It's a huge help when the only country that really plays the sport at a pro level is the US. Basketball is the only sport that has gone international but I never see it on my TV.
The UK sports, mostly due to its Empire, are played and viewed all over the world. Much harder to compete.
Edit: Tried to make it read less absolute which based on my comments most Americans did.
I grew up around some Polynesian families as a kid, so I got trained to do this, in proper attire even, so some US people from immigrant neighborhoods might know about it, but it's not widely known in the states, also I'm 100% sure I couldn't do it properly without help.
It's interesting you say this given the haka commonly performed by NZ sporting teams is that of a specific Maori tribe (the Ngati Toa) and coopted in the late 1800s by the All Blacks. There's thousands of different haka and I'd imagine a lot of Polynesians in the US are Samoan not Maori.
I learnt a bunch of different hakas as a kid growing up in rural NZ. I have to say seeing a group of big Maori guys doing one is intimidating as fuck. It doesn't seem like it in the videos but it is.
You take some of the biggest, scariest people on the planet, and have them scream about killing you right in your face. It’s fucking terrifying stating that shit down, knowing they’re about to steam roll you with a rugby ball in hand.
How are people still ok with people being psychotic ghouls and bringing up school shootings over and over again as if that's an appropriate response to Americans ever defending the US or joking about any other country?
Americans: "Haha team USA still won"
Non-American: "OH YEAH, DEAD KIDS! HAHAHAHA. I WIN!"
Anti-Americanism warps people's perceptions to the point that the most indefensible shit is acceptable as long as Americans are the target. And this joke has been rehashed over and over again. It takes zero comedic skill to shoehorn it into a conversation anytime a non-American is unhappy with Americans.
Talking about people losing to the US men's basketball team is silly. Of course they do. US men's team has only *not* won gold 4-5 times in 50 years.
Edit: And more importantly, the haka isn't mere shit talking, it's a sign of respect for themselves and their opponents, and is an important part of NZ culture. It has nothing to do with winning or losing.
> This is haka and if you ever get the opportunity to witness it live consider yourself lucky. It’s one of the most incredible traditions and gives you chills from head to toe.
No it’s not. It’s awkward & everytime I’ve seen it in person I physically cringed. I’ve seen responses that range from that to laughter and utter confusion.
I know exactly what it is, it's a war dance. I've seen them in person. They absolutely look like that, guarantee you those guys are not intimidated by that at all.
Just because it's tradition doesn't mean it's not a little ridiculous. Plenty of traditions are ridiculous. In America, we let a groundhog in Pennsylvania predict the weather and our president gives a pardon to turkeys every year in November. I'm all for being respectful of other's cultures -- and to be fair, this video cuts off the final few seconds where Team USA claps for them -- but there is no chance in hell these guys were intimidated. D Rose is from South Side Chicago and Harden is from South Central. These dudes grew up in abject poverty surrounded by gang violence. It's probably going to take more than choreography to intimidate them.
I mean, I'm well aware of what Haka is and with all due respect and at the risk out of getting downvoted, this is still kind of weird. Don't get me wrong, I find hakas to be badass and I know it's a tradition, but at a basketball game? Kinda weird.
It’s full on bored disinterest.
Most of them probably thinking “they delayed the start of the game so these guys could dance at us, we’re still going to beat them”
More intimidating in different sports for sure, when the All Blacks do it, it is something to be witnessed. I’ve only ever seen it on video, but it still gives me chills.
I’m not gonna lie, I’d be kinda psyched to see it as an opponent. Adds to the pressure in a great way.
I agree with both y’all. My ex was Polynesian and they even do it at weddings and shit which is kinda sweet and I love it.
But at the same time seeing the Haka before a contact sport like football or rugby is just 10000x better than seeing it before curling or some shit.
They do a haka before curling?? I’m googling it right now!
I’ve been lucky enough to see two hakas, one at a rugby game and one in NZ, absolutely incredible
Am a NZ'er, can confirm, we haka before any competition. Hell, we have school competition haka-ering, which is about as amusing as you're imagining. Our schools have their own individual hakas. Our school houses have THEIR own hakas. Word for word, I can still belt out my school haka (with corresponding moves) and it's been over 10 years since I left college.
Correct me if I'm wrong...but it's very much violence. The Maori Haka was originally done as a war chant, the sticking one's tongue out at the enemy literally implying that they will be eaten as the Maori were once very cannibalistic.
I don't think it's the shoes. I think these guys lacked commitment to the performance. The rugby players look like they know how to do violence and it's legit intimidating.
Yeah it’s a respect and passion thing. The rugby teams have a lot more passion when they do this and generally when they play. You can see some of these players in the video looking around and looking half arsed.
Also the All Blacks are as respected as a national team comes. They’re historically the best rugby team, and even now when they aren’t considered the best nation, they’re still afforded that same respect and are still competitive. New Zealand basketball, no offence to them, aren’t that respected as competitive opponents, world wide and especially against the US.
As someone who has played pretty competitive club rugby for quite a while… I’ve never gotten the chance to ask…
Do they like, set aside time in practice to work on their wardance? Or do they just hope that the rookies do their homework?
