Obviously, Stephanie Lopez is still a player of Hispanic descent even if she's gotten married and changed her name to Cox. However, it's simply harder for people to make the connection to her Latina roots without a recognizable name to clue one in.
That's partly why blondie Amy Rodriguez is a welcome sight on the U.S. roster - she's officially the second player of Hispanic descent (Her father is of Cuban descent) to make an Olympic roster for the U.S. team. So while A-Rod can no doubt be an inspiration to fast little soccer forwards everywhere, there's little doubt her last name will catch the attention of a few hopefuls who also find it encouraging that someone with a Spanish name (supposedly Amy speaks a little of the language, too) can reach the pinnacle of the U.S. women's game.
Good article - thanks for the link. It's a bit disappointing that a Chicago-based paper has the article and not the LA Times. Amy is a So Cal through and through...and what do we get in today's LA Times? The umpteenth rehashing of the Messi/Barca/Olympics fiasco.
ReplyDeleteHersh is in Beijing and the LA Times is now owned by the Tribune, so they're not about to send out two company reporters to the same place.
ReplyDeleteThen why not use the story with a local angle in the LA Times?
ReplyDeleteNot enough staffers left at the LA Times to notice it was a local story?
ReplyDeleteThen thank goodness for Sideline Views!
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