Nothing -- nothing -- can be a worse nickname (and I'm loathe to even call it that...) than "USMNT." Where, why, how did that ever start? I can sort of see the use of it when you're trying to differentiate between the women's senior team or the U-20s or whatever...but why in the world do people persist with its use, especially on this forum where everyone knows that we're discussing the US men's senior team? And do people actually use it in conversation? As is, "I can't what to see the You Ess Em En Tee play tomorrow"? That's bats. "The Yanks," "the Nats," or just plain "the USA" are just fine by me.
As I said, Der Amerikanischen Nationalmannschaft has a nice ring to it. I think Americans won't want to say all that and just say, "The Shaft". Mexican fans will say "Man Shaft", but you all know where their minds are (Staring into Chicharito's dreamy green eyes, hence his nickname). Although pretty much all of our chants work better with the "SHAFT" replacing the Yanks. "When the Shaft goes marching in", "we love you..Because we support Die Mannschaft", and "You got the shaft, you got the shaft, you got you got you got the shaft". HAHA no I am just kidding. "Yanks" is our nickname. Fooled you all for a second though, right? Although, with so many Mexican fans here, I don't want to mention "Yanks" and "Shaft" together in the same post so much, or else this entire thread will be drowning in Santorum.
I preferred USMNT and Yanks (even though I hate the Yankees) over the Nats, but any comment involving The Replacements automatically wins.
Signed. It's just another blatant attempt to Americanise something, anything, from the game so that when success does eventually come, they can say, "We took the 'World Game' and made it better, made it more American".
Given new meaning, to "GoNats"! (sic) Living overseas, I'm frequently referred to as a Yank. I don't care about that anymore than what some people call the US men's team. It's what I am, and what the players are that make up the roster. On the other hand, winning more consistently against higher caliber opponents matters. Yup, that's something to care about - GoNats!
I like it man. You know, the Nats are kind of Matsy in way...loads of talent, but underachievers always shooting themselves in the foot.
heh heh. Or the Cowboys? USMNT is pretty American, reminds me of POTUS or secdef. It only works in writing though. I will never, ever call them the yanks, unless I am trying to communicate with Australians or somesuch. The thing about Nats is it serves the same function as The Selection, which so many other countries use. It refers to the whole pool of US players, and says these are the select, the national team members.
Actually it's an initialism. An acronym is an initialism that can be pronounced as a word. USMNT can't.
Speak for yourself. I walk up to strangers on the bus and throw that around all the time. My side of the conversation usually goes: Hey, want a bite of my sandwich? It's peanut butter and gogurt. Are you sure? Fine, suit yourself. So, How about those UHSMINTS? Why are you ignoring me? Hey, who are you talking to on the phone anyway? For some reason they usually get off the bus at the next stop. They must be Mexico fans.
Kind of a petty complaint, but nowhere near a petty as all the Latin-Americans who get their panties in a bunch when people from the Unites States of America are referred to as Americans.