Why We Compete

The Washington Post's Eli Saslow was online Monday, Oct. 15 at 2 p.m. ET to discuss Why We Compete, a series exploring why sports endure and what they mean to people. In Part V, Community, a high school team crosses the border seeking to validate Mexican football by challenging a formidable opponent in Texas.

A transcript follows.

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Eli Saslow: Thanks for stopping by to check out the fifth compete chat. It looks like we've got some good comments and questions already, and feel free to add more during the next hour. So far, the comments that folks have posted at the end of the story have been really divisive, which I think is great for debate. Some people seem to think we shouldn't have written about Mexican football, or Mexico in general. Interesting stuff.

Anyway, I'm hoping that my computer and Internet connection hold up for the next hour or so, but I'm not exactly chatting under ideal conditions. I'm sitting in the driver's seat of my rental car -- a PT Cruiser, for like the eighth consecutive work trip -- and eating a turkey sandwich in the parking lot of a grocery store in Champaign, Illinois. Very depressing. Good country music station here, though, which is cheering me up.

As always, feel free to e-mail me at saslowe@washpost.com with any questions or comments that we don't answer here. OK, onto the chatter...

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Washington, D.C.: I posted the following comment:

"I loved the article, but after living and teaching in South Texas I have an issue with the idea of underdogs beating McAllen. The students in McAllen are largely low-income Mexican immigrants. McAllen public schools are not extremely well-funded. It's great that they have a new football field, but the McAllen students aren't having meals fed to them by their parents' paid helpers.

In my mind, this is a story of a rich prep school (regardless of nation of origin) coming to beat up on a low-income school. The low-income school stands up when it plays it's peers, but can't match the recruiting and wealth of the prep school.

Sorry, no David and Goliath here."

Did you consider this a David and Goliath piece? If so, do you really think the Mexican team is David simply because they lack a stadium?

Eli Saslow: I didn't really consider it a David vs. Goliath piece, so much, because I knew going in that Prepa Tec has a very, very good team capable of beating top teams in Texas. That said, I found the story appealing in part because I guessed readers would initially ASSUME it was a David vs. Goliath piece, and then they would be surprised.

My favorite thing about the team at Prepa Tec and their success in the U.S. is that it flies in the face of so many stereotypes. We assume -- maybe too easily and too often -- that Mexico would be the underdog in a game like this, traveling iwth a team of poor kids who are just learning football. In truth, the Prepa Tec kids are rich, talented and happy. Oh, and as a side note, they are some of the best dressers I have ever been around. If you go to Prepa Tec and don't wear designer socks, you're not fitting in. That simple.

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Arlington, Va.: I loved your article about the football game between Prepa Tec and McAllen High School. I graduated from McHi in 1976, the first class to graduate from the "new" stadium shown in the photograph, and I played in the marching band. Even though McHi lost 19-0, the article brought back fond memories of high school and the uniqueness of the Rio Grande Valley. Thanks.

Tracy Hopkins

Eli Saslow: Thanks so much, Tracy. It's great to hear from a McAllen alumn. I grew up in Denver, went to school in Syracuse and then winded my way to DC -- and I've never seen any high school stadium nearly as impressive at the one at McHi. It's such a huge place. It seems fit for a Division II college team.

I'm also relieved that, as a McHi alumn, you enjoyed the story. Some people seem to think that the sentiment of this piece was somehow anti-american, and that it villified the Texas team. That wasn't our intention, certainly, and I don't think the story reads that way. It's more of a story about stereotypes and assumptions.

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Arlington, Va.: Thanks for the great series of articles. I hate to say it, but I detected more than a trace of racism in the McAllen football coaches decision to harass the Mexican players about their ages. Did you discover any problems with racism while working on this story?

