WHEW!

Thankyou, your responses have proved my point nicely! <BR>I do feel, however, that it is not entirely your own fault. In the modern world TV is having the biggest influence on society. American TV is beyond belief, it is largely inane tripe which is having a terrible effect on your people. Unfortunately it is spreading and effecting the rest of the civilised world as well. <BR>Your preferences in sport also shows deep national character flaws. Americans have to be the best at everything. So what do they do? They invent their own sports which nobody else can be bothered to play, then call themselves world champions! They have 'World Series' that no other countries participate in. I prefer to look American performance in proper world sports, such as football(soccer) and rugby.

As predicted, this has turned into an abusive, offensive and totally useless topic. This must be the most over written topic on this site. And one thing, if we can't even keep peace over our keyboards - then what hope does the planet have? <BR>You're pecking at each other like chooks in the roost - you all ought to be ashamed of yourself! <BR>Regards <BR>A non-American, non-European <BR>:-)

I agree with the above. I say we end this topic right now. This site, if I'm not mistaken, is Fodors TRAVEL for Europe...not Fodors "Why are americans so fat"..or, "Why dont French men love me". Lets keep it on a travel basis, and stop posting questions that bubble forth hostility.

Fantastic

Jurgen, I would suspect, is a student of psychology, quite probably using us as a case study. In just a few words, he turned us AGAINST EACH OTHER. Brilliant. This is a technique that's been used by extremist groups for a long time.

I think Cory and Jurgen are "boys just trying to have fun," as that great mind of the Western world, Madonna, might sing it! <BR> <BR>'nuff said!

Maybe Jurgen and Cory are the same person?

Jurgen: just for your edification, let's talk about baseball for a moment. It was developed from an old British game called "rounders." I seem to recall that the 1992 World Series was won by the Toronto Blue Jays, a Canadian team. Recently, the Baltimore Orioles played the Cuban national team ... and lost. There is a fine team in Montreal. Japan can boast many fine baseball teams. Many players on American major league and minor league teams come from...the Dominican Republic (Sammy Sosa, for example), Mexico (Erubiel Durazo and Armando Reynoso), Cuba, Venezuela, Colombia, Japan. Your statement that Americans "invent" games and claim then to hold World Series -- well, sir, you are just plain wrong. As to World Champion boxers, I can cite you a few contenders from outside the U.S. -- but you would only be wrong again. I think you should check your facts. Oh, and then there is women's soccer, golf (did you miss seeing Sergio Garcia last week?), tennis, etc. Go soak your head.

Al - calm down! Stop taking everything so personally and flaming the fire... please. If you are happy with your sportspeople - great. Smile satisfied to yourself knowing that the others are displaying their lack of knowledge. Don't show yourself up by having to return the arguement like a child... :-) <BR>

Thanks Al! That's tremendous! <BR> <BR>English schools have two traditional summer sports, cricket and rounders. The Americans could not cope with cricket because it was too complicated for them, so they took up rounders and developed it into baseball. Cricket is the boys game and rouders is the girls game. The Americans play girls sport. <BR> <BR>Canada always do what the Americans do and the Japanese are... well Japanese. <BR> <BR>Thanks again!

The reputation for loudness & fatness is <BR>outdated.The Americans are now thought <BR>of as thoughtful & fairly quiet, but <BR>still fat. <BR> The English are now thought of as the loudest & worst behaved (the term lagerlout was invented for them) the Germans are next.Childish isn't it. <BR>come second.

Americans - thoughtful and fairly quiet!!! <BR> <BR>Now we have really lapsed into dreamland.

Jo, Al is engaging in that too-seldom-used debating technique of employing facts to dispel gross generalizations and misstatements of the kind that Jurgen chose to bandy about in his most recent post. Al has simply picked up a gauntlet flung down by Jurgen who assumed, incorrectly as it turned out, that no one would challenge him. <BR> <BR>Let me pick up where Al left off. Jurgen, in your blanket condemnation of all things American, you also chose to blast U.S. television. Yep, there's a lot of tripe on six broadcast and 106 cable networks, but there is also a stunning amount of quality. That's why those U.S.-originated programs end up on both state-run and private networks around the world. Do I think "Baywatch" is great television? I don't know; the only time I've ever seen it was when it was dubbed into Italian and Greek, and I had trouble following the plot subtleties. But am I pleased that programs like "E.R.," "NYPD Blue," "Ally McBeal" and "Law and Order" serve as U.S. cultural ambassadors? Absolutely. And stayed tuned for "Sports Night," which may be the best written program currently airing. <BR> <BR>And I, for one, would be pleased to export Madonna on a no-deposit, no-return basis. <BR>

This just gets better and better!

To ease this tremendous tension, I think we should all meet, get naked and do the bunny hop for a few blocks. ;-) It's hard to stay mad at people when you see their body parts jiggling and they see yours. ;-)

To everyone who has responded to my posts, I wish to apologize. You see, I am 15 years old and I'm bored. I usually write messages to teen boards here in Europe, but everyone is on vacation. Fodors looked like an interesting place to visit, and I was surprised that you people took me seriously. However, I've gotten tired of looking up the words that Al uses. He must be some kind of professor. I really like it when people write long responses, because all I have to say is "it keeps getting better and better." I used to say that to my parents but they got angry and took away my Nintendo for a week, so I can't say that to them any more.

Jurgen: my suspicions are confirmed.

I think that trying to imitate me in order to discredit my point is childish in the extreme. What's the point of a forum if people try to discredit others by imitating them. <BR> <BR>A very childish act, probably by a 15 year old rounders playing American.