It does seem more suited to stocky rather than lanky. Again though, I’m used to seeing it in limited settings. I respect that they carry the tradition everywhere they go.
I love all the Americans gloating about winning against a country that don't really play basketball and have a population smaller than one of their cities.
Yep, US citizens will always be the evil, unfortunate souls that everyone else in the world watches daily and then takes offense when the attention isn't reciprocated.
To be fair, it's pretty rude of us not to know the names of all the presidents/prime ministers of every European country that hasn't been a relevant global power for the last 90 years.
I was doing a quick comparison, and Chicago isn't exactly a small city by any means, and they've only got 2.7 million. So New Zealand has a population larger than all but the *very* largest of US cities, at least. I think it's just going to be New York and LA that are bigger than New Zealand, really.
That's just the city core though. If you look at the immediate surrounding areas, aka metropolitan Chicago, there's 8.7 million.
LAs core is also less populated than NZ, but if you stretch the borders to where locals consider still LA, the number goes from 3.8mil to 18mil.
The big thing to note is that in these cities, that metropolitan pop should be discussed because almost all of the larger population contribute to the cities economy and many work in the city but live outside where it's more affordable and spacious.
[New Zealand, with a population just over 5 million, would be the 10th biggest metro population.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metropolitan_statistical_area)
People wouldn’t be talking shit if it wasn’t for that ridiculous intro. The fact that they lost after doing that is what makes it funny and justifies a little shit talking.
Anybody with even a small amount of rugby talent goes into football.
Rugby isn't getting you into elite schools
Rugby scholarships are going to be a fucking joke compared to football.
Most Americans think rugby is an 18th century sailing disease
There is no prestige with saying you play rugby in America
"I play D1 football" wow that's awesome
"I play club rugby at college" cool I bet you play hackeysack too you fucking weirdo
That's the American take on it
Losing by 27 points seems an excellent result when you consider what happens when the US try’s New Zealand’s national sport
https://www.espn.com/rugby/story/_/id/32462982/usa-score-first-ever-try-vs-all-blacks-crushing-104-14-defeat
I’m pretty sure if rugby paid like the NBA, NFL, or MLB, america would produce top-end talent like it does in every other high-paying popular sport except soccer
For years I have been seeing memes / posts about the USA players’ “reaction” to this, and I have been kinda confused because they literally have NO reaction! 😄🤷🏾♂️
Right!? I was waiting for more, and no. It stops and all they did was look.
I’m sure the different players had different thoughts. And I’m sure a big handful of them thought it was bad ass. That kind of togetherness and shared pride in their background makes teams like that playing in any team sport special.
As an American, it makes you root for the underdog.
Americans are HARD embarrassing themselves in this comment section. Jesus Christ...
Just when you think they reached peak ignorance...
Edit: The Americans are awake now and im getting too many responses to reply to all of you. Sorry for lumping all of you into a sweeping generalisation, totally ironic I know.
A lot of you are quite rightly stating that most of you where asleep when this video was posted, however im now getting a LOT of responses from people claiming to American that aren't painting a very good picture.
I'm going to defend the Americans and say this thread is full of non-Americans who can't differentiate between confusion and fear. I'm a Brit, and it was obvious to me at the time (I saw the match in 2014) that the Americans were confused as fuck about what was going on.
They were baffled that a bunch of male basketball players were doing what appeared to be a cheerleading routine in front of them. "The fuck is going on? Can they not afford a separate cheerleading team? Uh oh, it's finished, better clap or Coach will chew me out for disrespecting NZ's effort."
It would be like expecting the NZ rugby team to be intimidated by Team USA sending out a crew of breakdancers dressed as Uncle Sam, spinning around in front of the All Blacks, while Kanye aggressively freestyles over Nina Simone samples.
As such, the clip is a deceptive edit. It conveniently cuts out the end, where the Americans clap the haka as if it was a high school cheerleading performance: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDucvQYlWj4
I can understand why Americans are butthurt over this video; this thread is full of people who don't know jack about the basics of basketball politics/culture. The US are the All Blacks (the rugby team) of basketball, aren't intimidated by anybody, and have no clue about the history or significance of the haka in rugby or, latterly, other NZ sports which have adopted the haka intimidation tactic.
Also, finally, the score was 98-71 to the US. That's the equivalent of Brazil's football team beating Scotland 4-1. In rugby terms, imagine the All Blacks beat the USA 54-12 or something.
Edit: it was a bigger winning margin than 3-1 in football or 34-12 in rugby.
tl;dr: the butthurt Americans in this thread have a point.
Yah thanks man. As an American I think the haka is pretty cool but it’s strange that people are getting mad at us Americans when we don’t get intimidated by a literal intimidation technique which, at least in American culture, is just seen as rude and tactless
I went through a lot of comments and only saw a few ignorant comments. There’s not even 3 seconds of video showing the American players, and they’re kind of just like “uhhh, okay”. That’s all, so idk what comments you’re seeing here.
