Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Speaking of fans. . .

Apparently Mexico's fans were too loud. Plus, they threw paper.

Frankly, I've always found it a weird custom that some stadiums play the U.S. national anthem at international friendlies where the U.S. isn't involved. Why bother? That equals three anthems when everyone just wants to get the match going. I'm not surprised that fans don't really acknowledge it under those circumstances. Think about it - at the Olympics, do they play the host's national anthem before every medal ceremony just because that's where it takes place? Of course not. Yet this writer is upset about that - and also apparently upset that game announcements were made in Spanish. During an Argentina/Mexico match.
Seriously, that's pretty ridiculous and petty. I read the headline and expected that fans had trashed the place, somehow negating the millions made off the match (and what is implied by the discount pricing subheader? That these fans are cheap? The Arg/Mexico match wasn't a cheap ticket). Depressing.

7 comments:

Mister Zero said...

I would bet the Mexico fans booed the US anthem, that's what upset the author.

A.C. said...

No, that's not what he said - and I'm sure the would have mentioned it if they had booed. He just wrote that they didn't acknowledge it or stop making their pre-game noise and cheering. That doesn't surprise me - I wasn't at this match, but I was at the Mexico/Venezuela match in the same stadium that was Hugo Sanchez' first win as Mexico coach and that's what took place. They didn't boo, they just kept cheering and chanting during the non-Mexico anthems.

The Hammer said...

Isn't it for legal reasons? I don't think you can play foreign anthems without playing the American one as well.

Mister Zero said...

Sounds like a fairly regular international environment but the writer is not as familiar with the customs.

Mofo said...

I was at the match and the US anthem was announced and nobody booed. The crowd wasn't all that bad, I mean, sure, some idiots were throwing stuff on the field, but the whole entire crowd shouldn't be judged based on their actions. It wasn't just Mexicans there anyway, there were lots of Argentines, and lots of other nationalities. There where even some Italians sitting close by.

It was a fun match, except for the part where Mexico got schooled, but that wasn't surprising. Argentina played really well.

Fernando said...

That'd be like me getting upset because the Mexican national anthem cd was skipping and couldn't be played before the Chivas - Galaxy game in last years Superliga.

People need to let shit go sometimes

Anonymous said...

The discount ticket heading refers to the second piece of the article, which is about the Padres. But, I agree with all your other comments, although there were surely some in attendance (even Mexican or Argentine-Americans) who don't speak spanish.