says baseball’s sellout is only about money.rnDeeper forces are at work in the glassrntowers that house the offices of professionalrnsports. There is a conscious desirernat the highest levels of these organizationsrnto take their sports global; to thinkrnnot just of the fans in section AA of thernupper deck but also those living in yurtsrnin the Gobi Desert. One can be a ChicagornBears’ fan in Aruba just as well as inrnAurora, right?rnThen again, maybe it is about money:rnabout increasing your fan base, marketrnshare, television rights, and licensingrnagreements. The foreign fan can buyrnsports merchandise and follow his favoriternteam with a satellite dish on the toprnof his tin-roof shack. Kosovo Albaniansrnwore Michael Jordan jerseys in theirrnrefugee camps. Yugoslav youths oftenrnwear baseball caps bearing their favoriternNBA logos.rnRemember how impressed you werernwhen the Super Bowl announcers wouldrnsay how many people around the worldrnwere watching the game along with you?rnRemember how cute it was to listen tornthe Japanese announcers call the play-byplayrnin the Rose Bowi for a few seconds?rnThat was back when America, thernleader of the free world, allowed its subjectsrna peek at what Americans do withrntheir spare time on January afternoons.rnAnd to imitate us, other countries importedrnthese sports. Americans fightingrnoverseas in the two world wars, Korea,rnand Vietnam, as well as those maintainingrnthe empire’s garrisons in peacetime,rnhelped export America’s sports culture.rnOne could not be a good communist andrnplay baseball (except in Cuba). If LyndonrnJohnson had not sent troops to thernDominican Republic in 1965, would wernhave Sammy Sosa today?rnOne by one, American sports like basketball,rnfootball, and baseball followedrnthe conquistadors all over the world, thernway draft horses followed the Spaniards,rnor the way cricket, rugby, polo, badminton,rnlawn tennis, and soccer followedrnthe British Empire.rnNow, the consequences are washingrnup on our shores, as Japanese cars did afterrnwe rebuilt Japan’s industrial capacit)’.rnA quarter of Major League Baseball playersrnare from overseas, mostly from thernCaribbean Basin, but increasingly fromrnAsia. Europeans and Africans are pouringrninto the National Basketball Association.rnWatch an NBA draft, and see howrnmany names }’ou cannot pronounce.rnPro scouts are convinced that there is arndearth of skilled American players. Theyrnneed foreign players to keep their teamsrncompetitive, just as treacherous Americanrnmultinationals search for computerrnengineers from hidia while 45-year-oldrnAmerican technophiles look for work.rnThe major leagues have expanded intorneverv nook and cranny of the countr’ untilrnthere isn’t enough great local talent tornfill all of the available slots. NBA teamsrndraft kids fresh out of high school or afterrnone season of college ball and thenrnwhine about how poor the qualit}’ of playrnis. Qualified coaches are in short supph’rnfor youth leagues. Budget cuts and “gender-rnequit)'” schemes have ravaged schoolrnsports programs at all levels of education.rnStill, in order to keep interest high inrnfarawav places and to make sure thosernkids keep dreaming, NBA and MLB officialsrntalk openlv about establishing franchisesrnoff the North American continent.rnThe Cubs could open their season inrnJapan —not against the New York Mets,rnbut against a Tokyo team. Now that’s arnroad trip eerone’s looking forward to.rnThose who run professional basketball,rnbaseball, and hockey see themselvesrnas citizens of the world. The idea thatrnbasketball and baseball are Americanrnsports, and that American fans should berncatered to, is as c[uaint as a peach basket.rnThere’s too much mone’ to be made inrntrying to make little Croatians into littlernMichael Jordans. Would Serbs and Croatsrngrow up to hate each other if as children,rnthey were fans of both Toni Kukocrnand Vlade Divac? F’orget religion, family,rnrace, background, and place. An orangernball and an iron hoop are the tiesrnthat bind.rnFootball, bv contrast, doesn’t market itselfrnto the world so shamelessly. Yes,rntiiere is a “World League” of mostly Europeanrnteams. But pitting one team ofrnAmerican castoffs and refugees againstrnanother is not going to threaten soccer.rnSoccer, on the other hand, couldrnthreaten football in the United States.rnPoliticians fight over the votes of the millionsrnof moms who take their kids torngames and practices in their minivans.rnNo one seems to fight for the footballrnmoms’ vote. Especiallv in the nation’s innerrncities, football is an endangered sport.rnWliile soccer has ne-er penetrated thernnation’s sport psvche, that may change,rnwith millions of immigrants pouring inrnfrom soccer-playing countries. And asrnthese immigrants fan out from the cities,rnports, and borderlands, they threatenrnfootball’s dominance in the cradle of thernsport: America’s Rust Belt and DeeprnSouth.rnThat leaves hockey, Canada’s nationalrnpastime. It, too, has been flooded withrnforeigners, although many have arguedrnthat the game is much better since the influxrnof Russians, Swedes, and Czechs.rnBut to many Canadians (especiallvrncommentator Don Cherry), this rankles.rnTheir sport is slowly being taken awayrnfrom them. Two Canadian NationalrnHockey League teams have moved to thernUnited States, and more may be on theirrnv’av. The NHL’s honchos, many of themrnformer NBA executives, have pushed therngame to the American Sunbelt so thatrnplaces like Nashville, Phoenix, Dallas,rnand Raleigh can service all those transplantedrnand cowardly Northern carpetbaggersrnnostalgic for ice, if only inside arnbuilding. Wales, Campbell, Adams,rnNorris, and Smythe divisions and conferencesrnhave given way to East, West,rnNorthwest, and South. The All-StarrnCame consists of North American pla-rners against the World.rnExporting sports seems to be mostly anrnAmerican phenomenon. I don’t see thernAfghan national pastime —throwing arndead goat around while on horseback—rntaking off in the United States. There arernno rings set up for Tinkey’s nationalrnsport, camel wrestiing. Nor have U.S.rnracing tracks been adapted for Saudi Arabia’srnnational pastime, camel racing.rnAnd 1 still can’t find cricket wickets in thernparks where I live. In the Upper Midwest,rnEuropean sports brought by immigrants,rnsuch as curling, cross-countn.’ skiing,rnand speed skating, have onlv smallrnfollowings.rnWhen FVance won the World Cup ofrnsoccer in 1998, National Front leaderrnJean-Marie Le Pen pointed out thatrnmany of the players were immigrantsrnfrom Francophone ex-colonies, since thernFrench themselves were not exaeth’ smittenrnwith soccer. Could we see the dayrnwhen a U.S. professional baseball team isrnloaded with players from somewherernelse? Or the World Series is won by arnteam made up primarily of foreigners?rnOr the NBA World Championship isrnwon by a team from Beijing? If so, and ifrnyou complain, the powers-that-be willrnsimply say, “Hey, that’s why there’srn’World’ on that trophy, xenophobe!” beforernrecommending you for psychiatricrntreatment, a la John Rocker.rnSean Scallon is a reporter for a newspaperrnin East Ellsworth, Wisconsin.rn38/CHRONICLESrnrnrn