The Danes have our general sympathy. It's not a recent development that Trump wants to keep Greenland. There was a time (we didn't dream it up, did we?) when our politicians envisioned Catalonia's desirable future as the "Denmark of the South," but that opportunity passed them by, and now trains don't run and goods have to wait at the port, and, as the poet said, you don't know what it means to keep. containers on the dock.
They are a small, tidy country that has given the world Andersen, Simonsen, and Laudrup (although they didn't exactly play in the same position) and such a distinctive, functional design that if the label says "Made in Denmark," it will be an elegant, high-quality piece. And expensive.
Denmark has also given us the series BorgenThe film, whose protagonist, actress Sidse Babett Knudsen, says in her role as prime minister: "There was a day when I felt we were a united country and that we were no longer the amiable losers we'd always been: when we won the 1992 European Championship."
On Wednesday, 2,300 Danes came to Barcelona to see Barça play Copenhagen in the Champions League. Since the stadium is only half full, the visiting fans are placed in the upper tier, next to the Barça supporters, separated by partitions. They weren't among the worst visiting fans, although they did throw plastic bottles filled with all sorts of liquids at the nearby Barça supporters, first because they were winning and then because they were losing. So, still losers, but not so amiable anymore. The desire to travel the world and cause football hooliganism is contagious. I've seen much worse fan behavior, but what a shame for the Danish stereotype. Near where I was sitting, I heard someone say, "If I'd known, I would have brought an American flag."
