American Football

So last Friday night I went with some friends to Wadi Degla, one of the big sports clubs in Egypt (in Maadi suburb of Cairo). For those of you not familiar with Cairo, think of it as New York City. Everyone lives in New York, but you really live in Manhattan, Long Island, the Bronx, the Village, Upper East Side, whatever....that's Cairo. Anyways, Wadi Degla is one of the biggest sports clubs in Cairo as it has branches in Maadi, New Cairo and 6th of October City. My friend Khalid plays for Wadi Degla New Cairo. The three Wadi clubs and a club in Alexandria have all started American Football teams this year. They have a 4-team league that will play games every Friday night. It is so much fun. This was the first game of the season and it was New Cairo at Maadi.
It was a blast. They "know" the rules to American football but they're not quite followed. For instance as soon as the ball is passed to someone, you see 22 people running down field, like soccer more or less. The crowd loved it though. Except the game was slightly anti-climactic ending in New Cairo winning 2-0. Imagine me and the other American guy Justin in the stands trying to explain to the crowd what a safety is and how football can have a score of 2. Nobody knew that there was any scoring option other than a touchdown. But what I liked is that the crowd was into it, the players had fun, and it was a good time.

The first picture is the teams shaking hands after the game. The second picture is the team playing. Number 8 (white team - Maadi) is the quarterback and he's passing the ball off to his running back. The third picture is me, Khalid and Justin and my friend Hassan in the front.
The last picture is of the Wadi Degla signs at the club.
I'm sick as hell by the way.... so while I lay in bed this weekend, expect some more blogs to come!

-G'do