Football (Both Kinds)

In the U.S. "football" is used to refer to that game where people tackle each other a bunch to get a ball into the endzone.  In the rest of the world, "football" refers to what is known in the U.S. as "soccer," a game played with a two-toned ball where the aim is to get the ball into a goal net.  A lot of people will say that "football" makes more sense when applied instead of "soccer" because in soccer, is played with the feet.  The original term for both, however, comes from the idea that the sports are played on foot, instead of say, on horseback.

I digress.  February 5th, my birthday, held a great deal of football, as both the Superbowl and a Rangers' game were held that day.  

Rangers' Game

The Rangers were facing off against a team from Dundee, which was supposedly a match favorable to the Rangers.  You can read the match report online if you're interested so I won't go into it here, but the short of it is that the Rangers lost 0-2.

Still the experience in itself was fun.  There wasn't really a narrator, or any kind of show like in baseball.  However, the fans for each side more than made up for it.  Each side had a dedicated section where fans sang songs, danced, and shouted chants to cheer for their team.  They were so loud you could hear them from outside the stadium.  In recent months, police have been trying to crack down on it for fear of violence breaking out, but I didn't ever feel threatened by the chanting so I imagine outside of "Old Firm" games it's probably relatively harmless.

I didn't find out until later, but that game was a Scottish Cup match, and losing it meant the Rangers were out  of the Cup.  The Rangers have also been having some financial problems so in general it's just not a good time for them, poor guys.

I mean to go to a Celtics game at some point - as sacrilegious as that would be to some people - to see if there are any differences.  But I'd definitely recommend a match for anyone coming to Scotland as it's good fun and doesn't take up much more than an afternoon.

Superbowl

It took us a while to remember that the Superbowl is shown live in the U.S. and thus, "starts" five hours later here, so I only got to see up until halftime.  It was playing at a bar in the fabulous Queen Margaret Union, right next to the university, so my friends and I popped in and got a few pints.

There were of course, a lot of Americans there.  A few bars in the city were hosting similar events, so while not a huge deal, it's big enough that people feel the need to advertise for it.  

The bar tried to make the experience as authentic as possible.  There were people who were slightly too drunk who kept yelling "U.S.A" at the television (and I believe they were English, or Scottish, not American).  There were even "hotdogs," served on baguettes  that were surprisingly popular.  

Unfortunately, because Britain sucks when it comes to getting U.S. television, we had to watch the game on BBC, which meant no commercials, thus defeating pretty much the entire purpose of attending.  We did get to see the half-time show, but the jury is out on whether or not that was a good thing.  

Still, watching the Superbowl in a bar with a good amount of Americans was a nice little slice of home in the middle of the term, and overall pretty fun.