Norway's Erling Haaland, class act

With the U.S. out of the World Cup tournament, many Americans, myself included, found myself cheering Norway, specifically because of its massive, Viking-like striker, Erling Haaland. 

Haaland, like most of his team, was indigenous to Norway. That was something different, given the internationalization of most of the best teams, take it or leave it.

But in the affirmative-action era, we don't see a lot of big blonde Vikings in popular culture, either, so there was some fascination with the novelty, all the more so because this was in sports, which is the strictest meritocracy and image isn't important. After all, no one cares what a good player's color is, we like players who score goals (Haaland scored seven in this World Cup) and who deliver victories. Still, the image fascinated, particularly since not only did Haaland look the role, he seemed to live something of the Viking lifestyle, so lots of humorous Viking memes appeared in the run-up to Norway's big appearance in the quarterfinals against England, which was Norway's best showing in decades.