Embattled Arizona doesn't deserve hate, boycotts

CBS Sports ^ | May 9, 2010 | Gregg Doyel

[La Enchiladita]

People are being kidnapped in Phoenix, and not every now and then. Every day. Phoenix, one of the biggest and brightest cities in this country, has been blighted by roughly one kidnapping per day over the past four years. Who's doing the kidnapping? Who's being kidnapped? Mostly illegal immigrants and drug dealers. They are the victims, yes, but they are the violators too. They are both.

Phoenix was once the fastest-growing big city in America. It was a place to go. Now it's a place to leave.

But you're not hearing that part of the story. You're not hearing about the creeping third-world kudzu spreading into Phoenix and throughout Arizona. Nope. You're hearing about the nerve -- the nerve -- of lawmakers and law-enforcers in Arizona who want to get a handle on their state before it spins out of control.

And so you're hearing about the role of baseball in this story. You're hearing about fans in Chicago, who are 1,804 ignorantly blissful miles from Phoenix and are boycotting the Arizona Diamondbacks when the Diamondbacks come to town to play the Cubs. And you're hearing about the role Major League Baseball should play, considering the 2011 All-Star Game is set for Phoenix. You're hearing that MLB should move the game, because baseball is nearly 30 percent Hispanic and out of respect to Hanley Ramirez and Albert Pujols and Alex Rodriguez, the game cannot be held in an unreasonable place that would demand that every member of its population be in this country legally.

...One day it'll be a movie starring Nicolas Cage: Boycotting Arizona.

[La Enchiladita]

See, this story isn't as simple as the media and athletes, even thoughtful athletes like Suns players Steve Nash and Grant Hill, would have you believe. From the viewpoint of their gated communities, sure, the new immigration law might look like "an injustice" in Hill's eyes, and like "racism" to Nash.

But people are dying in Phoenix. They are being yanked from their homes on a daily basis and tortured, mutilated, killed. Why? Because there are some bad people in Phoenix. Not the legal citizens of Phoenix, no. I don't mean them. I mean the illegals.

[La Enchiladita]

But I will say this: Why boycott the Diamondbacks? Because their owner contributed money years ago to the campaigns of state lawmakers, and because those state lawmakers later crafted this law? That's too simplistic. It implies you know the law better than the media, who incorrectly make Arizona out to be a Gestapo state, and it implies you also know the intent of the Diamondbacks' owner. And it suggests you're accusing the Diamondbacks of being anti-immigrant at best, xenophobic at worst. Yet the Diamondbacks' roster includes three players born in Venezuela, three in the Dominican Republic, one in Mexico and one in Germany. Boycott those guys? Why would you do that?

... Is there the possibility of racial profiling in Arizona, where police with "reasonable suspicion" can ask for verification that a person isn't an illegal immigrant? Sure there is. Police aren't looking for thieves or drug dealers, who by definition could be anyone. They're looking for illegal immigrants. If you can remove the issue of "race" from the search for "illegal immigrants," please tell me how to do that. Until someone figures it out, I'm inclined to let the police of Arizona do their job.

[SmokingJoe]

even thoughtful athletes like Suns players Steve Nash

When did Steve Nash ever say anything “thoughtful”?
Last time I heard from the sucker, he was yet another instinctively anti-American Canadian.

[Wpin]

Bravo Mr. Doyel

[bwc2221]

This is the first intelligent article on the subject I have seen from a sportswriter. Most sportswriters are trying to establish their liberal “cred.” It took guts to write it.

[altura]

Right on, Greg.

[FormerACLUmember]

Enemy Occupied Washington and its media are at war with the defenseless, unprotected, innocent people of Arizona.

A curse on such evil.

[La Enchiladita]

Yes, I saw a sportswriter bleating on the TV about how “radical” the law (which he knows nothing about but the propaganda) is,,, can’t remember the name: Drizin? Or something like that.

Doyel will catch hell but he makes perfect sense.

I heard Ozzie Guillen, who now manages the Chicago Black Sox, has called for a boycott of the 2011 All Star Game. How dumb can people be?

[HiJinx]

Ping!

[Liz]

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Great place to stay. Has a spa and several swimming pools.
Some rooms overlook Camelback Mountain. Great food.

===================================

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