CAMPEONES!

So, I said with a sigh of relief for the Spanish people, that after 44 years of football travesties, the Spanish National Soccer team is on top of Europe. The Eurocup 2008 Finale was absolutely incredible. So some fun stories of the night....

Plaza de Colon - Just picture a riot the size of the million man march, drunk and abusive, but lovable and fanatic. Absolutely incredible. Pictures really cannot describe the ecstasy of the crowd, but being there in the plaza with firecrackers going off, Spanish flags flapping everywhere, and broken beer bottles tossed around like confetti made me wish the United States rallied like this for a sport. Soccer is the only thing that unites the world, and personally, I think from a combination of both fear (the US didn't create soccer) and skepticism (all those players who overreact to a push simply to make sure the foul is called), Americans have yet to accept the sport. But, it is certainly growing. ESPN.com's front page headline was on the Spanish triumph, and that made me happy. Within just a few years, the US went from nothing to covering all Euro cup games, all World Cup games, and even hosting a few DC United, LA Galaxy partidos. Good for them. Even though I was so happy for Spain and we cheered and danced in the native tongue, part of me wanted to start screaming U-S-A, U-S-A, and other parts of me wondered what the celebration would be like if the Mets finally won a world series in my lifetime....For those of you who say it's just a game, you couldn't be more wrong. I just watched a single game lift up a country's hopes in the middle of economic woes, coming off a strike of massive ramifications, uniting conservatives, liberals, monarchists, and everybody. I watched a 90 year old woman scream "F--- Germany" in Spanish multiple times, while watching a 50 year old man break down like a child when the match ended. The only other things I've seen caused people to do that simultaneously was war and religion. It's more than just a game.

By the way, I made my way into a funny lil' fiasco with Brent and Danny too! While pushing our way through the Colón crowds (about 20 feet in 10 minutes), a man started screaming at me to back off his wife, even though I was just pushing my way through (and no, I wasn't coppin' a feel). We went back and forth in the only curses I know in Spanish, until he started to boil, and that's when I reverted back to my easier language skills in English. After saying "I don't know what the hell you want me to do", he grabbed my right wrist hard. I kinda panicked, took my left hand and reached across (btw the whole time terrified of my wallet being stolen), and twisted the hand he grabbed me with. The next part is factually true and not a show of my brute manliness. His hand...well, for all intents and purposes, cracked. I'm not sure what happened, cuz I bolted the hell out of there like a bull. As my buddy TJ told me "Dude, that was pretty badass up until the running part". Hey, I try...what can I say.

We ended up in Sol at a bar, screaming the night away. I'm not sure how any of us showed up the next morning, but we did. One of the weird things I noticed this morning was that nobody wore their Spain shirts or any kind of memorabilia of sorts. I think this contrasts well with the US, when, if a team wins a respective championship, the fans won't pull off their clothes for weeks. According to my grammar professor, she said that Spanish pride is not a national theme, but more of a national futbol theme. That is, the Spanish flag and colors are more indicative of a conservative time and are associated with Franconian dictatorship. So during the game and directly afterwards, everybody's all yay spain, but days later, it's more so of "we have a better soccer team than you" rather than "we are a better nation", which somewhat makes sense, somewhat doesn't.

I feel really lucky to have been here. Considering that I was in Spain for their first win in an every 4-year Euro Championship in 44 years, I picked a pretty damn good time to study and revel in Spain. I had such a great time, and made some great friends. One of the things I kinda miss is that being here for so short of a time, people tend to get to see the real side of me rather than when I'm in college and at times (unfortunately so) check my personality to either fit in or be accepted. Here, everybody just sings and dances and just goes with it and has fun. I guess my closer friends know who I am, but everyone hear now knows I sing to pretty much anything, sometimes well, sometimes obnoxiously. I joke way too much, and I think more people enjoy that than me bitching about politics or foreign policy. Hopefully it'll carry over. To continue my deep, pensive moment, I'll conclude with an email I received from my good friend and terrible Philadelphia fan, Dan Burd, who wrote to me last night:

I have to admit that I'm a bit jealous that I spent six months in two countries and neither of them ever won anything, and then you spend a month and a half in one country and they win the freaking continental championship. I don't even like soccer, but damn...

I am really lucky. This has been craaaaaaaaaaaaaaaazzzzzzzy! Venga, Ta Luego!