Priorities

Wednesday night was a very important futbol game for Argentina against Uruguay. The winner of the game advanced to the 2010 World Cup while the loser has to fight for a spot in a play-off against Costa Rica. Uruguay and Argentina have both won the World Cup twice, and Argentina has qualified for the last 10 consecutive World Cups (Uruguay failed to qualify in 2006).

The importance of the game was complicated by the fact that their very controversial coach Diego Maradona is either loved or hated by Argentineans. As such, some people were actually rooting AGAINST Argentina in the hopes that it would cost him his job once and for all.

So, it was a Big Game.

Businesses without televisions closed early. People left the office early. Bars with televisions were crammed to the max. And, bus drivers were in a hurry to finish their routes.

I stood and waited, patiently, as not one but TWO busses, mostly empty, swooped past me and the 10 other people that gathered during my wait. One bus driver had to stop to let someone off, but to prevent any of the rest of us from getting on, he pulled up a half block from the stop. Silly me, I ran to catch it thinking it was his mistake. He would not open the door for me and zoomed off. I screamed an obscenity at his tail pipe, much to the delight of two teenage boys passing by.

"What do you expect?" one of them asked me. "His priority is futbol!"

The third bus driver must not have cared much either way, because he eased his overflowing bus to a stop and the 10 of us crammed on. The old lady I had been talking to and was then squashed into my armpit until I got off 10 minutes later smiled and said to me, "See? Some of us care more about money than futbol."

Argentina won 1-0. The game was much less interesting than my effort to get to the bar to watch it.