Full Disclosure:
1) I am from Rochester, NY, where America's star player, Abby Wambach, is from. The announcer on the ESPN3 feed even mentioned it a few times... that was pretty intense.
2) I watch soccer whenever it's on TV. Because I don't have ESPN, I usually end up watching Mexican league on Telemundo, and then the Men's World Cup and Summer Olympics (both sexes) every 4 years.
3) If I have one fetish (screw the term "preferences" ), it's women in soccer uniforms with short hair. That's not something I feel I need to disclose, because everyone who knows me knows that to be true. What I do need to disclose is that I watched a US vs Japan match knowing full well that I was going to see at least ONE women in a soccer uniform with short hair (let alone thirteen). If you think it's sexist that I can't divorce raw sports talent from uniforms and haircuts, that's because it is! But at least have sympathy with me because I had to spend the better part of the 2 hour match ignoring comments about how "all the women look like men".
So, Japan's team (aka Nadesco JAPAN) won the world cup, defeating our hometown hero Abby Wambach and ten or so other people. Nobody should be upset about that, outside of Rochesterians and a couple hundred other women's soccer fans. North Americans are legendary for not giving a damn about soccer, so really there's nothing to be angry about (not that there ever was). And let's be honest, what would the impact have been if America had won? I'm pretty certain that Abby Wambach is no less popular in Rochester, and on the national level soccer is still just "that thing that's going to go on my college application between community service and AP Math". So much for soccer in America (if this upsets you because you are some giant soccer fan, recall disclaimer #2 and know that I'm not talking about you).
But what about soccer in Japan (and yes, they call it soccer in Japan as well, not football)? A lot of Americans felt that it was OK to forgo momentary jingoism and congratulate Japan in their victory, if not out of good spirit, than because of the terrible natural disaster that befell Japan earlier this year (one of the players, Aya Miyama, apparently lost four friends to the destruction). I'm not going to discount that when national spirits are low, a sports victory is a pretty spectacular thing in terms of mental recovery (as Mitsutoshi Sakurai of Japanese game developer Spike so eloquently put - "The curse has been lifted!"), but I will say that it is no reason for the opposing nation to cheer them on. How condescending is that? "Hey Japan, I'm happy you outplayed us and all, I'mma let you finish, but that earthquake was one of the worst of all time!" A sports loss should not be an excuse for a pity-party for the victor. We are supposed to be all upset and say, "Wahhh! How could those women that are noticeably shorter than our women (the announcer mentioned this about four times on the ESPN3 feed) defeat our Amazonian goddesses!!?! or whatever"
Ah, but now I've contradicted myself! I said we shouldn't be upset about our loss, yet being happy for Japan having their 'curse lifted' is also uncalled for. I'm not going to tell anyone how to feel, but allow me to tell a little story that will put everything into perspective:
During the 2008 Summer Olympics, I had the pleasure of chatting with my Japanese friend (whom I had last seen in college a few years before) while we were both watching the events live on separate ends of the world (technology is some amazing stuff!). He said he didn't really care about the Olympics because Japan never won anything. That's a pretty typical Japanese low national-self-image. I assured him that Japan must have won a few golds before (Judou and Sumou wrestling for sure), though he denied it. Japan had, in fact, won several medals, though apparently not enough to appease his thirst for national dominance (or whatever...). It was at that very moment that Kousuke Kitajima won the Men's 100m breaststroke, bringing Japan its second gold of the games (the first was in Judou, but again, that doesn't seem to count...?) I gave my congratulations to my friend, who responded with a very blunt, "Yes, this is a very happy time for us." I then wrote something like, "See, your country isn't some Olympic failure", to which he replied, "Every TV channel in Japan is reporting the victory. In America, does every one of your channels report a victory when you win a medal?" Using my trademark tact and sensitivity, I said something along the lines of, "Of course not, we win one every 5 seconds!" He replied with, "How rude.", and we never spoke again.
Now, I realized that it is pretty absurd for us to go nuts over one win but not another (if you aren't breaking an amazing record, nobody cares *cough* Michael Phelps), and even in that case it usually doesn't result in breaking news. What does result in breaking news in America is when a local sportsperson wins an Olympic medal. Imagine that! When it comes to sports, the big ol' US of A becomes as regionally divided as, say, China. All of the sudden people from podunk nowheresville get a shot of pride when John or Jane Doe wins a fencing medal (no offense to those in Beaverton). And so it is that the whole Abby Wambach thing makes sense, despite Rochesterians being no more excited about women's soccer than anyone else (OK, OK, disclaimer #4: Western New York is pretty serious as far as American Soccer goes...).
In any case, there are two things to take away from this:
1) If Japan deserved a victory for any reason other than playing better than everyone else in the world, it's because they are absolutely bonkers about their national sports teams and players, and a win to them means more than a win to pretty much anyone else other than the North Koreans. This was true before the Earthquake, and will be true for some time to come.
2) We should be extra-freaking humble when we (Americans) get beat at a sport we care little about. It's cool to sit back and say, "Oh, that's right, Japan went through a lot of shit earlier this year...", but please, don't use that as a reason to cheer on someone that just kicked you ass.
