Any soccer fans out there?

I just made an interesting discovery about the massive rivalry between Real Madrid and Barcelona, here in España.

So my professor walks up to ME at the beginning of the class, essentially asking "Do you know why class is ending early today?"

My answer: "Porque queremos?" "Because we want to?"

His answer: "Porque esta noche hay un partido de fútbol" "Obviously there is a soccer game tonight, stupid american guiri"

PS. 'Guiri' means foreigner/tourist/obviously-not-Spanish

"Breaking the rules of fashion since the dawn of time"
Credit: http://lacomunidad.elpais.com/a-casanova/2011/5/11/guiri

Okay, so not really that harsh... but that's how it felt when my face burned with redness and "damn-I-should've-thought-about-that"-ness. (He was actually just trying to be nice and explain it to me).

    Moral of the story, fútbol is very important here in Spain, important enough to end class halfway through. He continued to explain to me that Real Madrid and Barcelona have a very important, heated rivalry

--okay, okay I already knew that! Don't make me look like too much of a noob!

After a fervent lecture on the Desaparecidos and genocide of Argentina, I asked my classmate Fran if the majority of Murcianos favor Barcelona. I've seen a lot of advertising by Barcelona, but not much from Real Madrid. This weekend when we watched the Barca-Madrid game in a busy restaurant, the vast majority of patrons cheered for Barcelona.

My favorite parts of soccer are the celebrations, AKA man-hugs and butt-slaps.
Credit: http://marioschumacher.blogspot.com.es/2011/04/el-fc-barcelona-y-real-madrid-se.html

Fran set me straight. He explained that there's no 'vast majority' in Murcia, leaning towards one team or the other. Interestingly, Barcelona tends to be favored by the less-moneyed folks, generally popular in pueblos and with the working class. He cautioned that this is how it is with his pueblo and in general but obviously is not always the case. I thought it was hilarious when he told me to ask a gypsy--he said they will always cheer for Barca!

When I asked him why Barcelona seemed to be favored by the less-wealthy, he didn't seem to know. I wonder if they somehow represent "the people" better in some regions...?

PS. throughout this blog post, I have heard noisemakers, whistles and firecrackers go off, cars honk repeatedly and "GOLLLLLLL!!!!" screamed from the adjacent apartments and streets below.

I did not take this photo, but I thought it seemed fitting. I found it here: http://honestlywtf.com/rarebirds/gol