The Patriot Game
A few weeks ago, I was listening to Spike Lee being interviewed by Simon Mayo on Five Live. The topic was Spike Lee's new film Inside Man (which, by the way, is quite good fun, even if there isn't much depth to it; it got me on side straight away with some stylish opening credits and a good Bhangra track). The topic somehow got onto football (soccer) and the World Cup. Spike Lee said that he liked football and would be supporting Brazil because they're a good team.
This is what I want to know -- can he be tried for treason?
How can anyone support another country over their own? One's team can be the worst in the world, but it's one's patriotic duty to support them. By all means, once they've been knocked out of the competition, one can support whoever one likes; but until then, one should support their own.
Americans are patriotic people. You put flags everywhere -- in your schools, places of work and homes. You pledge allegiance to the flag. Perhaps Spike Lee is atypical in his disregard for his country when it comes to sport. OK, so the US are not among the best, but they're getting better with each World Cup.
If you're an American and a soccer fan, you should definitely get behind your team. Here's the USA's page on the FIFA World Cup website. It shows how they've been doing so far in friendly matches. Here's the match schedule. USA are in group E. Their first match is on the 12th of June at midday (EST), against the Czech Republic. Match coverage in the US is being provided by ABC Sports and ESPN. In addition, depending on your internet service provider, you may be able to watch all the matches in the entire World Cup live on the web at ESPN360. Here's the source of my information.
How to cope without British TV and Radio: Football Supplement
This is what I want to know -- can he be tried for treason?
How can anyone support another country over their own? One's team can be the worst in the world, but it's one's patriotic duty to support them. By all means, once they've been knocked out of the competition, one can support whoever one likes; but until then, one should support their own.
Americans are patriotic people. You put flags everywhere -- in your schools, places of work and homes. You pledge allegiance to the flag. Perhaps Spike Lee is atypical in his disregard for his country when it comes to sport. OK, so the US are not among the best, but they're getting better with each World Cup.If you're an American and a soccer fan, you should definitely get behind your team. Here's the USA's page on the FIFA World Cup website. It shows how they've been doing so far in friendly matches. Here's the match schedule. USA are in group E. Their first match is on the 12th of June at midday (EST), against the Czech Republic. Match coverage in the US is being provided by ABC Sports and ESPN. In addition, depending on your internet service provider, you may be able to watch all the matches in the entire World Cup live on the web at ESPN360. Here's the source of my information.
April 25, 2006
If you live in the US and are interested in European/British football, you may want to take a look at Mark's guest post on how to access European football from the US:How to cope without British TV and Radio: Football Supplement
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3 comments:
Well, it seems that soccer is only really popular among families with 5 year olds (as it is almost stereotypical to be a "soccer mom" once you have a minivan). So, if one is going to get into professional soccer, why not start with the best? Of course I'm being biased here.
The same thing happens with most other sports, take basketball for example. How many people are still Chicago Bulls fans now that Michael Jordan hasn't been playing? Oh, and the Cleveland Cavaliers, a team that no one outside of Cleveland cared about until LeBron James started playing.
Another interesting thing is baseball, where they have a world series championship, but it is American teams (and maybe Canadian, if they make it?) that are to participate. Very different from the world series for cricket, which actually has different nations competing.
Perhaps Spike is hip to the knowledge that we are going to get spanked hard in group play. I fear we'll be out of the running by the time the last game rolls around after losses to Czech Rep and Italy.
Probably. But your country is your country through thick and thin. You can't defect to another side just because you lose a few battles.
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