Eli Saslow: Thanks a lot. I guess this goes back a little bit to what I was saying before...I think that, certainly, McAllen's natural distrust of the Mexican team is something to be a little bit concerned about. I'm not sure if it's racism, exactly. I guess I would say that many of the attitudes of the Texas football coaches are more sort of egotistical, or even jingoistic. The coaches I talked to had a difficult time believing that Mexican football players were capable of beating the top teams in Texas without cheating. That notion just so contrasted with their world view that they couldn't digest it, and I guess still can't.

I think, in sports, we all carry perceptions about what kinds of people -- or what countries -- are good at certain things, and those stereotypes take a long time to break down. I'm trying to think of examples here, and maybe some of you guys can help me with examples of your own, but here's a recent example: The U.S. basketball team, which seems to have been caught so unawares by the concept that, Yes, the rest of the world is good, and the U.S. is not invincible. It is capable of losing.

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Austin, Tex.: Great article.

I see from the comments people left on the Web page that a lot of people have gotten very unpleasant and stopped just short of accusing you of treason.

And you allude to similar comments in your introductory comment to this chat.

About a story about high school football.

Did you see this coming, or has that reaction surprised you?

Eli Saslow: Honestly, the reaction has excited me. I'm excited to see people riled up and to see people talking about the bigger issues here, because we never wanted this to be just a story about high school football. The game between these two teams provided such a great opportunity to explore a lot of interesting issues -- our perceptions of Mexico, the relationship between the two countries, the theatre of Texas athletics -- and I'm glad to see that readers have siezed on those things.

Frankly, I couldn't disagree more with people who believe that Mexican football is not worth writing about. And, frankly again, I think people who are upset to see an article where the U.S. loses probably need a wake up call.

I credit the strong reaction to the story on the fact that the attitudes reflected here are things we argue and debate about all the time, when they pertain to matters of more worldy importance: Is the U.S. too cocky? And what are other countries capable of?

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Austin, Tex.: You mention, almost as a throwaway line, that the local police once participated in a "sting" operation to check the ages of Mexican players.

That seems to me like a pretty serious lack of professional behavior on their part. Did you check this out at all? I think that if it's verifiably true, it deserves further comment. And if it's not, you probably shouldn't have mentioned it.

Eli Saslow: Certainly it's true, although I know it maybe a little difficult to believe. Rockport-Fulton is a pretty small community, where the school and is football coaches know the police pretty well. The two got together and decided to set up the sting. When it ended without the expected result -- all the Borregos playes were of the proper age -- the coaches and police apoligized to Prepa Tec. But needless to say, the incident stung, and I think it created a pretty big chip-on-the-shoulder mentality for Prep Tec. They remind themselves of it each time they come across the border to play.

And one more note, to be fair to the Texas coaches: Their suspicions have some logical foundations, because Prepa Tec and Monterrey Tec do have a unique relationship. The college and the high school program exist as one. Even if that was the set up somewhere in the United States, it might make some coaches suspicious about age eligibility issues.

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Cleveland Park, Washington, D.C.: What percentage of the Prepa Tec players will go to Monterrey Tec? Do any go on to play for colleges in the U.S.?

Also, is Monterrey Tec as dominant a football team in Mexican colleges as Prepa Tec is for high schools? I don't know that much about Mexican football.

Eli Saslow: You know enough to ask good questions, so thanks for writing in. About half of the players on Prepa Tec's team will eventually move on to play for Monterrey Tec. Players from Mexico almost never get recruited from Prepa Tec to a college in the United States. The Prepa TEc athletic director, when pressed, could remember only one such situation: a volleyball player was recruited to a west coast school three or four years ago. No football players that he could remember.

Because Monterrey Tec keeps so much of that home grown talent, they are indeed exceptionally dominant. They're the best college program in Mexico, but a good measure. They have had three or four players move on from their to play in the NFL, if only briefly.

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Arlington, Va.: Eli, if you want to see some real impressive high school stadiums, head up to the Tulsa suburbs, and witness the behemoths constructed by Jenks and Tulsa Union. And my high school football stadium (in OKC) has astroturf and is better (and bigger) than my husband's Division III stadium.

