passive.
I explained to him that good athletes in America usually play football, or baseball or basketball and even hockey. That for an American athlete to choose soccer, he's like a really ugly man choosing a life of chastity.
I suspect that there are Americans wearing some sort of USA jersey involved in synchronized swimming but it doesn't make my heart swell with pride the way, say, the sound of an F-16 does.
I actually think it's good that there is one thing on this planet that allows third worlders a brief feeling of superiority over the US. It's a fair exchange. We get to be a super-power, but we have to suck at something we don't care about--and the world gets a chance to feel a little less resentful.
I'll also admit that I think the Norwegians make better lutefisk than the US and that Morocco has better camels and that Dracula is Romanian ...(another employee is from Romania.) The families they left behind may not have electricity, paved roads or modern plumbing, but they can be proud of beating the US at soccer.
VS
