My son and I just returned from a trip to the Dominican Republic. While we were there, we had the pleasure of attending Game 7 (of 9) of the Dominican Serie Finale, the winner of which is the national champion and advances to the Carribean World Series. The game pitted the Tigueres del Lisey of Santo Domingo against the Aguilas Cibaenas of Santiago. As my Dominican friend described it, their version of Yankees vs. Red Sox.
The game was in Santo Domingo. Nevertheless, the crowd was at least 50% Aguilas fans, if not more. Our first clue that something was different there was a swarm of fans outside the stadium yelling, blowing horns and waving flags. The crowd was comprised of fans of both teams!! We had to buy tickets from a scalper and ended up paying several times face value. Nevertheless, the cost to us--US$20 each!!!
The quality of baseball is excellent as the teams are made up largely of current and former MLB players (Luis Polonia???) and rising Dominican stars. Carlos Marmol in particular was impressive, striking out the side in the top of then ninth to save the game for Licey and keep them alive for one more night.
But the truly amazing part was the crowd inside the game. To say they were "passionate" would be a huge understatement. They know the game and cheer everything. When one of the teams did something good, flags of the appropriate color appeared all over the stadium. As I sit here typing, I don't recall ever hearing any booing or whistling. That is not to say, however, that the fans do not engage each other. In fact, they are merciless--taunting fans of the other team when their team scores, makes a good play, etc. And I mean real, true "in your face" taunting (some very vulgar) of a type that would surely touch off a full-scale riot at a Yankees-Red Sox game! But in the Dominican, the targets laugh it off and give it right back at the next opportunity, all in good fun. This is true despite the fact that, in addition to unlimited quantities of beer, the roving vendors also sell bottles of rum!!!
After the game, the same spirit of friendly competition continued outside the stadium and, after the Aguilas won the championship up in Santiago the next night, we were awake for several hours afterwards as cars streamed by our hotel honking horns, blaring music, yelling and waving yellow Aquilas fans. Imagine Yankee fans celebrating that way in Boston...
Makes you wonder if we don't take some things a bit more seriously than we should!
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Donde esta el bano, por favor? 