Eli Saslow: Sounds like that might be worth a roadtrip. I've never been to Tulsa, either. And let me tell ya...it's got to be nicer than Champaign.

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Poughquag, N.Y.: I think the story should have mentioned that while Prepa Tec Borregos is the top-ranked football team in Mexico, its opponent mentioned in the article, McAllen is not a ranked team, not only nationally, but not even in the state of Texas. MaxPreps' list of the top 25 Texas teams does not include McAllen. TexasFootball.com list the top 25 Texas teams in each of its 5 divisions : McAllen is not mentioned.

The article makes it look like Prepa Tec Borregos defeated a powerhouse.

Eli Saslow: True, McAllen is not ranked in the Top 25 in Texas, but let's put that in perspective. We're talking about the biggest state, with three major metros, all of which place a high value on high school football. Just because McAllen wasn't ranked in the top 25 doesn't mean it's not a big-time, successful program. The are routinely one of the stronger teams in The Valley.

Also, I think the Borregos did defeat a powerhouse, but maybe we're not measuring it the same way. They beat a team that plays in a 14,000-seat stadium, that runs onto the field through dried ice, that meets twice each day to watch film and craft game plans. Those, also, are the markings of a committed, top-tier program.

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Silver Spring, Md.: I think your article was written in a very prejudiced and misleading manner. It definitely was pro-Mexican school and anti-Texas school. It was a typical Washington Post article written to show favoritism toward Latinos. Also, it is misleading in that the Texas school according to GreatSchools is 83 percent Hispanic, 15 percent white, 2 percent Asian/Pacific Islander and less than 1 percent African-American. But your story doesn't show that. Why was your article written in such a non-objective manner?

Eli Saslow: The Mexican team beat the American team, so if that makes this article "pro-Mexico," than so be it. But certainly, I don't think the Washington Post works to "show favoritism" to Latinos. In fact, I think the response to this article indicates just the opposite: People aren't use to reading about Mexico's elite upperclass, about kids who compete in football and do it well.

As for the demographics of McHi, those are numbers that I was certainly aware of, and maybe they would have been nice to include in the piece. I'm disappointed, though, that you felt misled. But I wasn't trying to break down the numbers of Latino football players in each school; the game -- and all the issues that surrounded it -- was broken down by the border, between Mexico and the U.S, not the different backgrounds therein.

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Boston, Mass.: Eli,

I'm a big fan of the series. Despite moving away from D.C. last month, I've constantly been checking to see when the next part would come out. Did any of the players aspire to play in college in the United States? It seems if they had the talent to beat a Texas high school football power, some of their players might be able to play in a University here.

Eli Saslow: Thanks so much for reading. That's really nice of you to say.

You're point is a valid one, and I kept asking Prepa Tec coaches exactly that: If these players are so good, why haven't U.S. college coaches found them? And, honesty, Prepa Tec's coaches didn't really seem to know. They said that visa issues are difficult and complicated, and I know from other stories that those can make it extremely difficult to recruit a foreign player. But the Prepa Tec coaches almost seem to be holding their breath, hoping that the U.S. college don't come into Monterrey and discover their little secret.

But college football now is so competitive, and recruiting is so thourough, that I would imagine it's only a matter of time before we see more college players coming out of Monterrey. They're bound to find some of these players, right?

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Austin, Tex.: Thanks for your responses to my earlier questions. I have spent a lot of time in the Valley and in Mexico, so the topic is of special interest to me.

One thing I would have liked to see in your story (which, again, I really enjoyed) is some comment from the McAllen players.Given that a lot of them no doubt speak Spanish and have ties to Mexico, it would have been interesting to hear their point of view.Did you talk to any of them?

Eli Saslow: Yes, I certainly did. I guess the general vibe I got is that, at least under the circumstances of this game, the McAllen players don't so much identify with the Borregos as fellow latinos so much as they highlight the difference between Mexicans and Americans.

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Falmouth, Mass.: Nice improbable story and well done multimedia material...shows yet another face of the complex relationshib between the U.S. and Mexico. I wonder, how did you hear about it and decide to cover it?

