Jeebus!
The question was why Becky Hammond chose to play for Mother Russia.
I said that because SA is international to the point where there is "not the same sense of patriotism."
A couple people got offended so I clarified that I wasn't attacking SA or (somehow) attacking wounded warriors or other service men or women.
My point was that due to a more multicultural background in San Antonio and the fact that it is now common place for Spurs players to go off and play for other countries in the Olympics - there is "not the same sense of patriotism" in San Antonio in which media or fan bases might lash out at a player in terms of jersey or ticket sales or general bad will. I stand by that.
In my opinion, SA is further down this road then most cities or regions of the country. Again, personally, if I'm born here and don't make the team - I wouldn't go play for another country and potentially against the US. (this is a point of discussion that comes up often in SA sports media - but usually the consensus is - "that's just how it is and it's the athlete's right to do it.")
To me, if you go play against the US, you don't have "the same sense of patriotism" as I do. That's your right, here in America, though - kinda like how I can express that opinion - and you can then respond with yours.
The only reason I'm responding is because I'm a big supporter of our armed forces and my comment got interpreted by some as some sort of challenge to the dignity of wounded warriors.
I still don't get how anyone can argue (now that I've clarified) that because SA is more international and has a consistent record of Spurs players playing for other countries that there isn't the same "sense of patriotism" in which there might be more of a backlash against players that do so while playing in other cities. That's how Becky does it. She gets to go play for Putin, gets the Olympic experience, and SA as a community is generally ok with it. (Again, this is something that has been discussed quite a few times on SA sports radio with passionate, crazy people from both sides chiming in - but the consensus leans towards acceptance - which I don't think would be the case in most cities if their star player who was born and raised in America suddenly went over later in life and got naturalized citizenship with another country and decided to spend the "Olympic weeks" every four years as a citizen of that country to compete against America.)
As I said in the original post, not a slam, just a fact.
In the end, if you want to go rep a country that is run by organized crime against America, knock yourself out.
If you want to ***** and complain about my sentiment, feel free to do so as well.
If you want to twist what I said into some other sort of rascist, anti-military, or other anti-orphaned-puppies-with-incurable-diseases message after I've sincerely tried to explain that I had no such intention... well, again, that's your right too, but then again, this is a message board with a lot of drunks posting, you should probably relax, and I think that you and your mom are communists.
[This message has been edited by deadelephant98 (edited 8/13/2012 12:52p).]
