...rooting for the wrong team

Many of my readers probably know that in Latin America, soccer is THE sport. I'll admit, it doesn't do much for me. I keep myself busy following the Tigers, following many of their games online, and up until last night, watching the Red Wings through online streams of the game. But in Honduras, soccer trumps all, and to most people, not other sport exists.

Last week Sunday, I went to a soccer game. The Honduran soccer league has two teams that are based in Tegucigalpa, a la the Cubs and White Sox in Chicago or the Islanders and Rangers in the NHL. The two teams are Olimpia and Motagua. In Tegus, no rivalry matches Olimpia and Motagua. mention either of the names in a group, and you'll get half the group cheering, half the group booing. It's craziness, though as a fan seasoned in Hope/Calvin games, it's fairly familiar.

This past week marked the end of the Honduran league's season. As is the case with most all other soccer leagues, the championship is determined by a two-game final, where the combined score decides who wins (just like tournaments in Jeopardy!). Last Sunday was the first game of the championship, and guess who were playing? Olimpia and Motagua. Big deal, for serious. A few people were going, and I had several spare hours, so I thought I needed to get in on the Olimpia/Motagua action.

The obvious problem, however, was that I was unaffiliated. The two teams were just names to me. So I went, determined to pick an allegiance early on.

We arrived at the stadium, having purchased 250 L. tickets for 270 L. from a scalper on the street as we rode in our taxi - about a buck of profit for the dude. Our seats were in the nicest section - the Sillas, or chairs, as opposed to the sections of nothing more than concrete steps in the Sombra (Shade) or Sol (Sun), moving down the hierarchy. Sillas are the safest place to be - people certainly have gotten injured at Olimpia/Motagua games.

I started taking note of things to help me make my decision. Olimpia certainly wins when it comes to fans - their section was basically chock full. Motagua's was pretty sparse, even by the time the game began. I found I preferred the look of Olimpia's jerseys - red, white, and blue, with a cool, retro-looking lion logo - to Motagua's with its blue-on-blue eagle with hints of maroon. Further examination led me to see that I also preferred Olimpia's sponsors - Coca-Cola over Pepsi, Salva Vida beer over Gatorade. I continued to ponder my affiliation as vendors hawking pizza, candy, drinks, and gum passed, being significantly more invasive than vendors at American sporting events.

The game began after a beautiful a capella rendition of the Honduran national anthem. The pulsating Olimpia fan section seemed quite unaware that any singing was going on, continuing to chant their various cheers. Every once in a while, an amoeba of open space would form in the middle of the crowd, signaling that something was going to blow up. Apparently the guards frisking people at the gates were not infallible - there were plenty of large explosives that went off throughout the game, all prefaced by the amoeba of space. Immediately upon detonation, the amoeba walls would collapse and fans would quickly fill in that space removing all evidence that anything had blown up within two seconds. It was awesome to see.

I still hadn't decided on who to root for. Most signs were pointing me toward Olimpia, but I wasn't so sure. Everything pointing in that direction made me think that Motagua was the underdog, which was almost enough to trump everything. After about 5 minutes of gameplay, when I could tell that the teams were actually fairly evenly matched, I decided I was a Motagua man. If I could see the underdog win the game, that would be excellent.

Alas, it was not to be. Motagua was possibly the better team overall, but their forwards could not beat Olimpia's defenders down the field. Olimpia struck first. Then second. In the second half, Olimpia scored a third time. Late in the game, Motagua did score a goal, and I got to cheer for that at least. I actually didn't realize this game was half of the championship, so as we left early to beat the rush, I was a bit disappointed I hadn't chosen the team that not only won, but had my favor in most every aspect besides gameplay.

The second half was played last night. For all intents and purposes it was played like a normal game, which Motagua won 1-0. But when you combine the scores, Olimpia came out as the champs, 3-2.

There's always next year. I'm a Motagua man, but if I had to buy a jersey (as I may some day), I wouldn't hesitate to betray my allegiance.