Barca Futbol

I read a good story recently about just how passionate people are in Tuscaloosa about the Alabama Crimson Tide. I suspect it has a lot to do with what you grew up watching, as well as what else there is to root for. In Alabama, there are no professional sports, so everyone ends up watching college football. Well, here in Barcelona, it is the same for FCB Barcelona. New Yorkers just cant match the rabidness, after the Yankees, they have the Giants, then the Knicks, and Rangers. Here, soccer is a year round sport, where people count down the days between the last game of one season and the first of the next. Matches against Real Madrid are Yankees-Red Sox x 10. And maybe most telling of all, the majority of women even follow the team. Before I get a bunch of sexist comments, I know there are many diehard women sports fans, but even they would admit that it is rare for a majority to follow the sport.

For those that dont follow soccer, Barca is generally considered the best team in the world right now, if not the best team ever. The best player in the world, Leo Messi is incredible, evident even to non-soccer fans. See this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vokEFFCtpBY&feature=related and see the 35 second mark of http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=noBIs80Ra-A.

There are many leagues here in Spain, the Copa Del Rey, La Liga, and Champions League. The first 2 are Spanish only leagues, while Champions includes all of Europe. Recently, Barca clinched the La Liga title. Unlike US leagues, there is no playoff, if you finish the season with the most points, you win. Even though this is the third year in a row that they won, and even though the final of the Champions League is not until the end of May, it is a big enough deal that they held a huge parade and event at the stadium.

After work on the day of the fiesta, I headed down to the stadium. Even though the parade had not started, the streets were packed with people. And fortunately, they have come up with new instruments that make the same sound as the ever-prevalent vuvuzuelas of the World Cup, but even easier to play! I stopped at a small bodega to grab a beer to take in, because they do not sell alcohol inside the stadium (I have a theory that there is enough rioting without throwing drunk idiots into the mix, probably a good idea). Making my way up towards the top of the stadium, I realize that it is still an hour before the players will end up here, but Camp Nou is packed. It is an amazing thing to sit in the stadium and listen to almost 100,000 people cheer and chant and sing for an hour, before anyone even showed up! I have no idea what they were singing, it was all in Catalan, but I did learn a bit of the Barca themesong.

For hours we chanted, and sang and cheered, and did the wave. Then, the players showed up, and the cheering really began. They came up 1 by 1, and even I can tell athlete fluff in different languages. "We're not a team, we are a family" "Thank you to all of you fans, you are amazing", and the ever popular "Visca Barca, Visca Catalunya" or "Long Live Barca, Long Live Catalunya".

Overall, it was quite a spectacle, and a lot of fun to go see. Everyone should root for Barca to beat Manchester United on Saturday, May 28th. I have heard that the celebration will be monumental if Barca wins that title too. I am excited to find out!