Ipswich vs. St Etienne

Another Wednesday entry as I’ll most likely be in Fo’Lee, NJ on Friday.  Enjoy!

Way back when – 1981 – I was attending a Catholic school in Paris, France, called Marymount.   The NFL was all but unknown and the Internet as well.   Errr, the school did replay the 1982 Super Bowl, 49ers vs. Bengals (with Joe Montana).  Anyhow.  The student body got into a huge uproar about a soccer game (???) between Ipswich (who?) and St. Etienne (who? Part 2).   I figured out that Ipswich was from the England and St. Etienne was from the France.   Did I care?  No.  But I felt like I was the only one who didn’t.

Eons later, with this Internet thing – and having finally gotten “into” soccer, since 2000 – I finally delved into this and determined what the hell was going on.

This was the UEFA Cup Quarter Final – not even a FINAL! – between Ipswich Town FC and St. Etienne (ASSE).   UEFA isn’t even Champions League, which takes the best European teams and plays them against each other (in 1981 Liverpool beat Real Madrid).  UEFA is for the teams not quite good enough to make it into Champions League – think of it as Champions League Jr.   Nowadays Ipswich is in second tier English soccer, demoted thereto in 2002 from Premier League (first division).  St. Etienne is in French First Division but hasn’t won that division since…1981.  Back then they had Michel Platini and were actually competitive.  Not so much nowadays.

Ipswich won that match-up (two games, home and away) and went on to beat FC Koln (German team – currently in last place in Bundesliga 1, in danger of being demoted down to Bunda-2) in the semi-final, then beat AZ (some Dutch team, currently in fourth place in Dutch First Division) in the final.  For all the hoopla about the Ipswich vs. St. Etienne match-up, no one said any word about FC Koln or AZ, which leads me to suspect that 99% of the people going on about it were probably – out of loyalty to the host country – supporters of St. Etienne.  Actually I have two St. Etienne jerseys, and no Ipswich jerseys.  So count me in favor of the French team, although (as noted) I was militantly indifferent to the two at the time. 

If I had to pick a favorite for French First Division I’d probably pick Paris St-Germain, especially now that they have star Brazilian player Neymar.  Arsenal are my favorite English team (the cannon is so damn cool), Bayern Munich for Germany (visited their Olympic stadium in January 1990), and Flamengo for Brazil.  These are mild preferences though, ones the true fans would scoff at.  (Groundskeeper Willie:  “You call this a soccer riot??”).  I don’t have any MLS preference, not even for DC United, the local team – though I have seen them play Bayer Leverkusen and FC Dallas. 

Oblivious to soccer when I lived in Europe, I corrected that somewhat on my latest trip to Paris.  Although Paris St-Germain was out of town playing a Dutch team (RSC Anderlecht, who they beat 4-0), I visited their store, and picked up the newest Bayern Munich away jersey at the Adidas store on the Champs Elysees. 

Soccer vs. Football.   I might as well address this topic, which I don’t feel is substantial enough to merit a blog entry on its own.  I grew up in the US in the 1970s and adopted the Minnesota Vikings as my favorite team, mainly due to three Super Bowl appearances and Fran Tarkenton.  Plus I like purple and the helmets.  While the Vikings have been to the NFC Championship game several times since then – the winner advancing to the Super Bowl – they have not won (yet).  This includes heartbreaking losses to the Falcons, Giants (41-0…WTF?) and Saints (Brett Favre as QB for the Vikings).  While I wear many different soccer jerseys, including jerseys of mutual rivals, for the NFL I only wear one team’s:  the Vikings.  I have an older #10 Fran Tarkenton jersey, a slightly newer Brett Favre #4 jersey (the throwbacks version, not the contemporary version), and two fairly new ones, #69 Jared Allen and #28 Adrian Peterson.  All are home jerseys.  With the obvious exception of Tarkenton – I was 9 when he retired – the other three I purchased when the players were still on the team. 

I got into soccer in 2000 after visiting Rio de Janeiro a few times and even seeing Flamengo play Fluminense at Maracana in 2004 (an unusually exciting game, 4-3 for Flamengo after falling to 3-1), immediately before the Patriots-Panthers Janet Jackson Super Bowl.  I got cable expressly to watch soccer.  Then….never watched it.   I catch most of the World Cup games, particularly Brazil and Germany, and the Final.  The US didn’t qualify this time, but neither did Italy.  We’ll see what happens in Russia.  FYI, NONE of Brazil’s 5 World Cup victories were in Brazil:  they lost in the final to Uruguay in 1950, when Maracana had just opened, and in the semi-final to Germany (7-1!!!) in Rio this time around.

