It's Not Always Your Patriotic Duty to Root for America

I was watching ESPN’s Ryen Russillo on his sports talk radio show earlier today before I left for work and he was talking about how he was torn a new one on Twitter last night because he was tweeting about the Boston Red Sox game and fans were letting into him for choosing a regular season baseball game over watching the U.S. women’s soccer team compete against Germany in the semifinals of the Women’s World Cup. Among the chief complaints was that Russillo was being unpatriotic.

Russillo explained that he just can’t get into the sport of soccer, which is perfectly fine. There’s not a section in the U.S. Constitution dictating that sports fans must follow sports they don’t like simply because their country has a team competing in it.

Fans giving Russillo hell for his not watching the U.S. women’s soccer team reminds me of the time I first truly recognized the idiocy of sports fans when it comes to what they perceive as a patriotic duty to root for American sports teams, even going so far as demeaning someone for choosing to watch anything else over those American teams.

In the last Women’s World Cup in 2009 the United States women met up against Japan in the final match for the tournament title and American sports fans could see nothing but red, white and blue. But, just a few months before the beginning of the World Cup the country of Japan was struck by a horrific earthquake that caused an even more horrific tsunami. More than 16,000 people were killed and it remains one of the worst tragedies of any kind during my lifetime, if not all-time.

So in July of 2011, Japan needed something good to happen to forget about the tragedy and death and heartbreak that had taken its toll on the country for months even for just a brief moment in time. The Japanese national soccer team beating the United States in the Women’s World Cup would give the country something to cheer on and smile about for at least one day during one of the nation’s worst years in its history.

And, so knowing the Japanese needed this more than any of us Americans did I openly rooted for the Japanese women on social media. It was something I have never once regretted, but I was ridiculed harshly for by fans claiming that I was being unpatriotic (as if rooting for a sports team can truly make someone patriotic or unpatriotic.)

I thought I was being humane by hoping the Japanese had something to lift their spirits (and I was, there’s no doubt in my mind and heart about it), but Americans will always care about American things regardless of the pain felt elsewhere. Thankfully for the millions of hurt Japanese their women’s team did give them something to smile about for at least a brief moment in time defeating the U.S. women in a hard fought and entertaining final.

The U.S. loss made it worse for me having openly rooted for the Japanese women, but I didn’t care. I could stand being a little less patriotic, because I’d rather care about an entire country’s pain than see the United States dominate yet another thing. 

Why I Was Rooting for Japan on Sunday...

I was probably one of the few Americans who was sincerely rooting for the Japanese women’s soccer team to upset the U.S. women’s national team in the championship match of the women’s World Cup on Sunday. Why? Because I knew that a win for Japan would mean more for that nation than it ever possibly could for the U.S. Japan has had such a truly devastating and horrifying year with the tragedy of the earthquake, tsunami and fear of radiation from damaged nuclear reactors earlier this year that killed thousands and effected almost everybody in that country in some way. I knew that a Japanese win would help to put a smile on the faces of many in that country and would go a long way in helping the Japanese people in the healing process. I know that some people who were following along with my tweets on Twitter and my statuses on Facebook on Sunday afternoon were bothered or maybe even slightly offended by my obvious rooting for the Japanese team. To those people I have to say that sporting events aren’t about patriotism. Just because I’m an American and an American team was playing doesn’t mean that I’m obligated to root for the American team. I chose to side with the Japanese team on Sunday because I’m a caring American who understands that sports can have a positive effect on people when they’re at their weakest. The Japanese team’s win on Sunday put a smile on my face not because I wanted them to win, not because I’m some sort of anti-American, but because I know it put smiles on a lot of grieving people’s faces. That’s what’s most important anyway.