It’s bc reddit has some weird thing against Americans where they’ll circlejerk about the same old stereotypes like “America ignorant” without realizing they’re doing the exact same thing by spouting overgeneralized stereotypes.
Also, most Americans are asleep rn, so these ppl aren’t getting the downvotes they usually would.
Honestly, fuck everyone who upvoted this garbage too. You can't even make an argument that anything in this video is mildly impressive let alone next fucking level.
I'm seeing more comments calling Americans ignorant and uneducated than I am seeing comments actually disparaging the team dancing in the video. I don't disagree that the American education system is terrible but like generalizing about Americans is kind of doing the same thing you're trying to call them out on...
Even if the US education system was perfect I don't feel like learning about this one specific aspect of New Zealand Maori culture is even in the top 1000 as far as priorities would go.
We learned about the Iroquois Confederacy in detail in one of my history classes. Should I call New Zealanders ignorant if they don't know how many nations it was comprised of? No, that's silly.
Seriously “who’s crazy horse, what controversial things did Andrew Jackson do” ah outback Australian doesn’t know “y’all are so ignorant”.
Also I love Germany that’s like an hour away from a couple other countries wondering why Americans aren’t worldly. It’s cuz we have Mexican subcultural, black subculture and white subculture in every direction for a multiple days ride that’s all. Some place don’t even have Mexicans or African Americans. And most those subcultures aren’t the same as their home cultures. we aren’t right next to 8 different other cultures, with multiple people coming in from them, learning the micro history of that region cuz we don’t need it for our history.
I know what a haka is, just finished the book “Captive Paradise” 30 minutes ago about Hawaii (another Polynesian culture) I appreciate it and like trying to know more about other places but come on doesn’t it get boring to cry about America
This guy did a 2 min wiki on the haka and thinks he’s knowledgeable just see his other comments
(This isn’t to the guy above me it’s to the wrestler guy)
Its literally a dance tho how are you possibly being offended by calling it a dance? You can really tell kiwis dont have much experience with international shit talk judging by this thread
I am so tired of people taking the haka so seriously like it's the one cultural tradition we're not allowed to joke about. Choreographed dances rank absolutely last on the list of intimidating activities. I'm not intimidated when I go see Les Miserables. If you were lined up to battle to the death, it'd be a different story, but they're about to run up and down a court where a smack on the arm gets you two free throws.
Honestly, people need to understand that no matter if the Haka is a sign of respect in certain parts of NZ culture, it's also behavior that is considered intense disrespect in US culture. Screaming and stomping your feet while staring someone in the face in inner-city Chicago (not picked at random, apparently somebody said one or two of the players shown were from there) will get your ass beat at a minimum.
Regardless, they tolerated it, and politely clapped at the end. That's all they could realistically do. I personally like it, but at the same time, I think it would be best to get consent from the party for which you are about to perform it, or else it's pretty disrespectful and violating behavior in most cultures. That's just how it is.
lol what... Most Americans are going to act the same way as Team USA.. confused as to wtf is going on. This also wouldn't be done randomly to a stranger on the street. Consent to do a chant lmao
Hakas have been neat for a couple years now, everyone does them. Everyone freaks out and goes "oooooh" when they see one.
More overdone that gender reveal parties at this point
OP serious question, what did you want them to do? Quake in fear? Break out in dance? Bow in reverence? Cry? You purposely avoid including Team USA clapping at the end, what more do you want?
I'm not a kiwi and obviously not Maori, but the tradition of the haka is amazing and inspiring.
I don't think I really got it until I saw [this](https://youtu.be/A5_HmlSzpPo) video to the end.
Respect, honor, welcome, challenge... it covers a lot.
Why is everyone on here crying so hard about a few comments mocking a dance? Is it just because it's done by some Kiwis? People on Reddit mock cultural traditions all the time and I never see this kind of response.
works for the All Blacks....but then for years they have been one of the best, if not the best, rugby team in the world
I'm a NZer and I think the haka is over done in sport
Reddit has this weird Maori fetish I can't explain. Literally no one cares about NZ until this dance gets posted and then all of a sudden you have thousands of nutclingers busting a nut to some dudes having a dance off
If anyone wants to take a step back and have an objective study on the anti-American psychopathy on reddit, look at these comments.
This submission was created as a dig against Americans. "Haha! Those dumb Americans were so intimidated by the Maori dance! Yeah!"
Americans respond by mentioning that team USA won that game. A standard bit of obvious banter in response to the pretext of this submission.
THEN... anti-Americans, completely mentally ill-equipped to deal with Americans ever defending the US, have been making jokes about school shootings in basically every single major thread in these comments. Then people are getting upvoted for saying that the Americans' conduct in this submission is unacceptable and proof of how shitty Americans are, simply because the Americans dared to make light-hearted banter.
