“Allá voy NBA”, garabateó Gustavo Ayón en la hoja de un cuaderno un día cualquiera en el que su anhelo de ser estrella del basquetbol acaparaba su atención.

María Aguirre, su madre, aún conserva esa libreta que encontró cuando no alcanzaba a descifrar los sueños de su hijo. Nada sabía ella de la liga de baloncesto más importante del mundo, tan sólo que su muchacho no se miraba al espejo sin un balón en las manos.

Casi nueve años después de aquel decreto, los Hornets de Nueva Orleáns, uno de los 30 equipos que integran la NBA, contrataron a Gustavo Ayón por tres temporadas a cambio de 5 millones de dólares. Se convirtió así en el tercer mexicano que llega a la liga estadunidense, detrás de Horacio Llamas y Eduardo Nájera.

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As Major League Baseball fetes the game this week by showcasing its best players, it faces a looming question just a state and a year away: Should it move the 2011 All-Star Game from Arizona, where a new immigration law has become a flashpoint in the nation’s long-standing immigration debate?

Civil rights groups, some politicians and even the Major League Baseball Players Association have, to varying degrees, publicly denounced the law, which can be enforced beginning July 29 unless an injunction by the federal government is granted. Groups organizing protests at this week’s All-Star Game in Anaheim promise to increase public pressure on baseball for next year’s game, which is set for the home of the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Read More, Here.

- via ESPN

Paul Rodriguez, left, and Anthonie Linares show off medals they won at the Sports Games for Mexicans Abroad. The Mexican constitution confers nationality on the children of Mexican-born parents. (Luis Sinco/Los Angeles Times /March 30, 2010)

Mexican government seeks to build its teams with competitors living abroad.

Anthonie Linares hasn’t been to Mexico, doesn’t speak Spanish and doesn’t know the words to the Mexican national anthem.

But as he stood in a tunnel beneath the Home Depot Center in Carson on Tuesday, with a pair of gold medals hanging around his neck, the 16-year-old from San Jose said he could imagine himself someday climbing atop the podium at a major international competition as a strange flag is raised and an incomprehensible anthem played.

“My dad would be proud of me,” said Linares, whose father was born in Acapulco. “Knowing that I’m wrestling for the Mexican team, he’ll probably be more proud of me.”

The possibility was something neither Linares nor his father was aware of until the high school wrestler was invited to take part in the Sports Games for Mexicans Abroad, a multidisciplinary athletic competition for children of Mexican heritage living in the U.S., organized and sponsored by the Mexican government.

-via latimes.com

Read Full Article, Here.

Mexican sports officials are searching for potential Olympic athletes in the United States with family links to Mexico who might eventually compete for the Latin American country.

Mexico’s sports minister Bernardo De la Garza said Wednesday that the first step in the identification process would be the so-called Mexican Games being held in Los Angeles in March. Competitions will be held in 12 Olympic disciplines and will be open to Mexicans, Mexican-Americans and Mexican-Canadians.

De la Garza used the example of Oscar De la Hoya, a retired American boxing champion of Mexican descent, as the kind of athlete the competition might unearth.

Mexico has traditionally done poorly in the Olympics, and De la Garza said the country was partly to blame. Mexico won only three medals in 2008 in Beijing — two golds and one bronze.

”Historically, many Mexicans with sports talent have not had the chance,” De la Garza said. ”We didn’t make it easy. We didn’t stretch out our hand and help them so they could represent Mexico and not have to do it in other countries.

”What we can do for Mexican sports is open the door so they have the chance, so those who want to can represent their country in international events.”

De la Garza said he was particularly interested in finding sprinters, and athletes in the javelin, shot put and discus.

”Traditionally, Mexico has not had sprinters,” he said. ”The field events also have not been a strength.”

The games, officially know as the ”Sports Games for Mexicans Abroad,” will take place March 29-April 4 in Los Angeles. De la Garza said some talented foreigners from the games would be invited to the Mexico National Olympiad, which takes place annually in Mexico.

-via http://www.nytimes.com/