America hates to lose as much as the next country. But unlike the next country's loss which is after all a law of nature, America's loss is an act of God (probably one of the lesser Gods), and a triumph for everyone who happens to be against the U.S. for the simple reason that they are not with the U.S. That is why defeats are seldom mentioned in polite society, and victories are telecast to haunt the viewers time and again. That is why movies like Miracle command high ratings, and hardly anyone under twenty has seen Chariots of Fire.

But at what cost? Was the 2004 Olympics really about Misty May and Kerry Walsh as NBC would have us believe? Aren't there better things to talk about than the solitary point earned by an Italian own goal in the three outings of Team USA in the 2006 FIFA Cup? Is it too much to give Ian Thorpe a little praise after he outclassed Michael Phelps in the only event they were pitted against each other? Surely the high point of David Beckham's career is not a sad little stint with LA Galaxy?

I don't believe that the American public has a genuine difficulty in rooting for a talented sportsperson who is not playing for their country, but the media appear to take no chances. When I think of international sports, I think of the Anglo-German football match during the Christmas truce of World War I, I think of Jesse Owens and Luz Long, I think of Hugo Wieslander refusing the gold medal that rightfully belonged to Jim Thorpe. There is much that is intrinsically beautiful about sports, especially sporting history, and it is torture to watch an American context injected into topics which have none. "Kasparov is the Michael Jordan of chess", says Paul Hoffman. Right, and Mother Teresa is the Angelina Jolie of charity.

Apparently there are polls out there that claim one out of five Americans cannot locate the U.S. on a world map. However, unlike the knotty topic of parochialism in international sports coverage by American media, this one turns out to have a fairly simple explanation. Here is Miss South Carolina on the subject:

"I personally believe that Americans are unable to do so because some people out there in our nation don't have maps and I believe that our education like such as in South Africa and Iraq everywhere like such as and I believe that they should our education over here in the U.S. should help the U.S. or should help South Africa and should help the Iraq and the Asian countries so we will be able to build up our future."