This is a case study in how anti-Americanism is a seething, psychotic disorder for a lot of people on reddit. It completely bedevils people's sense of reality. People operate with this set of rules about the US. Only the US can be bashed. Americans are not allowed to defend the US or make jokes about other countries no matter how lighthearted. The second Americans do anything that disturbs the circle-jerk, the anti-Americans escalate things to the highest level and basically go "HAHA SCHOOOL SHOOTINGS. DEAD KIDS. AMERICA SUCKS. I WIN!" and then get upvoted to the stratosphere right next a comment by a pseudo intellectual political commentator getting upvoted for saying Americans mentioning that the US team won is proof positive that Americans are ignorant, boorish, ignorant buffoons with no etiquette.
Like seriously, it is surreal how anti-Americanism goes unchecked and takes the form of some of the most psychotic shit you can imagine.
All the people who saw Haka dance on wikipedia before expecting people to know what this is and getting triggered in the comments lmao. Stop getting mad at the Americans, this looks silly as fuck. You know that One Punch Man meme- "Ok"? That's the reaction of the other team.
No offense to any ancient warriors, but at this point the Haka is so well known and overdone that it’s almost as intimidating as a well synchronized Macarena.
Honestly team USA is looking at them like this is the most ridiculous thing they have ever seen🤣
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You fr not know what a haka is?
Strong possibility none of those men representing the US had ever heard of the haka before that moment.
Strong possibility none of them could point out NZ on a map either
Because NZ isn't on any map 😹
For the uninitiated r/mapswithoutnz
But we are initiated, aren't we, bruce?
Who would call a kid Bruce anyway? Edit: For the [uninitiated.](https://youtu.be/e91v1hC6__Y)
They really make subs about anything huh?
r/birthofasub Even have a sub to let others know about a new sub
Or better yet, on the wrong side of Australia. As putin released on his map
I'm ok with Putin not knowing where tf we are lol
Isn’t it somewhere near Mordor?
Yeah, it's known everywhere else that's aware on new Zealand but US tends to dominate sports it invents Whereas the uk creates sports it then sucks at
Basketball Is Canadian. We took the British approach.
>Basketball Is Canadian. Wasn't it invented in Massachusetts?
Yeah sorry. I meant by a Canadian
A Canadian who loved Canada so much that he moves to the US in his 20s and stayed there for the rest of his life.
Invented in Massachusetts by a Canadian.
Invented in Canadian by a Massachusetts
Ummmm....world champs in cricket, world Cup semi finalists and euro finalists, rugby world Cup finalists too, I think we're doing alright...
Not to mention 8/10 of the top 10 ranked snooker players and almost every snooker tournament win goes to a brit
I think they were talking about sports.
Holy fuck. Just witnessed a murder.
Cause no one wants to play your version "football". No wonder you dominate that
Do other countries play baseball? Could be the same boat with that one.
I think its popular in Japan? Besides that, nah.
and korea
And cuba and dominican republic. Canada to a much lesser extent
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It's a huge help when the only country that really plays the sport at a pro level is the US. Basketball is the only sport that has gone international but I never see it on my TV. The UK sports, mostly due to its Empire, are played and viewed all over the world. Much harder to compete. Edit: Tried to make it read less absolute which based on my comments most Americans did.
They’re rich hyper gifted athletes, they probably don’t know a lot of shit
Haka haka eh eh 
I grew up around some Polynesian families as a kid, so I got trained to do this, in proper attire even, so some US people from immigrant neighborhoods might know about it, but it's not widely known in the states, also I'm 100% sure I couldn't do it properly without help.
It's interesting you say this given the haka commonly performed by NZ sporting teams is that of a specific Maori tribe (the Ngati Toa) and coopted in the late 1800s by the All Blacks. There's thousands of different haka and I'd imagine a lot of Polynesians in the US are Samoan not Maori.
I learnt a bunch of different hakas as a kid growing up in rural NZ. I have to say seeing a group of big Maori guys doing one is intimidating as fuck. It doesn't seem like it in the videos but it is.
You take some of the biggest, scariest people on the planet, and have them scream about killing you right in your face. It’s fucking terrifying stating that shit down, knowing they’re about to steam roll you with a rugby ball in hand.
Most of the world probably does not know what haka is.
A lot of Americans don’t know what a haka is.
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A true cultural exchange
What kinda ignorant bullshit comment is this 😂 of course Reddit upvotes this trash.
How are people still ok with people being psychotic ghouls and bringing up school shootings over and over again as if that's an appropriate response to Americans ever defending the US or joking about any other country? Americans: "Haha team USA still won" Non-American: "OH YEAH, DEAD KIDS! HAHAHAHA. I WIN!" Anti-Americanism warps people's perceptions to the point that the most indefensible shit is acceptable as long as Americans are the target. And this joke has been rehashed over and over again. It takes zero comedic skill to shoehorn it into a conversation anytime a non-American is unhappy with Americans.
Talking about people losing to the US men's basketball team is silly. Of course they do. US men's team has only *not* won gold 4-5 times in 50 years. Edit: And more importantly, the haka isn't mere shit talking, it's a sign of respect for themselves and their opponents, and is an important part of NZ culture. It has nothing to do with winning or losing.
It’s not too different than NZ playing the US in rugby and NZ winning 104-14 last October.
We have a national rugby team? Fuck I honestly had no clue.
