Underdawgs Unite

I find few things as joyful as rooting for the underdog. In a world of Yankee fans, give me the Dodgers. Go ahead and buy a new T.O. Cowboys jersey, I'll stick with my beloved Browns and Bernie Kosar. So when the US lost yesterday to Ghana, I was overjoyed. In futbol terms Ghana may not have been an underdog, but we all know sports is political. I'm no sports patriot, so when any poor African nation defeats the US, all my psuedo-socialist and radical tendencies are given voice. You see, I heard a lot of people assuming we'd beat Ghana because they were a poor nation that could hardly afford to water their pitch. There was a blatant elitism/racism to the assumption that just because Ghana lacks Appleby's and Verizon that they wouldn't be able to beat the mighty US. Now, I know Ghana's victory over a crappy US side doesn't redress the centuries of imperialism and colonialism suffered in Africa, but whenever America is shown that she isn't as good as she thinks she is, I feel that a little bit a justice has been done. Do you think it's only a coincidence that the US was eliminated from the World Cup the same week as Congress chose not to raise the minimum wage and postponed renewing the Voting Rights Act? I don't. These things are connected. Maybe if the US were more pro-immigrant we could finally get some decent players una puta vez (are Landon Donovan or Eddie Pope even good enough for the J-League?) So, I'm glad that a bunch of nappy haired Africans put the US out of the World Cup. We deserved it, and with our pathetic style of play, I hope we don't qualify for South Africa in 2010 either. Recently the Japanese beat us in the baseball classic, the Argentinos took us to school in hoops, and now Ghana proved just how bad we suck at futbol. Now maybe we'll wise up and stop referring to our teams as "world champs". As for the continent of Africa, many will go to bed on empty stomachs tonite, but their hearts are filled of joy....the kind of joy that you can only get from punching a bully in the throat.


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Ed note: Another reason to like Ghana, for Germanophobic like Ariel and, is semitophilie defender John Pantsil, who hoisted the Israeli flag after Ghana beat the Czechs. Predictably, Israelis are loving them some Ghana and Arab countries are outraged.