Cambodian Football Fans Riot, Burn Thai Embassy
Distraught Raiders fans vandalize Phnom Penh
SNAPPER McGEE
Furious Cambodian Raiders fans take out their fury by burning an effigy of Tampa Bay favorite Captain Stubing.
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Post-Super Bowl rioting continued in Cambodia, reaching its pinnacle with the torching of the Thai Embassy Wednesday. Several stores and businesses, predominately Thai-owned, were also vandalized and set afire by distraught Raiders fans.
Political pundits, whatever those are, speculate that the Cambodian people live in stressful times and frequently find their only release in American football, particularly the Oakland Raiders. For a people already hit on hard times, especially with escalating ill will between themselves and neighbors Thailand, the loss of the favored Raiders was the last straw.
Sports pundits, if any such people exist, could not be found because once we said it no one in the office could stop laughing long enough to find some.
Expert sports follower Ray “Sport” William, a sports follower for 34 years and frequenter of the bar across the street from the commune offices, could sympathize with the disgusted Cambodian citizens.
“It’s a damn shame, a’course,” said Sport. “What you have is a real awkward situation ‘cause shoddy reporting and populist politics are preying upon a people who are struggling to join a world market.
“With elections coming up in July, the Hu Sen government is whipping up nationalist frenzy to keep attention off domestic problems, including a border treaty with Vietnam that’s still not signed yet. What’s the best way to get a population furiously patriotic? Give them an enemy, and in this case, Thailand makes a convenient target. Now anything and everything that comes out of Thailand can be misconstrued by journalists who jump on the bandwagon, like alleged comments by some Thai actress that the Angkor Wat national monument really belonged to Thailand.”
Sport could not see any immediate relief for the frenzied football fans.
“There’s no hope on the horizon, I’d say. At least not until the elections have come and gone and the government is either comfortably in place and can turn the focus away from Thailand, or Sam Rainsy campaigners succeed in turning the eye back on domestic issues and unseat the Hu Sen government.”
Or, as Professor of Asiatic Politics at Columbia University Dom Jutney said, “There’s always next year. You can’t keep Oakland down. This year Tampa Bay wanted it more. Next year it’s all Raiders, baby.”
The Thai Embassy in America, while not currently in flames, could not be reached for comment. Which is a polite way of saying they hung up on us repeatedly, which was really pretty thoughtless considering we were calling long distance and they charge us for the first minute whether we speak for a minute or ten seconds. A second call to determine if they would pay the charges for the first call was not received any better, which leaves us with two unpaid long distance calls.
The Cambodian Embassy was more receptive, leading us to believe they can’t be all bad.
“The riots are terrible. It is sad that a collection of outraged individuals are representing Cambodia to the world in their violence, especially in this time of potential war and political difficulties in other areas of the world. It weighs heavy on this country’s heart. If only Jerry Rice had succeeded on those two-point conversions.”
the commune news doesn’t know much about Cambodia, but any country’s cuisine that doesn’t burn our stomach is number one to us. Foreign correspondent Ivan Nacutchacokov was in the area anyway, being spit on by North Korean nationalists nearby.
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