It's Saturday night inside a crowded Czech tavern. Two Americans sit together watching soccer. Scores flash on the screen. We cheer for Manchester United. Suddenly a dozen Czech's are looking at us like "What the hell are you thinking?"
I didn't know it would be this hard. These folks really take their sports seriously. Fortunately they cut us some slack. The waitress smiled at us. "English teams not favored here."
We looked a bit sheepish. We ordered another beer, grabbed some stout pretzels--about the size of my hand--and both made mental notes to remember what country we are visiting. No doubt about it, we learned what it means to follow football Czech style.
As my class was learning about writing research questions for their country research, I suggested that one of their questions might be focused on what travelers should know about a country before they visit. Clearly, knowing the country's rivals is an important topic, even in sports!
ReplyDeleteYes... Indeed... In point of fact, it's most important to remember what country you are in before you cheer for the Darth Vader of futball tems!
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