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“The U.S. Team: Everyone’s Team.” These are the words that I heard today from a Spanish-speaking commentator talking about the American victory over the Algerian team in the World Cup today.
I knew about The U.S.’s victory over Algeria earlier because I am deeply interested in the World Cup and have been keeping track of it via every medium that I can. I have iPhone apps that bring me the latest news, if I’m working at my computer I listen to the games via streaming coverage and I am glued to the TV during the weekends (to my wife’s endless chagrin). During the week, because I can’t catch the live games on TV during the workday, I usually watch reruns on the Telefutura channel (a Spanish language channel) or I watch World Cup Primetime on ESPN2 to catch up with all of the latest from the Cup after work.
So tonight I was watching a rerun of the U.S. vs Algeria game on Telefutura and by the end of the game I heard the commentator say, in Spanish, what I’ve already quoted above: “the U.S. team, everyone’s team” has just made it through to the Group of 16. Now, these commentators are usually very excited by any win from any team because they just simply celebrate the joy of victory (and I really like that)…but I’ve never heard them say that the Mexican team is everyone’s team or even that the Brazilian team is everyone’s team but here they were, in Spanish, saying that everyone’s team is the American team.
What an incredible sentiment, that a Hispanic/Latino commentator, speaking to the Hispanic/Latino community in the United States, can so genuinely direct himself to that population and say that the U.S. team, is in essence, “our team.” And furthermore, the inevitable interviews with deliriously happy fans after the game were also conducted in flawless Spanish. Which means that the Hispanic/Latino fans ALSO identified with the U.S. team.
So think about it…a lot of Hispanic immigrants in this nation identify with the U.S. team…and it’s not because (as some might cynically assume) the U.S. team is the strongest in the tournament (because they’re not). I believe it’s because they truly identify with the U.S.! Period! The U.S. team is their team and they are rooting for it to win. And they identify with the U.S. team because they think of themselves as American, because they feel American, because they’ve lived in America all of their lives. This is despite their status. So it’s only natural that they would cheer for the U.S.
So if they’re cheering for the U.S. … why aren’t we cheering for them?