Many Americans are still catching on to it, but soccer (or futbol or football to the rest of the world) is a fun sport, and watching it during the World Cup is hella fun. It's like March Madness (for you basketball fans) or the NFL playoffs (for you American football fans), but further energized by being a truly international competition (sorry, 'World' Series) and being held only every 4 years. Oakland being the multi-cultural place that it is, it's unsurprising that the World Cup is a really big deal here.
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| packed house at Era |
With the growth of Oakland Wiki, it was unsurprising that someone asked
Where to Watch the World Cup?, and that it took little time for the new entry to be filled out. A lot of people in the Bay Area these days don't have TVs, or if they do, don't have cable to access channels like ESPN where many of the World Cup matches are being shown. (pro tip: Univision is showing all the games in Spanish. It's available over the air on channel 66-2.) And even if you have a TV and cable, there's something different about watching an event like the World Cup with a group of other fans.
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| Baba Afolabi of SuRu Clothing |
Sunday I checked out a couple of locations. Era Art Bar was
packed with people to watch the U.S. play Portugal. I was there to meet up with Baba Afolabi and check out the offerings of
SuRu Clothing who is sponsoring World Cup viewing events at Era and other Oakland locations, along with
The Umoja Festival. "Suru" means patience in the Yoruba language, and "to do" in Japanese, and interesting cross-cultural coincidence. Suru has some great, well-made gear (I bought a stylish green track jacket), so check it out next time you're watching the World Cup around Oakland. And you'll be
shopping local!
I then cycled around the lake to Rooz Cafe to meet up with Sonny Le. While Rooz was crowded, it was no where near as packed as Era. Rooz has a new projection system installed specially for the World Cup, so it's going to be my go-to place for games I don't watch on Univision en Español.
More pictures:
timely. I am thinking about finding a place to watch tomorrow's game. Rooz might be perfect, as I need to go to work after, and don't/can't be enjoying my favorite beverage, but would like to enjoy my second!
ReplyDeleteJust had lunch there today and watched a little of #FRA vs. #ECU. Looking now, I see didn't miss any scoring as there was none. But I did run into a friend I haven't seen for a while. I'm guessing there will be a good crowd tomorrow morning.
ReplyDeleteAnd wait...second favorite? Wine? :-)