Beach Soccer

Last weekend, we didn't go to the beach...the beach came to us - right here in the city center! Rome hosted the 2009 European Beach soccer Tournament right here in our very own Circo Massimo. I had never even heard of such a sport, but when we saw a stadium, being built around a fake beach in the middle of the city, we were intrigued enough to go sit in the blaring hot sun and see what it was all about. The crowd was full of men without shirts and a (a few) women dressed as if really at the beach - all with beers and Italian icys in hand. Fans from all over Europe came to support their team, which made for some crowd competition as well. The Italians were extra enthusiastic when the Italia team played. One guy shouted "O Dio!" every 5 minutes as if his life were on the line. Their excitement was contagious, and we enjoyed getting involved in the games. Personally, I thought it was more interesting than regular soccer. I liked that it was such a small space to play and that meant a lot more action - more goals and the ball going back and forth from one team to the other a lot, I liked the sand part of it too (this is my sad attempt at a soccer blog without Sean's help). My favorite part was when one of the players got a yellow card for "faking". This apparently is an actual rule, that if you are caught faking being injured the ref calls you on it and you get a penalty. I mean, isn't that a little humiliating? Grown men, faking being hurt and being called out, and then having to say, "well, yeah you're right, I was only faking" and just continue the game? And what do his teammates think? I don't know, maybe I am missing something, but I thought it was hilarious and wanted to shout, "get up ya big baby!" Overall, beach soccer was a fun experience, and more importantly a fantastic opportunity for me to work on my tan.