Liam Bright

Do they make such comments about american football, or about 'soccer'? (And does that sport have the same working class connotations in the States?)

i am definitely guilty of this

just like i find singing along in a church to be "collective effervescence" style creepy group delusion making i find the irrational investments in football in america to be a stand in for conformity to group think in a way that enforces nationalism i am not comfortable with

Hmm. Not sure if I always read this as snobbery. I think sometimes it is more self-deprecation for being out of the loop on popular things. But maybe that's the same thing?

I was wondering if different people are into football here: in UK football (soccer) is coded as v. working class pass time, so if a bunch of the upper middle class got round and guffawed at it the left would be angry. But if its the thing Our Lot do then self-deprecation is cool?

Sometimes it’s because it’s a thing we were excluded from when we were younger. So, now we feel superior to it, because we still feel inferior.

Eek, that's upsetting both coming and going!

I think a lot of it is snobbery. I've been ribbed for being a fan of American sports (football, basketball) by numerous US academics. No one has *ever* given me grief about being a European soccer fan though. I guess here that's still seen as "exotic" and thus acceptable?