Exactly, well said.

As to all those anglo-written books about living in France and living with those funny, crazy, difficult frenchies, check out this blog posting from the Guardian:

http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/books/2008/02/bad_french_english_writers_abr.html

The Spanish? There are a lot of racist fans in Spain (yes, yes, I know, so do other countries). Did you hear about that recent fracas in Spain with the auto racing champion Hamilton? Spanish fans came wearing black face and guerrilla suits and made with the monkey chants. Charming.

No national team on the planet is as victimized with this kind of racist hate than the French NT. Wherever they go, they hear this kind of thing. Spain’s ultras are like Italy’s ultras — they’re highly organized and they verbally assault black players all the time. I think a lot of Spanish fans just can’t get past France’s frequent victories over them and the fact that in their eyes the French team is comprised of inferior black players. Those were the fans who booed, I’m sure.

(Tho to their credit, zizou remains incredibly popular in Spain — I’ve met Spanish fans who hate Real Madrid but while zizou was playing for them they’d say “I hate Real Madrid — except zidane.” During the entire zidane-bashing episode that came out of the wc final, outside of France, it was Spain that almost uniformly remained supportive of him).

The Spanish fans also booed the English nat’l anthem when they played England last year, btw. Both sets of fans competed in being idiots.

Neither glatisant or Doume nor anyone else should apologize for feeling offended — I’m not even French but I deeply, passionately detest mindless, bigoted France-bashing and I do take offense at it.

And I regularly visit superfrenchie.com.

France
Coupet : 5,5
Sagnol : 5,5
Thuram : 7
(Escudé, 46eme : 5,5)
Gallas : 6
Abidal : 5
Vieira (cap) : 4,5
(Ben Arfa, 82eme)
Toulalan : 4
L.Diarra : 4,5
Malouda : 4
Anelka : 5
(Benzema, 60eme)
Henry : 4,5

Espagne
Casillas (cap) : 6
Sergio Ramos : 5
(Angel, 46eme : non noté)
(puis Juanito, 75eme)
Albiol : 5
Marchena : 5
(Pablo, 46eme : 5)
Capdevila : 5
Albelda: 4,5
(Xabi Alonso, 63eme)
Xavi: 6
Iniesta : 5,5
Fabregas : 4,5
Riera : 4
(Villa, 46eme : 4,5)
Torres : Non noté
(Güiza, 24eme : 4)

By that I mean those who perceive the team as French and the French as arrogant probably whistle. And those who view the team as too black (and thus not French enough) will also. They can’t win, and thus get double the abuse of other countries because people who hate them do so for opposite reasons.

The books I recommend capture the conflict and difficulties of an outsider in France perfectly, and in a hysterically funny (yet more or less respectful and loving) way. A lot of French people love them. They sell them in the airport.
Yes, I’ve read the recommendations on your other blog some time ago (here revealing my cyber-stalking ways), hence the comment about getting the French to pay for the books you write about them. For what it’s worth, here is a fascinating discussion on the word “insolence,” as it was used in the article you mentioned in your post.

BTW, booing the opposition’s national anthem is a very common thing now.
Is it? English supporters have a reputation that precedes them, unfortunately, so I can’t say I’m really surprised, coming from them. But how common is this sort of behavior elsewhere?
See, when something like this happens, I feel like I have to find some sort of rationale or “trigger” that explains that sort of response. For the English, the fan culture has become its own explanation, whether that’s fair or not.
So what was Spain’s reasoning? The fact that the only match they’ve won against France within the past 25 years was in 2001, in yet another meaningless friendly? That Henry “dove” in the WC match against them, and had earlier allowed their selectionneur to make a fool out of himself in the international press? That the French have too many black players for their tastes?

And yes, I am taking this way too seriously. It’s been a long week here, too.

Thanks for the link, Doumé.

Oh well I think for people to unerstand things better, I recomend people to visit
http://www.superfrenchie.com
which, through all kinds of topics, from silly to serious, explains things about us and our relationship with all things American. The faces, the tones of voice, the body language can be also a cultural thing, not something personally directed at you. In fact I have heard the kindest, sweetest things said in a tone of voice that could have sounded snooty.
Ah Kyle, French women are just something else

But Laurie, to come back to the game: Titi, Raymond, Vieira and the others seem to be very satisfied about what the game was like (even Henry saying in l’Equipe that they could have won). Didn’t you love that ball from Sagnol to Benz? What a “caviar” (cf French 101)

Kyle – there’s a section in the same Bryson book about how he and his friend Katz approach girls. It’s of absolutely no practical use, but I remember it being good for a laugh.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/2/2/17374/18076/11/448496

BTW, booing the opposition’s national anthem is a very common thing now. English fans do this all the time. They booed the Swiss national anthem last night, they booed the Brazilian and German anthems last year, they routinely boo every single opposition their national team faces.

And to Fred — I do like the French so f–k off!