Red, white and spoiled

Why does the rest of the world seem to hate America?
Is it becuase of the war in Iraq? Abu Ghraib prison abuse? A hedonistic attitude toward money? Sex on TV? Snooty French people influencing the values of Europe?
No.
They hate us because of Shani Davis and Chad Hedrick. They hate us because of Bode Miller.
They hate us because, no matter how many Joey Cheeks there are giving money to Sudanese refugees in Chad, there are at least three petty, spoiled, snippy, arrogant Olympic athletes from the U.S., their egos and sense of entitlement fueled by an overpopulated American media contingent starved for new angles on stories.
You want to know how the Italian media probably feels? Remember those playoff series between the Indians and Yankees in the '90s when the Yankees would come to Cleveland with the Times, Daily News, Post, Newsday, ESPN and Sports Illustrated in tow, and how every time David Cone got a hangnail, it was newsworthy.
Now, imagine instead of the Yankees, it was 25 clones of Barry Bonds or Jose Canseco. Now you start to get the idea.
A treasure chest of gold medals by Norwegians, Germans and Austrians can't match a good snipe-fest between Davis and Hedrick, American speedskaters who have found that exchanging glares and complaints in front of rolling cameras is every bit as compelling as who takes gold in the 1,500 meters. That is, if you are into the whole celebrity-gossip angle of the Olympics, and honestly couldn't care less about who wins. Which probably describes a good portion of Americans.
For some, defending the home turf is more important. Today, The Plain Dealer ran probably the best stab at Davis and Hedrick to date.
It is a Getty Images photograph depicting a beaming Enrico Fabris. The Italian speedskater had just won gold in the 1,500 meters. Slightly out of focus to the front and rear of Fabris are Hedrick and Davis, both sulking. Davis had just won silver and Hedrick bronze, but something tells me they'd like to chuck those medals off the side of a boat, like Maverick did to Goose's dogtags in "Top Gun."
Afterward, America's Finest continued their bickering at a press conference. No two athletes were less deserving of gold, if only for the reason that it would have merely served to stick it to the other.
In other countries, winning gold means "I'm good." In America, it means "I rule, you suck."
It only perpetuates the outside notion that Americans are a rich, spoiled, self-centered people who arrive with their entourage, soak up the spotlight and leave without so much as a handshake.
It's not true, but the behavior of Davis and Hedrick and the microphones jammed in the face of zero-medal winner Miller are a testament to the way we stroke the egos of the famous, even if they're only famous for being famous.
We let our athletes believe the Olympics are all about them. Some abuse that fact. So why should it surprise us when some of them turn around and embarrass our country internationally?