Woke up early in the morning and drove to Rose Bowl in Pasadena to see the Iran-USA match. I was one of the first to arrive. After 20 years, I was about to see our national team in the stadium. Soon the place was packed with Iranians chanting Iran.. Iran. People dancing on top of their cars, beautiful Iranian girls wearing Iran's uniform, guys with painted green/white/red (Iranian flag) on their faces. It was exciting and wonderful. Then came groups of people with their political views wanting to protest against the Iranian government during the game. I am not part of any political group or opposed to any. What I know is that the Iranian national team came to the US under the current government.

That is a fact, whether we like it or not. They play under the Islamic Republic of Iran flag, not the lion, sun and the sword flag of pre revolution. Many were carrying Iran's old flag rather than the current one. They sat down when Iran's national anthem was played. They sang ''Ay Iran Sorud'' instead. I love ''Ay Iran'' as much as anybody, but that is not Iran's national anthem, whether we like it or not.

When crap hits the fan, some stay and some run for cover. When things began to look bad in Iran, we the Iranian community outside of Iran ran, but 60 million stayed and went through war, sanctions, and many hardships. Who are we to protest against Iran's government during a soccer match? It is safe and easy to protest in a free country like the US while most of us are no longer even Iranian citizens.

The least we can do for Iran and Iranians who were left behind, is to go to a match and show respect to our players not just by cheering for them, but also by carrying their Iranian flag and stand up while their national anthem is being played.

Javad. K

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