Ted's Polish-Mexican Page

Hey, remember when I said that Cuauhtémoc Blanco would be a horrible bust for the Chicago Fire, and David Beckham would be a Godsend for the Los Angeles Galaxy? Okay, I was wrong.

Granted, Blanco has started two games for Chicago, and Beckham has played exactly 17 more minutes playing for the Galaxy than I have. Heck, he is still 79 minutes short of being as critical to the Galaxy as Andrew Shue was. But all of that helps prove my point, don't it?

Don't worry, Blanco still has plenty of time to prove me right.


One of the things that irritated me a wee bit when Chivas USA entered the league was the assumption that they were now the "Hispanic team." Never mind that even in their own town, Hispanic fans were split between them and the Galaxy. Now that they are looking beyond people who are not even good enough or too old to play for the mothership team, Kansas City is likely to start more Hispanic surnamed players than they are on any given week. Dallas, Chicago and DC have higher profile Latin American stars. But, the perception still exists among their fans that they are somehow wearing the brown berets and the other teams are "whiter." (And don't get me started on the closet racists on Big Soccer that tie their dislike for Chivas to their anti-immigration views)

I bring this up because a popular thing among some fans is the wearing of lucha libre masks in your team colors at games. More practical than painting your face, I suppose. A guy I know, Mike Toole, does this at New England Revolution games. Since he is right in front of the "Fort," the hardcore fan section, he always gets on TV. Twice I've seen Fox commentators (once for the national broadcast, once on the local, Chivas feed) say, "Well, with that mask, he should be a Chivas fan." In both cases, the commentators wouldn't stop with this one. It's as if only Chivas USA fans are entitled to picking up Latin American trappings. Silly, really.

(Years ago, a guy said that because of my last name, I should be a Chicago Fan. At the time, New England had players named Janusz Michallik and Darren Sawatzky.)

Aside from the rant, there is a plus here. Mike's in game activities have gotten him noticed on English television. Believe it or not, BBC 5 has a show called Soccer America. Mostly, they poke fun at us, but they actually did a wee bit on Mike, with the commentator spending a near creepy amount of time on Mike's wife, Prairie Rose Clayton.

Prairie Rose and Mike have gotten in touch with the producers of the program and there might be a follow-up.


Freddy Adu has gone off to the greener pastures of Sport Lisboa e Benfica. Well, at least a tryout there. Adu was unhappy at Real Salt Lake, so this move may be good for him. My troubles with him have always been his maturity. Ten minutes playing for a European club oughta cure that.


Hasta la proxima. Do zobaczenia.