Sports Nazis Must Die

They're baa-ack! They always come back at the Olympics, winter or summer. As Sasha Cohen skated her program in last night's competition, the Sports Nazis - those boorish Americans who always chant our country's initials at the top of their lungs and make every other sports fan in America feel embarrassed and ashamed - made their presence known. "U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A!" I call them Sports Nazis, you will recall (see my August 2004 comments in the archives), because a British observer acidly but accurately compared the chants of "U-S-A! U-S-A!" to the the chants of "Sieg heil! Sieg heil!" bellowed by the Germans during the Third Reich. And, in Torino, it sounds chillingly similar to the cries of "Il Duce" from Fascist Italy: "Il-Du-Chay! Il-Du-Chay!"

If you can, try to ignore the Sports Nazis at whatever event you take in at the Winter Games should be lucky enough to see them live. Try to go to events where Americans virtually have no chance of winning. The ski races are your best bet. (Bode who? :-O )