Patriotism in American sports unpredictable

The events of last Sept. 11 have taught American sports fans two somewhat contradictory things.\nOn one hand, sports is a diversion, not a reason for living. On the other, to ignore what happened last Sept. 11 at sporting events would be wrong because of its communal nature.\nAs a result, sport has continued on as entertainment, but when Major League Baseball games pause for a moment of silence Wednesday at 9:11 p.m. (or during the seventh inning stretch of day games), it's because one cannot forget the unforgettable.\nAs a result, everyone wants to go out of their way. President Bush spoke Saturday in a message simulcast over Fox, CBS and NFL stadium scoreboards about how wonderful football is and how this is an important time of remembrance. Frankly, I don't want President Bush speaking before the start of football games because I don't want any politician interjecting himself in sporting events. Don't speak to me as a football fan; speak to me as an American citizen.\nMLB, meanwhile, will make a special effort to mark the anniversary in light of the fact that it will actually be playing games on Wednesday. According to the Associated Press, a complicated logo will appear on the field, outfield walls, bases and lineup cards that will include the following items: the Stars and Stripes, the MLB logo, a ribbon in the American colors and the phrase "We Shall Not Forget." Players' caps and uniforms will feature the flag, and fans attending the game will receive a t-shirt featuring the logo.\nWhile patriotism is addressed in baseball and football, there have been three major international sporting events featuring American participants. In both chronological order and descending order of American public interest, they are the Winter Olympics, the World Cup and the FIBA World Basketball Championships.\nWhat was interesting was that the record U.S. Winter Olympics haul of 34 medals had some but not much resonance. That we can hold the world's biggest international sporting event and avoid harm to anyone's safety and security might be more impacting though. No one team or athlete provided the patriotic catharsis that the 1980 U.S. Olympic hockey team provided when they beat the Soviets in the midst of the Iran hostage crisis. The "home field advantage" of having the Olympics in Salt Lake City in addition to greater U.S. Olympic Committee support furthered our cause.\nThe impressive performance by the U.S. soccer team in the World Cup this past summer reignited another traditional American sporting argument. On one side sits the soccer-sucks crowd, a group that dislikes soccer but cannot seem to ignore it. On the other side is a group of devoted fans dedicated and patient to seeing the American soccer boom of the past generation pay dividends. When it ended, I couldn't help but feel that the 1999 Women's World Cup win brought about more good feeling.\nThe FIBA World Basketball Championships didn't bring about much patriotism at all. One could have tripled the crowd size for either of the games against Puerto Rico or Spain and still not sold out Conseco Fieldhouse. The tournament induced yawns from the start by fans not in the least interested in international basketball. \nThe fact that Team USA featured a bunch of losers could not have helped. From George Karl to Kelvin Sampson to Elton Brand to Paul Pierce, the team featured a bunch of big-game chokers. And why would we pick a coach in Karl who couldn't even coach a talented group Milwaukee Bucks to the playoffs? It might take until the 2004 Olympics in Athens for our feelings to recover or for us to care again.\nIn a lot of ways, American sports fans have returned to more traditional sporting values. In the days just before a potential baseball strike, fans complained that players make too much money. News bulletin: This was a common complaint a long, long time ago, and it will continue to be when we note the 100th anniversary of Sept. 11.\nFurthermore, the idea that Sept. 11 provided some sort of backdrop for the baseball labor talks is nauseating. The argument was that if baseball players were not out there on Sept. 11, then they would be behaving insensitively to the fans comforted by their presence last Sept. 17, when the players came back from a six-day, attack-related hiatus.\nWhat a bunch of hooey. A fan expecting baseball to provide comfort needs to see the video of the World Trade Center towers crumbling again to realize comfort doesn't come from baseball but instead from world peace.\nThen, there is good ol' Augusta National. The club, which hosts the Masters golf tournament every April, still counts few African-Americans and no women. This is far beyond a legal matter; instead, it's a matter of courtesy, something those living-in-the-past jerks didn't get fifty years ago and still don't get now. Its uninclusive nature is one of the best examples of UnAmerican behavior of which I can think.\nOur back-to-normal thought structure, though, was in full display at last Friday's U.S. Open women's semifinal match between American Venus Williams and Frenchwoman Amelie Mauresmo. The crowd at our nation's most highly attended annual sporting event rooted for Mauresmo in a match eventually won by Williams in three sets.\nFor the crowd to be rooting against the American was so anti-patriotic, but for the crowd to be rooting for the underdog was as American as it gets.\nWhether that was comforting is still up for debate since contradiction is at the essence of our fanaticism.