It’s the third place game day in the Women’s World Cup, and since France is playing Sweden, I was reminded of that fact that France always has a chicken on their jerseys in soccer tournaments. Someone once countered that it’s actually a rooster, but a rooster is just a male chicken, so it’s still a chicken. It seems odd to me that any country would want to have a chicken on their jerseys, since chickens usually represent cowardice, as in: “Are you chicken? Bawk bawk ba’gawk!” But perhaps this is because France is so well known for surrendering in wars and stuff. Heck, America had to bail them out of two world wars, the shame of which is probably the primary motivator for France to detest and resent the United States so much and so often. (But it’s their own fault! Without France’s help, America never would have become an independent nation! So France: You have no-one to blame but yourselves!)
But is this really the reason for the chicken on the soccer jerseys? I think not! For this is France’s ace-in-the-hole, as it were. You see, the chicken gets everyone noticing it, thinking about the association with cowardice and stuff, and laughing about it to themselves; and just then, when you’re off balance, they strike! Plus, when you see the chicken, you’re expecting them to be cowardly, but they’re really tough and exceptional players (this past men’s World Cup performance excepted, of course). So it’s reverse-psychology! It’s mind-gamesmanship! And it’s brilliant, really, when you think about it. And who knows: Maybe it’s secretly a promotion for Kentucky Fried Chicken too!
BTW: France bashes America a lot, so I like to rib them back at times in jest. But truly I love France, and it's my favorite foreign country I've ever visited (although I haven't been to all that many).
BTW: France bashes America a lot, so I like to rib them back at times in jest. But truly I love France, and it's my favorite foreign country I've ever visited (although I haven't been to all that many).
