One of best things about being in Sydney for the Olympics was watching a late night talk show called “The Dream.” Its hosts, Roy and H. G., were absolute wizards of Olympic lampooning. Laid-back, Aussie-style comedy positively coursed through their veins and their irreverent commentary reminded every “Dream” viewer that sure, the Olympics are a big deal, but at the end of the day, hey, this is Australia; we don’t take it too seriously. Roy and H. G. were hugely popular in Sydney. The other night, when a member of the U.S. men’s 4X400 relay team was a guest the show, he said that receiving the show’s commemorative parting gift, a pin of Fatso the Fat-arsed Wombat, the show’s mascot, was more exciting to him than winning the gold medal. I am pretty sure he wasn’t joking. I am also pretty sure that now, at the end of “The Dream’s” run, I am not unique among Sydney residents in naming Roy and H. G. as personal heroes. Given their sizable ethos, and my respectable sense of national pride, I was somewhat at odds with myself over Roy and H.G.’s comments on the United States and its inhabitants. They weren’t all that complimentary. A favorite pastime of theirs was disparaging the ’96 Olympics in Atlanta, or as they preferred, the “Toilet Games.” I can laugh at that. Atlanta isn’t exactly dear to me, and there were massive transit problems and, well, that bombing. But, on “The Dream’s” final show, when Roy began insulting Americans in general, I took it a bit more contemplatively. Actually, I laughed at that, too. They are REALLY funny. Roy ran off a long list of adjectives to describe Americans by and large that included, but was not limited to, arrogant, brash, self-obsessed, inward-looking, ignorant and humorless. Ouch, that smarts! Really? Are we really like that? We couldn’t be all that bad, could we? Well, I won’t speak for all the rest of you Yanks, but certainly I’m not. In the five months I’ve spent upside down here, I don’t think a single Australian has found me to be anything but the most sublimely pleasant of overseas travelers. Although, to be fair, I suppose that having this impression would not be surprising at all if I were inward-looking, arrogant, self-obsessed and ignorant. Sadly, it isn’t difficult to find justification for much of Roy’s tirade by taking a look at American athletes at the Olympics. From trash-talking American basketballers to swimmer Gary Hall Jr.’s significantly more than self-assured posing, examples of the “Ugly American” abounded in Sydney. Before her race against Inge de Bruin in the 50m freestyle, Amy van Dyken filled her mouth with water and then ceremoniously spat it into the Dutch multi-gold medallist’s lane as a psyche-out tactic. How lovely. And then there’s James Carter. This talented American 400m hurdler left the rest of his semifinal heat in the dust and then, with 20 meters to go in the race, slowed down and waved a why-don’t-you-hurry-up-you-sorry-losers gesture to the rest of the pack. I guess his Olympic dream involved being booed by 110,000 fans. Despite their unsportspersonlike displays, neither Carter nor van Dyken ended up winning medals in those events. As for the charge of Americans’ ignorance and inward-looking-ness, I think we’ve got to admit there is a bit of truth to that. Honestly, before the Olympics did you know anything at all of significance about Australia or, hell, the entire Southern Hemisphere? I wish I could say I did. How many Olympic events did you see on NBC that didn’t include American athletes? Five bucks for anyone who can tell me what’s going on in East Timor. Except, perhaps, in the case of British pop singers, I think it is safe to say that being an American citizen affords people a warm, fuzzy blanket of insulation from the rest of the world. So, yes, maybe we’re a bit cocky and don’t exactly get worked up about foreign affairs, but I do think Roy is going a bit far with “humorless.” The two funniest people in the world, Conan O’Brien and Salem, the cat from “Sabrina the Teenage Witch,” are both American. `Nuff said. When it gets right down to it, we’re not all that bad and, individually, some of us are even pretty damn OK. All the people of the world have little things they need to work on. Australians, for instance, are a little behind on gender equality, the Japanese have that photography obsession and Canadians, well, don’t even get me started on Canadians. I’ve found as I’ve met more and more people from different countries, that the most striking thing is not how different we are, but how similar we are. Let no one say the Olympic spirit was lost on me! But whether or not certain conceptions are justified, the important thing is for us to realize that some negative American stereotypes are out there, so we can make a conscious effort to defy them. If you do, enjoy the proud feeling you get the next time someone with a funny accent tells you, “Hey, you don’t act like those people on `Springer’ at all!”