Ok folks, there’s watching soccer and then there’s watching soccer in England.
Aissa got passes to go to the Emirates stadium so we could watch the Arsenal vs. Barcelona game. Unfortunately it was away, but the Emirates had this really cool set up where you could watch the game on a giant screen with a bunch of other fans and eat hot dogs and drink beer and buy jerseys and memorabilia. (Every sport fans dream right?) I got into observation mode again as we found our seats and just watched how intense everybody got while watching the game. In all honesty, I loved every minute of it haha. And while it’s one thing to have your brothers freaking out over a game in your living room at 6 in the morning, it’s another to have an entire room full of them chanting and screaming. The electricity of it all sucks you into the momentum and soon enough you find yourself chanting and screaming as well.
Sidenote: For all people who love mustard! If you eat anything with mustard in England, be prepared as that shit is completely different. I don’t know when the world decided to separate its mustards across continents but they did. This made me very sad…and almost gag because it’s waaaaaaaay to damn spicy.
Back to the game!!
Everybody was super passionate, yelling at the screen like they were actually watching the game at the stadium. People criticized the ref (and his moronic f!@#ing calls), and stood up cheering and hugging when Arsenal scored. IT WAS AWESOME. I think the thing I loved most is how everybody really comes together while watching a match. You have people from all over, completely different parts of life, strangers no less, and when you’re at the game it's like you’re with people you’ve known for years. This guy that Aissa and I have never met kept looking at us when he got frustrated with the game and would shake his head, so I made sure to shake my head back haha.
What an experience, so if you ever get a chance to visit here, and do yourselves a favor and watch some real football.
P.S. ARSENAL GOT ROBBED AND THAT REFEREE WAS A DOUCHEBAG….AND FOR THE LOVE OF GOD BARCELONA DO YOU KNOW HOW TO PLAY WITHOUT DIVING EVERY FIVE SECONDS!!!
P.P.S. Funny side story, Aissa and I got a taxi back to the flat (Driven by a lady no less, Aissa was like “I’ve never seen that before!”) and as we got to the door, these guys were sitting in a car right next to us. It looked like they were waiting for somebody.
Aissa, being the absolute best, got me an Arsenal scarf, that I wore for the rest of that night.
One of the guys in the car noticed and made a comment about the ref’s shit calls. Aissa and I started talking to him about it, when a voice came from nowhere, and we see the person this car is waiting for is a friend peeing on the wall next to them. The best part about this, pee guy starts having this whole conversation about the game while still peeing on his wall. HILARIOUSNESS!!! We told the guys to have a good night and headed inside. Pee guy was still peeing.
Till next time,
Toby
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