Ain't That America

I posted this story once, but it included some rather narrow-minded comments regarding Texans which should really be beneath me, so I'm doing it over.

Both my undergraduate and graduate alma maters are #1 seeds in the men's college basketball championship. But yesterday, I went with a friend to watch her alma mater, Illinois State University, play in the women's college basketball championships here in Seattle. ISU was a #15 seed pitted against #2 seed Baylor, and although they played valiantly, they really had no chance.

We sat across the court from the team's main cheering section. The team itself was made up largely (though not entirely) of blond, corn-fed gals the likes of which I remember well from my Illinois upbringing. One of the exceptions was Jaci McCormack, a member of the Nez Perce tribe in nearby Idaho. A sizeable portion of the Nez Perce Nation was there to cheer her on, many of them sporting "One Nation, Under Hoop" t-shirts. So the cheering section for this heavily WASP Illinois team included the university's African-American president in the very first row, and then behind him - a sea of Native Americans from Idaho. Gotta love America, sometimes.

Our ticket entitled us to stay for the second game of the day, Oregon versus Texas Christian University. Since my rather gregarious friend had convinced several Oregon fans to root for Illinois State during the first game, we felt a duty to stay and cheer on our Pacific Northwest neighbors, the Ducks - plus it promised to be a better-matched game than the first. In fact it was a great, close game, and I think it's fair to say we were absolutely, 100% as enthusastically and loudly supportive of the Ducks as the many Oregonians in the arena. I deduce this because at one point, the woman across the aisle handed me her yellow Ducks pom-pom and said, "Here, take this - clearly, you will make better use of it than I will."

Now it's possible - just possible - that I allowed a sports match-up between mellow, tie-dye-clad Northwesterners and a group of conservative religious Texans to symbolically represent, say, the clash of social and religious views currently underway in this country. Not very charitable of me, since in fact I know absolutely nothing about the politics or religious orientation of Texas Christian University. Nonetheless, I guess my quickness to stereotype - and the underlying conflict that was on my mind when I did so - are also part of the country these days.

In any event, it was an enjoyable afternoon of indisputably American competition and entertainment. The Ducks played well, and I was happy for them and their fans when they won. As we walked out, a hard and much-needed rain came steadily down, as if even the Northwestern weather had won that day.