[sumo] Sumo and Soccer

["William C. Blank" <wcb@BostonDynamics.com>]

First off, soccer is the biggest "national" competition there is...by 
far.  There is no comparison at all to sumo, an individual sport, mostly 
performed in a single country in the world.

Secondly, it seems that with the US getting "Osama" chants from the 
Mexicans, the French getting whistled by the Algerians, and the Japanese 
getting hissed by the Chinese, that it has sadly become the norm at these 
events to disrespect the flag and the representatives of other foreign 
countries.  I hope that the Olympics in a few weeks show a different global 
spirit.

But finally, I want to point out that despite the problems, soccer has been 
a great vehicle lately to cause interaction between different countries, 
and is overall a boon to friendly global relations.  Fighting on the pitch 
and booing each other in the stands is a much better way to express 
hostilities than missiles and car bombs.  International soccer leads to 
goodwill, imho.

	-Tetsuonoumi, a sumo, New England Revolution, US National Soccer team, and 
"Les Bleus" fan


[EndPost by "William C. Blank" <wcb@BostonDynamics.com>]