USA or Ghana?

I posted something on this blog and on Twitter about talking trash and handling criticism.  My exact quote was:

"Just because you think that something is stupid or worthless doesn't mean it's not important or awesome to someone else.  If you're going to talk trash about things you hate, you better be able to handle criticism about the things that are most important to you.  Because if you can't, then shut the hell up."


As most of you know, the World Cup is going on right now.  I played soccer my entire childhood, and I LOVE the World Cup.  I look forward to it more than I look forward to the Olympics.  But here's the thing that shocks mostly everyone I know: I'm not a huge USA fan.


I don't know why I'm not a fan.  I just never have been.  I loved the Women's US National team, but never the Men's.  I think it's because, compared to the rest of the world, they were never that great.  My favorite teams have always been Italy and England.  But next on the list is Germany and the United States.  They are in my Top 5, but they're not my favorite.

I've been receiving A LOT of criticisms over Twitter.  People have said that I don't care about the things important to them, that I'm being unpatriotic, or that I'm heartless for not wanting USA to win.  The thing is, I do want to see USA win.  But while they're playing one of my favorite teams, they're not the team that I'm cheering for.  Sure, Ghana isn't one of my favorite teams.  But they are from the host continent and the last of the African teams standing.  So yeah, I kind of wanted them to win.

I'm not trying to be rude about how I feel towards the USA team.  I don't hate them, and I've never ran around saying they sucked.  The only truly negative thing I said about the US team was that I didn't think Landon Donovan was cute (and that he was old).  If you said that you thought my favorite Italian player was ugly, I could handle it.

All I said a month ago was that if you're going to dish out criticism, you better be able to handle it. And I can handle it.  I know that the USA team is important to A LOT of people, and I respect that.  That also means that people need to respect (not like) that I like other teams.

I'm sorry if I've offended ANYONE with my Twitter comments during the USA vs. Ghana game.  I wasn't intentionally trying to upset anyone.  But I did, and now I'm accepting the fault for it.  I hope people will forgive me.