Nationalism in Sports Leaves Me Cold

Who can forget the unprecedented seven-year run a few years ago of Lance Armstrong as he led his American team by winning those Tour de France bicycle races?  I knew that the folks broadcasting the event on TV thought it was great, since they focused their attention on him and his team, largely to the exclusion of the many talented participants from other nations.  And when he went down in disgrace due to PED abuse, our country suddenly lost interest in the Tour de France.  After all, our national "label" was no longer in play...

Except for summer-centered Major League Soccer here in North America, the professional soccer leagues have ended their 2015-16 seasons and are in a lull until it all starts up again in August.  In the meantime, the national team soccer season has gone into full swing, with tournaments and "Friendly" (exhibition match) competitions involving various national teams.  As for soccer per se, I'm a little divided how I feel about all this, since there is very little popular support here in the United States for the women's professional soccer league and their only chance at sports "glory" is in the form of the American team.  Also, I did become interested in the sport back in 2014 during the men's World Cup while watching various national teams play each other.  But I also know that it can get very, very ugly with fans and players when rival national teams are on the same field: in 1969 El Salvador and Honduras even went to war because of a soccer match gone awry.  The fact that one can watch soccer without this spectacle of nationalism by instead following their favorite leagues works for most of the year.  The irony of it all right now for soccer fans is that, to avoid watching national teams play, the only league remaining is our own national league, Major League Soccer....the teams of which all are very international in composition...

Nationalism is the most prominent in the Olympics, where the host nation usually goes overboard, often at the expense of its own people's welfare, at trying to present a favorable impression on the world...and that often includes forcefully removing the "undesirables" (such as the homeless and very poor) who live in the area.  Just knowing what the local population has had to go through makes me want to boycott watching the Games.  Still, I have to admit that the Olympics do give athletes in not-so popular sports the opportunity to be in the public spotlight and interest...if only temporarily and against the backdrop of nationalist banner waving and anthem playing...

Do I tend to root for the Americans in international sports competitions?  Mostly, yes...but I'm no longer so emotionally tied to the U.S. winning as are many of my compatriots.  That's because I remember the past, watching the Olympics, beginning in 1972.  Back then as in years before and years to come, the Games were marked by ultra-nationalism and countries with their own ideologies and histories struggling for bragging rights.  If East Germany won a lot of medals, then of course that was supposed to be a symbol of what a better country they were, right?  Never mind that their athletes were all professional full-timers while ours back then had to strictly abide by the rules of amateurism.  Of course, nowadays those rules about amateurism have all flown out the window...

I much more strongly prefer the league format in sports.  Take the premier leagues in the major sports...the U.S. has four of them: American football's National Football League, baseball's American and National Leagues, basketball's National Basketball Association, and ice hockey's National Hockey League.  In soccer the top pro leagues are spread out in five countries: England, Spain, Germany, Italy, and France.  Except for American football, which is almost exclusively played in the U.S., these leagues are distinguished by their mixture of top players from the entire world.  Take any team in these leagues (again, with the exception of the NFL) and you will see players getting along and working together, crossing national frontiers and cultural and linguistic divisions for the sake of their teams.  That makes me feel good, and is the diametric opposite of the feeling I get when watching national teams square off against each other...