Meghan's Dad Blogs Again

The San Lorenzo v Boca Juniors match was just as Meghan described it--chaos in the streets, passion in the stadium, and a happy crowd as the hated glory boys in blue and yellow fell to the home town blue and red. We gringo tourists were San Lorenzo fans for the day and the locals were pleased to have us there and shook our hands and wished us well after the match. Good thing Meghan sent her Boca shirt home with Karen and me a few weeks ago because--dumb us--we did not realize the game was at San Lorenzo until our bus zigged when we expected it to zag and we head out into the low rent suburbs. That shirt would have been a real problem. Meghan did a great job on the San Lorenzo songs and the translation seems good to me, but she did miss the most important chant of the afternoon. My Spanish is still shaky but even I know that "Boca Puta" is the crudest, most vulgar insult possible. Chanted by 30 or 40 thousand fanatics, it is something to ponder. No wonder they keep the home fans locked up for 30 minutes until the visitors get out of town. Meghan mentioned that we thought long and hard about paying the premium price for the tourist futbol experience. I am glad we did because getting to San Lorenzo to buy tickets at the stadium and then getting there on game day and into the right stand would have been a full on adventure. And if we made the mistake of getting the wrong tickets it could be ugly. Two of my classmates went to matches at "La Bombonera" and each reported that the zealots in the upper decks pissed on the opposing fans below. No wonder they lock in the locals after the match. The game we saw was an important one between top local teams--San Lorenzo is currently just ahead of Boca in the clausura (2nd part of the season), but the real fun is this weekend when River and Boca meet and then next week when River and San Lorenzo meet in the Libertadores (championship tourney of Latin American futbol). I am not much of a sports fan but I am very happy we went to this game. The energy and enthusiasm of the crowd made me realize this is not a sporting event or entertainment--this is the most important thing in the lives of thousands of people. Even if you don't like sports, when you are in Buenos Aires, go to a futbol match.