Miquelon.org – The Fighting French

World soccer can whip up a nationalist frenzy like nothing else. This is also a time when French Bashing becomes popular in many circles; sports writers and commentators for instance. This year will be no exception if France qualifies for the next rounds. wins, loses or … does anything at all really.

A reminder of things past:

• In 2006, even in Canada, we had to contend with snide comments from George Stroumboulopoulous (who never apologized) and Bob Magee at CHFI (who apologized graciously).
• In 1998, France’s win against Brazil marked the beginning of a new wave of surrender jokes in America including Letterman’s Top Ten: “Top Ten Signs France Is Celebrating Their Soccer Victory: 8. Surrendering to Germany.”

Italy beat France at soccer two nil. Soccer is a game of endurance, strategy and team building. Being the most popular team sport in the world, it often stokes the patriotic fibre in fans and the public at large.

However, when it comes to sports commentators, we sometimes have to endure slurs and jabs. The latest example is Paul Doyle’s June 17 column replete with the entire Anti-French lexicon of latter day French Bashing. Read the rest of this entry »