“Oh, they did, did they?” asked another.
“The what now?” said one.
“There is no way they got rid of The Indians and they callin mfs Tall Blacks,” said another.
However, there were fans who were familiar with the name and were happy to correct those who were not.
“The replies are why nobody takes the US seriously. Bunch of closed-minded, uneducated motherf**kers over there. Scary stuff,” one said.
“America learning there’s a whole world with its own history,” commented another.
Most of New Zealand’s national sporting teams are similar to the Tall Blacks and incorporate colours, mostly black, white or silver. There are the All Blacks and Black Ferns in rugby, the Black Caps and White Ferns in Cricket and the All Whites in football.
New Zealand’s men’s badminton side even adopted the name Black Cocks in reference to the shuttlecock in 2005 but it has not continued.
Next up for the Tall Blacks is a clash with Greece at 12.40am tomorrow. The winner of this game heads to the second round of the World Cup.
After the game against Jordan, Tall Blacks coach Pero Cameron said he would have loved a win earlier in the tournament but “it is what it is”.
“We knew it was going to be tough as we always have tough games against Jordan - they’ve got a great couple of players who played exceptional tonight so I’m grateful to get the win in overtime. I would have loved to have got the win earlier, but it is what it is.
“There’s no easy games for us, especially at this level; we accept all challenges in front of us and will come out fighting [against Greece].”
Le’afa praised the coaching staff and the players’ poise during the game.
“Obviously it was an overtime game, and I think we just trusted in the things that we did; the preparation that the coaches gave us in the scouting, and the five weeks that we built together kind of led to these moments. This is a World Cup so we know anything can happen, we just dug deep and believed in ourselves and got the job done. We believe in ourselves and that coach will have us ready, [the next game against Greece] is obviously win or go home - so come Wednesday night we’re looking forward to that battle and we’re excited.”
The win comes after the Tall Blacks were beaten 72-99 by the United States in their first World Cup game in Manila.
The US has played New Zealand four times now in senior men’s competition and won them all. The US prevailed 102-56 at the 2000 Olympics, 110-62 at the 2002 World Cup and 98-71 at the 2014 World Cup.
Luke Kirkness is an Online Sports Editor for the NZ Herald. He previously covered consumer affairs for the Herald and was an assistant news director in the Bay of Plenty. He won Student Journalist of the Year in 2019.
