I became a modern age soccer fan during the last World Cup in Korea/Japan, in '02. I would stay up until 2:30AM watching the midnight game, then wake up to watch the 4AM game! For two weeks I was in sports fanaticism heaven. A big match was coming up here in Spain between the two largest cities. The newer big money city and the older, more artsy, hipster city. And so it was that last Saturday night I went out to try and watch the giant Futbol match between Real Madrid (the big money team with Zidane, Beckham, Ronaldo, the list goes on -- they're like the Yankees or something!) and Barcelona (Barca, with a far less good looking team but awesome players nonetheless!). The whole city was out of the house for this one. Every bar with a tv was standing room only and people would stand in the cold on the streets to try and get a glimpse of the match. When a goal was scored the people would shout and go crazy, setting off fireworks and other exposives throughout the city. In unison, every car on the road would blare it's horn and it was a frenzy of Futbol Madness. There is a huge rivalry between these teams, moreso than Oakland/49ers, and it ran deep! Normal people became blood-thirsty, rabid fans, screaming insults and death threats at the tv. I couldn't believe my eyes, everyone, and I mean everyone, was into it. I barely knew what was going on, and was just trying to be inconspicuous so I wouldn't get mistaken for a Madrid fan! After the game, around 10 at night, I expected the city to settle down. Boy, was I wrong. I went walking with my roomates and people (middle aged couples, older people, roving gangs of soccer hooligans) were walking around for hours, into the two and three o'clock range. Everyone was wearing Barca colors and chanting in the street. I remember in '95 when the 49ers had just won the superbowl. The streets of SF were crowded and cars honked their horns, and sorry to say, it was Nothing like this. The first couple days after the game people were still talking about it. My mild-mannered roomate would casually complain about it (he's Argentinean but considers himself a Madrid fan) saying he would F*cking Kill so-and-so if he ever met him in person. I said, dude, it's just a game, what's the big deal?!? He said, yes, it's just a game, not that important. "But I would F*cking Kill him because This Is F*cking Futbol!" I backed away slowly and retreated into my room. Still, I love it when foreigners curse. I wonder if they think the same thing when I do?
