WORLD CUP JUNE 23, 2010
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I'm sitting in a solid block of Americans at Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria watching Team USA play in the sandbox with the Algerians, and the one thing I notice is the total absence of "Yes We Can" chants. This time last year, even the South Africans were chanting Obama's campaign motto. In the teeming Johannesburg bar in which I watched Bafana Bafana take on Brazil in last June's Confederations Cup semis, "Yes We Can" was the favorite refrain, not to mention at the US-Brazil final. I haven't heard it once this year. My companion and I tried getting a round going in the stands here, but no dice. It's like it's been forgotten. Everybody prefers "Ole, ole, ole." I don't mean to extrapolate too broadly from this, but it has turned out to be a saying that had a shelf life.
Update: OK, with that kind of finish, even "Yes We Can" returned.
5 comments
US just scored. Yes, they could win.
- jdyer
June 23, 2010 at 11:51am
It's over, and actually, yes we won. How do you like your crow cooked, Eve?
- jdyer
June 23, 2010 at 11:57am
Yes we can!
- Attrill
June 23, 2010 at 12:20pm
More challenges to come. But this is a good team.
- ironyroad
June 23, 2010 at 1:34pm
A followup: Looking through Newseum at today's papers: Something like a half dozen + Brazilian papers went with some variation of "Yes We Can," either in English or Portuguese. I'd say it's not dead yet. http://www.newseum.org/todaysfrontpages/flash/default.asp
- Crock1701
June 24, 2010 at 10:28pm