Posted: 12/27/2007 10:40:17 PM EDT
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Just an observation..... Why doesnt the US play more international sport?. It seems that most of the attention is just focused on domestic sport. Here in AUS we are always playing other countries in sport. Cricket, Rugby Union, Rugby League, Soccer, just about every sport played here has some sort of international level involved. And this is a great thing, having the whole country supporting the one team. Is there international baseball? gridiron? (we play it here - i gave it a crack, DE LB and a bit of offense..) hockey? What about the Olympics, does that stir the country up in support of the US? |
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Because the US has the mentality of the biggest island on the globe. Anything outside of the US is clearly inferior. All happenings outside of the US are controlled by Ted Turner. If it's not on TV, it's clearly not important. See also: ethnocentrism, capitalism 
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+1 Mostly caused by our lack of neighbors that matter. Canada and Mexico. Whoopty-doo. Every other country has a plethora of neighbors who have loved/hated them since the dawn of time. Us, not so much. |
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Yeah i see.. Maybe Aus position as part of the British Commonwealth has one advantage in that we play a lot of the same sports.... Its a shame u guys miss out really...just imagine a international level NFL squad, playing serious matches that mattered a lot..now that would be cool... |
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I've competed internationally for the US, but no one in the US cares about my sport. 'tis the lot of a track and field athlete...in all fairness though, when put on the international stage, we don't do that great outside of the sprints. Hell...this year my best finish was 7th guy on the third team in a meet. Of course, the guys in front of me on my team aren't really Americans...3 Kenyans, 1 Bulgarian, 1 Australian, 2 Americans. Everyone who dominates? kenyans...Kenyans...KENYANS!!! -Ben |
+1 I really have a hard time getting into team sports when its simply 1 cities team vs. another cities team. Wow how exciting... 
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You going to be in Eugene for the trials this summer? |
yeah, athletics is a hard one....unless u crack the holy grail which is olympic gold, there isnt a whole lot of glory ....  why dont you become a winger in rugby? |
I had a relatively bad season during cross country, but I believe I will be hitting the A standard for Indoor Nationals in the 1000m at a meet on the 10th of January. I just finished (officially anyways)rehab for a torn IT band that was likely a result of compensating in my stride after not taking sufficient time off for a tear in my hamstring. All that time off (8 months without competition prior to Cross Country) kinda put things in perspective, so I will be at Officer Candidate School for the Marine Corps this summer instead of competing. I've decided that as much as I love athletics, I am getting a little burned out after 11 years of competitive running, and racing is not going to provide a career for me. After I finish in the Marine Corps I will be coaching though. I was the head coach for a youth team this past summer and got a kid who has never competed in track before to win All American in the Pentathlon (his age division doesn't have Dec yet) after only 4 months of competing. I discovered that I REALLY like coaching, and eventually I hope to make a career out of it at a university level. As far as Eugene? I'm not really planning on it, partly due to the Marine Corps, and partly because I feel pretty beat up. I have some great new training partners this year though, including Ivo Igmanotov, from the Bulgarian National Team (5000m in 13:52, not sure about his 1500m), and Evans Kipruto Kiptoo (13:50 for the 5000m, 4 flat miler) and Titus Tirop (1:49/800m, 4:04 miler, not sure on his 1500m) both from Nairobi, Kenya, so all things are subject to change if I end up racing exceptionally well this track season. I only missed the A standard for Indoor Nationals in the 600m by 2 seconds in a meet in early December, and that was just the first 600m of an 800m, first meet, with an overly cautious cross country season that didn't involve any speedwork and continued rehab. So now that I have given far too long an answer for a simple question...we will see. Wanna go shooting if I make it up there, and if I am racing will you buy the beer?  -Ben |
Haha, I'll definitely see what I can do. Hit us up in the Oregon HTF. We have a pretty good sized group of survivors in this hippy commune. |