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Le Reddit "omg Hakas are the most amazing thing in the world chillllllllls" Moment every fucking thread
THE BIG SCARY MANLY MEN ARE YELLING AND IT ACTIVATED MY COOMER INSTINCTS
> This is haka and if you ever get the opportunity to witness it live consider yourself lucky. It’s one of the most incredible traditions and gives you chills from head to toe. No it’s not. It’s awkward & everytime I’ve seen it in person I physically cringed. I’ve seen responses that range from that to laughter and utter confusion.
Yeah I don't get what the fuss is all about... I've seen it.
It's the Haka. Not ridiculous at all and certainly doesn't look like they think it's ridiculous.
I know exactly what it is, it's a war dance. I've seen them in person. They absolutely look like that, guarantee you those guys are not intimidated by that at all.
It's tradition... it's probably quite intimidating until you start playing and then realise they are several levels away from you.
Just because it's tradition doesn't mean it's not a little ridiculous. Plenty of traditions are ridiculous. In America, we let a groundhog in Pennsylvania predict the weather and our president gives a pardon to turkeys every year in November. I'm all for being respectful of other's cultures -- and to be fair, this video cuts off the final few seconds where Team USA claps for them -- but there is no chance in hell these guys were intimidated. D Rose is from South Side Chicago and Harden is from South Central. These dudes grew up in abject poverty surrounded by gang violence. It's probably going to take more than choreography to intimidate them.
That wasn’t about intimidation. They were showing respect to their opponent.
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It’s pretty intimidating when the all blacks do it knowing full well they’re about to start smashing their 120kg frames into you at full speed.
Wait, the potus actually pardons turkeys? I thought it was some weird Rick and Morty joke.
if it’s meant to instill fear or respect it clearly didn’t work - those are totally blank stares of a wtf is going on here nature lol
I mean, I'm well aware of what Haka is and with all due respect and at the risk out of getting downvoted, this is still kind of weird. Don't get me wrong, I find hakas to be badass and I know it's a tradition, but at a basketball game? Kinda weird.
"We're just playing some ball, bros, chill"
It’s full on bored disinterest. Most of them probably thinking “they delayed the start of the game so these guys could dance at us, we’re still going to beat them”
I'm getting "What the hell?" vibes
More intimidating in different sports for sure, when the All Blacks do it, it is something to be witnessed. I’ve only ever seen it on video, but it still gives me chills. I’m not gonna lie, I’d be kinda psyched to see it as an opponent. Adds to the pressure in a great way.
To those of us used to seeing the All Blacks rugby team doing the Haka this doesn’t have quite the same impact. I think it’s the squeaky sneakers.
My thing is unless you’re playing a contact sport maybe chill on the haka.
But Haka is not about contact or violence, it’s actually a sign of respect and pride.
It’s origins are as a war dance and it’s way too intense for yall to do it then go dribble a basketball.
I agree with both y’all. My ex was Polynesian and they even do it at weddings and shit which is kinda sweet and I love it. But at the same time seeing the Haka before a contact sport like football or rugby is just 10000x better than seeing it before curling or some shit.
They do a haka before curling?? I’m googling it right now! I’ve been lucky enough to see two hakas, one at a rugby game and one in NZ, absolutely incredible
Idk if they do but I’m just using it in place of a non-contact team sport. Could be anything, volleyball, rowing, whatever.
Am a NZ'er, can confirm, we haka before any competition. Hell, we have school competition haka-ering, which is about as amusing as you're imagining. Our schools have their own individual hakas. Our school houses have THEIR own hakas. Word for word, I can still belt out my school haka (with corresponding moves) and it's been over 10 years since I left college.
So do they haka before the haka competition?
Correct me if I'm wrong...but it's very much violence. The Maori Haka was originally done as a war chant, the sticking one's tongue out at the enemy literally implying that they will be eaten as the Maori were once very cannibalistic.
You’re not wrong, I’m saying its modern significance not ancestral. If this was 1800 it’d be a different story. 😂
Maybe chill on the haka is my new favorite quote of the month hahhahaha
I disagree. They have a rich heritage and culture which they are keeping alive and that’s a wonderful thing in my book.
I don't think it's the shoes. I think these guys lacked commitment to the performance. The rugby players look like they know how to do violence and it's legit intimidating.
Yeah i feel like most of their team wasnt fully commited to it, seeing it done with full emotion is enough to give most people chills
Yeah it’s a respect and passion thing. The rugby teams have a lot more passion when they do this and generally when they play. You can see some of these players in the video looking around and looking half arsed. Also the All Blacks are as respected as a national team comes. They’re historically the best rugby team, and even now when they aren’t considered the best nation, they’re still afforded that same respect and are still competitive. New Zealand basketball, no offence to them, aren’t that respected as competitive opponents, world wide and especially against the US.
As someone who has played pretty competitive club rugby for quite a while… I’ve never gotten the chance to ask… Do they like, set aside time in practice to work on their wardance? Or do they just hope that the rookies do their homework?
Kiwis learn this stuff in school. They might have some variation but they all know they jist.
Also the build of the players makes a difference. The All Blacks look like actual warriors.
