Following their surprise elimination in the quarterfinals of the ice hockey tournament at the Winter Olympics — the first tournament to feature NHL all-star teams — a bunch of American hockey players trashed their dormitory in Nagano, drawing headlines across the country. At the time, it was hard to believe that the U.S. World Cup team could ever match its hockey counterparts for bad press, but itÆs come close. No, Steve SampsonÆs boys didnÆt trash the Chateau de Pizay after their loss to Iran eliminated them from the World Cup, but the whining of several senior members of the team has triggered a flurry of bad press that leaves U.S. soccer reeling. It wasnÆt bad enough that the United States will finish last in the official FIFA standings, but the players came across as poor losers. A few refused to acknowledge, or were slow to acknowledge, that if they didnÆt well or not play at all, they may have had something to do with it. Tab Ramos was just weeks back from his second major knee surgery in two years. Eric Wynalda had not started a game in two months when the World Cup opened. Alexi Lalas has suffered from poor club form for much of the last three years. No serious World Cup contender would have taken them. The U.S. debacle has triggered a new round of soccer-bashing. The tone isnÆt that soccer is a lousy sport — columnists have given up on that angle — but that weÆre simply no good at the game and we should give up now. If the adage that everyone loves a winner is true, then the U.S. players and officials better get the idea that it follows that everyone hates a loser.