Archive for the ‘Sports’ Category
Today the All-Star Game Plays on in Arizona
6:59 am By Maegan La Mala · Controversia|Immigration|Phoenix|Sports · Comments Off
12 Jul 2011
Despite over a year of organizing efforts aiming to get it moved, today Phoenix, Arizona hosts the 82nd Annual Major League Baseball All-Star Game. The push, which included protests across the country, to get MLB Commissioner Bud Selig to move the game or at the very least say something about Arizona’s immigrant/racial profiling law SB 1070 and how it could impact players and spectators, was largely a failure. Meanwhile SB 1070 copycat laws have spread across the country and like the Arizona Senate Bill that started it all, most find themselves entangled in some sort of lawsuit.
Today, Unite Arizona (AZ), will be giving out white ribbons as a symbol of opposition to this law. Unite AZ will be outside Chase Field asking fans to don white ribbons in protest of SB 1070 and as a reminder to Commissioner Selig that baseball needs to exhibit leadership. Online, National Council of la Raza is running a twibbon campaign and you can edit your Twitter avatar to include the Unite AZ graphic. Additionally NCLR NCLR has changed its facebook profile for today and tomorrow and is asking friends and supporters to do the same.
Just A(n English Only) Sports Joke
8:19 am By Maegan La Mala · Immigration|Media|radio|Sports · Comments Off
10 Nov 2010This past weekend I came across an article on AlterNet about how immigrants in sports are turned into national heroes in the United States, while public policy and public practice immigrants, especially Latino immigrants are vilified.
The article places the dichotomy in the context of the last World Series.
The symbolism of delivering a crushing defeat to the Rangers, with Bush Jr. slumped in the front row with his chin in his fist, inspired legions of San Franciscans. At the ceremony awarding the Giants the key to the city, Republican Governor Schwarzenegger spoke over hundreds of thousands of people booing for the duration of his remarks. When the moderate mayor spoke, the crowd cheered initially, but the booing far outlasted the cheers.
In the midst of all the vocal opposition to the right, there was one thing that almost no one was talking about: how much people categorized as immigrants had contributed to the unprecedented success. The players and coaches we showered with cheers and ticker tape hail from Venezuela, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Colombia, Curaçao, France, Panama. Their families came from the Philippines, Mexico and Japan.
The omission was perhaps most stark when a bouncy television reporter from ABC picked out a fan in the barricaded crowd for a sound bite. The first person she spoke with didn’t want to reply — he said he didn’t speak English. She quickly moved on to another fan, evading the obvious: that San Francisco is immigrants and families of immigrants, just like the rest of the state and much of the nation.
And the World Cup Winner is……
6:36 am By Maegan La Mala · Spain|Sports · 5 Comments
12 Jul 2010
España
In what felt like the longest World Cup final match ever, Spain won the World Cup over Holland in overtime, 1-0.
In what felt like a a yellow card throwdown between the two teams, Spain dominated the Jabulani but still couldn’t get a goal in until the second 15 minute overtime set. I have to say , I was especially impressed with the Spanish goalkeeper Casillas, who was catching balls and flying through the air making sure that Holland didn’t get one in the net.
I know in downtown Manhattan, every Spaniard and wannabe Spaniard was in the streets celebrating so I can’t even imagine what the scene was like in Spain.
Pulpo Paul’s prediction was correct. La Madre Patria for the win.
Images y Video Via / Peace FM Online
World Cup Finals This Weekend
6:31 am By Maegan La Mala · Sports|Uruguay · 5 Comments
10 Jul 2010As soon as the Latin American and African countries started dropping like flies, I’ll admit, I started to lose interest in The World Cup. The political, activist animal in me can’t help it.
Today, Saturday, the last Latin American team still alive, Uruguay, fights for third place against Germany at 2:30 pm EST. Tomorrow, Sunday, at 2:30 pm EST, the World Cup winner will be decided between Holland and Spain.
To be honest I don’t know who to get behind.
Today in NYC: Rally to Push MLB All-Star Game Out of Arizona, NO to SB1070
6:51 am By Maegan La Mala · arizona|Immigration|New York City|Sports · 1 Comment
8 Jul 2010Today, June 8th at noon (EST), advocacy organizations and members of la comunidad, like yours truly, will gather outside of Major League Baseball’s headquarters, 245 Park Ave (46th and Park), to protest against Arizona’s SB1070 and to demand that MLB respect the boycott of the state and move their 2011 All-Star Game.
Late last month, VivirLatino released a statement regarding our support of the Arizona boycott and demand that the All-Star Game happen somewhere else.
I will say what the Federal lawsuit will not say, that SB1070, in it’s entirety, threatens all Latinos and has taken it’s cue from Federal programs like 287(g), Secure Communities, and the unspoken triple D Federal immigration reform program. The struggle against SB1070 cannot be separated from the wider struggle to an end to the detentions, deportation, and disappearances under the guise of “homeland security”.
The 2011 MLB All Star Game is scheduled to take place in Phoenix at Chase Field.
VivirLatino.com Statement in Support of Moving the MLB All-star Game from Arizona
12:17 pm By Maegan La Mala · arizona|Immigration|Sports · 4 Comments
28 Jun 2010For Immediate Release
VivirLatino.com Statement in Support of Moving the MLB All-star Game from Arizona
New York, NY. June 28, 2010. Last month, numerous community activist and immigrants rights groups joined forces to show their opposition of Major League Baseball’s 2011 All Star game being held in Phoenix, Arizona, due to the state’s recently adopted anti-immigrant policies. Today, VivirLatino.com, the leading Latino daily blog covering politics, entertainment and issues of interest to the Latino community, has announced that it is part of that coalition.
