You Rooted For Italy Too? Shame on You!
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by user JuTMSY4)
So in my zany sports world, which was thrown upside-down over the last month due to the World Cup, I decided that it would be appropriate for me to watch the final, even though no team I even wanted to remotely win the thing was here. I even wrote an article admitting that soccer was better than I thought, but after watching the aftermath of the Italy vs. France game, I am officially out of love with soccer…again. Why this stunning change of heart, why the switch back to my hatred, why back to typical American elitism. Simple, we’re not Italian!
My family moved here from Germany during an era when most Germans did, the 1700s, with the hope of claiming new land and starting a new life. Had my family remained strictly religious, you might be calling me Amish (and I sure as hell wouldn’t be blogging on a computer), but they transitioned with the rest of the world. I’ve had relatives serve in every major war in American History (Unless you decide to count the French and Indian War, but technically…). But enough about me, time to get the Italians. Now, while I do consider myself a bit of a history buff, my knowledge is still limited but, most of the heavily influenced Italians moved to the United States in the early to mid 20th century and by now most Americans of Italian heritage are either 2nd or 3rd generation Americans. So, are these Americans Italians or Italian-Americans?
After graduating from high school, I moved to Boston for college and haven’t left since. Its a great city, with its own version of “Little Italy” known as the “North End.” Similarly, there is a large portion of the population of those 2nd and 3rd generation Italians (and yes there are some full blooded, fresh off the boat Italians). During the USA vs. Italy game, many of these folks rooted for Team Italy and subsequently rooted for the Italian Team during the finals. The last straw was the numerous celebrations that erupted in Boston after the end of the World Cup, namely Italian displays seen below
There are more, but you get the idea
Granted, after the United States lost, I was rooting for the Germans, my own heritage, but in all honesty had the U.S. faced Germany, I would have rooted for the country that has been the home to my family for the last 300 plus years. Moreover, I don’t think I would have even considered taking to the streets had the Germans won the whole thing. These Italians on the other hand, rooted against their home country, the USA, when they tied in the qualifying round and continue to cheer on their team throughout the World Cup. My question is, what if the US and Italy were at war, who would they fight for?
The bottom line is, I think this type of display is a little disrespectful, especially for a country that prides itself on a very unique type of nationalism, one that promotes criticism as much as praise. But, to that extent, in a country that also prides itself on freedom of speech (For the record, to the best of my knowledge, during any of these demonstrations, no one was hurt nor was there significant riot like acts), to what level is this type of display allowed and even promoted? Is it ok, to cheer the team of your home country, those who produced either your very close or very distant relatives?
While this may lead to a much more engaging discussion on the merits of the melting pot society, I’d much rather prefer to leave this discussion for another time. But, to that end, I believe that these displays are not truly representative of the American culture many of us prefer. Suffice to say, please do not cheer Italy in our country, I am not Italian, you are not German, we are not Irish, nor are we English, we are all Americans.
Viva U.S.A.!
Date
Tue 07/11/06, 4:08 pm EST
