Watching the basketball game in Rome

Rome, Italy — What a weekend — a historic NCAA Final Four win by the Spartans, paired with some of Rome’s most beautiful weather this semester. And aside from being noteworthy events, they also led me to discover new aspects of this city all weekend.

First, the basketball tournament. My roommates and I all donned our green and white and headed to Scholars Lounge, an Irish pub that’s open until 4 a.m., and perfect for the late night basketball games. I had not been to Scholars before March Madness because I heard it was too crowded and overrun with American students on study abroad. Both true facts, but both perfectly acceptable qualities for our basketball-watching venue.

Which brings us to the game. When our pack of MSU fans arrived, we quickly learned the majority of the pub’s clients were cheering for UConn. But we cheered as loud as we could and even gained the support of a table of Irish men, who (I am pretty sure) had no idea who or what they were actually cheering for.

I have to admit though, that as fun as the atmosphere was at Scholars, there were a few minutes when I wished I could have been watching the game from Ford Field or East Lansing. Watching MSU from Rome is a totally different experience, since all the celebration is so far away and disconnected.

But then there are days like today when I would not trade my time in Rome for anything. My roommates and I woke up (after sleeping less than four hours thanks to the late game) and took off to find one of Rome’s beaches. It took about an hour and three different metro lines, but we eventually made it to our stop, Stella Polare. There are four stops on the metro with access to the Mediterranean, so I hope to try a new beach every week.

But even once we made it to the beach, there were some clear differences from the shores of Lake Michigan. First of all, Romans do not go to the beach just to sunbathe and swim. In fact, only about half the people on the beach were even wearing swimsuits. There were families having pizza picnics, packs of teenagers playing futbol, and enough people walking around in sweaters to make me wonder if I was on a beach at all.

I am still trying to decide if the range of people was due to the day, with a cool breeze off the water, or if that is just the way Italians use the beach — I will have to find out. Maybe they go to the beach the way Americans might go to a park on a sunny afternoon.

Either way, it was a fun way to see a new part of Rome, and to relax after a late night watching MSU basketball. And I even have the sunburn to prove it.

Commentary

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dave

(04/06/09 1:41pm)
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Ha… we had to do this in Rome only we were watching the Tiger’s in the world series in 2006. Went to the exact same bar though. This game will start at 3:21am Rome time tonight, and I am fairly sure Scholar’s closes at 4, good thing they stream it online… good luck!

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spartan in france

(04/06/09 4:07pm)
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yeah, the cbs stream is a lifesaver :)

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