Sports

By Zach Whittle

On my flight to Spain I decided that I should educate myself on some current events of the country. As the flight attendant pushed the newspaper cart down the one-meter wide aisle I asked for the local newspaper. He handed me El Mundo, which is for Madrid what the Washington Post is for DC. The cover article was a picture of Athletic Madrid, an internationally successful fútbol club, which had just won the Europa League title. There were no other articles on the front page and I would soon find out there were not any on the next eight pages of fourteen. One might think that an eight-page article could only be written for someone who just discovered the cure for the common cold, or who eliminated terrorism in the Middle East. While the match may not have had such international significance as these two accomplishments, fútbol is always in the forefront of a Spaniard’s mind.