I had just drifted to sleep for the night when I was struck by a cacophony of screams. Being the second night in our new apartment in Buenos Aires, my first thought was, "wow, we chose a bad neighbor hood to move in to." A man was screaming bloody murder as I my mind raced, searching for the cause of such commotion so late on a Sunday night. "no, no, no" yelled the emotion filled voice from somewhere within my building. His blood curddling screams were echoed by a femal voice just as angry sounding, if not more so, but I could not make out what she was saying. However, I was quite certain that someone was being murdered next door, or at least someone was about to be. After a few moments of panic as my mind conjured up all the worst possible explanations, I realized that it was Sunday, the day of futbol in Buenos Aires. The man was not screaming "no," but "goal." We have also been told that the games can be dangerous with rioting etc. and after hearing the intensity of my screaming neighbors, I have no doubt that that information is correct.

Naturally, I really wanted to see this emotional experience in person. So yesterday, we met another couple to catch the final game of the season. With a victory the local Boca "Juniors" would be season champions. I don't know that we could have gotten tickets if we wanted to, so we ended up at a pub to watch the game. It is interesting to note that their television stations cannot air the games, not unlike in the states, but what they do instead is to pan around the stadium as the fans sing and participate in this giant fiesta. This is two hours of air time on not one, but two different channels, that do not even show the game. This is why we had to go out to the bar to actually watch it. It was cool to see a herd of spectators standing outside the window to catch the game from the street, however, Boca was defeated. One very courageous individual cheered and yelled for the other team after each of their goals, but he was not torn limb from limb as I thought he may be. However, there is a playoff game this Wednesday, which will decide the outcome in a heads up duel between the two teams that are now tied for the top spot. It is also interesting to note that there are no playoffs, the team with the most points at the end of the season is the Champion, so certainly I would rather see the two teams battle it out. Otherwise, it is about as anticlimatic as college football.

Anyway, enough about soccer.