No Wonder Mexico doesn't like us
And if you don't believe that subject line, watch a US-Mexico soccer match sometime when the U.S. is playing in Mexico. It brings the term "bitter rival" to whole new levels.
I'm guessing some of this may go back to the U.S. land grab of, oh, about half of Mexico's territory, back in the 1800's. You can argue all you want about the morality of such moves and whether having California as a part of the U.S. is really such a good thing after all, but you cannot deny this:
The U.S. is going to give Mexico a major slap in the face next Sunday, courtesy of the NFL.
The NFL, in its never-ending quest to find another town that can be used as leverage for future stadium deals, is playing its first ever regular season game abroad, in Mexico City.
Our proud delegation that we're sending to represent America's sport? The Arizona Cardinals and the San Francisco 49ers.
Maybe I've got this wrong. Maybe we're actually trying to push away the Mexican market for reasons that are unclear to me. Really, can you imagine any other effect when the mighty 0-3 Cardinals (remember when some people actually picked them to win the NFC West?) and the powerful 1-2 49ers (somewhere, Joe Montana is weeping) take the field on Sunday night?
What's being gained by this? When you're looking to export a product abroad, do you send two rejected items that were stashed in the back of the store room? Are we hoping that maybe the Mexican fans will be so ignorant about pro football that they won't be able to realize that what they're watching is really, really bad?
Now that I think about this, why not send New Orleans there? It's at least a modest step up in talent. And hey, even though playing in Mexico City is a far cry from a home game, it's still a lot closer than playing a "home" game in Giants Stadium against the New York Giants.
Comments (2)
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Not only that, Kurt Warner is hurt and won't be playing this weekend.
And I think you meant to write that Joe Montana was weeping. Though he could be weeing, too - the Niners are that awful.
Posted on September 28, 2005 2:23 PM
Mexico is a "market"? I can't imagine the NFL would be doing this to test Mexico City as a potential expansion site given the country has a wrecked economy that subsists on a significant chunk of its population flooding the U.S. illegally and sending those dollars back down.
Hey, maybe they'd like to come home to see teams from their adopted homes of Arizona and California.
Posted on September 28, 2005 3:31 PM