The Boat Race

Sunday was the only college sporting event the English care about, the Boat Race between Cambridge and Oxford.  This is a 16-18 minute rowing race around a bend in the Thames in Western London.  As we were told this was a huge event, we hopped on the Tube and headed down around 2.  The race started at 3:40.  As soon as we got out of the station, we knew exactly which way to head to get to the river because there were just massive crowds.  As soon as we got to the river and walked up on a bridge to see where in the course we should stand, I immediately realized the atmosphere was exactly like the South Side Irish parade.  There were bars lining the riverfront, packed with people on all floors looking onto the river, people lining the walls over the river, with a couple lanes of people trying to walk each way.  It looked exactly like 105th-109th and Western, people crammed between the gates and the store/bar fronts.  And no one really seemed to care about the race too much, it was more a day long event.  Everyone paid attention as the boats went by their part of the race, but then at the end when Oxford passed the line first, there was barely a loud cheer.  Maybe at the finish line there was a bigger celebration, but needless to say, the English don't treat college athletics like we do in the States.