IT'S ALL ABOUT US

Is this just one grandstanding pol, or is America the most narcissistic country on the planet?

(EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J.) U.S. and international soccer officials are puzzled over the acting governor's outrage that the "Star-Spangled Banner" was not played before a match between England and Colombia.

Got that? England. Colombia. And he's upset becauise our anthem wasn't played.

Acting Gov. Richard J. Codey, who attended Tuesday's match at Giants Stadium, was steamed when he realized that the U.S. national anthem would not be played along with the anthems of the countries in the match....

"When you have two countries you host so they can play each other, and have the anthems of both countries played but decide not to play the anthem of the host country, well that's about as absurd as it gets," Codey said Thursday. "What could they possibly be thinking?"

The governor fired off letters to the chairman of the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority, which manages the Meadowlands complex, and to Britain's ambassador to the U.S. ...

And quite a letter it was, according to the Newark Star-Ledger:

"What should have been a banner day on the international stage for the sport of soccer, Giants Stadium and our state quickly turned into disappointment," he wrote. "I was shocked that our country's national anthem was not played at this event. Just as each team was honored with their respective national hymns, I would expect the same courtesy be extended to this state and this nation.

"The failure to play our national anthem was disrespectful not only to us as the host, it was disrespectful to our country, the teams, the sport and all involved. This shouldn't happen in New Jersey, and it shouldn't happen anywhere," he said.

"Hymns"? Did he say "hymns"?

(Hell, maybe he was working from a thesaurus.)

A spokesman for FIFA, the international soccer federation, said it's customary to play only the anthems of the teams actually playing at an international match. A spokesman for U.S. Soccer said the same thing. And a spokesman for Major League Soccer -- which was one of the promoters of the match -- concurred.

Even some Freepers think this is excessive.

But as the Star-Ledger story notes, this kind of thing happens in Jersey -- Frank Sinatra once got P.O.'d because Sinead O'Connor didn't want "The Star-Spangled Banner" played at a concert in Jersey? (The national anthem? At a rock concert? Why?)

Cody's a Democrat. He's the acting governor in the wake of Jim McGreevey's resignation, and he's not running in the upcoming election. But maybe he wants Jon Corzine's Senate seat if Corzine wins the gubernatorial election. And maybe this is just the sort of bloviation the voters want from Democrats. I'm a latte-swilling yuppie scum, what do I know?