Today in the knockout round of the World Cup, the comeback kids from Team USA lost to a swifter Ghana squad that turned on the speed at the right moments to score a 2 to 1 victory. While the loss was painful, the success of Team USA and its ability to mesmerize our country and impress the world was remarkable. This 2010 run was a really big deal. More importantly for the USA, our former President Bill Clinton was there sharing with our global community and showing our fellow man that the USA is a team of class. Win, lose or draw, Team USA and its captain, Landon Donovan, demonstrated an amazing amount of class that was truly inspiring to millions of Americans looking for heroes in a world where we really need some. More, they showed the world that the USA is part of the global community and that we are embracing our place among our fellow man. On the other side, Ghana is now the shining light of Africa. The whole continent is behind their fellow African heroes. Its’ truly great to see a struggling continent get a place under the sun on the world stage. And while so many of us are disappointed today as our beloved Team USA was defeated on the pitch, in sport as in economic competition, one must admire the victors for their competitive spirit and amazing accomplishment. Which brings me to Mexico….. Mexico is now the only team in our beloved North America left in the tournament. Over the last decade or so, Mexico, the country and it’s peoples have been beaten up by many in the US Media for being a weak burden on the USA. We hear the grumblings about drug wars, immigration, and brown peoples who don’t share our values. When Mexico has problems in a few of its border towns with drug cartels who are killing one another to supply our addicted culture with drugs, we issue travel warnings to the whole country. It’s crazy. Can you imagine if Mexico or any other country issued a travel warning to the whole USA just because some serial killer rapist in New York City was on the loose. That would be irresponsible, yet we listen to our mainstream media on a ratings drug as if what they say is gold. What is sad is that Mexicans are used to the nonsensical travel warnings that are ominously issued to “watch out” as they travel to Mexico. It is causing massive economic harm but worse, it’s causing social harm between neighbors. It’s wrong. The power of the mainstream US Media has been so bad that U.S. Citizens are actually frightened of Mexico. What’s even more weird is that even Mexican Americans are afraid to travel to Mexico. Yeah, its’ bizarre! All this as Mexico, which is infinitely safer and less violent than the USA, forges ahead in the global competition with an important growing middle class, a stronger peso versus the dollar over the last 10 years, availible and responsible credit for consumers from banks owned by International players including but not limited to Citibank, HSBC from Hong Kong, Nova Scotia Bank in Canada, Santander of Spain with an amazing amount of new democracy being forged by many establish and new political parties in the country. In fact, one can argue that the change Mexico has experienced over the last 10 years blows away what we in the USA have experienced. So you’d think we Americans, as people, would be all over it. But we’re not. We are too frightened by that speck in our eye. And while we continue to look in the mirror admiring ourselves, Mexico is moving rapidly forward without the U.S. people taking notice. It’s very strange. What’s even more odd is that Mexico is probably more like the USA than any other country in the world; probably even more so than Canada. Upon travel to Mexico, one cannot help but notice a Wal-Mart on every corner mixed with a Costco, Home Depot, Applebees, Ford, Chevy, and GM dealers not to mention McDonalds, Burger King, Subway, Carls Jr, KFC, and so much more. Does this sound like a 3rd world country to you? I mean, the USA corporations get it. They’ve invaded Mexico and took it over! Capitalism is thriving. But the U.S. population is strangely unaware. In fact, the majority of the U.S. population believes Mexico is living in the dark ages. It is precisely this kind of ignorance and lack of awareness that produces failure. Can we really afford to keep admiring our past accomplishments without noticing the other guy’s rise to prominence? What’s even more telling on how close Mexicans are to the U.S. is that Mexicans follow more USA sports than any country in the world. From MLB baseball, NBA Basketball, to NFL football, Mexicans are huge fans of our sports. In fact, I bet most readers here don’t even know that the #2 attended NFL game in history was held in 2005 in Mexico City. That’s right! Mexico! At the time, the lowly last place San Francisco 49ers and the last place Arizona Cardinals played a regular season game at Aztec Stadium. I can’t imagine how many would have shown up if that game actually was between two contenders. It could have been 150,000 people! Wow! What a huge market opportunity! I am still wondering why no U.S. professional sports league has put a team in a city with more than 25 million people! Yet they have teams in Calgary and want to put a team in London which is far across an ocean in a way off time zone! Very strange! Credit: www.veteranstoday.com