Posted on 06/28/2006 8:05:54 AM PDT by Jedi Master Pikachu
Australia was beaten 1-0 by Italy in a dramatic finish
A Chinese TV football commentator has apologised for on-air remarks made during the World Cup match between Italy and Australia earlier this week.
Huang Jianxiang lost his cool when Italy knocked Australia out of the World Cup with an injury-time goal.
Shouting support for Italy, he made comments such as "I hate Australia" in a rant which lasted several minutes.
After complaints from Australian fans, Mr Huang apologised, saying his emotions had got the better of him.
Comments such as "long live Italy" initially caused amusement.
But after several minutes and failed attempts by colleagues to stop him, Mr Huang faced a barrage of criticism.
A well-known and normally reserved commentator, Mr Huang at first refused to apologise for his outburst.
But he said listening back to his performance, he felt he had included too much personal feeling in his commentary.
ping
There are Americans and other Westerners who would spout vicious vitriol at China though, too. Sort of depends on if the commentator was from a large Chinese media institution or some fringe media group. The fringe ones would tend to have more leeway in expressing rude opinions.
The commentator did not have to support Australia, but he didn't have be so opposed to the country either.
Australia ping.
This doesn't surprise me...China hates Australia...since they are the "whitey" in China's region and sphere of influence...
Meanwhile, in the USA, Democrats were heard to yell "I hate the USA!" as the USA team was knocked out by a loss to Ghana. When asked to apologize, they said, "why apologize? what are you, a nazi or racist?"
That's his "apology"?
"Sorry, I unfortunately let you know too much of what I really think. Won't happen again."
Very funny yet very true.
http://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?t=372797
That's funny because many, probably most, soccer fans are very liberal.
POLITICALLY INCORRECT QUIP WARNING
Well if he said "Australia" with all the L's and R's correct, I'll give him a pass. That's possibly even more tricky for a native Asian speaker to pronounce than "cellular".
I tell you what is pathetic.
In Thailand, an Italy fan killed an Australia fan, when the Australian fan objected to the penalty call in the dying seconds.
And in Japan, a man hanged himself when Japan was eliminated.
Four years ago, a South Korean fan put hiself on fire and burned to death, so that he could "be a ghost" and help South Korea win.
You know any?
"...That's funny because many, probably most, soccer fans are very liberal..."
My entire household enjoys virtually every moment of the World Cup and we've been voting as conservatives in this country since 1873. One has to be cautious of blanket statements when speaking about billions of people.
~ Blue Jays ~
On Soccer America's message board, the more left the poster, the better the chance that they followed the game only because they thought it showed off how open-minded and non "American-centric" they were.
I used to bust them for they're goofy politics and lack of any real knowledge of the game all the time. They were just as haughty when it came to soccer as they were with politics.
And for what it's worth, though politics didn't come up a lot at the soccer field, I'd bet very few of the guys I've played with (and that's quite a few) were liberals. Most were likely to be "South Park" conservatives or Reagan Democrats.
It is completely anecdotal, but the sport of soccer itself is very conservative and traditional such that attempts to change the basic rules (e.g. offsides) are rarely successful. This adherence to these original rules and ideas are very much how we as political conservatives view the U.S. Constitution. We typically seek to remain true to the ideals of our Founding Fathers and their brilliant vision.
As I mentioned earlier in the thread, it is silly to make blanket statements but I do find it interesting that the sport of soccer has only met with minimal modification over the course of hundreds of years of play.
~ Blue Jays ~
Along the lines of your original point, one might say there is little wrong with the rules (i.e., the Constitution), but much wrong with the referees (i.e., activist judges).
OK, it's a stretch, I know!
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