There Is Hope for the USA

For a minute there, it looked like the national news was going to end with a tie between good and bad. The good news came from an administration that has proven once again that it can't get out of its own way. The bad news came from South Dakota, which seems determined to take on Kansas for the title of Neanderthals of the new century.

Then, the U.S. men's curling team took the bronze medal. I take this as a sign that this nation is about to get over itself, grow up, relax and be more tolerant.

It is no small metaphor for the US; never mind the medal. Americans have had a poor record participating in, and watching, sports that require patience as much as violence, from the audience as much as the participants. (The exception is golf, but I don't recognise golf as a sport. I hardly acknowledge it as a pastime. Mark Twain came closest by calling it " a good walk spoiled.") Americans likewise have done very badly in accepting that many other nations care very much about sports few Americans understand. U.S. fans have followed the lead of sports media in trashing such activities. Even before this win, I was pleased that NBC had more coverage of cross-country skiing than I can ever remember, just as it appears the skiing powers are ready to pay the sport some real attention.

Now granted, curling is, well, odd. As a Canadian friend points out, it combines two very important aspects of Canadian life: ice and beer. Looked at that way, curling stops being quite so alien...as long as you don't put the ice in the same glass as the beer.