I'm surprised by how badly the Brits are taking this whole thing. As an American, I cant begin to understand the level of involvment and identification that the British people have with their national team. I guess we are a more ethnically diverse, less culturally homogenous culture, and a defeat does not reflect so directly on the whole of our ethnicity and heritage. If sports are a metaphor for war, the World Cup is the penultimate expression of tribalism.

posted by mert at 08:58 PM on June 21, 2002