OLE OLE OLE OLE...OLE OLE !!!
This weekend saw us witness the New York leg of FC Barcelona’s tour of America where they played the New York Red Bulls. What can I say? … Ole Ole Ole Ole…Ole Ole.
Having made plans to go for this game months in advance, meant that for every added minute of delay that we stood in the sun waiting for the stadium gates to open, our eagerness for the real deal got closer to volatile levels of insanity. And just as I was about to vent my frustration by clobbering a 12 yr old kid who had the audacity to ask me the time, I noticed his super beefed up father giving me the look. The look implied that “if you even so much think of touching my son, I will rip out your arm and shove it up that part of your body where the sun don’t shine”. Not to be publicly humiliated by this steroid injecting iron pumping beefy mutation, I returned the gesture with a look of my own. My look implied “I cry easily and have a history of wetting my shorts, thank you”.
As the gates opened and thousands of fans attempted to pour into the stadium, the three of us put into practice our “cutting the queue” prowess from back home and managed to be the first few into the stadium. As we inspected our official seats and reassured ourselves that this was not a dream Carles Puyol Saforcada made his entry on to the ground. OH MY GOD … PUYOL!!!
Puyol began his warm up lap round the stadium. You could hear fans going crazy and screaming “PUYOL!!! PUYOL!!!” Our man kept his head down and continued to warm up. And then Ramesh decided to take things into his own hands…amidst thousands of fans screaming “PUYOL!!! PUYOL!!!” as he continued on his warm up lap, Ramesh gave out a deafening “Oye…CARLOS…CARLOS…Here...Here!!!” from way up in the stands. Puyol slowed down…looked up…smiled… and waved out to Ramesh…the three of us went berserk!!!
The game was not going to start for the next half hour at least. The boys decided its time to make this experience even more memorable. We left our seats and went down into the lower stand to get a better look at Puyol. The fact that we didn’t have tickets to the lower stands did not deter us from getting there. Even the event staff who denied us access to the lower stands was no match for our will to get down there. Having grown up in an atmosphere conducive to shameless gate-crashing wherein survival of the fittest is a way of life, the polite elderly gentleman at the entry point was no match for our art of deception. (At this point we would like thank Mr. Miyagi from the Ninja School of Arts Gokhalenagar Branch, for imparting upon us his knowledge of the art of deception.)
It was time for the show…you know something amazing is going to happen when the press goes crazy with their cameras. The moment we were waiting for was here… “Ladies and Gentlemen…FC BARCELONAAAAAAAAAAA!!!” …out walked the team and I almost fainted. It was too much…too much talent on display...Valdes, Marquez, Zambrota, Thuram, Xavi, Edmilson, Deco, Iniesta, Eto’o, Saviola, Messi and Ronaldinho to name a few. The team warmed up for some time before returning to their changing rooms.
Having prevented the real ticket holders from occupying their seats for a shamelessly long time we decided it was time to return to our designated seats before the security was called for. The game was about to start. The crowds were going crazy. Looking at the fan following that the club commanded in America itself I can’t even imagine the fan frenzy back in Spain. Maybe someday I can watch Barcelona play in Spain.
Both the teams completed the basic formalities of a group picture and shaking hands and a few moments later the game began. It was clear Ronaldinho was the number one player in the world when he single handedly broke through the Red Bull defense time and again. His passes were so flashy and so accurate…it was amazing. I feel really bad for the defenders who have to guard him coz the guy plays all over the place. And when he unleashed his trademark step-over move the noise level in the stadium hit a whole new deafening level. My God…it was…..I can’t explain….it was tooooo much.
Saw Ronaldinho score in the first half with a penalty. The goalkeeper had no chance in spite of diving in the correct direction. It was a work of art. I can’t stress enough on the colossal amount of talent that the guy possesses. Surprisingly the host team scored an equalizer soon enough and we figured we had a game on our hands.
Enter Messi… unbelievable footwork. You know the kid has talent when the guy beats 3 defenders and then in a show of arrogance goes ahead and dribbles past the goal keeper too to make a mockery of the opponent defense. And while all this flashy soccer was being played the entire stadium kept chanting “ME-SSI…ME-SSI…ME-SSI”. The guy has supernatural talent. The game also saw Thuram and Zambrotta make their debut for Barca. Final score 4:1.
Earlier in the morning we’d gone to Niketown to pick some Barcelona apparel for the game. Duku recognized Thuram loitering in store. Nobody had recognized him yet so the fact that we recognized him must’ve sent him on an ego boosting trip. This worked in our favor coz Thuram was kind enough to sign autographs and pose for a picture. I can’t believe we actually met a soccer star in person…this trip was tooooooo good and what a fantastic game. I am still in a daze…GO BARCA !!!
