Quote:
Originally Posted by DoubleK
You just might not leave with your wallet. . .
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I've been to a sporting event in Sao Paolo. It was one of the wildest experiences. We wanted to go to a soccer game in S America, but the concierge at our hotel refused to even discuss it. Naturally, I found an English speaking bell hop (sort of, his English must have been from music videos because his accent could be best described as Portuguese mixed with rapper) to give us directions.
We arrived at the stadium and had to declare whether we were supporting the home team or visitors. I was confused why this mattered and the ticket clerk (whose English was comparable to my Portuguese, aka none) got frustrated and just sold us home team seats which was fine.
After the metal detectors and a thorough pat-down on the way in, we found our section. The fans shouted and waved flags the whole time, so the atmosphere was really neat.
The 8 foot high fence topped with razor wire at the edge of the home team section surprised me. Especially since the other side of that fence was an empty section with about a dozen riot cops (shield, batons, guns, body armour) then another fence with razor wire, then the visiting fans.
We had a great time but it was sort of surreal. The bell hop had strongly recommended we leave prior to the end, so we did, and the whole thing was uneventful. But it must be eventful sometimes...
F1 would probably be a richer version of that, the tickets were cheap and the fans didn't appear to be the same income bracket at the Monegasques.