I can’t say I diligently watch the NFL, but you can bet I watch the Super Bowl and most playoff games, and any locally televised Vikings game.  Of the rest I watch about half, depending on who’s playing and how busy I am.   I try to watch Monday Night Football with my brother, but our schedules don’t always allow it.   

Oddly, I’ve seen only one NFL game – Redskins against ??? at FedEx – but several soccer games.  I don’t even watch Champions League finals, nor Premier League, Bundesliga, Serie A, La Liga, nor the Brasileirão.  Mind you, the Vikings have played local games against the Redskins, but even then I didn’t bother.  RFK Stadium, where the Redskins used to play, isn’t too inconvenient, being right next to the metro.  I’ve been to a few concerts there, including two Dead shows and two Metallica concerts.  Actually, I’ve seen soccer games there (DC United and AC Milan vs. Barcelona).  But my brother has warned me off seeing any games at FedEx, which he says is a huge pain in the ass to get to.  Maybe someday I’ll make a pilgrimage to Minneapolis.  I hear they have big mall there, too. 

Of course, I’ve been to more concerts than all sporting events, of whatever sport, combined.  The larger concerts are held at indoor arenas (where basketball or hockey would be played), the biggest at football stadiums, e.g. RFK.  My brother had the unpleasant experience of bringing his son to a Redskins game at FedEx Field (the boy was born long after the Skins moved there from RFK) and had to put up with foul language and behavior from the notoriously ill-behaved Redskins fans.  By its nature, a sporting event celebrates adversity:  the outcome is a zero-sum game with one team’s victory at the expense of the other team’s defeat.  Naturally this elicits a dynamic of aggression and hostility.  Some of the nastier thrash bands do this as well – Slayer and Metallica come to mind – but for the most part at concerts the entire crowd is essentially cheering for the same team.  Moreover I’m far more of a music fan than a sports fan.  Anyhow.

The sad truth is that I find soccer more fun to PLAY than football (though I haven’t played in ages), but football is more fun to WATCH.   Not even close.

SKOL!!!

Zico - Flamengo x Grêmio - Final 1982

A brief glimpse of some classic era Brazilian soccer - Zico, playing for Flamengo at the height of their glory.

Flamengo

Time for a sports blog.  I’m not really much of a sports fan, but I do follow the NFL and professional soccer.  With the Super Bowl done, now the NFL season is over (Pro Bowl? ZZZZ) so I can focus on soccer again, particularly the Rio State Championships (Campeonata Carioca) going on in Brazil.  So I’ll devote this entry to my favorite Brazilian soccer team, Flamengo.

 Flamengo is from the city of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, which is within the state of Rio Janeiro; these are two separate entities, likewise there is the city of São Paulo and the state of São Paulo.  It originally formed in the neighborhood of the same name, which is northeast of Copacabana, Ipanema and Leblon.  Later they moved to Gavea/Leblon (kind of straddling both neighborhoods) and have a large, modern complex there which faces onto the lagoon.  My friend Leila lived in Leblon from 2004-2007 and was close enough to hear the games – we even visited the complex when I went to visit her in 2005.  However, the field there only holds 8,000 and is pretty much a joke, which is not a big deal as the team plays most of its home games at Maracana Stadium, which holds 95,000 as currently set up, though the original capacity was closer to 200,000.  The team is not only the most popular in Rio de Janeiro itself, but also in Brazil, making them pretty much the Dallas Cowboys of Brazilian soccer – always popular no matter how badly they suck.  Their main rivals are the other three teams in the city of Rio de Janeiro, Fluminense, Botafogo, and Vasco da Gama.  In fact, the club began in 1895, though as a rowing club at that time.  They only started playing soccer in 1911, stealing players from Fluminense to start off.  The classic “Fla-Flu” (Flamengo vs. Fluminense) game is one of Brazil’s top rivalries, and I was lucky enough to see the game at Maracana in February 2004, won by Flamengo 4-3, on the same day as the Patriots-Panthers Super Bowl.  Romario was actually playing in this game – for Fluminense. 

 While the team has a wide fan base, its most notorious core are the favelados (slum dwellers) and traficantes (drug dealers), whereas Fluminense is more closely associated with the “playboys”, as the richer segment of Rio de Janeiro is disparagingly referred to by the favelados. 