Having made plans to go for this game months in advance, meant that for every added minute of delay that we stood in the sun waiting for the stadium gates to open, our eagerness for the real deal got closer to volatile levels of insanity. And just as I was about to vent my frustration by clobbering a 12 yr old kid who had the audacity to ask me the time, I noticed his super beefed up father giving me the look. The look implied that “if you even so much think of touching my son, I will rip out your arm and shove it up that part of your body where the sun don’t shine”. Not to be publicly humiliated by this steroid injecting iron pumping beefy mutation, I returned the gesture with a look of my own. My look implied “I cry easily and have a history of wetting my shorts, thank you”.
As the gates opened and thousands of fans attempted to pour into the stadium, the three of us put into practice our “cutting the queue” prowess from back home and managed to be the first few into the stadium. As we inspected our official seats and reassured ourselves that this was not a dream Carles Puyol Saforcada made his entry on to the ground. OH MY GOD … PUYOL!!!
Puyol began his warm up lap round the stadium. You could hear fans going crazy and screaming “PUYOL!!! PUYOL!!!” Our man kept his head down and continued to warm up. And then Ramesh decided to take things into his own hands…amidst thousands of fans screaming “PUYOL!!! PUYOL!!!” as he continued on his warm up lap, Ramesh gave out a deafening “Oye…CARLOS…CARLOS…Here...Here!!!” from way up in the stands. Puyol slowed down…looked up…smiled… and waved out to Ramesh…the three of us went berserk!!!
The game was not going to start for the next half hour at least. The boys decided its time to make this experience even more memorable. We left our seats and went down into the lower stand to get a better look at Puyol. The fact that we didn’t have tickets to the lower stands did not deter us from getting there. Even the event staff who denied us access to the lower stands was no match for our will to get down there. Having grown up in an atmosphere conducive to shameless gate-crashing wherein survival of the fittest is a way of life, the polite elderly gentleman at the entry point was no match for our art of deception. (At this point we would like thank Mr. Miyagi from the Ninja School of Arts Gokhalenagar Branch, for imparting upon us his knowledge of the art of deception.)
It was time for the show…you know something amazing is going to happen when the press goes crazy with their cameras. The moment we were waiting for was here… “Ladies and Gentlemen…FC BARCELONAAAAAAAAAAA!!!” …out walked the team and I almost fainted. It was too much…too much talent on display...Valdes, Marquez, Zambrota, Thuram, Xavi, Edmilson, Deco, Iniesta, Eto’o, Saviola, Messi and Ronaldinho to name a few. The team warmed up for some time before returning to their changing rooms.
Having prevented the real ticket holders from occupying their seats for a shamelessly long time we decided it was time to return to our designated seats before the security was called for. The game was about to start. The crowds were going crazy. Looking at the fan following that the club commanded in America itself I can’t even imagine the fan frenzy back in Spain. Maybe someday I can watch Barcelona play in Spain.
Both the teams completed the basic formalities of a group picture and shaking hands and a few moments later the game began. It was clear Ronaldinho was the number one player in the world when he single handedly broke through the Red Bull defense time and again. His passes were so flashy and so accurate…it was amazing. I feel really bad for the defenders who have to guard him coz the guy plays all over the place. And when he unleashed his trademark step-over move the noise level in the stadium hit a whole new deafening level. My God…it was…..I can’t explain….it was tooooo much.
Saw Ronaldinho score in the first half with a penalty. The goalkeeper had no chance in spite of diving in the correct direction. It was a work of art. I can’t stress enough on the colossal amount of talent that the guy possesses. Surprisingly the host team scored an equalizer soon enough and we figured we had a game on our hands.
Enter Messi… unbelievable footwork. You know the kid has talent when the guy beats 3 defenders and then in a show of arrogance goes ahead and dribbles past the goal keeper too to make a mockery of the opponent defense. And while all this flashy soccer was being played the entire stadium kept chanting “ME-SSI…ME-SSI…ME-SSI”. The guy has supernatural talent. The game also saw Thuram and Zambrotta make their debut for Barca. Final score 4:1.
Earlier in the morning we’d gone to Niketown to pick some Barcelona apparel for the game. Duku recognized Thuram loitering in store. Nobody had recognized him yet so the fact that we recognized him must’ve sent him on an ego boosting trip. This worked in our favor coz Thuram was kind enough to sign autographs and pose for a picture. I can’t believe we actually met a soccer star in person…this trip was tooooooo good and what a fantastic game. I am still in a daze…GO BARCA !!!
posted by Pratap at 10:20 PM
3 Comments:
u football crazy freaks... but its all good...i've started liking football...we do a LOT of football betting.... its fun whn football season is on!
heheh.. seems like we all have our own gods and religion!
nice to read ur blog again:)
Post a Comment
<< Home