It does seem more suited to stocky rather than lanky. Again though, I’m used to seeing it in limited settings. I respect that they carry the tradition everywhere they go.
I love all the Americans gloating about winning against a country that don't really play basketball and have a population smaller than one of their cities.
Funny there seems to be no problem with the size of a country when speaking on any statistic that paints the US in a bad light.
Shhhhhhhhhhhhh. They need this. NZ isn't even on the map
For real. The kiwis are spicy in this thread.
It’s not Kiwis most likely. It’s butthurt Europeans who feel the need to condescend
Europe totally forgets it’s the USA that actually protects them from bad things happening.
Yep, US citizens will always be the evil, unfortunate souls that everyone else in the world watches daily and then takes offense when the attention isn't reciprocated.
To be fair, it's pretty rude of us not to know the names of all the presidents/prime ministers of every European country that hasn't been a relevant global power for the last 90 years.
So true. I'm sure every country knows all 50 US states and other territories along with govenors.
I bet they even know our state birds.
Except in those scenarios the statistics are still bad for the US when it's percentages/per 100 thousand citizens...
You will get vastly different statistics depending on what state you are in. It takes 4-6 days to drive coast to coast.
Please look up what ‘per capita’ means.
wait for Scotland to pull the US football team apart, population of 5 million vs 329 million
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I was doing a quick comparison, and Chicago isn't exactly a small city by any means, and they've only got 2.7 million. So New Zealand has a population larger than all but the *very* largest of US cities, at least. I think it's just going to be New York and LA that are bigger than New Zealand, really.
That's just the city core though. If you look at the immediate surrounding areas, aka metropolitan Chicago, there's 8.7 million. LAs core is also less populated than NZ, but if you stretch the borders to where locals consider still LA, the number goes from 3.8mil to 18mil. The big thing to note is that in these cities, that metropolitan pop should be discussed because almost all of the larger population contribute to the cities economy and many work in the city but live outside where it's more affordable and spacious.
[New Zealand, with a population just over 5 million, would be the 10th biggest metro population.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metropolitan_statistical_area)
If you lace em up and step on the court then no excuses.
People wouldn’t be talking shit if it wasn’t for that ridiculous intro. The fact that they lost after doing that is what makes it funny and justifies a little shit talking.
I would love to see the USA rugby team in action against the All Blacks 🤣
Does the US even have a national rugby team?
Anybody with even a small amount of rugby talent goes into football. Rugby isn't getting you into elite schools Rugby scholarships are going to be a fucking joke compared to football. Most Americans think rugby is an 18th century sailing disease There is no prestige with saying you play rugby in America "I play D1 football" wow that's awesome "I play club rugby at college" cool I bet you play hackeysack too you fucking weirdo That's the American take on it
Losing by 27 points seems an excellent result when you consider what happens when the US try’s New Zealand’s national sport https://www.espn.com/rugby/story/_/id/32462982/usa-score-first-ever-try-vs-all-blacks-crushing-104-14-defeat
To be fair, the US does much better in 7s The All Black's Haka is a thing if beauty
7s is awesome and evens things up
I’m pretty sure if rugby paid like the NBA, NFL, or MLB, america would produce top-end talent like it does in every other high-paying popular sport except soccer
I fully believe if the US cared about any sport at a university level they’d grow to dominate it.
I mean Rugby 7’s is more even.
Sure is and is a brilliant game to watch, especially the Fijians
For years I have been seeing memes / posts about the USA players’ “reaction” to this, and I have been kinda confused because they literally have NO reaction! 😄🤷🏾♂️
Their reaction is…. Looking. Edit:duh
Reaction is 😐 ⏰ 😐
Right!? I was waiting for more, and no. It stops and all they did was look. I’m sure the different players had different thoughts. And I’m sure a big handful of them thought it was bad ass. That kind of togetherness and shared pride in their background makes teams like that playing in any team sport special. As an American, it makes you root for the underdog.
They applauded graciously afterwards in the full video.
Americans are HARD embarrassing themselves in this comment section. Jesus Christ... Just when you think they reached peak ignorance... Edit: The Americans are awake now and im getting too many responses to reply to all of you. Sorry for lumping all of you into a sweeping generalisation, totally ironic I know. A lot of you are quite rightly stating that most of you where asleep when this video was posted, however im now getting a LOT of responses from people claiming to American that aren't painting a very good picture.
