I actually thought about writing fascist instead (so fair enough) but choose to stay in the racist term, as this is the main focus in the topic at hand, and as i said, clearly is the main drive in these groups.

Dom, 7,

Like I said I was being nitty. I imagine it is possible to be a fascist w/o being a racist in Italy though I would think that the two often go hand in hand. Also, should we associate the gesture with neo-fascism (and its current ideals) or is the guy just showing love for his boy Mussolini and old school fascism, etc, blah blah -- anyway /end nit

Anyway, while I certainly don't think that everyone in Italy is a racist, the fact that such behavior is 'tolerated' is a sign to me that as a whole, the population would tend to be more racist.

I know what you mean and you are right about everything you say here.

I don`t hate this guy just due to his salute.
Cause the fascist Mussolini historic thing and the motive of manipulating the crowd, to bow at your feet etc. (not that this is in anyway shows good charactor) I am not sure what his intentions are exactly and I wont judge him hard.

But-
Exactly

Could care less about Olympics...used to kind of enjoy watching them but now its just like whatever. Most people I know are only watching and paying attention cuz there is nothing else on TV and the non stop Phelps hype.

Ok

It's probably been noted, but I didn't think (and a quick Google check confirmed) that Michael Johnson has never even been implicated in a doping scandal. That was just pure Texas speed.

ya covered that

georgia beach volleyball star putting rain khan's antics to shame.

and i don't think terrell owens is disrespectful either.

OP = Tard?

For those who think China doesn't showboat, check out highlights to the US/China baseball game. Down 9-0, China hits a HR to get to 9-1. The batter celebrates all the way around the basepaths. Classy.

Well its the first HR chinas hit plus they're down 9-0. They're looking for something positive. Its hard to showboat when your losing 9-1

Update on medal standings:

G S B T
1 CHN 43 14 19 76
2 USA 26 26 27 79
3 GBR 16 9 8 33
4 AUS 11 12 12 35
5 GER 11 8 9 28
17CAN 2 6 5 13 <--- WOOT go Canada!

That's not the point. The point is that several people in this thread claim that only Americans cheer and showboat. This is just another example showing that people from other countries also do the same thing.

And there could be no self irony hidden there?

Or are you leveling, cause it is impossible to be taunting/showboating whilst getting your ass kicked.

No. He was celebrating because he hit a HR. Apparently the first HR of the Olympics. He was happy. That's what people do. Not just Americans.

And, for reasons stated earlier in this thread, no American would ever celebrate any HR like that Chinese guy did.

Please, Americans showboat a lot in sports, and in general more than other nationalities. That doesn't mean that every other country has perfectly behaved athletes, or that there aren't any American athletes that behave modestly in victory (or even that the majority don't). On the whole, though, based on nothing more than my personal impression, American athletes do seem a lot more boisterous than those from other countries.

In fact, if I had to get more specific, I'd say that it is less surprising to me to see self-aggrandizing athletes from the US. Of course, anyone who wins olympic gold is going to be chuffed and celebrate their success. It's when people take an 'in your face' attitude that onlookers baulk.

Some disclaimers: I'm not talking specifically about anything I've seen in Beijing, I haven't watched a lot of these olympics. Also, it's not something that bothers me particularly, perhaps because Australian athletes can be pretty bad as well. I'm just offering my perspective.

There was a bunch of bad blood between the two teams. The starting Chinese catcher was knocked out of the game after being run over by an American player. It didn't look like the ball was even close and the catcher was not blocking the plate (though, in fairness, the baserunner may not have known how far away the ball was). I think the American's shoe caught the catcher in the face as they tumbled, and he left the game.

Later in the game, the backup catcher was bowled over, again when it didn't look like the American was in any danger of getting thrown out. I only saw the Sports Center highlights, but my initial reaction to both plays was that they were uncalled for by the Americans.

Next the Chinese pitcher nailed an American in the head. He left the game and was diagnosed with a concussion at the hospital. I don't know if he's one of the guys who collided with the Chinese catchers, but I'd assume so.

During the game there were a few more hit batsmen and lots of warnings given out by the umpires.

In the ninth inning, with the game put away, it was the Chinese backup catcher who hit the HR.

That's interesting, I was just looking for video and it sounded like a fiery affair.

While I was looking I did notice that every website I visited (NBC, washingtonpost, and nytimes) listed their medal tally in terms of overall medals, which I found a somewhat amusing. The standard has always been to judge on golds, no? That's how I've always seen medal olympic medal tallies ordered before.

Again, I'm not making a big deal out of it, just found it amusing. Along similar lines in Australia we always hear a lot about the 'per capita' medal tally.

Someone sets up this thread complaining that ONLY Americans showboat. I give multiple examples of people from other countries celebrating. Yet I'm the troll?

taunting by a losing team is not uncommon at all

you can't showboat when you are getting your ass handed to you, what don't you understand?

Also LOL at trying to defend Americans showboating and saying everyone does it equally much.. watched any basket? its pretty clear there.

I'd be very suprised if any country "showboated" significantly more, on a per medal basis, then any other.

In the world of ridiculous showboating nothing will ever compare to soccer goal celebrations.

Are we just seeing all this discussion on the matter because a bunch of people who don't watch much sports are now watching the Olympics? I seriously don't get it.

There was a funny blog post somewhere today about this (I forget where I saw it), but it compared the medal tallies as displayed on US sites (by total medal count), to the medal counts as displayed on Chinese sites (by gold medal count), and as a tie-break they looked at the Al Jazeera site, which happened to rank countries by total medals...

bah, screw the explanation, I'll find the site...

Here it is.

As for medal counts. It hasn't mattered in the past. The country with the highest number of golds usually also had the highest number of total medals. (At least in the Summer Olympics. I didn't bother checking Winter Olympics).

Sorry. I didn't mean you.

This thread was a trolling expedition from the start, rife with strawman arguments and non sequiturs... but he's very good at poker, so it's OK.

Ever watch soccer?