The Game’s the Thing.

Last weekend in the Rugby Union World Cup, Japan beat America. Both teams then exited the tournament, in the company of the hosts, England, who had lost to Australia and Wales in previous weeks. For the past few days, the British newspapers had used up a substantial Brazilian rain forest reporting critically on England’s loss and poor performances. One might have thought the team and its management had been guilty of a capital crime. Fortunately for us enthusiasts – my wife says addicts – England is competing in international football and cricket tournaments as I write. The British appetite for such sporting challenges is never sated.

At the same time, I doubt that the American newspapers carried reports of the progress of the US rugby team. Therefore, as a change to Washington politics, I decided to write about the US rugby team in particular and American sports in general.

In an episode of Friends, Ross’s British girlfriend, Emily, encourages him to play a game of rugby in Central Park. Ross emerges bruised, bloody and bowed but loving the experience. I suspect more Americans have gained their knowledge of the game from that program than from watching the sport. And even though America put out a team for the World Cup, its efforts have been largely ignored. There are a number of possible reasons for this.

First, Americans love winners. They invented the expression, “who cares who comes second.” In rugby terms, America is an emerging nation with no chance of qualifying for the knock-out stage of the tournament, let alone winning it. Therefore I suspect neither the American television networks nor newspapers are interested in giving the efforts of the team much air time or print space.

Second, it is unusual for America to put out an all-American team. As I understand it, the expression “all American” does not refer to a team but to great performances by individuals in their college sports. American football and baseball have All-Star conference teams who play each other but there is no USA football team which plays against other countries. That is because so few countries play American football. Even the rosters of Canadian football teams are filled mostly by Americans. Interestingly, there is talk of an American football franchise in London. Quite how this will work remains to be seen.

Baseball is played professionally in Japan and some Central and South American countries but there is no world cup for the sport, hence no reason for America to put out a team. Baseball has been an Olympic sport from time to time but I don’t recall the Americans winning except in Sydney in 2000. Baseball was dropped as an Olympic sport in 2012. Basketball, too, is an Olympic sport. Here, America has a tremendous record for winning gold. However, there is no American national side that competes against other nations regularly.

Once every two years, the American and European golfers compete for the Ryder Cup. For many years after the end of World War II America won the competition with ease but of late, America has fared badly. Indeed it has lost on the past three occasions. And what is worse, America does not play like a team but as a group of individuals, flying in on private jets, whereas the European team is a tight unit. It calls into question whether American golfers, when playing for their country, don’t recognise the team patriotism involved.

What I find interesting is that American sports do well on the silver screen. I cannot think of one good cricket movie, except for an Indian film, Lagaan, which was more about the Raj than sport or a soccer movie. As for rugby, Invictus told the story of South Africa winning the Rugby World Cup, with the influence of Nelson Mandela but the script turned the characters into caricatures and was more about politics.

In contrast, there have been some great movies on American sports. Sea Biscuit was a sentimental but effective view of both horse racing and life in the Great Depression. Boxing has given us movies like Raging Bull and the Rocky Graziano story, Somebody Up There Likes Me, as well as Million Dollar Baby. There are great basketball movies, like Coach Carter and Space Jam. I’m not so keen on the football movies because they are either very sentimental, as in Remember the Titans, or the violence is accentuated. Just watch Any Given Sunday and you’ll know what I mean.

For me, baseball offers a plethora of great movies: Pride of the Yankees, The Natural, Bull Durham, Moneyball, and A League of Their Own. My three favourites are The Rookie, Trouble with the Curve and the wonderful Field of Dreams.

Why do American sports lend themselves into making great movies? They are bankrolled by Hollywood. The latter would not be interested in English sports. The best sports films have characters played by great actors, the stories are not over-sentimental and although their outcomes can be anticipated, the films are gripping nevertheless.

I am out of my comfort zone writing about sport and the Arts but I confess I have enjoyed a holiday away from politics. Pity it has to end.