Just another game

I just came back from the Ahly and Zamalek football match. I have no idea why I went. I had stopped going to stadiums many years ago, and I'm not even following soccer anymore. I was even making sure to avoid such crowded public events for the last 2 or so years. So, for some reason I decided to go with my friends today. Atleast they had some invitations to the first class section of the stadium. Not sure what was first class about it though.

It was actually exciting, especially that Ahly kicked Zamalek's butt 3 nil. But still, pretty uncomfortable, and I almost suffocated from the cigarettes smoke (and mind you, this is an open air stadium!) that I had to smoke a cigarette myself to adapt to the whole thing!

The amount of cussing is unbelievable. The opposing fans cussing each other, the fans cussing the other team's players, and even their own players. Poor players, what has their mother's got to do with all this. I guess they are to be blamed for bringing those lousy players to life!

I think sports is an excellent example of how fanatics are everywhere, in Egypt and elsewhere. If there are such fanatics for such lousy teams, how come everyone's wondering why there are moslem radicals, or any other radical, for that matter.

And to those secularists, who want to separate religion from politics in Egypt, try separating religion from sports first. And good luck with that. People are literaly praying for their team to win, literally asking God to help them kick the other team's ass! I guess, as long as there's an enemy involved, God has to be brought in for support.

There were thousands of security police, just like every game, and I got hand searched 3 times. I'm sure that if an outside observer sees this, he would start making all kind of conclusions of how the regime is taking extra precautions so that no political unrest occurs because of the large crowds, etc., etc. The last thing on those guys minds is politics. This reminds me of the story that when Ahly won in the 70's and the streets were full of fans carrying red flags. An American diplomat was on alert that this is a communist revolution!! No idea how true that story is.

Oh, and there were about 5 girls in the section we were sitting in (good looking too). So much for anyone accusing Egypt of being a patriarchal society that suppresses women! ;)

I took some cool pictures of the game and the crowd, but I'm not gonna publish them so no one accuses me of defaming Egypt!