 The team uniform is black & red horizontal stripes, thus the nickname “rubro-negro”, as well as “Mengão”.  Popular chants in Maracana are “MEN-GO!” (the reply to “NEN-SE!!” from the Fluminense crowd) and “uma vez Flamengo, Flamengo ate morrer!” (one time Flamengo, Flamengo until death!).  The current jersey is made by Nike, the away jersey is white, and the current sponsor is Petrobras, the state-owned oil company of Brazil.  I have a 2000 season red/black home jersey from Umbro – the first soccer jersey I ever bought, on my first trip to Rio de Janeiro in June 2000 - and a later 2004 season white away jersey from Nike; I also  got my brother and his son each a home jersey, and his older daughter a skirt. 

 Its most memorable player was Zico (Arthur Antunes Coimbra), who holds the club record for goals, 508, more than twice the next runner up.  He played with them from 1971-83, then again from 1985-89 after two seasons with Udinese in Italy – almost 18 years. More recently, Zico was the coach of the Japanese national team in the 2006 World Cup and now coaches CSKA Moscow. Romario played for the team briefly – off and on between 1995 and 1999, scoring 204 goals for the team. 

 Flamengo’s best era was 1978-1983.  As much as the national championship, now known as the Campeonato Brasileiro (aka “Brasileirão”), the Brazilian teams also compete strenuously in the state championships, which for Flamengo is the Campaneato Carioca, split up into two phases, the Taça Guanabara, and the Taça Rio.  After 1978 they won this three times in a row, and won the national championship in 1980, 1982, 1983, 1987, and 1992.  They also compete against the other Latin American teams in the Copa Libertadores, which is the Western Hemisphere’s equivalent of Europe’s Champions League – in fact, the winners of each play each other in a sort of soccer Super Bowl, the World Club Championship.  In 1981 Flamengo won not only the Copa Libertadores, but also beat Liverpool in this championship.

 An odd thing about Flamengo is that the “franchise”, if you could call it that, also plays other sports.  There are Flamengo teams for rowing (obviously), basketball (mens & womens – I have a Flamengo basketball tank top), swimming, volleyball (men & women’s), gymnastics and fencing. 

 Unfortunately I can’t watch any of the games.  I don’t have TV Globo, as my condo faces the wrong way to mount the correct DishNetwork satellite, and Brazilian games are rarely shown on Fox Sports World or GolTV; the latter seems to be showing Paulista (São Paulo state) games when I’m at work.   

Rio Trips I-V

After New Year’s Eve, spent in exotic (and ice cold) Alexandria, Virginia, I’m reminded of two far more special New Year’s Eves, spent south of the Equator…in Rio de Janeiro. Five trips in total from 2000-2005, including two at New Year’s Eve (none during Carnival, unfortunately). My companion was a beautiful Brazilian woman, born and raised in Rio, chamada Leila.

Rio Trip I. June-July 2000. This was my first trip. It was winter in Rio, though “winter” means 70 degrees, fog on the beach, and it gets dark at 6 p.m. We stayed in a temporada (furnished apartment) in Copacabana: on Domingas Ferreiras in between Constante Ramos and Santa Clara, just a block off from Avenue Atlantica. July 4^th was nothing, as we were not invited to the festivities hosted by the US Consulate at the EARJ (American School of Rio de Janeiro). I did get to see Pão de Açucar, Cristo Redentor – as the sun was setting – and got my first two soccer jerseys, Flamengo and Botafogo. We met Leila’s sister, her mother, her nephew, and even her younger daughter’s godfather. Our last day was drama getting back from Barra da Tijuca in time to make the 9 p.m. flight home.

This trip set the tone for the rest, and gave me the earliest memories.
1. The ride in from the airport, Galleão, aka Tom Jobim (code GIG). The bay on the left, the favelas on the right, before the cab comes into the southern zone, then hits Avenue Atlantica, before depositing us off at our destination.

2. Brazilian beer: Brahma, Antarctica, Skol, and many others. With such good Brazilian beer, foreign beer – though available – is hardly necessary. And chopp (draft beer) is the best, preferably with some pastelzinhos or batata fritas.

3. Brazilian food. Churrasco! Delicious meat, all different cuts, cooked juicy and pink. A vegetarian would be hard-pressed to remain faithful with all this fantastic carne everywhere, and for such reasonable prices you can eat steak every day and not go broke.

