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"Of course, look at the acheivements of the US (where the loved sports pastimes are football, baseball, basketball) and then look at the societies that play soccer----they generally can't figure out basic hygeine and civil utilities. What does that tell you?"

I first came to the United States in 1969, and got permanent residence status through the effective but admittedly imprudent stratagem of enlisting in the US Army. The first time I went home to England on leave, a year and a half later, the subject of football came up during an evening at a pub. Most of the participants held out for the superiority of the Euro-version (soccer here) over American football. Some of the pinko contingent (no doubt influenced by The Guardian) tried to connect this with other alleged failings of American culture and society. Being the closest thing to an American there, I took the contrary position and asked, "Ok, if a couple of blokes are talking about football, and the conversation is taking place on the Moon, which version do they mean?"