This weekend I completed two more items on my Barranquilla bucket list: going to the zoo and attending a Junior game (Junior is B/quilla’s soccer team). For the past couple months, Granfield (my fellow English professor and “tutor,” or mentor, that UA assigned to me) has been telling me that he wanted to take me to a Junior game, and the opportunity finally came. Since I don’t own a jersey, I wore a red t-shirt to show my support. Granfield and his wife and son did the same. Big mistake. Turns out, at home games Junior fans (Junioristas) wear either the striped jersey or a white t-shirt. Especially when the opposing team is América, the rival from Cali, whose color is red. Junior games are infamous for getting rowdy, meaning you probably don’t want to be mistaken for a fan of the rival team. Fortunately (I guess), Junior was just eliminated from the tournament, which means there wasn’t much of a turnout at the stadium. And América won, 2-0. So although the game might have been lacking the normal hype and hysteria, the bright side is that there wasn’t utter mayhem. Well, actually a fight began to brew when América scored its second point, and a group of América hinchas (fans) behind us cheered, provoking the Junioristas. At this point Granfield grabbed me by the arm and pulled me a safe distance away. The police took their time sauntering over to break it up and kick the América fans out of the stadium. We decided to split about 10 minutes before the end of the game so as not to be the target of the Junioristas disappointment. And sure enough, on the way out, we got asked, “Hey, are you América fans?!” Lesson learned: wear a Junior jersey to the next game!
(I think he wins the prize for most passionate fan. Check out the shark (the mascot) attached to his hat!)
(I believe this qualifies as corroncho--Colombian redneck)
