El Classico

One of the first things I learned when arriving at the CSM school to teach was you have to pick whether you will pull for Real Madrid or Barcelona.  Yes, I am in Iraq and yes those are two football teams from Espana.  However, every student, and most nationals, will ask "Mister, Real or Barcelona... Real or Barcelona!!"  For the first couple of days, I had no idea what they were talking about.  Now that I do, I still don't have a favorite.  If the Steelers or the Tarheels don't make the list, I check out.  That's the extent of my sports enthusiasm... and to this day I don't even have a jersey or a Terrible Towel.  I like to watch sports, but "fanatic", I am not.

So when I was asked the other day about going to a local café to view the match between Real Madrid and Barcelona, known by most locals as "El Classico", my response was close to "meh".  However, a new American teacher had just arrived from Barcelona and his wife is from there.  When I say he just arrived, I mean he arrived in Iraq just 2 days before and knows very little about the city, the culture, or the language.  But I agreed to take him to the place where just last year there were several eruptions after Barcelona and Real Madrid lost games.  One such eruption had a lot of shouting, horns honking, and apparent happy gun fire (into the air presumably).   Now just in case you missed something, one of those teams was about to lose again.

Now since this is an Islamic area of town, this was not a bar, but a café.  No alcohol was present, but there was a lot of hookah going on… I just have to assume you know what that is.  It was very smoky and most seats were occupied.  A quick glance, lead me to believe I didn’t know anyone there, so we found one of the two empty couches and turned one around to face the closer TV.  The attendant came over and we ordered two orange Fantas.  I know, right?  No hookah, please.

We arrived late in the first half and no goals had been scored by either team.  Another glance around the room, and we were both pretty sure the crowd was mixed with supporters of either team sitting together – one had the colors from Real and the guy next to him was draped in a Barcelona flag.  So we felt at ease with the seats we had chosen.  Of course very soon, upon arriving we were asked the big question… “Mister, Real or Barcelona.”  Since my new friend had just arrived from there, we, of course, said, “Barcelona”.  My friend was quite the celebrity when word got around of his recent travels.  So again, more ease surrounded our presence.  We were asked who we thought would win and what the final score would be.  No betting, of course, but we offered our opinions.

The amount of supporters for either team became evident when Ronaldo for Real scored the first goal during the second half and maybe a minute later Barcelona scored.  The abundance and volume of the cheers heavily favored Barcelona.  Did I mention, we were feeling at ease?  Adding to this was the fact that several guys approached our couch after recognizing me in the crowd.  Not sure how they would have noticed me among so many, but the greetings were unexpected and very pleasant.  One was the brother of a local merchant whose market we frequent often.  The other had seen me working with my construction friends.  Another guy seated in front of us had very good English and after about an hour asked if I lived nearby.  I said, “Yes”.  He knew I had looked familiar to him.  You would think that would make me feel uneasy, but that is why we walk everywhere and visit all the markets we can.  We actually do want to be known among the nationals.

My American friend had a great time.  He is bigger sports enthusiast and even though an American, loves football… er, soccer.  The time was very enjoyable, I must admit.  The banter between fans was great and some singing commenced a few times.  I don’t know enough of the language, but it seemed positive.  Barcelona scored twice more to Real only scoring once more.  When time expired the place emptied without incident.  The Real fans were a bit downcast, but were still good sports.

Oh yeah… I failed to mention that the game began around 11:30p and we were walking home around 1:30a.  They play again next week sometime… I am sure we will try to repeat.