The Ultimate Rivalry!

After all the delicious soups, and bread have been consumed, sitting around the dinner table and chatting all night  is a very typical winter evening for Chilean families. After all, without central heating, why wouldn’t you sit next to the only wood burning stove in the house.

            Monday night started as usual. We got home from school around 7:30 pm, and sat down for a nice warm meal. After filling our bellies until we couldn’t have anymore, someone made the mistake of bringing up professional soccer in Chile. The next 45 minutes were chaos!

             Here in Chile, there are two major professional soccer teams. Colo Colo, and University de Chile and they are arch rivals. The Yankees vs. the Red Sox, Duke vs. UNC or the Packers vs. Chicago Bears rivalries do not even compare. My host father, an U de Chile fan, even stooped low enough to say that all of the fans of Colo Colo are poor bastards and are the lowest of the low in Chile. The chaos was a result of my host father, mother, and brother being U de Chile fans, and my host sister and the other three teenagers in the house being Colo Colo fans.

Both sides were trying to convince us to be fans of “their” team. My host father even pulled out his U de Chile jersey and coffee mug so that I could take a picture with the jersey and mug hoping that this would help me side with his team.

After listening to each sides arguments, which were being screamed at the same time, I made the easy decision… I sided with my host mother and father. After all, they are the ones that put a roof over my head and feed me, so I figured I should get on their good side. So in the end… I am now an U de Chile fan!