Surreal Sports News: U.S. Soccer Crushes Spain, the World’s Greatest Team

I’m not a huge sports fan, but I can get into futbol. One thing I always get from my soccer fan friends from Latin America and Spain is what a joke the U.S. team is. But what you expect from a country who thinks soccer is for sissies and only knows David Beckham for his modeling gigs. Sheesh.

So what was my surprise when I saw that the number one trending topic on Twitter was the word “Spain” and found that the world was tweeting this astonishing outcome in the FIFA Confederations Cup semifinals today: the U.S. mopped up the floor with Spain in a 2-0 win. For those of you who don’t know, Spain is the number one team in the world, and boasts some of the sport’s most talented athletes.

Spain went into this game with the confidence of the jock who always clobbers the wimpy kid and got clobbered themselves. But this isn’t just shocking to me; this is world soccer history: the U.S. today became the first team to beat Spain since 2006 and some experts are calling the victory the best performance since they defeated England 1-0 in the 1950 World Cup in Brazil.

Might this help get some momentum moving in making soccer a more popular sport in the U.S.? I doubt it. I mean, how many of you had ever heard of the Confederations Cup before this? How many even care to know what it is? Yeah, I thought so. But it would be nice though!

In the end, Spain loses more than just a game (and their chance at the finals for this tournament): they lose face. As you might expect, Spain is devastated and fans are blaming the loss on the cockiness and overconfidence of their (nearly) invincible team.

Via / Twitter

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Immigration Vigils today in AZ

What: Vigils in four Arizona towns to call on Arizona Senator John McCain and other participants of the White House Immigration Reform meeting to push for immigration reform this year.

When: Wednesday, June 24, 2009 from 6:00-7:30pm

Where:

Tucson -Senator McCain’s office at 407 W. Congress St.

Douglas -Corner of 5th St and Pan American Highway (Co-sponsored by Humanitarian Border Solutions, Episcopal Border Ministries and Frontera de Cristo)

Sierra Vista -St. Andrew Apostle Church, 800 Taylor Dr.

Nogales – La Casa del Viejo at 665 Morley Ave.

Who: Border Action Network and its Human Rights Committees throughout southern Arizona.

Why: On Thursday, June 25 at 2:00pm EST, key members of Congress will join the President at the White House for a meeting that is expected to create a roadmap for legislative action on comprehensive immigration reform in 2009. The evening before this important meeting, members of Border Action Network in Tucson, Douglas, Nogales and Sierra Vista, Arizona are gathering to hold a “Now is the Time” vigil for Arizona Senator McCain and other meeting participants.

Via / Latino Politico

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NAM Wants Ethnic Media to Push Immigration Reform

New America Media, who gave some of the pro-migrant blogging work I’m aligned with some props, is calling on “Ethnic Media” to run an editorial pushing immigration reform.

Some of us don’t need to be pushed, as it’s part of our everyday operating standards but what I found most interesting about the push is how it’s being labeled specifically as:

NOT a direct reflection of some advocates’ disatisfaction with President Barack Obama’s deliberate approach to immigration reform. [Emphasis mine]

Except for some of us it is. For example, yesterday President Obama has a press conference where he discussed Iran, health care reform, the economy, and even his smoking but couldn’t be bothered to even breath a word on immigration.

You can read NAM’s suggested text after the jump.

(more…)

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Paper Taco Trucks!!

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Ah the Taco Truck. Staple of the Mala’hood and many hoods despite attempts to push them out.

I know that when I was a little Mala, I loved playing with paper dolls, pero the idea of having my kids play with paper taco trucks, like the ones I saw via Boing Boing this morning, made me way too excited.

Print your own taco trucks from here!

P.S. Yes, Mala is staying away from anything too heavy today because her older daughter, la MapucheRican graduates from elementary school today.

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