USA! USA! USA! — Oh Please, Just Shut Up

“USA! USA! USA!” …. OH PLEASE, JUST STOP

Back in 1976, I was 14. My father took me to an international track and field competition. It was held inside the Fort Worth Convention Center. Team USA faced TEAM USSR in a 3-day mini-Olympics. Track and field, pole vaulting, gymnastics, and all the usual sports were displayed. Despite the USA and USSR being intensely at odds on the global political stage, in sporting competition the mood was very different. The crowd of several thousand, almost all Americans and overwhelmingly Texans, cheered when the athletes from the Soviet Union did something spectacular. Sure, we were all cheering for our fellow Americans. Yet, our *guests* merited respect. They also deserved praise when they won or accomplished something big.

Move ahead to 1980. Forty-five years ago, we who were of age and aware remember the glorious moment when the United States Olympic Hockey Team pulled off the upset of the decade at the 1980 Winter Games by winning the gold medal, defeating the evil Soviet Union. “Do you believe in miracles….yes!” …. roared announcer Al Michaels, and we all nodded and wept in joy. Truly, that special time and place can’t be overstated — if you were there and watched on TV, you remember. It was an astounding moment of jubilation that perfectly fit a new era coined by a new president to be, Ronald Reagan’s “It’s morning in America again.”

Since then, overt displays of intense patriotism have breached all sports. Sadly, each time we hear it, the chant and cheer seems just a little bit meaner and more concerning. In 1992, the Olympic “Dream Team” comprised of NBA superstars destroyed all the competition at the Summer Games. “USA! USA! USA!” became the familiar chant, once again. But this time, the joyous ring wasn’t quite the same as earlier. Watching the NBA’s greatest players manhandle hopelessly outclassed opponents and destroy Angola 116-48 in a basketball game didn’t seem something to enjoy, nor take pride it. It was like cheering for the sledgehammer at a slaughterhouse. That’s when I first started to get annoyed when I’d hear it. Go ahead. Call me a heretic.

In the years thereafter, American crowds and fans seemed to get a more obnoxious each occasion when jingoism arose. Sure, some banter in sports is natural, even fun on occasion. And, there are always more than a few drunken idiots at sporting events. Other countries and sports, namely soccer, have this problem, too.
Frankly, I don’t know if American crowds would accept an Olga Korbut or a Nadia Comanici again. I mean, it wouldn’t happen now like it did before. Recall that way back in the 1970s, those two gymnasts from rival nations became virtual teenage darlings in the United States. Their likenesses appeared on cereal boxes. Imagine, a Russian and Romanian were used to sell Wheaties. Their national flags didn’t matter. We fell in love with the *people*, and their greatness and grace. Seriously, can you imagine Americans embracing an athlete from a different country at an Olympic competition, today? I don’t think it would happen; certainly, not in this political climate.

Earlier this year, things turned ugly when Team USA faced Team Canada at the 2025 World Hockey Championships. Stoked then by Trump’s ridiculous anti-Canada rhetoric (he repeatedly threatened to “annex” Canada into the U.S.), the Canadians faced a barrage of chants and insults when they played games in the United States. It was all so purposeless and cruel. Shameful.

Jingoism plunged to even lower depths again this past weekend. I have absolutely zero interest in golf’s Ryder Cup and couldn’t care less about any of it. But we all saw and heard news reports about the widespread ugliness out on the golf course that was targeted entirely at European players. F-bomb chants. Insults hurled at top Euro golfers, even reaching an intensely personal level. Golf, once a genteel game of decorum and respect had turned into a UFC event. A few bad apples–maybe so. I’m willing to theorize these disruptive incidents wouldn’t happen without a fervent and widespread nationalistic movement that’s spilled over into sports and made competitiveness something way beyond spirited competition and fun. Many Americans admit they were ashamed (read many of the posts here on social media about the Ryder Cup incidents). Many even said they were rooting for the Europeans to win (and they did). I suppose we should be proud that many Americans exhibited class among the classless.

I still cheer for Americans on many occasions. I also cheer for athletes from other countries in these events when I learn about them and come to appreciate their stories. Flags aren’t so important anymore. I root for people, not nationalities. Correction — if the Jamaican Bobsled Team ever appears at the Winter Olympics again, I’m cheering for them. “Jamaica! Jamaica Jamaica!” Many of us love the underdog in a fight.

Given where we are in the world at this time, ugliness like what happened at the Ryder Cup will not be isolated incidents. I predict they will become increasingly common, and that’s very sad. I also have to assume this triggers more intense anti-American sentiment abroad (see how these ugly incidents are reported abroad–which get headlines and stokes anger and resentment). So, American athletes also suffer indirectly. That makes me sad, too.

No, I won’t be screaming “USA! USA! USA!” at the top of my lungs at any future sporting events. That doesn’t make me unpatriotic. There are plenty of Americans I will cheer for as people. I’m just not willing to reduce myself to irritating displays of blinding nationalism simply because of flags and the outdated rituals of antagonistic idiots.