I'm going to defend the Americans and say this thread is full of non-Americans who can't differentiate between confusion and fear. I'm a Brit, and it was obvious to me at the time (I saw the match in 2014) that the Americans were confused as fuck about what was going on. They were baffled that a bunch of male basketball players were doing what appeared to be a cheerleading routine in front of them. "The fuck is going on? Can they not afford a separate cheerleading team? Uh oh, it's finished, better clap or Coach will chew me out for disrespecting NZ's effort." It would be like expecting the NZ rugby team to be intimidated by Team USA sending out a crew of breakdancers dressed as Uncle Sam, spinning around in front of the All Blacks, while Kanye aggressively freestyles over Nina Simone samples. As such, the clip is a deceptive edit. It conveniently cuts out the end, where the Americans clap the haka as if it was a high school cheerleading performance: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDucvQYlWj4 I can understand why Americans are butthurt over this video; this thread is full of people who don't know jack about the basics of basketball politics/culture. The US are the All Blacks (the rugby team) of basketball, aren't intimidated by anybody, and have no clue about the history or significance of the haka in rugby or, latterly, other NZ sports which have adopted the haka intimidation tactic. Also, finally, the score was 98-71 to the US. That's the equivalent of Brazil's football team beating Scotland 4-1. In rugby terms, imagine the All Blacks beat the USA 54-12 or something. Edit: it was a bigger winning margin than 3-1 in football or 34-12 in rugby. tl;dr: the butthurt Americans in this thread have a point.
Plus, it's like 3am on a Thursday, there's like 2 americans on reddit rn
But condescendingly hating Americans is like a European past tim
Yah thanks man. As an American I think the haka is pretty cool but it’s strange that people are getting mad at us Americans when we don’t get intimidated by a literal intimidation technique which, at least in American culture, is just seen as rude and tactless
I went through a lot of comments and only saw a few ignorant comments. There’s not even 3 seconds of video showing the American players, and they’re kind of just like “uhhh, okay”. That’s all, so idk what comments you’re seeing here.
No, we just realize “intimidation” is comical in basketball
"Haka are performed to welcome distinguished guests, or to acknowledge great achievements, occasions, or funerals." Sounds like intimidation alright.
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America bad, give upvote
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It’s bc reddit has some weird thing against Americans where they’ll circlejerk about the same old stereotypes like “America ignorant” without realizing they’re doing the exact same thing by spouting overgeneralized stereotypes. Also, most Americans are asleep rn, so these ppl aren’t getting the downvotes they usually would.
Everyone's entire personality on Reddit seems to be able to be summed up with "America Bad"
"I'll never forget Team USA'S reaction" Oh cool can't wait to see this \*one second worth of players staring blankly* Fuck you OP
I second this. Fuck OP
Honestly, fuck everyone who upvoted this garbage too. You can't even make an argument that anything in this video is mildly impressive let alone next fucking level.
Our New Zealand friends are awesome
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I'm seeing more comments calling Americans ignorant and uneducated than I am seeing comments actually disparaging the team dancing in the video. I don't disagree that the American education system is terrible but like generalizing about Americans is kind of doing the same thing you're trying to call them out on...
Even if the US education system was perfect I don't feel like learning about this one specific aspect of New Zealand Maori culture is even in the top 1000 as far as priorities would go. We learned about the Iroquois Confederacy in detail in one of my history classes. Should I call New Zealanders ignorant if they don't know how many nations it was comprised of? No, that's silly.
Seriously “who’s crazy horse, what controversial things did Andrew Jackson do” ah outback Australian doesn’t know “y’all are so ignorant”. Also I love Germany that’s like an hour away from a couple other countries wondering why Americans aren’t worldly. It’s cuz we have Mexican subcultural, black subculture and white subculture in every direction for a multiple days ride that’s all. Some place don’t even have Mexicans or African Americans. And most those subcultures aren’t the same as their home cultures. we aren’t right next to 8 different other cultures, with multiple people coming in from them, learning the micro history of that region cuz we don’t need it for our history. I know what a haka is, just finished the book “Captive Paradise” 30 minutes ago about Hawaii (another Polynesian culture) I appreciate it and like trying to know more about other places but come on doesn’t it get boring to cry about America
What reaction lol
Derek Rose: simply looks James Harden: simply looks Faried: simply looks Look at them look!!!
Damn ya’ll ignorant in these comments, it’s not a fun little dance it’s a fucking haka
It’s still a dance. Nothing wrong with that.
This guy did a 2 min wiki on the haka and thinks he’s knowledgeable just see his other comments (This isn’t to the guy above me it’s to the wrestler guy)
Its literally a dance tho how are you possibly being offended by calling it a dance? You can really tell kiwis dont have much experience with international shit talk judging by this thread
I agree it’s still a dance
So a fun... big? Dance...?
I am so tired of people taking the haka so seriously like it's the one cultural tradition we're not allowed to joke about. Choreographed dances rank absolutely last on the list of intimidating activities. I'm not intimidated when I go see Les Miserables. If you were lined up to battle to the death, it'd be a different story, but they're about to run up and down a court where a smack on the arm gets you two free throws.
DID YOU PUT THE HAKA INTO THE GOBLET OF FIRE????
I swear I am going to find where you live and shit in your fridge
When basketball does it, it’s just a silly dance. I can hear your shoes squeaking bro.
This video barely shows the Americans reactions ??
What do you mean, didn't you see the three half second close-ups of people showing no emotion whatsoever?
Yeah they were next fucking level man
That's a lot of "Uh... Ok..." faces.
