We had free tickets to a soccer championship game between two teams that play in division one here in Seattle (below the MLS, Major League Soccer). Richmond Kickers from Virginia vs. Seattle Sounders. We got there and the first thing that I noticed is what a social event it was. There was some 8000 people in the stands and not too many seemed to watch the game that much. Even my wife asked why I was so quite when all I was doing was paying attention to the game really. Now, what I really found funny though was a particular situation during the game: The guests are leading by one goal, 20 minutes to go in the game and this is the championship game. If this was Europe, or anywhere else for that matter, people would be dead quiet or cheering a lot for their team to pick it up, but here it was all about catching up with friends and eating. Two minutes later, one of the stars of the Seattle team gets kicked down badly. You hear some casual buu-ing, but amidst of this the announcer decides it is a great time to advertise, so he comes on line and says loudly in a very cheerful voice: “Don’t forget to pick up your favorite donuts from your closest Krispy Cream. Krispy Cream, your kind of donuts”. I couldn’t stop laughing, if this happened in a soccer crazy country, the announcer would have been fired or shot or both, but here, in the land of commercials, no one even noticed until they asked me why I am laughing which got them laughing when they realized what had happened.
And the game score? Seattle eventually won after penalties.