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For a lifelong Dodgers fan and third-generation Mexican American, the crowning moment of the World Series did not happen during the nail-biting finale last Saturday, when her team executed one dramatic comeback feat after another before prevailing in extra innings over the opposing team.

It came in the previous game, when two second-tier players, Kike Hernández and the Venezuelan infielder, executed a thrilling, decisive play that simultaneously challenged many harmful misconceptions promoted about Hispanic people in recent decades.

The moment in itself was stunning: Hernández charged in from left field to snag a ball he at first lost in the bright lights, then fired it to second base to record another, game-winning out. the second baseman, positioned nearby, received the ball moments before a opposing player collided with him, sending him backwards.

This wasn't just a great sporting moment, possibly the decisive turn in momentum in the Dodgers' direction after looking for most of the games like the underdog team. To her, it was thrilling, politically and culturally, a much-required uplift for Latinos and for the city after a period of enforcement actions, security forces patrolling the streets, and a steady stream of criticism from official sources.

"The players put forth this counter-narrative," explained the professor. "Everyone witnessed Latinos displaying an infectious pride and joy in what they do, being leaders on the team, having a distinct kind of masculinity. They are energetic, they're cheering, they're taking off their shirts."

"This represented such a juxtaposition with what we see on the news – enforcement actions, Latinos detained and chased down. It's so easy to be disheartened right now."

Not that it's exactly straightforward to be a team fan nowadays – for her or for the many of other Latinos who show up regularly to matches and fill up as many as half of the stadium's 50,000 spots each time.

The Mixed Connection with the Organization

After aggressive immigration raids started in the city in June, and military troops were deployed into the city to respond to resulting demonstrations, two of the local sports clubs promptly released statements of support with immigrant families – but not the Dodgers.

Management has said the organization prefer to stay away of politics – a view influenced, possibly, by the fact that a significant portion of the supporters, even some Hispanic fans, are supporters of certain political figures. After considerable external demands, the team subsequently committed $one million in support for individuals directly impacted by the raids but made no public criticism of the administration.

White House Visit and Past Heritage

Months before, the organization did not hesitate in accepting an invitation to mark their previous World Series victory at the White House – a move that sports columnists labeled as "pathetic … spineless … and contradictory", given the team's boast in having been the pioneering professional team to break the color barrier in the 1940s and the regular invocations of that history and the principles it represents by officials and present and past players. Several players such as the coach had voiced reluctance to travel to the White House during the initial period but either changed their minds or succumbed to demands from the organization.

Corporate Ownership and Supporter Dilemmas

A further complication for fans is that the team are controlled by a large investment group, Guggenheim Partners, whose investments, according to sources and its own published balance sheets, include a stake in a private prison company that runs enforcement centers. Guggenheim's leadership has stated repeatedly that it aims to stay out of political matters, but its critics say the silence – and the financial stake – are their own form of compliance to certain policies.

All of that add up to significant conflicted emotions among Hispanic fans in particular – feelings that emerged even in the excitement of this season's hard-won championship triumph and the following outpouring of Dodgers support across the city.

"Can one to root for the Dodgers?" area writer Erick Galindo agonized at the beginning of the postseason in an elegant article pondering on "team loyalty in our veins, but uncertainty in our hearts". Galindo couldn't ultimately bring himself to view the championship, but he still felt deeply, to the extent that he believed his one-man protest must have given the team the fortune it required to succeed.

Distinguishing the Players from the Owners

Many supporters who have Galindo's misgivings appear to have concluded that they can continue to support the players and its lineup of global players, including the Asian megastar a key player, while expressing disdain on the organization's corporate leadership. At no place was this more clear than at the championship parade at the home venue on the following day, when the capacity crowd roared in support of the coach and his athletes but booed the team president and the top official of the ownership group.

"The executives in suits do not get to take our boys in blue from us," the fan said. "We've been with the team for more time than they have."

Historical Context and Neighborhood Impact

The issue, though, runs deeper than only the team's present proprietors. The agreement that moved the former franchise to the city in the late 1950s involved the municipality demolishing three low-income Latino communities on a elevated area above downtown and then selling the property to the organization for a fraction of its actual worth. A track on a 2005 record that chronicles the events has an low-income parking attendant at the venue revealing that the house he forfeited to eviction is now third base.

A prominent commentator, possibly southern California most widely followed Latino columnist and broadcaster, sees a more troubling side to the long, dysfunctional relationship between the franchise and its audience. He calls the team the popular snack of baseball, "a business organization with an undue, even harmful devotion by numerous Latinos" that has been exploiting its fans for years.

"They have acted around Hispanic followers while profiting from them with the other for so long because they have been able to get away with it," Arellano wrote over the summer, when demands to boycott the organization over its lack of reaction to the enforcement actions were upended by the uncomfortable reality that turnout at matches did not dip, even at the height of the protests when the city center was under to a nightly restriction.

International Stars and Fan Connections

Separating the squad from its corporate owners is not a simple matter, {