What Steve Cox said in Racerhead says it best.
I know I’ve talked a bunch about it this week, but even though the AMA National season ended poorly for Chris Pourcel, leaving him with a dislocated shoulder, I can’t stop talking about the sportsmanship shown after the race. Maybe it’s more common than I think, but I don’t know the last time I’ve seen someone who had just lost a hard-fought championship go up to the person who beat them and ask for memorabilia marking the occasion with a smile on his face.
I noticed that a lot of people were denying that Pourcel was getting treated poorly by the fans at the podiums, but I have to say, having stood at every one of them this summer, he definitely was. It may not have been the majority of people or anything like that, but it was a very vocal minority yelling, "Go home" and things like that. And at Washougal, I even heard someone scream out, "F&#$ the French!" I know it was loud enough for Pourcel to hear, because when I’m shooting the podium with the other photographers, I’m probably six feet from him, and I can hear it loud and clear.
I don’t get the whole "nationalism" thing at an AMA Motocross race. I highly doubt that people are screaming anti-Russian or anti-Czech things at hockey games in the NHL very often. Why? Because it’s not a game between countries. At the Olympics, I can understand it more, and I can understand it more at the Motocross of Nations next weekend in Colorado, too. But the thing is, even though I understand it more, it still doesn’t really make sense. Why? Because why isn’t it enough to cheer loudly for your own country (or favorite rider)? Why must you also yell hurtful things at the competing countries (or riders)?
Like him or not (and I admit, I like him), Pourcel has overcome a lot to entertain American motocross fans. He set a goal to race in the USA and came to do so after recovering from paralysis. He left his home country, traveled across an ocean, learned a new language and a new culture, and did it all just to race against the best here in the USA, and people somehow hate him for that? That just seems incredibly stupid. And before anyone responds by saying that it’s not because he was French that they didn’t like him, that’s fine, but the people who were specifically yelling anti-French stuff at Pourcel, such as what I pointed out above, his being French is a definite point of contention for them. And it simply doesn’t matter.
And for all of those Americans who hate the French just because it’s the in thing to do (like back when people started renaming foods "Freedom Fries" and other complete idiocy), remember that if not for the French, we very well may still be a part of the UK. Remember the name General Lafayette? Kind of a funny name for an American of British descent, no? That’s because he was French. He was a very key figure, among many key French figures, in defeating the British here in the Colonies. Even the treaty that ended the American Revolution was called the Treaty of Paris because it was negotiated and signed in Paris.
What I’m saying is we’re lucky to have so many racers from foreign nations not only racing here, but even more key, WANTING to race here. It makes our series stronger. If you want a reason to hate the French, go to Paris yourself. You’ll hate them in no time. Parisians are something else. But my guess is almost no one who was chanting the anti-French stuff has been to France, or perhaps to Europe at all. Hey, what colors are the French flag again?
