Beer Bottles, Cups of Urine and Dead Chickens – and Football, of course
While Brazil may have more Catholics than anywhere else in the world, the real religion here is football – not the NFL kind, but soccer. So of course, we had to take in a game at the world-famous Maracana Football Stadium. Matches here are among the most exciting in the world – not just because of the quality of the players, but because of the fans. Hours of endless chanting, smoke bombs, flares and samba drums are just some of the ways the 90,000 fans show their support.
We watched Fluminense, one of Rio’s top teams, slaughter the Arsenals, bitter rivals from Argentina, 6-0. We were pleased to be on the winning end of the slaughter – and pleased not to have ‘beer bottles, cups full of urine and dead chickens’ hurled at us. That last quote is a warning, directly from our Lonely Planet guide.
Seriously, these guys take being a soccer fan to a level unheard of in North America. We could only imagine Canadians getting this excited, if, for example, the Leafs came back from last place to win the Stanley Cup in triple overtime, with Gretzyky, Bobby Orr and Rocket Richard leading the charge, after the Leafs have somehow already won the World Series and the Superbowl. Oh yea, and the 1976 Canadian team….
Here are some fun videos of the game. If they don’t work, the video server may be down (it was when I loaded them but assume it will be back soon.)
Tags: Brazil, Travel
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