Losing isn't everything, it's the only thing
Despite sitting some 5,000 km away in Beijing, the moment Andy Roddick threw himself to the turf and Andy Murray assumed the position of Defeated Brit at Wimbledon recently, it was if I could almost hear the collective sigh of my tennis-mad compatriots.
The semi-final result, an all too familiar one, was not unexpected. But that stoic, stiff upper lip, for me, is what puts the "Great" in Great Britain. We unashamedly expect the worst, so when it comes it is not such a heavy blow.
That's why I'm having a hard time getting to grips with the vitriolic hatred I see from every Chinese against the national soccer team. Sure, they're rubbish and never win a game, not to mention a great embarrassment during the Beijing Olympics last summer, but isn't that half the fun?
