Czech sports

Chelsey and I made it to our first couple of Czech sporting events this week. Last night we went to our first hockey game since we've been here. The Czech Republic is one of the big seven hockey nations, although their national league isn't up to NHL levels, partly because there are more Czechs in the NHL than any other European country. Still, it's some quality hockey, probably the third- or fourth-best league in the world. We went to see a home game for Sparta Praha, the dominant team in the league (and two-time defending champion). It was very interesting and a lot of fun. The game was more wide-open than the NHL (at least the "old" NHL; I haven't seen too much of the "new" NHL, due to their terrible TV contract and moving to Europe). The atmosphere was much different, too. The stands along the side of the rink were maybe two-thirds full, but behind the nets were packed, apparently because that's where the fan clubs or hardcore supporters sit (except that they're standing). It was these groups (there was one for each team, at either end) that supplied most of the noise, too; much less pre-recorded music than at North American events, and a lot of fan-started singing, chanting, and drumming. Yes, several fans from both teams brought drums and beat them throughout the game. It ended as a 2-1 win for Sparta.
Sunday we went to a soccer (or football) game. It was a home game for Bohemians 1905, one of two teams that play within walking distance of our apartment. There are four pro teams in Prague; two giant clubs that dominate Czech soccer, and two smaller clubs that just got promoted to the top division this season. Bohemians are one of the latter two, and so far are struggling near the bottom of the league. They didn't help themselves as we watched, hitting the crossbar three times and knocking the ball into their own net once in a 2-0 loss. That the home team was losing didn't stop the fans from singing throughout the game as well, including one ditty that appeared to go "Bohemians, la da da da da da da da". We decided that was to make it easier to remember the words in the second half after many beers. Another consequence of the low price of beer over here was the reaction to calls against the home team: fans would throw beers at the field. Something you wouldn't see at North American events with $8 beers. Though truthfully, it wasn't that effective here, either, as there was a net separating the stands from the field, and the beers merely hit the net and fell, sending the beers onto the first row of seats. Which may be why no one sat there.
-Jason