Eli Saslow: Thanks for writing in. I'm afraid that you're question probably leads to a long, boring answer about the backstory here. But what the heck. My Internet connection is still working and we've got some time left.

Earlier this year, I made a trip to San Antonio for a few other stories and I started thinking that I really wanted to write a story about high school sports on the border. Over the next few weeks, back home in DC, I called a bunch of coaches and athletic directors from Texas bordertowns to see if there was anything compelling to write about: a coach from Mexico who worked with a team in the U.S., or players who competed on both sides, or whatever. And what I found out, really, is that the two countries hardly compete at all, even if places where the American and Mexican towns aren't separated by more than a river or fence. The one team that a few people mentioned was the Borregos, and so we called the coaches down there and they invited us to spend some time with them, in both Monterrey and on the trip to Texas.

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Edgemont, Pa.: Re: "By age 22, a few thousand consecutive days of weightlifting later, they sometimes look like professional bodybuilders in their Monterrey Tec uniforms."

Did you look into the possibility that the Prepa Tec players are juicing? I ask because of the sports climate we're in, not because I think that a Mexican football team could never beat a Texan team (as McAllen folks seem to think).

Eli Saslow: Ahh, a steroid-conscious reader. Thanks for chiming in with your negativity and skepticism...

Just kidding. Truth is, these days, I guess a sports writer has to at least think or ask about steroids on every story that he's doing, even if it's about a high school team in Mexico. I did mentioned steriods, and the Mexican players and coaches -- SURPRISE! -- said none of that stuff goes on down in Monterrey. Personally, I bought into that after watching a few of the Borregos' insane weight-lifting sessions. But I tend to be an optimist in these areas, maybe too much so. Still, I don't think steroids came into play on this story. If there's a chance Prepa Tec players were juicing, then there's the same a chance high school players stateside are juicing, too.

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Seaside, Calif.: Football scholarships? Recruiting from out of the area?

Why in the world should any public school football team play this semi-professional team?This report shows once more how the wealthy exploit and destroy.

Eli Saslow: Hmmm...another different take on the story. But here's my question: Which team is the wealthy one that is taking and destroying? Is it Prepa Tec, that can recruit and give scholarships? Or is it McAllen, that plays in a million-dollar stadium and spends $8,000 on film analysis machines?

Is it Prepa Tec, that has built the strongest program in all of Mexico and it coached by men with experience guiding college players? Or is it McAllen, which makes thousands of dollars off filling its schedule with an extra home game against a team from Mexico.

How about this: Neither of these teams, these people, or these places fit into neat little boxes that we can name and stereotype. They're both underdogs. They're both oversized favorites. They're both unique and difficult to lable.

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Silver Spring, Md.: You definitely should have shown the ethnic brakdown of the Texas school vs. the Mexican school. That was important to the story. As I was reading it, I definitely got the impression that it was meant to show the misconceptions about the Mexican team and I'm okay with that. However, by not revealing the breakdown of the Texas team, you implied that they were snobbish middle and upper-middle class kids, which is far from the truth.

Eli Saslow: Fair enough. Thanks for your imput. But I don't think that we typecasted the Texas kids and snobbish, upper and middle class kids. In fact, you did that, by coming to the story with those misconceptions.

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Austin, Tex.: Any feedback from Monterrey?

Eli Saslow: Not yet, but I've been a bit out of touch here in Illinois. I get back to DC tonight, and I'll looking forward to chatting with the folks involved in the story later this week.

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Eli Saslow: As always, thanks for all of the great questions and comments. I'm amazed by how many different things people drew from this story -- issues with race, globalization, politics, etc. It's fascinating, and the diverse feedback makes these stories fun to write. Thanks so much for reading, for ruminating, and for sharing your thoughts. E-mail me at saslowe@washpost.com with any more thoughts.

Until next time -- which should be about three weeks down the road -- be well and take care.

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