Sports

I have always wondered why there are differences between the most famous sports in some countries. Why are some sports so well-known in some countries, and in others people don’t even know about them? These questions can be answered just by saying that sports are like customs, they change from one country to another, and they are part of the culture of each country.

This thought deepened when we went to Spurs game last Saturday, in San Antonio. It was wonderful, I really loved it. The stadium was so big! It was crowded with people who were so excited! But I noticed a big difference with the basketball games from Argentina. When I was in High School, I used to go to a lot of basketball games of one club in my city, Rio Cuarto, because the father of one of my friends was the coach. Of course there is no comparison of the size of each stadium, the quality of the team and so many other things that I could enumerate. But what I am trying to say is that the importance that people give to the same sport, in these two countries, is totally different. The popularity that basketball has in Argentina is not even close to the one that it has in the USA.

The same thing happens with football, or American soccer. In Argentina this sport doesn’t even exist, but here is as famous as basketball, or more. To tell you a fact that demonstrate the importance of this sport here, in Austin, a city of about 1.500.000 citizens, there is a tremendous football stadium of the University of Texas with a capacity of 110.119 people. It is really huge. And the party that a game implies is awesome, or so I’ve heard. (Sadly there is no game while we are here, so we can’t participate of that great party)

On the contrary, there are some sports that are more known in Argentina than here. For example, field hockey. The other day I went to an Adidas shop, and I asked for a stick-bag for field hockey. The girl of the shop looked at me as if I was crazy and she told me that they didn’t have any. I already knew the answer, before the girl told me. That’s because there are no hockey courts in Austin, and the sport is not known as it is in Argentina.

As for soccer, in Argentina it is far more important and popular than here. Maybe it can be compared in importance with American soccer, due to the fact that there are stadiums all over the country, and in each city there are a lot. People can play it professionally and live on that.

Referring to the structure of the stadium, the dynamics of the games and the entire environment, what called my attention the most was the show. For example, there were five at least, fast food places in each part on one floor. And one floor has two or three parts. In addition to that, of course there were many clothes stores with all the merchandising of the Spurs. I had never seen that in Argentina.

All in all, sports have to do with culture and customs and I find it absolutely amazing that everyone in their own countries can support the team and sport that they love.