Brand Nou Flavor (Off to Barcelona…)
Right now I am throwing some clothes in a bag and getting ready to fly to Barcelona for an all-expenses paid trip to see a Barca FC v. Sevilla soccer match. How did this happen? I’m up against the clock to get to the airport, but I’ll give you the brief version of the story because it is awesome.
Last summer my friend Nate (of “Damn It Feels Good to be a Banker” fame) was working at Newscorp. You may know Newscorp as the company of media tycoon Rupert Murdoch, who owns (amongst other things) Fox News and The Wall Street Journal. Because Newscorp also owns Fox Soccer Channel, Nate and some of his co-workers were involved in a charity 5-a-side soccer tournament in NYC for an organization called Malaria No More. The headliners of the event were the player of FC Barcelona, who were in town to play an exhibition match against the Red Bulls.
Anyway, I was sitting in my office one summer afternoon, expecting a hum-ho afternoon, when I got a call from Nate.
“You want to play soccer with FC Barcelona in an hour?”
Not the question I was expecting, but carry on.
“We’re doing this thing at Newscorp and one of our guys dropped out. We need a player.”
At that point, I really had little clue what the whole event was, but I just said yes because it sounded like there was no need to ask questions. And fortunately I regularly wear indoor soccer shoes casually, so I was basically ready to hit the field at the drop of a dime. (This, by the way, is why I think mad Europeans wear turf shoes all the time, just in case they have to take an unexpected penalty or play street soccer for their dinner or something.)
So I rolled down to Chelsea Piers, got onto a field surrounded by TV cameras and fans, and did a little stretching. The next half hour was a bit of a blur. The Barcelona players filed of the bus and I was standing right next to Thierry Henry as the press snapped photos of the squad. Everyone was there except Messi pretty much. Next thing I knew, I was on a team called “Rwanda” with Rafael Marquez, Alexander Hleb, a couple small kids, and middle-aged man. We steamrolled straight to the finals, where we came up against none other than Nate’s team, “Angola.”
Nate called me over to the touchline before kick-off. “I don’t really know what’s going on, but Henry said the winning team gets to go to Barcelona to see a match. He was laughing though so I’m not sure.”
The stakes were (potentially) high, and the crowd (of about 200) roared! Our teams traded a couple goals, and then, with less than a minute left in the game, I found myself with the ball at my feet and a gaping hole in the Angola defense.
Summoning the spirit of the Three Lions, I did what I had to do. GOOOOLLLLLLL!!!!!!
And now, because of this deft strike (and some amazing circumstance), I am going to Barcelona to watch a match at Camp Nou. For free.
Even though I straight embarrassed his team, I’m bringing Nate along for the ride. Will check back in on the flipside. In the meantime, here’s some footage from the tourney. Skip ahead to the 3:00 mark to see my cheeky game-winner.
Adios!
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