"Pobrecito Mexico, Que lejos de Dios pero que cerca de Estados Unidos" Poor Mexico so far from God and so close to the United States.
It is not easy sharing a border with the world's super cop, especially with a corrupt chief of police. So imagine the importance of a United States versus Mexico World Cup qualifying soccer game.
"U S A U S A U S A" does not stand a chance at Estadio Azteca, the world's largest stadium. The concrete stands tremble in anticipation and at first whistle erupts with noise; poly-rhythmic chants crash on the vibrating concrete. As a reflex the "Wave" continuously spins around the stadium.
A hundred thousand people dialogue about the game as consistently as a radio announcer, if you know the codes, what the multitude of chants, stomps, and whistles mean you understand the running commentary of the last play, the coming play, the advancing moves, the coach's last decision, the players exaggerated antics.
The Mexican masses go to party, and watch their team trash the Pinche Gringos. Shocker; The game I went to was a tie. Eeohole.
This is when I first realized the problem.
We dominate everything in the World. You can stop at any given place in Mexico City, look around and see five influences of America. Hell, even in Estadio Azteca they sell Dominoes Pizza. Our military has unsurpassed power. CNN sets the global agenda. Our domination of international law is so absolute, only we can ignore it freely.
We are the Roman Empire, but others live in our decay. So sucking at soccer is a good thing. It's the safety valve. The rest of the world can say
"Sure they might bomb our cities
Make our Prime Ministers whores,
Break international treaties on a whim,
Support intellectual copyrights over aids victims,
Call my sister collateral damage
while labeling me a terrorist,
Bitch as they exploit us,
But ohhhhhh Man do they suck at football!"
Our sucking at something the rest
of the world holds so dear helps to soften the blow.
So for the good of your country, be a patriotic American. Play basketball.
Photo and Narrative by Kevin Patterson www.sonofpatter.com
