JUVE!!

Last night, My roommate and I made our first trip to the mother ship of European sports (actually, probably the world's mother ship of sports but we Americans chose to refuse this and do things our own way)- the Soccer game. Having only been to professional Baseball and Basketball games, and knowing that Europeans are fairly well known for getting into full blown brawls during soccer matches, I figured it would be quantified as a good experience if i kept all my limbs and came out without a black eye...

After a lifetime of experiencing the relatively docile baseball and basketball games in the states, I believe it suffices to say this was a crazy experience. All in all, the soccer match was mostly good, with only a few complaints but i would definitely go again.

The night itself started on a more sad note. We walked out of the apartment and found that the local tobacchi store was closed. Tobacchieria, in addition to selling tobacco, sell all the bus tickets. When we realized we hadn't any way to purchase tickets, we began the near two mile walk to Stadio Olimpico d'Torino in the rain. When we arrived at the stadium, we found that we had to find the right gate to enter into because there are no common concourses as we would expect in a stadium back home. When I get to a stadium in the states, I love getting to walk around the entire stadium, see what food options I have, what the layout of the stadium is and see the field from all angles. Not an option here which I found strange. I should note that Juventes is constructing a new stadium and from the videos they showed in the stadium last night, it will be far more fan friendly than their current home.

Just outside the stadium

We had to go to a few gates before we found the right one and finally made our way in. as we walked up the steps, you could hear the roar of the fans chanting which, though not surprising, was very cool to hear in person (No Vuvuzuelas though, they are banned at all Serie A games)

That means we didn't get to see this guy

When we walked into the stadium

As you can see there were a bunch of empty seats. The whole day it had been snowing and had climbed to the high of the day of 2c just before game time so the snow had turned into rain. The ring covering the fans that went around the stadium covered from about row 5 up so thats where more people hung out. 

We were supposed to be in the first row but the rain pushed us back a little so we could stay dry and i could take pictures. There was an entire section of the stadium that was completely void of fans. As we searched for seats, i stepped in a huge puddle so my feat were soaked from the get go. 

The rain was falling pretty hard all game

 Just before they announced the starting lineups, we heard a huge bang and saw smoke and this red glow (which I guess was coming from a flare). I knew I was at a soccer game in Europe for sure

I was fairly surprised at how little of a reaction that drew. I couldn't help but think how much attention that would draw and how much chaos and panic that would incite back home. These booms and flares happened several times through the game too.

When they announced the Udinese team, the announcer seemed to just be powering through and i didn't hear boo's like you would when the opposing team is announced in the states. Then they announced the Juventes team, which was pretty cool. I have a video of the players getting announced an I can assure you it was very cool. For some reason it doesnt want to let me post it but oh well, I can email it to whoever wants it, just let me know. It was very cool to hear the fans yell the players last name and get that into it. Even though it wasnt a packed crowd, it was very cool to see the passion that people had in their team. 

Juventes scored first one hour into the match with a sweet bicycle kick right in front of us. The crowd went crazy, it was a very cool thing to experience.  Udinese was quick to strike back scoring in the 67th minute then again in the 84th minute. From there, the game got chippy fairly quick as Juventes tried to increase the pressure to tie the match and seemingly every minute or two someone got a yellow card and two guys even picked up red cards.

All in all it was a very cool experience and I intend on trying to get to another game when the weather turns around. I found the game to be a very social experience, we were constantly talking to someone or to each other. The constant chanting for the whole match was very cool and certainly less annoying that the Vuvuzuelas could have been for 90 minutes.