We have seen two types of culture exported and integrated locally almost everywhere to the world: American culture and football (soccer) culture.
The universal language of the world is football. There hasn't been a single country in the world that we have visited where the words "Barcelona" "Manchester" "Chelsea" "Messi" or "Ronaldo" didn't initiate an eye gleam of instant familiarity.
In Rwanda, the village kids reenacted their own English Premier League championship over and over with compressed soccer balls of trash. In Sierra Leone, in the villages of Kono district, hundreds of people paid a $1 to pack onto wooden benches in a stuffy, dirt-floored thatched hut structure with a satellite to tune into a Chelsea-Manchester game and root for their favorite team. The adults in John Obey fishing village organized matches with the tourists and NGO workers because they know the positive influence of organized sport in a young kids life. The youth of Nepal took turns shooting penalty kicks into bamboo goals on a scare piece of flat land high in the stepped hills of the Himalayas, land that could maybe have been better used for farming for the food-poor communities. The list of examples we have seen goes on.
While in Mexico City we had the chance to go to a football match at the Estadio Azteca, an enormous stadium (fifth in the world) opened in 1966 that holds about 108,000 cheering Mexican soccer fans. It was the venue for the 1968 Olympics, the 1970 and 1986 World Cup and also the location of two of the most famous goals in history (both by Diego Maradona). In short it has a lot of history.
Filling a stadium of 108,000 people is a tall order and unfortunately the game we went to had only about 50,000 people; still, that's 10,000 more people than you would find at a sold out Fenway Park. The atmosphere was incredible. I have been to professional and raucous football games before -- a friendly match between Mexico and Brasil at Foxborough and a Premier league game in London between Everton and Fulham -- but those games didn't prepare me for the noise echoing throughout the Estadio Azteca. It was a quarterfinal match between two historical Mexican league rivals, Pumas and America, and provided for some great entertainment.
We were seated way in the top deck, continuing our budget travel streak, and in hindsight this was a great decision. Not only could we see everything, but we were also shielded from (and possibly participated in) the ritual that happens when a goal is scored: of course everyone goes crazy and starts screaming, but it is also common -- nay, expected -- that one throw his beer cup, nachos tray, and/or any other trash at hand down stadium as far as possible. Don't think for one second that it matters how much beer is left or how many nachos are on your tray -- you throw it anyway. We saw little grandmothers (abuelitas) in full jerseys stomping their feet, waving flags and yelling obscenities. We saw 9 year-old boys of the opposition team turn towards the scoring crowd in defiance, middle fingers up, screaming their team's cheer as a storm of beer, cups and peanuts swarmed in like a tropical storm. We saw smoke rising from hand held flares as they cascaded down from the upper decks. We saw it all and we loved it.
You might wonder if there is security at these events, just in case a beer cup hits the wrong abuelita or a flare lights someone's hair on fire. In fact, there are hordes of them! Security in full riot gear line each deck in front of the major populated sections. At the highest of rows, security with binoculars comb the seats below looking for suspicious activity. Upon exiting the match you are flanked by rows of security looking our for any funny business. Should anything have gone wrong, we have no idea what sort of violent face-off would have gone down...but that's all part of the experience.
In case you were wondering, the America team won 2-1 in the 90th minute with a last second goal to seal the win in extra time.
In short, would we go to a Mexican League championship game at the Estadio Azteca? Absolutamente
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