Football

I thought I'd get away from the geology metaphors after the last post and talk about the most popular activity in Morocco. Football is, without a doubt, the national pastime of Morocco. People don't "play" football, they do football. It's incorporated into everything to such an extent that I have yet to hang out with "the boys" without seeing a football around (by the way, for us Americans, fotball = soccer). You walk down the street juggling a ball, you practice goalkeeping on the beach (and then get yelled at by mounted police) and just plain do whatever you can with a football whenever it's available.

For kids, it's a way of life. One of the surest sights every day when I walk around Akkari in the morning is kids playing football. They'll play with whatever's available - tennis balls, little bouncy balls, or, if they're lucky enough to have one, a real ball. Kids form up quick teams, designate goalkeepers, and play in side streets all day.

Part of the reason for this, I've found, is how freaking simple it is to organize soccer, compared to any other sport. All you need is a ball, any ball, and you've got a rudimentary game going. No field? Use a street. No football? Use a tennis ball.

One of my heretofore private shames here in Morocco has been my lack of skill with the ol' kicking bag. In layman's terms, I can't play soccer worth shit. The few years of rec soccer as a young one haven't been as helpful as I've hoped, and normally I've relegated myself to the sidelines with the pathetic declaration, "pardon! je joue le tennis." Never before have I been so conscious of how damn bourgeois playing tennis is. Watching these kids play the game with such ebullience definitely gives me that whole "if I had to do it again" feeling.