We have a substantial Bosnian population in The Lou. It's are one of the main places refugees were resettled after the Balkan wars. They have added something special to the culture of the region and have been on the blog before, like the Bosnia - Argentina soccer match at the baseball stadium a year and a half ago.
The community is centered on the south side around the Bevo Mill, more about which soon. There was a little Taste of Bosnia festival there last Sunday. Well, two food carts but lots of enthusiasm. But when the band stopped playing American pop music and struck up Bosnian dance tunes - well, how do you say let the good times roll in Bosnian? Click the top picture for a video.
I don't know much about soccer, or football if you prefer. I've only been to two professional matches. Both of them were in Buenos Aires, one with the north side team, River Plate, and their south side rivals, Boca Juniors. (That Boca game was a wild experience.) So, if I had any soccer sentiments they might be Argentine.
Unfortunately, Argentina's great star, Lionel Messi, didn't play. They said he had a leg injury. Maybe he was adverse to playing on a cold Midwestern night before tens of thousands of screaming Bosnian fans. Who knows. It was a great game nonetheless, with intense play and many scoring opportunities by both sides. As you can see in the third picture, the Bosnians were pretty tough.
On the same subject, congratulations to J.M. and condolences to Steffe on Portugal's victory over Sweden in Stockholm this week. Portugal moves on to the World Cup.
Oh, by the way, Argentina won 2 - nil. That's soccer talk for 2 to nothing. Baseball starts again in just over four months.
I like Bosnians. Our firm has a number of Bosnian clients and nicer, harder working people you may never meet. My business banker is Bosnian. (Hi, Edin!) But the country's soccer fans are pretty intense - not that it's unusual for the sport.
There were thousands of them wrapped in the flag, literally and figuratively, at the game Monday. I'd never seen the flag before and it's pretty cool, an original design. A group of them were out in the bleachers (top photo) behind a somewhat intimidating banner. When the game was almost over several of them lit traffic flares, astonishing conduct at an American sporting event. I was surprised the police didn't rush them but the flares went out soon enough.
