But...
I fell like there is one sports story out there that the average American sports fan has not heard about. I watch Sports Center every single day, literally, and I do not recall this being mentioned even once (the one and only time my fellow haole broda Neil Everett has let me down). But if we were watching any sports channel in South America, well, this story would be top news, possibly the biggest news of the year. Let me explain what has happened recently in the Primera division de Argentina (Argentina Top Soccer League):
As many people know, most countries in South America are soccer crazy. It is a part of life. Soccer is more important than providing food for your family to eat (sadly, that is not an exaggeration). Argentina is no different, in fact, it may be worse than many of the other South American countries. When I lived there and played soccer with the locals, they literally took it as an offense when I, a white American, scored a goal on them. Although you can find soccer clubs in every city of the country, no matter which city you are from, you are a fan of one of two teams: River or Boca. Club Atletico River Plate is from Buenos Aires, the country's capital, and has won 33 national first division championships, more than any other Argentine team. They have been around since 1901. Club Atletico Boca Juniors is also from Buenos Aires, but a poorer side
of town. They have won 23 league titles and been in existence since 1905. These two teams are rivals, according to Yahoo Sports, this rivalry is listed as one of the 10 greatest rivalries in sports. Just to give you an idea of the magnitude of this rivalry, other rivalries listed on the top 10 were Ali vs. Frazier and Red Sox vs. Yankees. But I would say that this rivalry is bigger than either of those. When it comes to Red Sox vs Yankees, although many people watch it and are intrigued by that rivalry, unless you are from Boston or New York, you are not gonna be devastated if the team you're cheering for loses. It is a rivalry of two cities. But the River/Boca rivalry is not just two cities, it is an entire country. Friendships can be ruined by the outcome of this game. Here is what Yahoo said about this rivalry "The match has been a traditional war of the classes with Boca considered the working class side while River Plate are sometimes referred to as 'Los Millonarios'. No matter where these two teams lie in the league, weeks of hype, and often crowd trouble, surround the game. It is not just Argentina where the game attracts huge attention: the whole of Spanish-speaking South America is gripped by Superclasico fever. When these two do battle, an entire continent stops to watch." Attending this "Superclasico" was listing number 1 in an article written by The Observer titled "50 Sporting Things you Must Do Before you Die".So now that I have set the stage for what I am about to tell you, maybe what has happened in recent weeks will make a little bit more sense.
Neither of these two teams have won a championship since 2008, but Boca has been closer to the top than River in recent seasons. River has consistently found themselves towards to bottom of the 20 team league. In Argentinian soccer, as well as in other soccer leagues around the world, if you are not playing well, that means that you may get kicked down to the lower league. It is called getting relegated. Since in most American sports, we do not have different levels of professional sports, this concept does not make sense to lots of people, so to best explain it, it would be like a Major League Baseball team moving down to Triple A and a Triple A team moving up to the majors. This happens every year. Some move up and some move down, it is just like climbing a ladder. But some teams, they are always gonna be in the top division. Some teams have just earned their spot and no matter what, they can never be knocked down. For those of you familiar with European soccer, teams like Manchester United, Liverpool, Barcelona, Real Madrid, teams that even on off years, never will play so bad that they come close to being relegated. River and Boca are teams like that, they have been the powerhouse teams of Argentine soccer for over a hundred years now, the thought of one of them dropping down the the B division is not even imaginable, its absolutely absurd.
Now, lets snap back to reality. June 26, 2011, this past Sunday, River Plate faced off against Belgrano de Cordoba in a possible relegation game. As I previously mentioned, River has not been playing well lately, they had actually been playing so bad that they were forced to play a two game playoff against Belgrano, a team from Argentina's second largest city Cordoba. The team that scored the most goals in
the two combined games would win the series. Each team played one game at home. The first game which was played in the home stadium of Belgrano was won by the home squad 2-0. The second game was played this past Sunday in Buenos Aires in the largest and nicest stadium in the entire country, the home of River. Since River lost the first game by two goals, they would have to win this game by at least two goals secure their position in the top division. After only five minutes, River was already ahead by one goal, meaning that if they could figure out a way to score one more goal in 85 minutes and prevent Belgrano from netting one of their one, River would not be relegated. The game went to the half, still 1-0 in favor of the home squad. But 15 minutes into the second half, Belgrano would tie the game up. River would have a few more chances, including a missed penalty kick, but when the final whistle blew, Belgrano would finish with a 3-1 aggregate score; they had won the playoff and had advanced to the top division.The game had to be finished early. River's fanatic fans began to riot in the stadium and throw things onto the pitch so much so that the referees decided to finish the game before the full time had been played. This rioting continued into the streets for hours. Special police forces had to be put into place the confront the the angry and shocked fans. Tears fell from the eyes of some of the toughest men, men so tough
that they on a daily basis call cow intestines and blood sausage their dinner (both of which are actually very delicious). According to reports, close to 100 people were injured in the riots, both by the police and by fellow fans (Watch this video). This relegation is not just sad for these fans because they love their team, it is humiliating for them to now be playing in the division below their arch rivals. River has won more championships than any other team in that country, they are owners of the Nation's largest stadiums, and they will now be playing against teams from much smaller cities who have stadiums not much bigger than many high schools (trust me, I have seen some of them). Yes, it is true, River can eventually make their way back up the ladder, but they will forever be remembered for having been relegated to the second division. And trust me, the Boca fans will never let them live this down. I personally am a fan of River, they are my favorite Argentine team, but I am not in any way a fanatic like those who live in 
that country. But just because I am a fan, my friends from Argentina have sent me messages on Facebook making fun of me because my team is no longer at the same level as Boca.Can you imagine what this would be like, the Yankees, the team who has won more championships than any other MLB team, getting knocked down to triple A and being replaced by, I don't know, the Albuquerque Isotopes? Or what if the Lakers or Celtics got knocked down to the D-League for the Fort Wayne Mad Ants. For me it is a shocking concept to think about. And it got me thinking about just that; what if in American sports, we too had a system of relegation? In part 2 of this story, I will look at which professional American teams deserve to be dropped down to the second division.
(I'll explain some of the pictures: The very first one is a picture from a recent River vs. Boca match. The second one is a Belgrano fan showing off his Belgrano tattoo. Getting a a tattoo of your favorite team is actually very common. Another photo is one what a Boca fan in Argentina sent me. It is a milk carton showing a mission child, except the picture of the missing child is replaced with the logo of River. This final picture is me and a few of my friends when in Argentina, we ran into the Belgrano team at a hotel.)
