THE FRIENDLY

As some of you can attest to, when it comes to having a good night on the town, not too many things top going to a big ol' sporting event. The crowds, the stadium, the anthems, the bleachers, the tickets, the carnival atmosphere, and the company... you just gotta love it.
From the laid back, sunny, seed-eating crowds at Safeco or Skydome, to the patriotic, Molson-swigging puckheads at the World Juniors, to the carnival that is the NBA, each sport brings with it its own unique experience. Including, as I found out yesterday, soccer- Cambodian style.

Some match facts:
Read them once and it seems pretty normal. Read 'em again and you'll be scratching your head.

The teams: Cambodia's best club team versus a top club team from Korea
The stakes: none, really- it was an exhibition match.
The score: Korea: 3 Good Guys: 1 [and we were up 1-nil with 20 minutes to go...]
Game Start time (advertised): 2:00 pm
Game Start time (actual): 4:45 pm
Apparently, "two o'clock" is Khmer for "four forty five". Whatever.
Admission: Free
Seating: First come, first served

The pre-game entertainment: On paper, pretty typical- Cheerleaders, dancers, and a local live band sponsored by a cigarette company.

The Cheerleaders: 30-something men and women wearing black t-shirts and black jeans waving pom-poms and doing the can-can to what sounded like a techno remix of "T'is So Sweet to Trust in Jesus"
The dancers: 20 women in a circle wearing traditional outfits waving abnormally large fans. Painful to watch.
The band: My favorite pregame entertainment. 2 synthesizers, a couple of saxophones, a guitar and a bass provided the 40-something lead singer enough treble to belt out a 7-minute rendition of "That's the Way (Uh-huh Uh-huh) I Like It". Wow.

The Crowd- an estimated 20000 strong, but I could be way off. I can say for sure, though, that Phnom Penh's version of the Big O outcrowds Montreal's version any day of the week.

Drinks: No booze here, but for 500 Riel (12.5 cents) you can get a tasty baggy of freshly squeezed sugar cane juice. Pony up the big cash (1500 Riel) and get some Pomegranite-flavored green tea, or a bottle of heavily sweetened, artificially flavored, carbonated fruit drink called "Sting", which, as an added bonus, is infused with Ginseng.

Food: All your favorites (popcorn, peanuts, chips, and cookies) and then some: duck eggs, salty and spicy mangoes, dried shrimp skewers, prawn crackers (with real prawns), noodles of all types, and several versions of mystery meat that make ballpark hotdogs seem like filet mignon.

The Intangibles: A whole section of military clapping in unison, the 28 different number combinations announced for the 50\50 draw, and the killer Cambodian sunset over the stands as the game was winding down made the experience just that much better. And, oh yeah, we may have been the only white people in the entire place.

All in all, it was a great time. The match itself wasn't all that great (Cambodia was severely outplayed), but it was a cultural experience that's for sure- kind of like tailgating at the Bills, or screaming oneself hoarse at the Sparty's.

Until next time, enjoy the World Juniors, the Bowl games, the Canucks, the Raps, and the 'Hawks.

Cheers!