Football! & Goodbye

Ok we survived the Falls…

But not to be outdone in the final minutes of our tour de Argentina I needed to experience a true South American tradition. Football!! That is translated to soccer everywhere in the world except the USA. Like I said for the Falls, you experience rather than see…well I participated rather than experienced the football game. If you remember several blogs ago I mentioned the Boca Junior team that has its roots in the blue collar neighborhood of Boca. We I was able to get a ticket in the end zone of La Bombonera for a match with Racing, a team from across the river. This is like Green Bay vs. Pittsburg. And La Bombonera only holds about 50 thou. About double that want to get in. The police seem to outnumber the fans as we approach our gate. Streets are blocked off, fans are chanting the Boca theme song and the energy level is palpable. And the game is 2 hours away. My new found friends, Junko from Sweden, Michel from Montreal and Doug and wife Alexis from Washington DC manage to stake out our standing room real estate right behind the net. I guess I should let you know at this point that the end zone standing spots are reserved for the “crazies.” You perhaps have seen them at the Oakland Raider games. Team colors displayed in clothing and other painted body parts. And they are rather vociferous. Like the subway at rush hour, every minute the place gets more and more crowded. Our real estate is diminished to a one foot square and I let the crowd hold me up. I never knew concrete had so much flex to it as we are jumping up and down at kickoff. The last thing I hear is the guy behind me take in a big gulp of air. I thought my grandchildren had a loud scream. The crowd pulses up and down, forward and back, side to side. I give up trying to control my movements as thousands will have to fall if I fall. The noise gets even louder when Boca scores. People I don’t know are hugging me. The jet engine behind me has not lost his voice yet. Then just before half time Racing scores. You could hear tango music across the street. When the ref blew his whistle for half time we sat in one orchestrated movement. My rear never did touch the concrete though. It was an intimate experience. I couldn’t believe in this sea of humanity that somehow the guy selling cokes was making his way through the crowd. I couldn’t even get my hand into my pocket for change.

The Boca team cranked up the energy for the second half which worked good for us as we were sitting on top of their goal this half. An amazing shot by Riquelme put the home team up by one and that was all that was needed. Fortunately because I don’t think my body parts could have withstood the onslaught of any more goals. The end came with more movement and cheers. I started to make my way toward the exit however I didn’t know they keep the end zone people locked down until the entire rest of the civilized people in the stadium have emptied out. It is starting to rain and the mass of humanity does not cut the wind chill. We sing more songs, make disparaging remarks about Racing and hug.

Walking out of the stadium the sidewalk vendors are cooking up dinner…beef on the barbi. And the beer is flowing as no alcohol is allowed inside the stadium. Not wanting to see the after effects of beer on our end zone buddies, we foreigners expeditiously make our way out of the neighborhood.

I am not sure I will have time to give you insight into our final days here. We leave in a couple days and there is still so much to do. We will have to return to BA someday maybe with our grandchildren. We hope your holidays are going to be as wonderful as ours…my hearing is back enough to enjoy the screams of our grandchildren in Davis and looking forward to getting the whole family together for Christmas in Cool. And then…well you will just have to wait for the next edition due out in the spring of “09.

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