Being a U.S. Sports Fan in Colombia
By Marcella Gonzalez
Before I left for Colombia, I swore I was going to do everything differently so that I could fully immerse myself in the culture: I would never be on my phone. I would only speak Spanish. I would not watch any sports from the United States.
Welp, I did not keep many of those promises. The hardest one to keep was not watching sports. I grew up in Kansas City with a dad from Texas who loves sports, so I had clearly been kidding myself all along with that promise.
It started with the NFL, which I swore would be the only sport I was going to watch. Now before you judge, ask yourself this: are you a fan of the three-time Super Bowl champions, the Kansas City Chiefs? Say what you want about this last season, but has your favorite team been to the Super Bowl five times in the last six years? So, I digress… I found a “cheap” way to stream NFL games on the DAZN app.
I was originally okay with not watching baseball, but then the Kansas City Royals made it to the postseason for the first time in 10 seasons. The last time they made it this far, they won the World Series, but I’m not going to brag about that. Naturally, I found an international stream called MLB.TV for the postseason.
But I was done after that, right? Not quite.
Then March rolled around, which happens to be my favorite month. The weather was changing, baseball was starting, it’s my half-birthday, etc. So, I told myself I would just get one month of Disney+ in order to watch March Madness. Now, here I am with more streaming services than I ever had back in the U.S.!
None of the members of my host family are interested in any of these sports, but they also don’t mind when I shut myself in my room to watch, even if it’s Christmas Day! However, as time passes here in Colombia, I have found that I am willing to miss sports in order to spend time with my host family or friends. For example, this was the first year that I can remember not watching the Super Bowl, simply because I was having too much fun hanging out with my family. But since the Chiefs lost… did I really miss anything?
(Photo/Marcella Gonzalez ) Photo of my setup when the NFL and MLB overlapped.
Disclaimer: The content of this publication is generated by individual volunteers. The opinions and thoughts expressed here do not reflect any position of the United States government or the Peace Corps.