benpounder said:
And my first thought was entirely disassociated with nationality, either he is an idiot, or PR whore that knows its 'safe' to make fun of a sport that his nation isnt ga-ga over.
It doesnt offend, it pisses me off; you seem to think that this kind of behavior is exclusive to us Yanks. I also have lived abroad, and I've run into jerks in all nations.
what i was trying to say, badly i'm afraid, is that i immediately and instinctively brought nationality into it. it is something that is done here quite often, not necessarily in a derogatory way.
it's like saying someone is from a particular state or region in the U.S. (subtleties like that come up here as well, i am merely not fluent enough to always catch them.)
for the most part, i find it refreshing rather than mean-spirited.
i am an american, very blatantly so. my accent gives me away in a second and i am a serial smiler (which has more to do with my nature but, also, the fact that it was never discouraged growing up).
thirteen, unless you are also hfer07, you are responding to a comment that was not directed at you. I said I thuoght the inclusion of "american" in a post regarding "sports reporters knowing nothing about a sport" was gratiutous. That's all.
mea culpa. i was defending the other poster, not hfer07. it was a knee-jerk reaction and it was wrong. i apologise.
there
are jerks of
all nationalities.
if you look later on, i was defending american sports journalists to hfer07 -- specifically Bonnie Ford, also an employee of ESPN. she is passionate, respectful of the sport, and as informed as you could ever ask for.
i was simply trying to say to you that bringing up one's nationality was not necessarily a negative, merely what is done frequently. (i said it badly the first time and, perhaps, have failed again.)
i am not ashamed to be an american... in fact, i'm frequently amused by the reaction i encounter when someone finds out i am american and a female (not easy to hide either) who loved cycling and their face says, "WTF?" i am not sure which fact shocks them more
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