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 News from Around the Americas | August 2005 
Cantú Plays 'Other' Football
 Patrick Finley - Arizona Daily Star
| | Rolando Cantú's hometown of Monterey is an eight-hour drive from Mexico City, where the Cardinals will be hosting the San Francisco 49ers on October 2, 2005 in the league’s first-ever international regular season game. |
Prescott, AZ - Rolando Cantú might be the only person wearing an NFL jersey to call the game he plays "American football."
That is what the game is, after all. To many outside of the United States, football, or "futbol," is soccer. That is how Cantú knew the sport, growing up in Monterrey, Mexico.
But Cantú did not have the classic soccer body. Instead, he seemed as tall as a soccer goal and almost as wide. Now listed at 6 feet 5 inches and 361 pounds, it is almost comical to picture Cantu sprinting around the soccer field.
That is why the Cardinals guard gravitated toward American football. He was too heavy to play the game until junior high; the leagues would not let him in. His retired parents split time between Monterrey and McAllen, Texas, so Cantú played two years of high school ball there.
He attended college at Instituto Tecnologico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey or Monterrey Tech where he started for four years and won three national titles.
In collegiate American football.
"Most people don't even know that there's American football in Mexico," Cantú said. "Most of my teammates don't know. I don't get tired of explaining it to them."
Cantú is the first player to come up through the Mexican college ranks to land on an NFL team. He joined the Cardinals' practice squad last year as part of the inaugural NFL International Player Development practice squad after playing one season for NFL Europe.
As a practice squad player, he bought tickets to the Cardinals' home games and sat in the stands. A few times, he walked down to the sidelines.
Cantú does not want to have to do that this year. In what is officially a home game, the Cardinals will play the San Francisco 49ers on Oct. 2 at Estadio Azteca in Mexico City, eight hours from Cantú's hometown. It will be the NFL's first regular-season game held in Mexico.
"God willing, I'll be there," he said. "There's a little bit more pressure on me, not because of the game in Mexico. I want to be in this league, I really do. I want to be there Oct. 2nd."
The date has special meaning for Cantú. In Mexico, Oct. 2 is considered a day of remembrance. On that date in 1968, government troops fired on protesting students at the capital's Tlaltelolco square, killing dozens possibly hundreds of unarmed people just days before the Summer Olympics were to begin in Mexico City. Being the only Mexican player on the field would be a source of pride to the guard.
"There's a saying 'Never forget the second of October,'" Cantú said.
At age 15, Cantu attended the 1996 American Bowl in Monterrey, a game that pitted the Chiefs against the Cowboys. It inspired him to continue playing football.
Cantú said he expects more than 100,000 fans at Estadio Azteca. That is not myopia speaking, but experience. The NFL has held five preseason games in Mexico, one of which drew more than 112,000 fans, a league record.
"It will be a great experience for the league and for the city," he said of the Oct. 2 game. "It'll be kinda like a little Super Bowl for us."
At Monterrey Tech, Cantú played before fans that cheered, blew whistles and sang songs as if they were at a soccer game. He said more than 50,000 fans would pack the Borregos' stadium for rivalry games.
Cantú credits Monterrey Tech's success to the fact the team learns all its plays in English. That made it easier for him to make the move to NFL Europe.
In 2004, Cantú started the final nine games for the NFL Europe champion Berlin Thunder. This year, two Mexican wide receivers Gustavo Tella and Monterrey Tech alum Alejandro Gámez played for NFL Europe as international roster exemptions.
"The language barrier is always a factor for our Mexican nationals to go into NFL Europe, because they don't necessarily understand," he said.
But fans in Mexico understand both brands of football, Cantú said. And he wants to be there to see it.
"He has a chance," Cardinals coach Dennis Green said. "He's worked very hard to make our ballclub."
At the very least, Cantú said, he would buy a ticket. His family already has theirs.
"Hopefully I'll make the team," he said. "But I'd probably go down there anyway." |
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