Football and Fútbol

One of the best things about being out of the country this time of year is that I avoid the 24/7 news cycle of Superbowl coverage on ESPN and other US sports channels. Living in the States much my TV time naturally gravitates to sports channels. And it’s this time of year when incessant Superbowl coverage from what one team’s starting QB ate for breakfast to what the other team’s defensive end thinks about the host city’s nightlife just gets too annoying to handle. Being away from it all I can just sit back, wait, and enjoy the game when it is on.

A recent game that I enjoyed live was a soccer match between two of Colombia’s biggest rivals – Millonarios from Bogotá vs. Nacional from Medellín. Bogotá is the capital of Colombia, of course, and Medellín is the country’s second-city. So as with New York-LA/Chicago, Madrid-Barcelona, and Paris-Lyon, any matchup between first and second city teams is always fierce. But on top of that, there is political bad blood boiling between Millonarios and Nacional. Nacional was the team of Pablo Escobar, both figuratively as his favorite team but also financially after he bought them with his drug cartel money. At the peak of Escobar’s powers, the Medellín cartel (and by extension the entire city) was at war with Bogotá. The Colombian government declared war on Escobar and subsequently Escobar declared war on Bogotá. He placed $10,000 bounties on police officers’ heads, assassinated politicians, and rampantly set off car bombs on any given corner of the city. Throw in the paramilitaries who had their own initiatives and jumped into the power vacuum struggle and the country was on the brink of civil war. It’s that bloody era of Colombian history that unfortunately still scars Colombia’s identity to this day as a dangerous country stricken by domestic upheaval. The country has since cleaned up its act significantly after the current and outgoing President Álvaro Uribe beefed up domestic security and cracked down hard on the drug war and paramilitaries. It’s because of the increased security that Colombia has gone through what a US diplomat I recently met at the embassy here described as, an “economic miracle.” GDP more than doubled from 2000-2007 from $83 billion to $171 billion.

Politics and economics tangent aside, the game was awesome. It was the oepning game of the Colombian season and the most intense rivalry of the country. So the stadium was packed to the brim and Millonarios won 2-1. The quality of play was what it was. No use comparing it to European soccer. But the thrill of the crowd was intense. Non-stop singing and chanting in unison and the Nacional fans had a decent showing which enhanced the smack-talking exchange going on. Of course, after the match ended there was the usual 30 minutes of chest pumping and fight instigating between the two sides of fans who were separated by 20 rows of empty seats and hoards of policemen. The visiting fans, Nacional, were ushered out of the stadium first and only about an hour later were the home team Millonarios fans allowed to leave. Good times!!