Where at least I know I’m free, And I won't forget the men who died who gave that right to me, And I gladly stand up next to you and defend her still today.  There ain’t no doubt, I love this land, God Bless the USA. (These are the words to one of my favorite songs by Lee Greenwood.)

Tamba Hali, a rookie defensive end for the Kansas City Chiefs, received his U.S. citizenship on Monday.  Many of us here in the United States still take our citizenship for granted, but not those who have gone through the system to be here legally.  When a permanent resident immigrates to this country and finally passes the test to become a citizen and gains the right to vote, it is a joyous occasion.  It is amazing to me that as negative as some people outside of the U.S. are about this country, people still flock by the thousands to our country from China, Cuba, Mexico, Liberia, and many other African and Middle Eastern countries.  Some of the reasons that the United States are so great apply to sports and others do not.  The reasons that I think we are great and their application to sports are listed below.

Due Process:

Floyd Landis, Jan Ullrich, and Ivan Basso have all been accused of doping in the cycling world.  Ullrich and Basso decided not to race in the Tour de France, but Landis did race and then one of his samples came back positive for synthetic testosterone.  Many people are crying, “What happened to innocent until proven guilty?”  Well, you are only afforded that liberty by being in the United States.  The laws of our land do not extend to the international community nor should they.  I would also add that even in the United States that applies to the criminal justice system and not into the entire private sector.  With that said, due process is important even in the arena of sports and business in America.

Voting Rights:

Many countries still do not have the freedom to vote.  America was not always perfect in this realm, but we have made tremendous strides over the past 210 years.  Women and minorities can all vote today for the candidate of their choice.  If you are not happy with the choices, you can do a write in for someone else even though the odds of them getting elected are slim.  Communist countries like North Korea and Cuba still have dictators who run everything.  Watching the news last night, I found it amazing to see the people of Miami cheering that Cuba was no longer under the dominion of Fidel Castro, albeit even if it was only for a few days.  Cubans in Little Havana were celebrating in the streets.  One would have thought the Miami Dolphins had won the Super Bowl. 

Freedom of the Press:

In this country, the news media can basically print whatever and whenever they want.  That does not mean that they have "carte blanche", because they are driven by market forces, but our newspapers can print any cartoon they so choose.  On the internet, blogs pop up everyday with anything and everything imaginable. We are free to do so.  This is not always true in the Middle East or some other communist countries.  Women who have written blogs in Iran are fearful this new liberty will be taken away.  Our country while not perfect has put a premium on this liberty.

There are many more freedoms that we have in this country and trying to list them all would make this post entirely too long.  Feel free to list the reasons you love this country, but I for one want to welcome our newest citizen, Tamba Hali, to the United States of America.

 

SoCalSportsFan