Barça Trebel Celebration

Philadelphia, where I grew up, is a huge sports town. Sports is second only to oxygen in popularity. With professional teams the Eagles (American football), the 76ers (basketball), the Phillies (baseball), and now even the Union (soccer), the city is kept busy year around. Barcelona's more similar to San Diego in that there's not as much sports interest. But, when Barça's playing, things definitely slow down a bit.

Watching the Champions League final between Barça and Italy's Juventus at our local secret spot:

Barça's 3-1 win that night gave the Catalans their Treble, or third league championship of the year: La Liga, La Copa del Rey, and the Champions League. It's the second time in six years that Barça's won all three.

The result was predictable; the celebration spilled out to the Font de Canaletes on La Rambla near Plaza Catalunya where the city gathers for every Barça win. (The fountain is where the people are sitting on top of the light. Tradition says that if you drink from the fountain, you'll return to Barcelona one day.)

Similar to the 2013 la Liga victory parade, this year's version was a city-wide party. Aboard a specially-decorated hop-on, hop-off bus, the team crossed the city and ended up at the Camp Nou stadium.

Diana and I didn't plan on going to the stadium for the big post-parade celebration because you had to get tickets at the stadium in the morning and we couldn't make it. But, around 7 pm that evening, Carol and Juan sent us a message saying they had two tickets if we were interested. Claro que si! (Of course!)

The stadium was packed and the celebration lasted well over an hour. There were (possibly-drunken) player speeches, a light-and-sound show, and fireworks:

There was even the mandatory playing of Queen's 'We Are The Champions' (yes, I think every country and team, regardless of language, uses this song):

My family'd be surprised that I'd watch Barça play and even more that I'd actually go to a celebration. Well, they'd be correct. I'm not a huge sports fan but I've learned to enjoy watching with friends and even playing a little. Plus, Barça's an easy team to like as they sure do seem to win a lot. It's different because, if you don't know, part of being a Philadelphia sports fan is the annual pain and suffering when the teams inevitably lose (not always, of course, but it sometimes seems that way).

F.C. Barcelona, més que un club: