YO, CANADA!

St. Mary's, Kans.

While I agree with Richard Pollak's "Patriot at the Bat" [Sept. 13], on Carlos Delgado's tribulations from his protest against the playing of "God Bless America," one point he neglected, and that has been ignored in other commentaries, is that Toronto is in Canada. Delgado draws his $18 million-plus salary from a Canadian company, patronized overwhelmingly by Canadian fans. This fact, which some of Delgado's critics seem unaware of, makes the accusations of his being un-American somewhat beside the point. Canada has not been a member of the Coalition of the Willing, or the "Coalition of the Idiots," as Carolyn Parrish, a Toronto-area Member of Parliament recently called it. Canadians have no troops in Iraq and reportedly are much more hostile to the United States since the start of the Iraq war. At a Montreal Canadiens game just after the invasion in March 2003, Montreal fans loudly booed the playing of "The Star-Spangled Banner." What is really surprising is that only one player among the several Canadian professional sports teams has taken a stand to protest this stupid war.

Subscriber Login

User Name

Password

Subscribe Now!

The only way to read this article and the full contents of each week's issue of The Nation online is by subscribing to the magazine. Subscribe now and read this article -- and every article published since for the past five years -- right now.

There's no obligation -- try The Nation for four weeks free.

• Get The Nation at home (and online!) for 75 cents a week!
• If you like this article, consider making a donation to The Nation.