I’ve
been seeing ads for the World Cup as long as I’ve been in Argentina, and so I
was sort of warmed up for the Mundial-mania that has swept the nation off its
feet…(or perhaps off its hands, because, well, soccer is played with feet…). At
any rate, here’s a taste of what life is like here during “football month”.
1. Blue
and white striped things. Because the flag’s stripes are horizontal, but the
jerseys’ are vertical? Makes sense. And everyone is wearing them- from the
miniature dog breeds that are popular among apartment-dwelling porteños, to
their not-so-miniature owners.
2. Super-bowl
quality advertisements and hype for a month. Check this out.
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| Little Lio (#10) smiling EVERYWHERE. |
3. Messi’s
smiling face shining down on you, wherever you are. Lionel Messi is the
Argentine team’s famous forward, and living evidence that athletic talent is
not equally distributed among human beings. Having ‘La Pulga’s (“the flea”- at
5’5” he’s small even on a
billboard) on everything is odd, but at least he has a nice smile. Even though
Messi lives and plays in Spain most of the time, he still pronounces the ‘sh’
in ‘yo’ like a native, so we’ll claim him.
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| Dufur, or Buenos Aires during game time? |
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| Definitely not Dufur. |
4.
Ghost town effect. You’d think Buenos Aires was Dufur based on the
number of people you see out during game time. Everybody’s inside and at home.
Everybody.
5.
National euphoria-anxiety-depression-mania, depending on how the Selección
does. But always, always ORGUSHO. (Orgullo=pride, with an accent). It’s a bit
contagious, even for someone like me who’s never followed international
sporting events or soccer before. But, after the Argentine national anthem
played, my hands were clenched and I was on the edge of my seat like everyone
else.
Plus,
since the US plays tomorrow (versus Ghana), I get the excuse to be ridiculously
‘Merican. In the meantime, I’ll wipe this paint off my
face…
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