Sport nuts.. go figure.

You prove my point. Americans would walk away feeling cheated. You should be rewarded for your efforts. Somebody should walk away a winner, and not via a shoot-out. In soccer, what suspense is there? None, because scoring chances are infinitesimal. Every pitch in baseball offers a chance at a run, but the probabilities of a hit happens over a quarter of the time – so one cannot safely discount this. In football, every play offers the possibility of scoring. And while a small number of plays are scoring plays, they contribute to scoring drives. And the probability of this happening is probably around 40%. In hockey and basketball, every shot offers a scoring chance. In basketball, the probability is above 40%, while in hockey it is just under 10%. And while hockey’s probabilities are lower, the speed of the game lends itself to the suspense of whether a scoring attempt will be successful. Soccer offers boredom. The probabilities of scoring in soccer on any given kick are remote, which perhaps explains the feigned apoplexy involved with that annoying broadcaster screams “goal.” What are the probabilities of a soccer participant scoring on any given possession? They are remote enough where you can safely discount it. Why else do we see so many 0-0 ties?

@45 ” No, the bottom line is its precisely this kind of condescending tirade is why the rest of the world does not care about your particular brand of americana any more.”

And we don’t care if you do or not. It’s our world and we will run it as we please. That’s just reality. Let’s count all the nations on the face of the earth that really count. The number seems to be one. Russia used to be a superpower but resigned “to spend more time with the family.” China is supposed to be mighty. But the Chinese leadership sweats and trembles when a couple hundred Falun Gong members show up in Tianamen Square for a mass tai chi workout.

The United States, with 4.5% of the world’s population and 6% of its land area, produces one-fifth of everything in the world. And we consume even more than that. No nation compares to America in wealth. Certainly not Japan. Japan turned out to be a macroeconomic Pokémon craze. Impoverished citizens of the developing world do not wade the Pacific in the middle of the night seeking a better life in Japan.
No nation compares to America in influence. American fashions, entertainment, aspirations and ideals dominate the planet the way Chandra Levy dominates Fox News Channel. Britain, France and Germany are obscure branch offices of American culture and may be closed in the interests of rational consolidation.

As for comparisons in matters of life and death, America spends more on defense than the next 12 top defense-spending countries combined. If the U.S. is going to be involved in military multilateralism, it should ask its partner nations that ancient question of diplomacy, “You and what army?”

The United States, with 4.5% of the world’s population and 6% of its land area, produces one-fifth of everything in the world. And we consume even more than that. No nation compares to America in wealth. Certainly not Japan. Japan turned out to be a macroeconomic Pokémon craze. Impoverished citizens of the developing world do not wade the Pacific in the middle of the night seeking a better life in Japan.
No nation compares to America in influence. American fashions, entertainment, aspirations and ideals dominate the planet the way Chandra Levy dominates Fox News Channel. Britain, France and Germany are obscure branch offices of American culture and may be closed in the interests of rational consolidation.

As for comparisons in matters of life and death, America spends more on defense than the next 12 top defense-spending countries combined. If the U.S. is going to be involved in military multilateralism, it should ask its partner nations that ancient question of diplomacy, “You and what army?”

The United States, with 4.5% of the world’s population and 6% of its land area, produces one-fifth of everything in the world. And we consume even more than that. No nation compares to America in wealth. Certainly not Japan. Japan turned out to be a macroeconomic Pokémon craze. Impoverished citizens of the developing world do not wade the Pacific in the middle of the night seeking a better life in Japan.
No nation compares to America in influence. American fashions, entertainment, aspirations and ideals dominate the planet the way Chandra Levy dominates Fox News Channel. Britain, France and Germany are obscure branch offices of American culture and may be closed in the interests of rational consolidation.

As for comparisons in matters of life and death, America spends more on defense than the next 12 top defense-spending countries combined. If the U.S. is going to be involved in military multilateralism, it should ask its partner nations that ancient question of diplomacy, “You and what army?”

The United States, with 4.5% of the world’s population and 6% of its land area, produces one-fifth of everything in the world. And we consume even more than that. No nation compares to America in wealth. Certainly not Japan. Japan turned out to be a macroeconomic Pokémon craze. Impoverished citizens of the developing world do not wade the Pacific in the middle of the night seeking a better life in Japan.
No nation compares to America in influence. American fashions, entertainment, aspirations and ideals dominate the planet the way Chandra Levy dominates Fox News Channel. Britain, France and Germany are obscure branch offices of American culture and may be closed in the interests of rational consolidation.

As for comparisons in matters of life and death, America spends more on defense than the next 12 top defense-spending countries combined. If the U.S. is going to be involved in military multilateralism, it should ask its partner nations that ancient question of diplomacy, “You and what army?”

The United States, with 4.5% of the world’s population and 6% of its land area, produces one-fifth of everything in the world. And we consume even more than that. No nation compares to America in wealth. Certainly not Japan. Japan turned out to be a macroeconomic Pokémon craze. Impoverished citizens of the developing world do not wade the Pacific in the middle of the night seeking a better life in Japan.
No nation compares to America in influence. American fashions, entertainment, aspirations and ideals dominate the planet the way Chandra Levy dominates Fox News Channel. Britain, France and Germany are obscure branch offices of American culture and may be closed in the interests of rational consolidation.

As for comparisons in matters of life and death, America spends more on defense than the next 12 top defense-spending countries combined. If the U.S. is going to be involved in military multilateralism, it should ask its partner nations that ancient question of diplomacy, “You and what army?”

If you foreigners want America to join in a family marriage of nations, fine. But I warn you, we will be a strict dad. Because it’s our planet. And we said so.