Another good post Ric - you always seem to express what I am thinking but can't put into words. I must say though that a lot of Americans are passionate about an individual team in whatever sport it is they follow, so I don't quite agree with you there, but i do understand what you are getting at. Americans (in general, not all) like a 'show', a performance, big explosions and cheerleaders, with a monster truck show at half time. It's just how they are.

Originally posted by: oojason
On the World Cup front I have to say the Czech looked mighty impressive today - put a £5er on them at 33/1 to win the thing last week

33/1? Bloody hell that's good odds, especially as they are ranked #2 in the world. I put a fiver on England to win all their group games AND USA to qualify for the second round and I only got 10/1!! Then again, you never get decent odds on England in England because they're the home team and everyone would bet on them even if they were piss poor, just out of loyalty.