June 21, 2014 6:59 AM

A very good reason why sports and politics shouldn't mix

San Jose native Steven Beitashour wasn’t about to let international politics squash his World Cup dream. Instead of donning the colors of his country this month in Brazil, Beitashour is wearing the white and red of Iran. Now the player finds himself enmeshed in the long-running conflict between the Great Satan, as Iran sometimes calls America, and the Axis of Evil, in which the United States places the Islamic republic. Yet all the one-time San Jose Earthquakes’ defender seeks is the experience of a lifetime…. “I’m not there to cause any problems,” said Beitashour, 27, before departing to Brazil. “I’m not there for any flash. I’m there for the love of the game.”

Those of us of a certain age vividly remember the Iranian hostage crisis. in 1979, Iranian radicals stormed the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, taking the Americans they found hostage. The radicals held them for 444 days, effectively condemning Jimmy Carter to being a one-term President and blessing us with two terms of Ronald Reagan. And who could forget the smiling visage of the Ayatollah Khomeini, who gave new meaning to the word “dour?”

People from my generation know Iran primarily as the country that hates America, referring to us as “The Great Satan.” Most Americans, blissfully ignorant of any real knowledge of Iran, would have been quite happy to bomb one of the world’s oldest civilizations right back to the Stone Age. Iranians weren’t people, they were wild-eyed zealots who dreamt only of killing Americans in the name of Islam.

For almost 20 years the mutually assured enmity continued without a break, perhaps because it served the political purposes of political power brokers in both countries. Then came the 1998 World Cup, when U.S. national soccer team played Iran. No one knew what to expect before the teams took the field. The Iranian players showed up with bouquets, everyone relaxed, and the pre-game photo resembled a family reunion snapshot. The game itself was pretty exciting, with Iran winning 2-1…and both teams disappeared from the competition shortly thereafter.

Watching that game on television was Steven Beitashour, an American boy from San Jose, CA, whose parents were born in Iran. Beitashour went on to become a professional soccer played, an MLS All-Star in 2012 while playing for the San Jose Earthquakes (he was traded to the Vancouver Whitecaps prior to the 2014 season). Beitashour was called up to the U.S. national team in 2012 and again in 2013, but returned to his team without having earned a cap. The Iranian football federation had been calling him frequently, and suddenly Beitashour found himself faced with a decision: try to make the national team of his home country, which seemed increasingly unlikely, or play for the nation of his parents’ birth. Improbably as it may seem, Beitashour became the first American national to play for Iran since the 1979 revolution, and he’s yet to look back.

I watched an interview with Beitashour recently in which he would ask how he’d respond to being criticized for playing for a traditional American enemy. His response was spot on, asking who might turn down an opportunity to play for a national team and quite possibly take part in the World Cup, the planet’s biggest sporting event? It shouldn’t be about politics. It’s about sport, and Beitashour decided that the Iranians wanted him…and so why not play for his parents’ native country?

Beitashour might have eventually played for the U.S. national team, but he professes no regrets, secure in the knowledge he’s no longer eligible to play for the U.S. He’s playing for a country he has an emotional connection to, and, even though he’s American from head to toe, he’s widely loved in Iran. There’s really no downside to this story. The U.S. national team had plenty of other options, and Beitashour is now an important part of the Iranian national team. He’s no more a traitor than the five German-Americans on the U.S. World Cup roster are traitors to Germany. Players with dual citizenship are free to choose which country they’ll represent. The only issue with Steven Beitashour is that he’s chosen to play for Iran, and there are still those in this country who’d love to see the U.S. Air Force turn Tehran into a parking lot.

This is why I love sports. Whether the U.S. is playing Iran, North Korea, or the Death Star, it’s just two teams on a soccer field. No politics, no overheated nationalist rhetoric. Just 22 players and a round white ball.

Perhaps there’s hope for humanity after all.

blog comments powered by Disqus

Technorati

Technorati search

» Blogs that link here

About this Entry

This page contains a single entry by Jack Cluth published on June 21, 2014 6:59 AM.

Mt. Fuji from the International Space Station was the previous entry in this blog.

This is why we look forward to summer in Portland is the next entry in this blog.

Find recent content on the main index or look in the archives to find all content.

Contact Me

Powered by Movable Type 6.0.2