Just a comment Dave...
Yes, the majority in europe have passports and have crossed country
borders... Remember, many of what you call Countries over there we call
Counties here, and we have States bigger than all but the very biggest of EU
Countries and we don't need passports to cross the borders, so there is a
significant difference for US citizens... One fine Sunday this past summer I
took the wife and we flew in a straight line (twin engine plane) for four
and a half hours, had lunch, did some sight seeing, flew four and a half
hours back, and never crossed the state borders...
Also, up to 9/11 we did not need a passport to go to Canada, Mexico, most of
latin america and south america, and all of the carribean that caters to
tourists... I do not have a passport because I have not needed one before..

And as far as colloquialism in the news, I skim a number of EU papers almost
daily, and other than the international news section they are no different
than the USA media... This or that politician caught in bed with someone,
Pictures of bare boobed babes, and page, after page, after page, about
soccer (whatever the hell that is!)

Cheers, eh wot ... Denny

"Dave" wrote in Afterall it was only for a
place in the playoffs not the Super bowel (sic)
itself.

An observation that's all.