I've done so many cool things the past couple of weeks, I don't even know where to begin. For the purpose of keeping my readers entertained (as if they're ever NOT entertained!) I'll keep this post short and sweet. I can't make any promises for the one after that though :-)
A couple of weeks ago I had the chance to visit the Olympic Stadiums here in Barcelona. Although they were empty and no one was playing, it was still really cool to see the whole venue. I happened to visit during the time when Barcelona had rainy weekends like 5 weeks in a row, so picture the background isn't overcast and the pictures will look even cooler!
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| Track and field stadium |
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| Basketball arena (U.S. owned it!!) |
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| Rest of the venue - those yellow poles light up at night! |
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| Just hanging out :) |
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| Inside the track & field stadium |
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| Shortest centerfield I've ever seen!!! Haha - it's in meters ;-) |
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| Baseball stadium... add this one to my list! |
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| I'm glad my brohter-in-law isn't the only one in the world who plays cricket. I was worried for a while.... |
This is going to be a very deportes related post, if you didn't get the hint already. A couple of weeks ago I had the chance to go to both a Barça soccer and basketball game. Both were really cool experiences. I went to the infamous "Camp Nou" (that's what the soccer stadium is called) and I got to see the best player in the world - Leo Messi. He scored twice that night and Barça won 3-1. Truthfully the other team (Zaragoza) wasn't very good, but then again when you're operating a stacked powerhouse the competition won't likely be able to compete. Barça's forwards are Leo Messi and David Villa. For those of you who don't know David Villa, he's the guy that scored almost every one of Spain's goals in the last World Cup. Spain won the entire tournament easily. Villa coupled with Messi is just a lethal combination because they're both scoring STUDS.
The game was cool, but no where near as exciting as the game I went to in Argentina. During this game, the entire first half they clapped every time the team regained possession of the ball! The crowd is certainly much calmer here. However, I did enjoy the fact that the crowd brought their own whistles to blow when the referee missed a call. Quite witty if you ask me! It's funny though because it took me a while to realize it. For the longest time I thought some annoying fans were just making these high-pitched screams, and I kept thinking "Who is that? Knock it off!" There were occasional chants, but nada que ver con Argentina. On the whole, it was super fun even if I was sitting in the nosebleeds. Oh and one more interesting fact - in each section even numbered seats are on one side and odd numbered ones are on the other side. It was super strange sitting in seat 7 next to the person sitting in seat 5. Just another completely logical nuance you'll find here in Spain.
The basketball game I went to was CRAZY. I was not expecting it to be so... I guess intense is the best word to describe it. Remember that guy that kept hitting all those 3-pointers against the US in the Olympic final this past summer? His name is Juan Carlos Navarro, and he plays for FC Barça Regal. Sure he's good, but he is treated like ROYALTY in that basketball arena. My goodness, I have never seen anything like it! I think he broke some sort of record so they honored him before the game, but the response he was getting from the crowd was just incredible. It was like he was the best player to ever come through that organization, which could also possibly be true. I think he was in the NBA at one point, but I'm not sure why he's not there now. I mean, I did watch him hit 10 3-pointers in a row during warmups. Haha I counted!
So about this intenseness during the game - everything when I walked in was decked out with Catalunya colors and signs. If you walked in blindfolded to this arena without knowing what country you were in, you would definitely be able to figure it out once taking a look around. There were 2 large cheering sections in the upper level, both with huge drums coordinating all of the chants. Yes, and oh the chants. The crowd was LITERALLY chanting the entire game. Picture this, the chants get even louder during the foul shots, for the away team AND the home team. It was so loud at times that I couldn't even hear the announcements.
Oh did I mention everything at both of these games was in Catalan? Needless to say I understood next to nothing. It's funny because at the basketball game I thought the people sitting behind me were fans of the other team (from somewhere in Eastern Europe) after listening to them talk until their friends walked up to them and said hola. Haha huge fail.
And keeping with the sports theme, I actually ended up taking another impromptu trip to the soccer game this past Wednesday against Alavés (from País Vasco). My friend Mario invited me to join with some friends so off we went! We had a ton of fun besides the fact that we FROZE are butts off. Wednesday was conveniently one of the first actually cold days here in Barcelona. It's been in the 50's and 60's for all of November! Before the game we were at a nearby bar when the entire Alavés cheering section came strolling into the bar. It didn't take long for them to start all of their chanting. There must have been 40 or 50 of them altogether, as they took up an entire section in the stadium at the game. Once the chants started, our table basically had to give up having any sort of conversation because they were so loud. This lasted for almost an hour! It was really neat!! They got even louder when the Alavés team bus drove by to head to the stadium. It was super cool to see how passionate people are about their soccer team. I wish I had had my camera to take videos of everything because it was really awesome. The crowd was super friendly too! I also couldn't help but laugh at some of their cheers such as the "Hijos de puta, los socios de Real Madrid" one. Poor Real Madrid always gets picked on... Haha sorry I'm not sorry!
I think it's wild how sporting events here in Barcelona are much more than sporting events. It's almost like the teams ARE Barcelona, especially the soccer team. They embody Barcelona as a whole, and it's taken VERY seriously, especially the games they play against Real Madrid. The more I'm here, the stronger the Catalan movement seems to get!
Un abrazo fuerte y nos vemos en unas horas! No lo puedo creer!
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