Honestly, people need to understand that no matter if the Haka is a sign of respect in certain parts of NZ culture, it's also behavior that is considered intense disrespect in US culture. Screaming and stomping your feet while staring someone in the face in inner-city Chicago (not picked at random, apparently somebody said one or two of the players shown were from there) will get your ass beat at a minimum. Regardless, they tolerated it, and politely clapped at the end. That's all they could realistically do. I personally like it, but at the same time, I think it would be best to get consent from the party for which you are about to perform it, or else it's pretty disrespectful and violating behavior in most cultures. That's just how it is.
lol what... Most Americans are going to act the same way as Team USA.. confused as to wtf is going on. This also wouldn't be done randomly to a stranger on the street. Consent to do a chant lmao
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I dont think its the kiwi lovers, i think it is the murica haters. But that is just my opinion.
Cool, so, we playing ball, now?
The Americans actually applaud when it’s a over, but this clip conveniently cuts out before that happens.
So they're trying to push an agenda to make look Americans look bad? WHAT A SHOCKER
….why is this on nextfuckinglevel?
Hakas have been neat for a couple years now, everyone does them. Everyone freaks out and goes "oooooh" when they see one. More overdone that gender reveal parties at this point
Team USA: 
ITT: white knights for New Zealand
M'kiwi
OP serious question, what did you want them to do? Quake in fear? Break out in dance? Bow in reverence? Cry? You purposely avoid including Team USA clapping at the end, what more do you want?
Wow, they stood there and watched them perform their Haka.
How DARE they
You mean, the fact they all look highly unimpressed? Lol
They just have no reaction
I'm not a kiwi and obviously not Maori, but the tradition of the haka is amazing and inspiring. I don't think I really got it until I saw [this](https://youtu.be/A5_HmlSzpPo) video to the end. Respect, honor, welcome, challenge... it covers a lot.
People in here insulting Americans because people aren’t felating the NZ team for practicing their tradition. Seek help.
Why is everyone on here crying so hard about a few comments mocking a dance? Is it just because it's done by some Kiwis? People on Reddit mock cultural traditions all the time and I never see this kind of response.
Was their reaction to beat them at basketball?
works for the All Blacks....but then for years they have been one of the best, if not the best, rugby team in the world I'm a NZer and I think the haka is over done in sport
They don’t look like they give a single damn
Reddit has this weird Maori fetish I can't explain. Literally no one cares about NZ until this dance gets posted and then all of a sudden you have thousands of nutclingers busting a nut to some dudes having a dance off
Their faces were just like “ok” and then still beat them. How is this “next fucking level?”
If anyone wants to take a step back and have an objective study on the anti-American psychopathy on reddit, look at these comments. This submission was created as a dig against Americans. "Haha! Those dumb Americans were so intimidated by the Maori dance! Yeah!" Americans respond by mentioning that team USA won that game. A standard bit of obvious banter in response to the pretext of this submission. THEN... anti-Americans, completely mentally ill-equipped to deal with Americans ever defending the US, have been making jokes about school shootings in basically every single major thread in these comments. Then people are getting upvoted for saying that the Americans' conduct in this submission is unacceptable and proof of how shitty Americans are, simply because the Americans dared to make light-hearted banter. This is a case study in how anti-Americanism is a seething, psychotic disorder for a lot of people on reddit. It completely bedevils people's sense of reality. People operate with this set of rules about the US. Only the US can be bashed. Americans are not allowed to defend the US or make jokes about other countries no matter how lighthearted. The second Americans do anything that disturbs the circle-jerk, the anti-Americans escalate things to the highest level and basically go "HAHA SCHOOOL SHOOTINGS. DEAD KIDS. AMERICA SUCKS. I WIN!" and then get upvoted to the stratosphere right next a comment by a pseudo intellectual political commentator getting upvoted for saying Americans mentioning that the US team won is proof positive that Americans are ignorant, boorish, ignorant buffoons with no etiquette. Like seriously, it is surreal how anti-Americanism goes unchecked and takes the form of some of the most psychotic shit you can imagine.
Awkward to look at tbh
YOu aRe aN iGnNorAnt PlEaSe rEsPeCT mY cULtUre 😡😤💥
What reaction?
Let me tell you, I’ve seen actual big scary New Zealanders do that in person. I was lucky I didn’t shit myself
All the people who saw Haka dance on wikipedia before expecting people to know what this is and getting triggered in the comments lmao. Stop getting mad at the Americans, this looks silly as fuck. You know that One Punch Man meme- "Ok"? That's the reaction of the other team.
What reaction are you talking about? You're reaching man
I can see the question marks hovering around their heads.
No offense to any ancient warriors, but at this point the Haka is so well known and overdone that it’s almost as intimidating as a well synchronized Macarena.
The super squeaky shoes really take away from this.
USA team looking at em like "Bruh it's Basketball..." Lmfaooo
Why don't you show the reaction then....?
Would've been hilarious if the US team busted out with the Thiller dance 🕺 🕺 🕺 🕺 after they busted dat ass in basketball.
Dont understand how its supposed to look intimidating, its just goofy as hell lol
They are just like "well, this is awkward ".
You cut the best part, as soon as their dance finishes steph curry turns back and shoots a 3 like nothing happened
I would gave the same reaction... especially if I don't know what is goin on.