I was talking to one of my mission companions who is from Guadalajara and is a massive Chivas fan who had to witness his team lose to Atlas in the first game of their playoff series with them. I hate to admit it, but I take some amount of joy in his misery, as well as Chivas' recent failures to win a championship. (They have won nothing since 2006 with some horrible years thrown in there.)

Whenever I go back to Mexico, or talk to most Mexicans in general, it surprises and angers them like crazy when they find out I can't stand Chivas. It surprises me that they would think I would feel any different. During my mission and in my numerous trips back It was often thrown in my face about how we Americans are horrible and racist due to our immigration policies. As you can imagine, this sentiment has increased significantly in the past year. Yet, they have a soccer team where it is a requirement that you be Mexican born and never play for another national team in order to be on their team, and the people there worship that team because it is "pure" and not spoiled by evil foreign players. Not only this, but these people, and their government, see nothing wrong about discriminating employment opportunities based on race and nationality. Many of these same people would get angry seeing expats from the US working in managerial or technical jobs for Mexican companies in the city where I served.

I get the whole patriotism thing, but don't generalize me and all other Americans by calling us racist when you have blatant discriminatory policies in place. For me, Chivas just became a symbol of that kind of hypocrisy. All other Mexican soccer clubs have benefited from foreign players, just like how the United States has benefited in large measure from immigrant workers. Until Mexico, and Chivas, realize that this can benefit them as well, I have a problem with being called out about it.