Monday, January 18, 2010

Break out your Tangos!*

A new report just found that violence after soccer games is much higher on the victorious side than on the vanquished. That is good, as Algeria just advanced to the next stage in the African Cup. How is this good, you ask. Because Algeria advanced with a draw. Phew. Not that you could tell from the fireworks, honking, and screaming that have been going on for three hours now. Too bad I can't channel this noise through the internets...if only there was some series of tubes I could use... In light of the aforementioned study, I can report that there seem to be no buildings or cars on fire, at least in the area of the city that I can see.

Since I'm too lazy to actually take pictures and upload them here, I'll post the following, from a friend who was here when Algeria first beat Egypt in World Cup qualifying play [edit: it turns out I'm not lazy, I went out in the streets with the kids, watched the show, but my pictures suck, and the following description is already written...ok, I am lazy]:

"When Algeria scored the first goal, the city went wild. We could hear people screaming in the streets, setting off fire crackers, and horns honking. Little did I know that this was only the warm-up act to what would follow. Long story short, Algeria won 3-1 and the minute the game ended, the city exploded. I don't use this word lightly. It was as though every single Algerian in the country had been watching and certainly everyone in Algiers because it was as though they had all been invited to a street party. People took the streets on foot and in cars, blasted music, draped flags on their cars and around their bodies, stuffed family members and friends (young and old, male and female) into their vehicles (and by vehicles, I mean their trunks, their hoods, and even on top of their cars). It was the most spontaneous outpouring of emotion and celebration I have ever seen. One would have thought Algeria won the entire World Cup, not some measly qualifying match. Because the women's corridor is street side, it was hard to even hear yourself think. So of course I had to investigate, although I must admit, I was a little scared because I have truly never seen anything like this in my life. I've included some pictures so you can get a small taste of what was going on here. And this was just outside the Gylcines. Not even in the center of town. This party of the people lasted from 10:30pm until 3 or 4am. Miraculously, I fell sleep somewhere around 2am out of sheer exhaustion."
And her pictures:





*Tango is Algeria's best** beer.
**"Best" means the one I can get readily.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

I want a Tango!

I found this humorous, but I also am a huge fan of taking pictures of what you're drinking.

http://www.beitel-winery.com/cheapbeer/cheapbeer.html

I like the "Danger Levels" too. Makes drinking that much more dire.