4. Brazilian TV: lots of soccer, and those damn novellas. Unlike the US soap operas, the Brazilian variants only last one season; each season a whole new slew gets cranked out by the geniuses at TV Globo. Usually there is at least one set in old times (Portugal, old Brazil, or the early 20^th Century) and one comic one, with an adult-oriented one (no nudity, though) at 10 p.m. after the meninos and meninas have gone to sleep. My favorites were “Uga Uga” and “O Cravo e a Rosa.”

5. Temporada. Instead of being in a hotel, isolated with tourists from the rest of the local population, we stayed in a furnished apartment (except trips IV and V when Leila was actually living back in Rio), among the other regular residents going about their daily lives. We shopped at the local supermarket (Zona Sul, Sendas, or Pão de Açucar), walked along the same streets, and ate in our kitchen like anyone else.

6. Beaches. Copacabana, Ipanema, and Leblon. They’re excellent to simply lay on the sand on a towel and get a tan, if you pace yourself, wear the right strength sunscreen, and pick the right time. Oddly, you can get burned on a cloudy day. Fortunately I usually managed to get a modest tan without getting burned, mainly because we never seemed to have enough time to tan every day. Of course, the girls on the beach were certainly worth enjoying the view.

Rio Trip II. December ’00-January ’01. We got there after Christmas, but in time for New Year’s Eve. We stayed in yet another temporada in Ipanema (Barrão de Torre in between Garcia D’Avila and Anibal de Mendoça). I had to leave before Rock in Rio to get back for a job…which I lost anyway. It was raining on the beach of Copacabana, near Leme, on NYE but the fireworks went off anyway. Getting back to our place in Ipanema was a nightmare, it took over an hour. We also managed to see, on TV, the Vasco-São Caetano game which ended in a brawl in 12/31 (featured in the Steve Harris section of Iron Maiden’s “Rock in Rio” DVD). I completed the set of jerseys by getting Vasco da Gama and Fluminense. This time I went back to Cristo Redentor, now that it was summer there – much better lighting conditions.

Rio Trip III. December ’02-January ’03. We came again for New Year’s Eve, this time staying in Copacabana, off Nossa Senhora de Copacabana and Barrão de Ipanema. Her younger daughter was staying with us, her older daughter stayed with friends – the first time all four of us were in Rio together. We rented a Fiat Palio for two days and went to Buzios, a little beach town on the coast where Brigitte Bardot used to go. This time it wasn’t raining on NYE and our voyage back to the apartment took all of 15 minutes. For the last two days we stayed at the Sheraton Hotel. Her older daughter bought a miniature pinscher, Sula, in Curitiba.

Rio Trip IV. January-February ’04. By this time Leila had moved back to Rio and was living in Copacabana on Barata Ribeiro near Republica de Peru. I got there before Carnival. This was the trip I finally got to see Flamengo play at Maracana, vs. Fluminense. An amazing game, Flamengo won 4-3. Immediately after the game we went directly to the Lord Jim Pub in Ipanema to watch the Patriots-Panthers Super Bowl.

Rio Trip V. January-February ’05. Yet again, I got there, and left, before Carnival. Leila had moved to Leblon, off Bartholomeu Mitre, 6 blocks from the beach and 2 blocks from Flamengo’s complex. We did get a chance to go to several blocos, including Suvaco de Cristo. These are rowdy street parties a week before Carnival, in which the street is closed off to traffic, and a crazy, drunk, noisy crowd winds its way down the street. I enjoyed several beers and some mystery meat on a stick, dipped in sawdust. Then it was back to the US for more cold weather.
A cidade a mais maravilhosa do mundo…é verdade. Saudades dela….

Soccer Jerseys

I suppose most people collect something or other in the course of their lives. In addition to CDs, I also collect soccer jerseys. I’ve lost count, but as of now I have something like 40 of them I’ve accumulated since June 2000.

In the Beginning. I was on my first trip to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in June 2000. It was winter there, though winter means 70 degrees, fog on the beach, and it gets dark at 6 p.m. We were staying in Copacabana, and I was just getting to know the city and all about it. I learned its four premier teams were Flamengo, Fluminense, Botafogo, and Vasco de Gama. On that trip I got my first jersey, the red/black home jersey of Flamengo; by the end of the trip I had my second, Botafogo (black/white vertical stripes). And I was hooked.

