Happy Independence Day!

Yesterday I had the pleasure of watching a group of young American soccer players beat Poland 6-1 in the FIFA Under-20 World Cup in Canada, headlined by a hat-trick by the previously hyped and now much maligned Freddy Adu. It was a good match in light of the dismal performances of the senior “B” team at the Copa America in Venezuela and restored a bit of faith that one day, this country will emerge from the nether regions of world football. I now hope that Adu and several of the other promising youngsters find their way to the European leagues where they can find meaningful experience in those well-developed youth systems.

Soccer wasn’t the only thing that caught my eye yesterday, because I had a bit of a chuckle at what I consider an ill-conceived bit of journalism, MSNBC has devised a “quiz” based on the actual test that prospective citizens take as part of their naturalization process. I’m sure it was meant to be a bit of light-hearted interactivity for American readers, the scoring chart with the pithy remarks was certainly meant to be humorous, but in my estimation, fall flat.

Thanks to a little bit of common sense and some basic knowledge of American history and civics, I didn’t miss a question, but then again, it was multiple choice.