I'm so tired of hearing all this ... wait... that shit is true. There are some stinky people over here.
Brownswan is right about the arab population in France. They'll probably go to U.S. games just to boo us. Maybe they think that's a political statement. Funny thing is, hardly anyone in America will be watching. What I want to know is WHO CARES what the crowd does. Of all the issues facing American soccer, does the French crowd reaction really matter?
I wasn't a big fan of France during the war in Iraq, and right now they're still not one of my favorite countries in the world BUT to give them some credit, words coming out of the US camp sing nothing but praise of the French that they've encountered. Nothing hostile, nothing mean, nothing we so commonly associate with the French. All that has been written on this subject so far about the US team's time in France is the hospitality they've shown our guys. I think the fact is that the majority of people here or there (France) don't really care about the politics, and don't really thumb their noses at each other like a lot of people would have us believe. With all that being said, a hostile crowd might not be good for our team at this competition, but it would give them experience when they're playing in the mammoth Azteca, the jungle village of Mazatenango, or the hell that is Saprissa, or if they ever again encounter San Pedro Sula. And that is good, because the times the team goes there are the times when the games really mean something.
Re: France is not without it's petty actions... Interstingly, one of the cable newsies (fox or cnn - I'm not sure which, but I think fox) ran a seg last night that they US gov't had boycotted the Paris Air show this week and had pressured US companies to do the same. And then those pressured companies didn't show - of their own free will. Don't know how reliable the seg producer is, and the US gov't and the companies denied any pressure - they said they didn't come because there was no top level US gov't officials to sell to, so why go... On another note, I was in Banff six weeks ago or so and a number of shop owners up there told me they were very worried that folks from the US were not going to come north due to the Canadian position on the war. I reassured them that most folks in the US were completely ignorant of the Canadian position on the war (a fact borne out in a later poll) and that Americans were not going to stay away from Alberta due to the war issue, but they were going to stay away due to SARS in Toronto. That gave them some solace. At least they could blame metro TO for yet another of their woes.
Re: Re: France is not without it's petty actions... That's two words. Sorry, somebody had to do it...
A good friend will tell you when you are wrong. France and the US have always helped each other. Turn off Fox, that channel is polluting your mind with hate.
So... where did YOU get this? Do you have any links? And you mean Chirac did not threaten the smaller Eastern European countries siding with the US when he told them: "you lost your chance to shut up". You mean Chirac did not go to Africa to line up more support for his failed cause? You mean Chirac did not... ... ... So, if you scratch me a link, I'll scratch you one also.
Okay guys - I tried to let this go to see if we could have some good natured French bashing, but really, soccer and politics don't mix, at least on BigSoccer. I'll leave this open for now, provided we have civil discussions about how we view and are viewed by the French, cultural differences, etc. (or some more stinky pit hair jokes), but if it turns into a couple of people spouting right and left dogma back and forth, I'm going to shut it down or move this to politics.
Such short memories we have--think all the way back to last summer, when a majority of the Koreans at the US/Mexico match booed every time the US touched the ball and cheered for the Mexicans. You can distinctly hear it on the tape, especially in the first half (lord knows I've watched it enough). Didn't seem to impact the play on the pitch at all. Neither will this. In fact, I'd think any emotion in the stands would be a pleasant surprise at this tournament.
Well, first match day and I'm still more worried about getting a crowd v. winning them over. Anyone have any ticket sales info? For a laugh check out the ticket forum on Travel. Sounds like a nightmare - with a postal strike and tickmaster in French. Kafkaesque. Still, those guys are there and we've got Galavision tape delay...
A soccer post I'd always thought the reason the US is sometimes cheered in international tournaments was because we were underdogs presumed to be lousy at soccer. (That certainly seemed to be the case in 1998, where we got what I remember to be a pretty good reception from the fans.) I wonder if we're still seen that way by foreign fans despite our WC 2002 performance. Generally speaking, I would think so -- though probably less so than, say, New Zealand.
Re: A soccer post There's a little interview on that Eurosport.co.uk site with some of the NZ team, and they sound like the US circa 1990 - talking about actually winning rather than just showing up - and they credit more of their guys playing Internationally (in the US!) with their hope for improvement. My how things have changed.
Why don't you just shut it down? This thread is the same old debate over whether you should love or hate France. As Bruce said yesterday, this is really a non-issue, as the French have been nothing but great to the team.
You're right. French people are so anti american, they spit on you when you come to their country. The only thing more ridiculous than that is the chance that the story about your son getting spit on is as simple as you put it.
You seem to be in denial. I'll make it simpler for you: Your argument is not with me; you are trying to dispute facts. http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2003-03-03-anti-american-usat_x.htm http://www.guardian.co.uk/Iraq/Story/0,2763,929357,00.html http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/2907701.stm http://www.newarkadvocate.com/news/stories/20030402/localnews/42689.html Oh... just to be fair, here is a more recent article on the situation: http://www.usatoday.com/travel/vacations/destinations/2003/2003-06-13-tourism.htm But then again, if I was president of a country that had just lost 25% of US tourism, I would probably ask my people to be a little more... receptive of Americans!
Cheese Eating Surrender Monkeys I'm not so sure that the French are capable of either cheering or booing.... the only sounds that most Frenchmen can make are "Cig-hur-ette" and "I Surrender." Perhaps they will smoke more, wave larger white flags and chant "I surrender" with more vigor, but like a dog with its mouth, that's their only way of communication.
My point is that none of these things are unique to French people. They do not have a monopoly on a-holes, and TOO MANY people judge the entire country by isolated incidents committed by extremeists (gravesite story). Most people in BOTH countries are civil, friendly, etc...Would you want someone to dislike you becaue of what some skinhead did to some Jew in New York?
"What do you expect from a culture and a nation that exerted more of its national will fighting against Disneyworld and Big Macs than the Nazis?" - Dennis Miller