This is from http://www.sun-sentinel.com/sports/...mar04,0,2180243.story?coll=sfla-sports-tennis
The whole article is quite interesting but the part with Jeff Tarango is particulary amusing:
Jeff Tarango, the American player whose wife is French and who lives part-time in France, also is playing doubles here, and he had a more expansive view of French-U.S. relations. He said the tension originates more with Chirac than with the French people.
But, he added, "Basically, the French people don't want anything to do with wars. They want to be in their little bubble and act like there's nothing going on anywhere in the world except France. And the only way to do that is to not acknowledge that anything is wrong.
"They've had bombings, tankers hit by terrorists, and they don't want to admit it was terrorism. People over there don't feel like there's a problem. The French are in a complete world of denial.''
At an event in Dubai two weeks ago, Tarango was approached by a couple of French players (Fabrice Santoro and Nicolas Escude). "They wanted to know what I thought of George Bush and his position.
"I told them it's like when you have a germ. If you don't kill the bacteria right away it becomes a virus. You've got a guy trying to exterminate humans on this planet, so what alternative do we have but to search him out and get rid of him?
"But French players don't really have a political agenda,'' Tarango said. "They're more into their Playstations and reading L'Equipe [the national sports newspaper].''
The whole article is quite interesting but the part with Jeff Tarango is particulary amusing:
Jeff Tarango, the American player whose wife is French and who lives part-time in France, also is playing doubles here, and he had a more expansive view of French-U.S. relations. He said the tension originates more with Chirac than with the French people.
But, he added, "Basically, the French people don't want anything to do with wars. They want to be in their little bubble and act like there's nothing going on anywhere in the world except France. And the only way to do that is to not acknowledge that anything is wrong.
"They've had bombings, tankers hit by terrorists, and they don't want to admit it was terrorism. People over there don't feel like there's a problem. The French are in a complete world of denial.''
At an event in Dubai two weeks ago, Tarango was approached by a couple of French players (Fabrice Santoro and Nicolas Escude). "They wanted to know what I thought of George Bush and his position.
"I told them it's like when you have a germ. If you don't kill the bacteria right away it becomes a virus. You've got a guy trying to exterminate humans on this planet, so what alternative do we have but to search him out and get rid of him?
"But French players don't really have a political agenda,'' Tarango said. "They're more into their Playstations and reading L'Equipe [the national sports newspaper].''
