With the games getting underway today, here are my loyalties:
- USA. I live here, and my worldly instincts tell me it isn't gauche to cheer for the Americans when they aren't favored.
- England. I'm one of those people, and Nick Hornby made me a soccer fan.
- Germany. I, uh, studied German in high school, and I went to Munich a couple years ago and quite liked it. That's really all the explanation I have.
Brazil might have made the list, but for my hesitation to cheer for favorites. I was in Brazil in 1998 to watch them lose the championship match to France, and the national mourning was memorable.