Football in a Communal Culture - A tailgate party spread across the city

Last night, Mali beat Guinea 1-0 in an early match of the CAN 2012 - the Africa cup of nations for football (soccer).

I didn't even know Mali was playing today until I heard this roar erupt from outside as I was sitting in my office. There were no TVs nearby and the game is half a continent away.

I stopped to consider if there were any embassy warnings on possible demonstrations. Perhaps the students are on strike again - yes, they do that here.

But no, this was happy crowd noise and in a split second I knew Mali was playing a game in the Africa Cup and had scored a goal.

It really is like nothing else. As I headed home a but later, I chatted with Moussa, our guard, listening on the radio and got the score: 1-0.

Then as I walked the three blocks home I passed three different boutiques with TVs out in the street and a dozen men watching at each. Imagine if all the sports bars and football parties in the US were outside in the street during the superbowl, or all the pubs in the UK were turned outside for the World Cup.

You literally can hear the reaction to the goal erupt and then echo out all around the city. And you know that everyone is watching the same thing and rooting for the same team as this is a national team.

There are downsides to this:  if we win a big game, there is a likelihood of exuberance that spills out into dangerous driving and even people getting killed in car accidents. And there have been times when disgust at losing gets out of hand and things are destroyed, but by and large, it is a lot of fun to get caught up in the communal excitement.

Now this could be compared to big events back home that everyone might watch in the privacy of their home, for example the Oscars or the Superbowl, or Rosebowl Parade. You might even have a party and watch it with friends. And you would certainly talk about it the next day at work or school. But you don't have the experience of sharing it with a whole city at once. It's kind of like a massive tailgate party outside the stadium where you can see others who are celebrating the same thing you are.

I don't really like football (American or Soccer) and so never really watch the games unless we are in the finals. But I do enjoy the excitement that spills out in the communal context here.