I have long worried about writing this column because I don't want to be seen as a racist or whatever else you get labeled at for being angry at a group of a certain nationality, even if that nationality is of the United States. 

There was a big part of me that wanted to go to the USA vs. Mexico game at the Rose Bowl but after about half a second of deliberation, I decided against it.  My decision wasn't about the price, it wasn't about what a nightmare the Rose Bowl is logistically, no, it was about fear.  Fear of wearing my USA shirt and scarf and becoming human target practice.  Fear of having the window of my car bearing a small USA flag sticker I got after 9-11 broken.  Fear of having cups of urine thrown at me.  Fear of supporting my country at home.

Now, if this were a column about a stadium full of people who traveled from Mexico to cheer their team and then go home as if this were a World Cup, well, there wouldn't be a column.  This is not about Mexican citizens cheering their team and being more supportive than their American counterparts.  This is about American citizens who fled Mexico for a better way of life, finding it, then booing the national anthem of the country that lets them provide for their families in safety. 

I was at work the other day and was talking with one of our clients.  In order to fill out a form I had to ask him what country he came from.  He told me he was from Ghana.  I smiled and said their could be a problem.  He looked concerned and asked why.  I kept my smile and responded by saying that after being ousted in two straight World Cups by Ghana and the manner in which they did it, I wasn't sure I could continue helping him.  I was expecting him to laugh.  He didn't.  He looked offended.  With a serious look on his face he said, "I root for the United States."  The statement said it all.  He came here in the mid-1980's when he was in his twenties and has lived here ever since.  This client left Ghana for the U.S., in search of a better life, one with freedoms his homeland couldn't provide and now he found it.  And he says, "I root for the United States."

And that brings me back to last night's crowd.  I read Bill Plaschke's column in which a U.S. citizen donning a Mexico jersey told him she booed the team, not the country.  Good luck with that explanation while wearing a U.S. jersey in Mexico.  I would comment on the trophy ceremony being conducted in Spanish but the U.S. goalie, Tim Howard already did that.

Sometimes I wonder how I would act in the same situation.  For instance, I sometimes get mad at people living in Los Angeles who curse the Lakers, but if I moved to New York because my job sent me there, I wouldn't abandon the Lake Show or the Dodgers.  However, if I left Los Angeles because my government and police force were corrupt, because living conditions were poor to the point that I couldn't raise a family, and if I left because drug lords had made it unsafe to walk my streets and those drug lords had bought off the police, well, I'm not so sure how loyal I would be to that home.  And then, if I moved to a place that let me speak my mind, that gave me citizenship, that let me provide for my family, that made my kids citizens and gave them a life that I didn't have, well, that new place would get my undying gratitude.  The same undying gratitude the man from Ghana felt so offended I assumed he didn't have.

This is not a rant against immigration or illegal immigration.  I hate the ridiculous Arizona and Alabama laws.  I do not tolerate racism.  No, this is about United States citizens who curse their country, boo its national anthem, and are clearly unappreciative of the opportunities and rights this country has given them.  There is a large part of me that thinks, "if this place is so bad that you would boo its anthem, then why are you still here?  You're free to go back.  Nobody's stopping you."  Of course I understand that this is a group that may feel like second-class citizens, even if the law does not treat them that way.  But all they have to do is see that the kids they have clad in Mexico jerseys go to American schools and have all of the opportunities their classmates have.  In what other country does that happen? 

I went to Campos Tacos near my house at halftime and saw the third Mexico goal happen.  The restaurant erupted in cheers.  It would be nice if there was even an eighth as much enthusiasm for the country whose citizenship they bear, a country that lets them enjoy dinner, watch a soccer game, and grants them the freedom to do what they couldn't do at home.  I agree with Plaschke, it's great that I live in a country that lets people boo its national anthem.  I just wouldn't call the sight beautiful.