Proud to be an American

I'm sitting here this morning watching the movie Miracle, about the 1980 United States Olympic hockey team. I've seen it several times before. I love this movie.

The ironic part is that I literally cannot stand hockey as a sport. As an endless list of statistics and polls show, I am not alone, as the overwhelming majority of Americans are not big hockey fans. Our sports are baseball, football and basketball.

But I love this story. I was just 10 years old when the US team beat the Soviet Union -- a team who hadn't lost an international title in over 20 years -- and even at that young age, I was just beginning to understand the political tension of the time. The peril our country was in over a woefully failing presidential administration, and the debacle that was the Iranian hostage situation at the time.

Somehow, this team full of college kids were able to galvanize the whole country at a time when it was desperately needed, and they beat a team that was not only the greatest hockey team in the world at the time, but also from a country that was Enemy #1 to America.

It's an amazing story. From a sheer sports standpoint, it really was the equivalent of, say, our local high school Mooresville Pioneer baseball team actually beating the New York Yankees at the peak of their world championship run at the beginning of the last decade. And not in a Spring training game either.

But it was so much bigger than that because of the political and social ramifications the game actually held. The country was desperate for something to believe in -- something to make us all feel good about being Americans again. Somehow, these kids beating the evil Russians did that for us.

Every citizen who calls themselves an American ought to be required to watch this movie, or even better, the documentary that HBO did on the team, that is coincidentally included with the DVD. If you're not moved to tears when Al Michaels asks the iconic question, "Do you believe in Miracles? Yes!" then something is wrong with you.

I'm reminded of all this as I watch this movie because last night -- in a sport far more dear to my heart -- the United States baseball team was eliminated from the World Baseball Classic.

If you're not a baseball fan, then you've probably never heard of the World Baseball Classic. It's certainly not the same stage as the Olympics. But for baseball loving nations -- and there are many, including the US, -- its a fairly big deal. This year's tournament was the third since its start. Held every four years since 2005, its featured teams from all over the world, from countries where baseball literally is everything to them.

The United States -- featuring what is clearly the leading professional baseball league in the world -- has never won the WBC. Japan has won the previous two, and has again advanced to the final round this year, while the US team was eliminated last night by Puerto Rico. This year's US team was considered one of the favorites, and many are left this morning wondering why they've lost again.

There are those who believe the US doesn't take this tournament seriously enough, and that on this world stage we simply ought to be doing a better job. Ken Rosenthal, the lead baseball beat writer for Fox Sports, wrote an article this morning questioning whether or not the US is truly committed to the WBC, and if the United State's best baseball players really care about playing in it.

Those are valid questions, and the truth is that the answers are probably no to both. The US isn't truly committed to it, and the players don't care all that much.

There's a couple of easy reasons for this. 1) The United States has the best professional baseball league in the world, featuring the best players in the world, many from other countries who subsequently play for their home countries, and not the US team, in the WBC. Many of the MLB's best players are not from the US, so it thins out the talent pool. Plus, Major League Baseball is a big business, with lots of money on the line, and teams in it -- like my Cincinnati Reds -- are somewhat reluctant to let their players play at the risk of injury or some other problem that would jeopardize their ability to play for the team that employs them and pays them lots of that money. Makes sense, in a way, if you're the owner and members of team who relies on such players for their own livelihoods.

2) US fans, on the whole, really do not care. That is to say, they don't care as much about the US WBC team as they do about their own favorite MLB team. I'm as big a baseball fan as any, but I'm a Cincinnati Reds fan, and I'll admit that I was much more concerned about the Reds players who played in the WBC getting back to Spring training than I was about their involvement in the WBC. I wanted to see the US do well, but I'm not unhappy that Brandon Phillips will get back to the Reds in one piece. On the other hand, I couldn't give a rip about the Canadian team, and I was thrilled when they were eliminated so Joey Votto could get back to my team. Many players on the Reds are from foreign countries. There's no way I want them risking injury to play for teams like the Dominican Republic.

But this is not the case for most other nations. Most other countries don't have a professional league like the US, and indeed their best players usually leave and end up playing Major League Baseball anyway. So when the WBC rolls around, and their best players return to represent their home countries, its cause for a national celebration. In the Dominican, where baseball is literally everything, and they have no other national sport -- no football, basketball or soccer -- the WBC is very likely the pinnacle of their national pride. In the US, where we can follow our Reds, Yankees or Cardinals every day, a little three-week tourney every four years simply isn't that big of a deal. Japan has a good professional league, but nothing on the lines of the MLB. The WBC is a VERY big deal in Japan.

But there is a bigger reason than both of those: 3) American Pride is dead right now.

I don't want to sound like a pessimist, but its true. Being proud of the US is not cool right now. At least, that's what we're being told every night on the evening news, and even by our own government leaders. As in the days of the 1980 US hockey team, our country finds itself in political, societal and financial upheaval. And even though President Carter of those years was a poor president, the difference between then and now is that, back then, there was still a desire for the US to be great, for it to be a leader in the world. The country, even its leader, was looking for ways for the US to be great again.

It's not that way today.

Our current President doesn't like America very much, and has spent much of his time in office telling everybody who will listen why the United States is to blame for much of the world's problems. His administration and those who subscribe to his political ideology, along with the help of the national media, are expending a lot of energy to convince Americans that they should dislike each other. They tell us that being successful isn't something to be celebrated, but rather, something to be punished, especially financially. And they tell us that if someone is successful, that somehow they're bad people who don't deserve the riches they've earned.

And instead of having a single enemy -- like the evil Russians -- a foe which we can all get behind defeating, we are told every day that the whole world doesn't like us, and its our own fault. And moreover, we shouldn't even like each other very much for being the kind of people that the rest of the world abhor. Today, failure and mediocrity is something our government not only encourages, it rewards!

At least that's what we're being told. So is it any surprise that we can't get behind a little baseball team like the US WBC team, when we're being told day in and day out that the causes of the United States aren't worth getting behind at all? My own Reds' player on the WBC team, Brandon Phillips, said it best after last night's loss to Puerto Rico when he stated, "You just see how everybody’s passion is totally different than our country’s."

He's right. But it's not his fault. It's ours. Oh, for the 1980 US hockey team. Wouldn't it feel great to be proud to be an American again? I was only 10, but I miss those days.