I honestly think that in 90% of sports followings, New Zealand would be my second team. If they were playing against any country other than Australia I would go for them. The 10% of hatred comes about if they'd just beaten Australian and I was feeling particularly hard done by, or if them losing meant Australia was more likely to win. Also I think NZ is great, because people always say Tasmania is NZ's third island and everyone knows how awesome Tas is. I don't think NZ feels the same way.
Remember when the Rugby World Cup was on, and Australia was playing Ireland? There was all this talk about how much NZ hated us. Most likely it was an exaggeration by the media, but hey they don't go for us.
From what I've seen, Canada feels the same way about the US. While Americans do make fun of Canadians (HIMYM and South Park are hilarious examples) they also seem to be quite fond of them, and it's more of an "awww bless 'em" opinion. Not so much in Canada. They have the anger, the "ughhh stupid Americans", and the win or die attitude.
There was a segment after the CTV news a couple of weeks ago, where they interviewed a bunch of people in America about what they thought about the First Lady debate. There was obviously no First Lady debate, but there were people that had a bunch to say about it. "Hmmm yea, well I think Michelle was very confident, but Ann had some better ideas". Crap like that.
It was almost as funny as the Chaser going around with a "map of the world" and asking Americans who they should bomb next. They had messed up all the locations, I think Australia was labeled Iraq... you get the idea. Funny right?! The Chaser was a comedy show though, not the 5pm news!
So now I've got the inside scoop on what it's like to be on the hater side, I want to know if NZ makes fun of us in the same way? I kinda hope so.
An interesting side note, I was listening to Canada vs USA in cricket on the CBC the other day. Apparently cricket is one of the oldest sporting rivalries between Canada and the USA! Bring back cricket!!
I have to tell you - NZers feel the same way about Aussies - not as much as South Africans do though.
ReplyDeleteSeveral years ago I was in NZ for a week for work and about every two minutes in the office I was in there was some kind of joke about Aussies or competitive comment. I remember thinking, sure - we Aussies do the sheep jokes but we don't waste nearly this much time or energy worrying about Kiwis all day long.
Then in 2009 we moved to South Africa as Aussies - that was a whole other level - a sporting rivalry spilled over into I'm not sure what. I left South Africa with many firm friends and a wanting to return but with a whole new understanding of how they view Australians. ;)
Now we are living here in America - the adventure continues anew.
Haha that makes total sense. I can imagine the sporting rivalries being quite intense there. I hate seeing SA win ;)
DeleteI hope your next adventure is wonderful. I love the US!