Kevin Modesti: Optimal Mexicanness at the Rose Bowl

LAST weekend, 93,000 soccer fans went to the Rose Bowl to see the national teams of the United States and Mexico compete. Most rooted for Mexico.

Mexico won a lively game. Mexico's players were given gold medals as campeones of a continental tournament. On the way out, people sang "Cielito Lindo." Many enjoyed Mexican bacon-wrapped hot dogs and churros from parking-lot vendors.

For some folks, this was entirely too much Mexico.

Pat Buchanan wrote that the Mexico fans' "contempt" for the U.S. anthem and team showed how even if they are U.S. citizens, they "are not truly Americans" and "maybe they should go back." U.S. goalkeeper Tim Howard expressed anger that the post-match medal ceremony was conducted almost all in Spanish, calling it "humiliating" to his team. No doubt Buchanan and Howard were speaking the language of some who fear Southern California is being taken over by foreign culture and words.

I was at the game, and I'm here to say - in plain English - Buchanan and Howard got it wrong.

First, Buchanan. I always wondered where he draws his inspiration. I'm pleasantly surprised to learn he bases his opinions on hazy interpretations of Los Angeles Times sports columns. The Times' Bill Plaschke wrote that the pre-game U.S. national anthem "was filled with the blowing of air

horns and the bouncing of beach balls."

But standing in section 3, I had a totally different impression, as did other every other American I spoke with. Amid a few air-horn blasts, the fans clad in Mexico's green jerseys showed overwhelming respect for the U.S. anthem and flag. They saved their boos for the U.S. soccer team, a very different thing.

Many Latinos cheered for the U.S. The next day, a Mexican native who has lived in Los Angeles since the 1960s began our chat about the game by saying pointedly: "My country lost."

Now, Howard. His emotion was understandable, since he'd spent key parts of the game on his hands and knees at the feet of tiny goal-scorers. The event was a reminder to the 32-year-old New Jersey native, who plays for a club in England's rampantly popular Premier League, of his sport's modest stature in this country.

But from my seat, the medal ceremony being conducted mostly (not entirely) in Spanish was appropriate. Mexico won, and the tournament featured mostly Spanish-speaking nations. And the U.S. wasn't the home team, Pasadena being merely the long-planned site of the tournament final.

Seeing this soccer game as an example of the rising toll of immigration - illegal and legal - Buchanan concluded: "Say goodbye to Los Angeles. Say goodbye to California."

Well, apparently some people sit around calculating precisely what amount of Mexicanness is optimal at one time in one place, and they like to speak up when there's too much (or, let's imagine, too little).

This was a hugely Mexican event, made so by Mexico fans wanting tickets to a soccer game more than U.S. fans.

But when I went home, I did not find my books had been translated into Spanish. On TV, Lucy still made fun of Ricky's accent, not the other way around. If I had a burrito for lunch the next day, it was by choice.

An evening of good soccer meant "goodbye" to the culture we know?

Ay, ay, ay, ay.

In English: You gotta be kidding me.

Kevin Modesti is a Daily News staff writer. Readers can contact him via email at kevin.modesti@dailynews.com.

Source: http://www.dailynews.com/news/ci_18399902?source=rss

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