Dubai Post 69: The Euro is Over!

The Arena was crawling with people.  It had about 8 massive
projection screens around the bar. 

Last night marked the ending of the Euro Cup tournament that has taken this area of the world by storm.  Espana out muscled a weaker Italia squad in what turned out to be one of the most lopsided matches of the tournament.  Of course, I stayed up to the wee hours of the morning with my co-workers watching the match.

I have watched an insane amount of soccer (football) over the past weeks. The total amount of hours over this month would exceed my entire life's viewership of soccer matches.  Had I been in Chicago, this would have not happened. Yet, without a doubt the sport is on the rise among Americans.  All it will take is another run in the World Cup and the bars will be filled with onlookers cheering on our football team.  Also, more and more Americans will be exposed to soccer as they travel abroad--look at me.  Not to mention the rest of the world adores the sport and last night was a perfect example of that. 

Two of my co-workers, Andy and Ghazi (Gino).  Gino
truly wanted Italia to win.  Andy just wore an Espana flag
to piss him off. 

Yesterday was a Sunday night which is equivalent to a Monday night in the U.S since my weekends are Friday-Saturday.  The game started at 10:45PM as have a majority of the games do.  That means you do not get home until 1:00AM...on a SUNDAY NIGHT!  It was one of the most packed, if not the most packed, bar I have been to during my time here in Dubai.  Keep in mind, it was Spain and Italy, two countries that have a midsize population of ex-pats in Dubai. 

An Italian fan with a flag draped over his head during
one of the more intense moments of the match.  For about
two seconds I thought does he really care that much?  Then I
though of the look my GF would give me
 if I said that  (See Below)

I consider myself a crazed college football fan.  However, in the past two years I have watched the college football championship at home.  The entire city was out for last night’s game.  I was at one of a hundred “Euro Tents” and it was filled to capacity.  We got there more than two hours before the match and still couldn’t get a table.  (We ended up getting one after a lot of bribery and dirty looks from people standing around us.) It just shows how much people care about this sport outside the U.S.

The Spanish fans went absolutely crazy when the match was over.
Not going to lie, I was jealous. 

I had a great time over the past few weeks going out with my colleagues watching football.  However, it will be nice to get a good night’s sleep for a few nights in a row and not spend so much money on beer. 

Me during the Big Ten Championship game last year.  Looks
oddly similar to that guy.  However, my team came out on top.
On Wisconsin!