(Hunrobe) said:Quoted message said:Luigi de Guzman [email hidden]
wrote in part:
Quoted message said:I forgot to mention: The TdF is in, um. France. You know,
one of those axis-of-evil places, or something. At any
rate, it's full of furriners who insult you even as they
buy Jerry Lewis movies.
J. Public would rather watch a red-blooded, patriotic
event like NASCAR, where athletes burn actual
petroleum.
-Luigi
Hey Luigi, lighten up on the stereotypes a little. IMO, the
majority of adult US citizens- that mythical John Q. Public-
knows about as much about the TdF as I do about major
league baseball.
A lot of US citizens have kids in Little League, and
either have participated in the sport themselves as
children, or have known someone who participated in the
sport at some point in his life. How many junior racers
are there in your town?
Quoted message said:I know it exists and can even name a few players and teams.
They probably couldn't name you a team other than Postal,
and would be unsure as to why there are teams in a sport
where all they hear about is Lance.
Quoted message said:NL and AL distinctions are meaningless to me though, just
as
These are fine distinctions. They are made more meaningless
through the introduction of regular-season interleague play.
I have been an American League fan all through my (short)
baseball consciousness, but lately I have decided that the
designated hitter rule is dumb. If Kerry Wood can pitch
90mph, and then go and hit himself a homer, bringing his own
run support with him, what's the DH rule for?
Quoted message said:Classics rider / stage rider distinctions mean nothing to
JQP. That doesn't make JQP a redneck anymore than it makes
me an effete elitist. In the truest sense of the word, I'm
probably more of a redneck than most US males. I never use
sunblock and always wear a jersey when riding you see. ;-)
NASCAR is the fastest-growing sporting activity, in terms
of television ratings and gate. (and motorist behaviour?).
The USA went to a FIFA World Cup semi-final (before the
Germans and Michael bloody Ballack and his header knocked
them out) and vanishingly few people cared. [I remember a
World Cup qualifier that was held against Honduras here in
DC. On match day, I saw literally dozens of Honduran
jerseys, either for the national team or Olympia
Tegucigalpa. I saw very very very few USA supporters. USA
won, but it was very nearly an 'away' crowd for the 'home'
team] Soccer a game for menials, you know, like those
illegals who won't speak English.
I'd love to get all Pollyanna about how much more culturally
aware or multiethnic society is getting, but there's a long
way to go in a lot of places. At the end of the day,
Americans only care about Americans--and "American" is
still, like it or not, White, Anglo-Saxon, and Protestant,
since the dominant discourse and the levers of power are
still controlled by WASPs. Time will change that; we
immigrants will add our own patterns and colours to the
patchwork until time wears us down and fades us into the
background, like all the other additions before us.
-Luigi
