When I was a kid, the team was terrible, awful. Recently it became this very cosmopolitan team. A few months ago, for the first time ever in English football, Chelsea put out a team that was made up entirely of foreigners. We're winning a lot now, and that's great, but there's a part of me that's wondering if this team can really represent my neighborhood. Chelsea is reflecting those changes, and I, having grown up with the all-white teams in England, rejoice when I see that.
English soccer is a good example.
It took an infusion of foreign energy to revitalize it. But people coming together doesn't guarantee we'll overcome entrenched ethnic divisions. And that's why I'd say Atlanta and Toronto are two poles for me. It's still rooted in the old black and white divisions. When you put those two facts together, that's a very exciting prospect.