64K attendance when I went to see Portland play in Seattle this July. Brilliant atmosphere with two (in US terms) local rivals playing. But back the original thread title, yes, Americanization is bad. That goes for all the homogenization that is happening. It started with films and then TV and now through the internet. It's driven by big business and multinationals that want us all to consume the same brands wherever we are in the world. Viva la difference! Independence, individuality and diversity are good.
Two Middlesborough pals, Michael Loughran and Karl Carter, have been found not guilty of a "vigilante attack" on an 18 year old child rapist in Darlington. As I read in the Northern Echo, they allegedly offered a £1,000 reward for information and traced him via facebook and then allegedly beat the crap out of him with "baseball bats" which is obviously an "American" weapon of choice. Clearly things have now gone too far with the American influence. For the sake of the village green, local pubs, cups of tea, buttered scones, the Sunday roast and Britannia (with a nod to Ray Davies) stand up and be counted and use cricket bats and/or field hockey sticks if you are going to allegedly batter someone.
