Apple pie. Stars and stripes. Chinese-made uniforms?

One of these things is not like the other. Last Friday news broke that the uniforms for Team USA were manufactured in China and not in America. The prices for the clothing were outrageous, a whopping $1,609.50 for one outfit. Not even a stylish teenager could justify that cost.

Worse yet, the Ralph Lauren logo was the same size or larger than the USA logo.  It’s hard not to see this as having more pride in one’s clothing label than in one’s county.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said, “I think they should be embarrassed. I think they should take all the uniforms, put them in a big pile and burn them and start all over again.”

Readers, Reid isn’t wrong. Why Ralph Lauren thought it would be a good idea to manufacture these uniforms in a foreign country is difficult to say, but it was a huge oversight on the designer’s part.

The Olympics first and foremost are about celebrating one’s nationality. It isn’t about giving away American textile workers’ jobs. It isn’t about saving a few dollars by making the uniforms overseas. At the end of the day this is about pride in one’s nation and taking care of our own.

Instead, this decision is saying hurrah for outsourcing, hurrah for giving away American jobs.

Such a message isn’t appropriate during the Olympics and is especially gauche during a time of recession. Americans aren’t too good to make their own Olympic uniforms.

The Olympics is a time to celebrate all Americans and our specialness and our melting pot heritage. Such a blunder is embarrassing and annoying. Surely we have enough pride in ourselves and our nation to make our own uniforms.