Barca!

The Barcelona soccer team (technically football, as I was corrected while in Europe) beat out Manchester United from the UK to win...some championship or something. I may not know the details but I'm happy they won because they are a great bunch of guys, as I found out during my research for our trip. First of all they are a symbol of pride for the Catalon people. When Catalunya was oppressed under Spanish dictatorship they were allowed a soccer team which usually lost in rigged games to Real Madrid. Didn't matter, the Catalons flew the Barca flag with pride because it was the only flag they were allowed to fly that represented their region. It was a substitute for the Catalon flag they really wanted to display, so it became an expression of the patriotism that was denied to them. Secondly, they have UNICEF on their jerseys. Look at the other teams- they don't have charities on their jerseys, they have corporate logos from big money sponsors. Club Barca could make money by selling that space but instead they've chosen to advertise a charity that saves children. How cool is that?

I'm kind of glad we weren't around for the celebrations, though; looks like it turned ugly right in the area where we were staying. Our hotel was only a few blocks away from Las Ramblas and the Columbus statue mentioned in the news. Yipes!