University of Washington Institute for the Study of Ethnicty, Race, and SexualityWISER Winter 2008
Brown Bag Series
Prof. Brandon Valeriano
Tuesday, February 5th
Gowen 1A
11:45am—1:00pm
W I S E R
“Latino Assimilation, Divided Loyalties, and the World Cup”
Professor Brandon Valeriano
University of Illinois at Chicago, Department of Political Science
1 comment:
I read this paper and it is excellent. I love soccer, and I am certainly a US fan. But as Brandon explains, if Latinos cheer for the Mexican national team, so what? It says nothing about their loyalty to the US. It is hard to be a soccer fan here. The media coverage of the sport is spotty and on the whole negative or ignorant or both. Sports columnists and radio talkers love to ridicule soccer while obsessing about ultra-minor sports like hockey. The MLS teams aren't very good compared to pro teams elsewhere. When the World Cup rolls around, the US puts together a decent single team and I cheer for them. But why wouldn't a Latino cheer for Mexico, after following those players as pros for years?
And, as Brandon shows, Latinos have no lack of patriotism. They have been fighting and dying for this country in numbers significantly above their percentage of the population, including in Iraq. They not only go into the military--they choose the most dangerous assignments. So as far as I'm concerned, they can cheer for the Jamaican bobsled team if they want, and more power to them. Maybe if the LA Galaxy had hired somebody like the Chicago Fire star Blanco, instead of David Beckham, MLS would have a bigger Latino following.
Post a Comment