Teams. I rounded out the RJ collection on the next trip (New Year’s Eve 2000-2001) with Fluminense and Vasco, then spread across Europe: Arsenal (UK), Bayern Munich (Germany), as well as French, Spanish, and Italian teams. I stayed away from national (World Cup) jerseys, with the exceptions of Brazil (5 stars after 2002), Poland, and Romania (1973 version). I even managed to get the Iron Maiden variant; after so many rock bands made baseball and hockey jerseys for themselves, Iron Maiden – die hard fans of West Ham United (east London) – decided to make their own soccer jersey.

Rivals. I do commit the heresy of collecting and wearing the jerseys of mutual rivals: Arsenal v. West Ham and Tottenham, Flamengo and Fluminense, Schalke & Borussia Dortmund, Real Madrid and Barcelona. I tend to pick the most important teams and cover the bases.

Brazil: Flamengo (x2), Fluminense, Botafogo, Vasco (RJ), Cruzeiro (MG), Santos (x2), São Paulo FC, Palmeiras, Corinthians (SP), Atletico Paranaense (PR), Internacional (RS) + Seleção (5 stars)
England (Premier League): Arsenal (x4), Tottenham, West Ham, Chelsea (London); Manchester United, Liverpool, Newcastle
Germany (Bundesliga): Bayern Munich (x2), Hertha Berlin, Schalke '05, Borussia Dortmund, Hamburg FSV (x2), Werder Bremen (x2), Vfb Stuttgart, Bayer Leverkusen, FC Kaiserslautern
France (First Division): Bordeaux, St Etienne, Paris-St Germain, Olympique Lyonnais (x2), Olympique Marseilles
Italy (Serie A): AC Milan (x2), Inter Milan, AS Roma (x3), Juventus, Fiorentina
Spain (First Division): Real Madrid (x3) & Barcelona
Romania: Steaua Bucuresti, and national team (1973)

Personalized. Most of mine have either blank backs or a number and no name. Until recently Brazilian teams didn’t put the players’ names on the back. Occasionally I’d get a personalized jersey: Giovanni Elber (Brazilian) with Bayern Munich; David Beckham (two Real Madrid jerseys); Ronaldo (Brazilian) w/Real Madrid; Ronaldo (Portuguese, aka Christiano Ronaldo) with Manchester United; Kaka (Brazilian) with AC Milan; Ronaldinho (Brazilian) with Paris-St. Germain, etc. I tended to pick Brazilian players with European teams, with the obvious exception of Beckham.

Home/Away/3rd. Teams have a home jersey (usually dark), an away jersey (usually light, often white), and sometimes a third jersey (odd color) to wear when their home/away jersey is too similar to the opposing team’s away/home jersey. I’ll pick whichever one strikes my fancy. Santos (Brazil – Pele’s team) has a home jersey which is plain white, so my two Santos jerseys are the away versions with black/white vertical stripes. Neither of my AC Milan jerseys are the standard red/black home jersey.

Sponsors. What’s remarkable about soccer jerseys is that unlike with US sports teams, they have corporate sponsors on them, a practice which began in the 80s; by comparison the jerseys of the 70s and earlier look rather dull and sparse. Many of the sponsors are insurance companies, Internet companies, cell phone carriers or companies (Siemens Mobile or T-Mobile), and even beers – Carlsberg, the Danish beer, sponsors Liverpool, and Holsten, a German beer, sponsored Tottenham. Emirates, the airline from Dubai, has been sponsoring a few teams lately, notably Arsenal.

Comfort. The shirts are extremely comfortable, made of the latest high-tech fabrics to breathe well; and I always get the short-sleeved versions anyway. They’re great to wear in the summer or on the treadmill at the gym. They also often have collars, so they’re almost like polo shirts.

Sources. Most of the time I ordered them from Subsidesports, a company in England with a great selection, plus they do a great job of personalizing the jerseys. Almost all of my Brazilian jerseys were purchased in Brazil. A few I bought from stores here and there, but it’s rare to find a store in the US that carries these. There was a very brief time a few years ago when the local Foot Lockers and similar places carried them when it was a brief fad, that is long gone. Finally, I’ve ordered some jerseys from the teams themselves, which lets you get a 100% authentic jersey with any player’s name on it. The official jersey has the team crest embroidered, and is of noticeably better quality than some knockoffs - as with most things in life, you get what you pay for.