"Football"

I had never seen my demure, British friend, Sophie act so loud and so vulgar before yesterday; but then again, I had never seen her root for her football team, Chelsea, as they fought Manchester United in the European Football Final, an event which parallels the spectacular displays of fanaticism of the Superbowl: It's kind of a BIG DEAL. The Londoner in Addison, TX was packed mostly with red jerseys for Man U even though there was a small, but boisterous, contingent of blue jerseys making merry at the other end of the bar. (It seems that even in a bar setting, the reds will always outnumber the blues in TX). It was my first futbol match and I was trying to figure out why the sport that is far more universal than American football.  Futbol spans the globe.  People in North Texas take off work to sit in a dark bar in the middle of the day to watch a match that's being played in Moscow thousands of miles away.  

It seems like everybody has a team, a favorite player, and knows the rules.  For example, in futbol, the ref just flashes a penalty card--yellow or red--and magistrates, officials, or registrars (I don't know what they're called) keeps tally and the offender is punished accordingly.  They are warned or if they commit a big no-no, they are ejected from the game immediately.  Chelsea's striker, Didier Drogba, was ejected before the penalty shootout after he slapped United's Vidic.  

In football, there's a litany of fouls--holding, blocking in the back, horse collaring, etc.--that fans have to watch out for.  Plus they have to match the foul to the ref's hand motions, a difficult task since sometimes the ref looks like he's trying to land a plane.  (Thank God for mics and friendly sports announcers).  Sometimes, the foul happens so quickly that the offense isn't noted until refs review the tapes, which could be days after the fact, and  subsequently delaying punishment.  

What I did understand was the camaraderie between fans of the same ilk  and the blind hatred between fans of opposing teams.  It doesn't matter what sport is being played on the field: There will always be some guy in face paint calling someone a wanker or a douche bag.