Doug C, what would make you feel better?

A runner, you are sadly mis-informed on multiple points:

"I am annoyed when Cubans come here for exhibition baseball games and then end up on the Yankees (not just because I hate the Yankees). It is wrong, those people should be deported, but they have 90mph fastballs, so I guess they can stay." - So you do not believe that people have a right to political asylum, and the right to pursue your profession? I'm sure if you a "good" runner, you would have no problem going to europe and competing in grand prix meets, when in reality you should never be allowed to leave your white supremacist compound in Idaho.

"The reason he is a citizen is to run here. His paperwork was "rushed", not as fast as he would have liked, but the waiting lines to get in here are long." - Ummm, I think he was running long before he received his citizenship. Now maybe he became a citizen to run on an olympic/WC team, but he did not get citizenship in order to run, he was already doing that. And yes, perhaps he did try to have his application expidited, but it was in fact DELAYED due to fraud chages against his case officer.

"The world laughs at us during the World Cup, half of our team are quickly naturalized citizens. " - Give me 6 names of "quickly naturalized citizens" on the 2002 World Cup team. If you can do that, you are still not half way. Here, I'll give you a head start: David Regis, Ernie Stewart, Pablo Mastroeni, Carlos Llamosa, come on, just two more... Can you do it? If not, then there were more players in the US team's pool from New Jersey than there were from abroad. Pretty much the same for San Diego County. And right, no other national team has fuzzy foreigners on it... Like that Nigerian forward who was the only thing going for Poland, or Owen Hargreaves who had played for the German U-21 team and chose to play for England instead. I'll give you that it might have been close to 25% of the team, in 1994, but just like in distance running, the US is getting better.

"I like to hear the "Star Spangled Banner" as much as the next guy, and yes American have many faces and backrounds, but Khannouchi is not AS American to me." - That my friend is an incomplete sentence, no as american to me... AS WHO? Yourself? Good for you Mr. Patriot. Now go back to came whence you came.

I am going to have to defend Khannouchi on this one.

Nationalism is one of the most evil concepts that the human race ever created. Nationalism has been the cause of most of the wars in modern history, and has caused millions of deaths and an untold amount of suffering.

Before "nations" came about, before the Roman Empire and all that shit, you had migrating tribes of humanoids, who travelled around in search of the best food and shelter for their SURVIVAL. This is the natural migration of humans. Nationalism and immigration laws now prevent the natural migration of people to where they feel they can achieve the best life for themselves.

Khalid Khannouchi pursued American citizenship because he felt that he was getting a raw deal from the Morrocan Athletics Federation.....so for his best interests as an athlete and a human being, he became an American citizen. I've got no problem with that.

HOWEVER, HE IS STILL A DRUGGED-UP CAMEL-JOCKEY.

Jason

'Obviously I have a problem with athletes that move from one country to another with their primary interest being athletics.'

Hey dipshit - assuming you're not a Native American why did your ancestors come here?

What would make me "feel better"? That's what this is about?? I'm not going to waste my time on my "feelings".

Here are facts, instead. Citizenship is about a 6-10 year process (work visa to Green Card to Citizenship). KK arrived here in the early 90s and got his citizenship in 1999. You do the math. No Americans are natives. None. Zippo. Zero. I'm a third-generation "American" only because my grandparents were greedy and came to America to have a better life. Where do you draw the line? Are second-generation "Americans" less American than you? What about my son? He is only a 4th generation American... does he qualify as a "complete American" in your view? Maybe you'd feel real good if only direct descendants of those on the Mayflower competed for the USA... Or perhaps direct descendants of Native American tribes are the ultimate in pure Americanness. Can't you see how ridiculous you sound? We are all Americans. Nobody recruited KK, gave him auto citizenship and made him run for the USA. He came here like anyone else, washed dishes, worked his ass off, kept running and lived the American Dream. He is as American as any one of us... I'm done.

DougC

A rare treat for me. Obviously, I am not going to instinctively root for a newly minted citizen as an American as someone who was born here. It smacks of the same stink that taints college sports - why do FSUY student root for their football team when they are merely barely educated mercenaries. Now if KK has a kid, he will be much more American. Now obviously, legally, KK is as American as anyone and deserves all the same rights, but even the constitution makes a distinction between foreign born citizens and native born - KK can never be President. It isn't a racial thing. I'd feel the same way about a Brit. It isn't a choice, I just don't think of an American as being the World Record holder, and I am quite sure that any other country would feel the same way about new citizens from foreign countries. If Pocket Hercules from Turkey immigrated to Kenya and won powerlifting medals, do you think they'd really be as excited as if a Masai won powerlifting medals?

Probably this really calls into question the notion of rooting for someone just because they happen to be from the same country as you more than anything else.

I wonder if "a runner" cheers for Meb? I think not... Meb was raised here... went to HS in California. Is Meb helping to "close the gap" between US runners and the rest of the world? I suspect that "a runner" would not consider Meb an indication of US runners closing the gap. Why? Because this is a racial issue for "a runner". On the other hand, Frank Shorter wasn't born here, lived in Germany for some time and nobody gives it a second thought. In running circles, he's an American hero. You know why?? He looks like a "regular American" with light skin and northern European roots. There is a racial aspect to this.

Jason,

Khannouchi may very well be a camel jockey, but his camel runs a hell of a lot faster than yours.

And if he is a camel jockey what does that make you??? a Bangkok whore jockey?

a runner, didn't I tell you yesterday that you are a loser