In response to state law SB 1070, which requires police to ask for papers from anyone they decide meets an undefined “reasonable suspicion” standard, these groups — among them America’s Voice, AFL-CIO, Service Employees International Union and People For the American Way — composed and sent a letter to MLB Commissioner Bud Selig to convince him to move the game from Arizona, as well as move training practices normally held there to another state.
As a far-reaching online Latino publication, VivirLatino believes that it has a commitment to its readers to speak out in favor of immigrants rights, and, in addition to the daily editorial coverage of SB 1070, strongly believes that voicing its opposition to this law via the letter is one way to do that.
“As a political, news, and cultural online space dedicated to the perspective of those born in the US of immigrants, we felt it was important to publicly support efforts that fight against anti-immigrant and anti-Latino hate legalized through SB1070,” said VivirLatino Managing Editor Maegan Ortíz.
“The power and reach of the Internet is vital in successfully campaigning against acts of hate towards immigrants and we plan on using our large reach and readership to continue to speak out against these acts,” added Ortíz.
VivirLatino.com joins a long list of fellow bloggers and community leaders in the cause, such as: Frank Sharry, Founder and Executive Director, America’s Voice; Richard Trumka, President, AFL-CIO;
Eliseo Medina, International Executive Vice President, Service Employees International Union (SEIU); Markos Moulitsas Zúñiga, Founder and Publisher, Daily Kos; Julio Pabon, Publisher, LatinoSports.com, among many others.
VivirLatino Managing Editor Maegan Ortíz is available for statement on the topic of relocating the All-Star game, as well as for interviews on the issue of immigration in general.
Copa Mundial Update : Mexico v. Argentina
8:47 am By Maegan La Mala · Argentina|mexico|Sports · 1 Comment
28 Jun 2010I have been chastised by some readers for not doing better coverage of the World Cup compared to the last World Cup.
Mala indeed has been watching and tweeting when I have access to wifi where I am watching the game, which has included in Casa Mala, at a local bakery and yesterday I took it to a huge beer garden in Queens to watch Mexico vs. Argentina. It was packed and it was hot and not just in terms of temperature. There were at least three physical altercations that I witnessed not to mention all the trash talking which often was based on notions of which Latin American country was superior. Alot of the trash talk twisted pro-migrant chants and there was tons of homofobia while the pride parade marched right across the East River.
While you could hear the “no se puedes”, you couldn’t hear the chants of “culero” which depending on who you ask means “asshole” or is a homophobic slur.
In case you didn’t watch the game, Argentina beat Mexico 3-1, eliminating Mexico from the World Cup.
Today is Chile v. Brasil at 2 pm EST.
Today’s World Cup Games : Colonizers vs Past Colonies
7:42 am By Maegan La Mala · Brazil|Chile|Spain|Sports · 1 Comment
25 Jun 2010My political mind can’t help but look at some today’s World Cup matches and think how sports intersects with issues of nationalism.
At 9:30 am EST Portugal vs. Brasil and at 2:00 pm Spain vs. Chile.
Mala’s Media Minuto : Brazil
6:16 am By Maegan La Mala · Brazil|economy|Media|Sports · 4 Comments
24 Jun 2010
I’m just a futbol fan, no expert pero there sure are a ton of people looking at Brazil as one of the potential winners of the World Cup. In Brazil, as in much of Latin America, soccer is a a religion not just a sport pero leave it to the latest Newsweek to turn Brazil’s love of the sport into an economic concern.
From pg. 10 : [In Brazil] Banks close for the games. If the national team makes the playoff round, many schools suspend classes (Kindergarten included). And good luck finding an open church on game day. Even the warring drug traffickers on Rio’s hillsides will likely call a truce when the ball is rolling…That kind of passion has a cost…Brazil would forgo $1.2 billion [if just half the workforce in contending nations knocks off on game days].
No word on the positive community of futbol fans watching the games. Everything has to be monetized and have a value placed on it (as if the futbol industry in and of itself weren’t lucrative enough). This perspective is no accident, Brazil and Chile both have been centered in South America as examples of democratic and dconomic success following years of military dictatorships. This doesn’t erase the reality of the widening gap between rich and poor in either place.
And I am especially thinking of Brazil now that floods in the Northeast have killed at least 41 and disappeared at least 1,000. About 100,000 have been left homeless.
Mexican Futboleros Say No to SB1070 and Arizona
6:47 am By Maegan la Mamita Mala · arizona|Immigration|mexico|Sports · 3 Comments
17 May 2010
As we get closer to the World Cup in South Africa, Mala’s gonna need a special VivirLatino soccer jersey pero two Mexican futbol teams will not be sporting their uniforms in Arizona in protest against SB1070.
Club America and Pachuca were supposed to face off in a friendly match on July 7 at the University of Phoenix. Pero, Club America pulled out of the game citing “the new immigration bill”.
Que viva el boicott!
PS : Who watched the amistoso entre Mexico & Chile yesterday?
Hola!
VivirLatino is a daily publication published by Mamita Mala Media, dedicated to featuring all the latest politics, culture, entertainment of interest to the diverse Latin@ diaspora.
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