On Wednesday, I had the opportunity to attend an FC Barcelona match. This was the first professional soccer game I've ever attended (unless you'd count the Philadelphia Kixx, but I wouldn't). I wouldn't call myself a huge soccer fan, though I have played a lot of FIFA. Nonetheless, the sports fan in me needs something, and I've been learning more and more about soccer, reading both How Soccer Explains the World and Soccernomics in the free time between coming to Barcelona and the plane ride. As per usual, they won 5-0. What really intrigued me, besides the mesmerizing play of Messi, Villa, Xavi, Pedro, and Iniesta, was the experience of attending the game. I had absolutely no idea what to expect, other than American sporting events that I have attended.
The metro, like many other city subway systems, takes you only a couple blocks from the stadium. Oddly, this part of the city is pretty quiet, and definitely does not seem like it is one of the nicer parts. There's a few bars along the streets, but there is a few bars along just about every street in the entire city. I knew it would not be like Philadelphia in that there would be tons of cars packed in parking lots (though there were many motorbikes alongside the street), but I expected it to be not dissimilar to other cities in which the stadium is in the city. There was relatively little going on around the stadium. I guess it just isn't a happening part of the city, which isn't that surprising considering that the stadium was built in the late 50s, and the city didn't really see a major renaissance until the 90s and the Olympics. Or maybe I wasn't near the exciting part, who knows. The stadium is encircled by many different gates, and each ticket has a gate number listed for entry. Not really sure why they only let you come in certain designated gates, but maybe it's to diffuse the amount of people coming in a single gate? It really didn't seem to serve too much of a purpose, honestly. The ticket window looked like something straight out of the 1920s. Small, wooden stations. Kinda seemed out of place for a team as prestigious as FC Barcelona. Maybe at Real Betis, not Barca. I guess they really wanted to push towards the 'no frills, just soccer' approach. Once getting in the first initial gate, you were simply on the outside of the stadium. Now you have to go to another gate that also corresponds with your ticket. This gate gets you inside the stadium, near where you are sitting. After the man at the first gate ripped my ticket stub, this time I had to go through a machine that would scan the ticket. Seems like it would have made much more sense to just scan it the first time through. Oh well.
After getting in the actual stadium, I then made the long and arduous hike to my seat in the 500 level. Unlike US stadiums, Camp Nou was clearly not built for comfort. The stairs were steep, and there was a lot of them. I guess they need to be to sit about 100,000 people. After climbing Camp Nou Mountain, I got to my seats. Certainly more comfortable than Fenway or Wrigley seats (though just about anything is), but they were pretty no-frills. No cup holders, armrests, cushioned seats, or attentive servants. My seats were obviously pretty high up, but I was just about mid-field level, so the light lines were pretty damn good. Soccer, like baseball, and basketball (if you're on the lower level), is one of those sports that is undoubtedly enhanced in person. Even with the quality of HD-TV today, cameras can't capture the entire field constantly. To watch how everyone is moving around all the time, and how everything fits together is well captured watching the game in-person.
The actual game was essentially over in just about 10 minutes (though some might argue that it was over before it started, and who could doubt them?) Lionel Messi scored what looked like an easy goal past the Almeria GK, though 'easy' for Mess is a pretty relative term. Just two minutes later, David Villa had the ball looking as if nothing would come out of it, decided to poke it past the defender and run past him then proceeded to shoot the ball easily past the goalie to make it 2-0. Only a few minutes after that, Messi scored his second goal on the night, effectively sealing a victory that was not in question. Roughly 15 minutes later, Pedro headed in a free kick to extend their ridiculous lead to 4-0. The rest of the game was essentially just practice, and the game ended 5-0. For the season, Barca has outscored Almeria 13-0 over 2 games. Ridiculous. The same Almeria that recently tied Real Madrid (though Barca has outscored Real 5-0 head to head).
What I REALLY liked about the game was the lack of other shit happening. I like to think that as a fan, I do not need a gigantic jumbotron telling me to "Get Loud" or "Clap Your Hands" or "Make Noise." The most intrinsic part of a sporting event is standing there and noticing the entire crowd completely pumped up, deafening any other noise. I've seen it happen many times, and it never has taken a stupid jumbotron with annoying music for it to happen. Also, I don't need to watch a SEPTA bus race in between innings of a playoff game...nobody does. That was the most refreshing thing about watching the game. It was just about watching the game.
One of the probably fundamental differences between soccer and a lot of American sports is that soccer teams are not really ran as businesses, whereas American sports are out to suck every last penny out of you and make games into more than just a game, but a spectacle. At halftime of the game, there was no dance team or cheerleaders or whatever, just random music and commercials on the scoreboard (in English, mind you). Everyone pulled out their sandwiches, smoked their cigarettes (you can still smoke in soccer stadiums, I guess) and waited patiently for the next half to begin. I know this will never happen in the US, but I really wish it did, at least for the playoffs. For the regular season, sure, do whatever you want to create some excitement, but the playoffs should be ONLY about the game. Though, they do love to do the wave during the game, along with many other chants that I couldn't understand (which were pretty cool actually, it probably intimidated the opponent even more). I always hear about the passion that soccer fans have towards their teams. I don't think that they're any more passionate than other fans, but here it is different. The stadium is the place to come see the game, not the couch while watching the HD cycling between the 6 other games that are also on TV. Also, because the stadium is so geared towards just simply watching soccer, and the late starting time (10PM), it did not seem like a particularly appealing family event. Nonetheless, there are a lot of elements of Camp Nou that I wish were brought to the US.
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