Who Are Ya! Who Are Ya! ...Cheering For?

Missed Ms FootyNut's first post? Find it here.

Photo: Simon Bruty/Sports Illustrated

I have officially been bitten by the World Cup bug and I'm infecting several people I work with. Huzzah!

Like World Cup die-hard fans I've been trying to keep up with all the games. I can't watch them at work, but I do scan the news feeds for updates and once I know what their uniforms look like, I'm pretty good at playing the game in my head - Pass, pass, pass, pass, tackle, ball out of play, throw in, pass, pass...you get it. You may ask, "How is that satisfying?" Usually I just keep hoping anyone and everyone will score. I think that stems from growing up in Hockey Town where games are relatively "high scoring".

But now that I know a little bit more about this game, and the teams, I keep myself interested by always picking a side. I am one of those people that if I don't have an allegience, I always root for the underdog. For me this is also true in politics - I voted for Nader in '08.

This most recent round for Group B, I was rooting for South Korea because Park Ji-Sung is on that team, but also plays for Manchester United - Mr. FootyNut's Premireship team. And in Group A I was rooting for Mexico because, well, no one should be rooting for those dirty cheating French.

During the Greece/Nigeria game there was a short discussion on The Guardian's Minute By Minute about how South African fans are rooting for any African team because to them, a win for that team equals win for the continent (according to the comments on the Guardian). This is not a phenom that we've seen elsewhere, particularly Europe. A win for Germany wouldn't necessarily be highly celebrated in Spain or even England. Would we be happy if Mexico won? What about Canada (if they'd made it)? I haven't noticed this African bias with the Algerian game, anyone else?

While Mr. FootyNut and I are on a media black-out today (so we can watch the Group C games uninterrupted later tonight) debate these questions with us.

What do you think about the African bias? Are there other allegiances out there I don't know about? Who do you vote for when "your team" isn't playing? OR, is that tempting fate and you secretly wish there was a lose-lose option for everyone else?