So,
Barça drew today with Athletic Bilbao. This drops the Catalans down to second place behind Real fucking Madrid.
However, Barça remain undefeated with three draws and eight victories. Real Madrid are up by one point in the standings.
Unfortunately, I didn't get to see the whole game--as the stream was down. I think my interrupted psychic support may have been some factor in the loss. This clearly marks me as an asshole.
The other good news (besides the team remaining undefeated) is that the draw came against Athletic Bilbao who represent Basque country. As people with some knowledge of the ethnic peculiarities of the peninsula will know, the Basques have a centuries old culture of resistance--and more recently one of fringe bombings and assasinations carried out by leftist mullet-donning separatists. As this heritage and circumstance distinguish them from the majority of the Spanish population, they are an outside region. Hence, Athletic Bilbao is an outside team.
Likewise, Barça, as the flagship of Catalan heritage and society in a country that persecuted them under Franco, are also an outside team (albeit one that has an enormous fanbase among the larger society). This is why their rivalry runs so deep with Real Madrid. Franco persecuted Catalonia and cheered for Real Madrid. Barça played in direct opposition to that dictatorship.
Perhaps there is an irony at work here; The way the marginalized lose ground against the dominant culture is through in-feuding with other marginalized people.
Or maybe I'm just blowing it all way out of proportion and losing context of the real issues at work (namely Pique's continued crappy performance). It's distinctly possible; I already told you I'm an asshole.
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