As those of you who have known me for a long time well know, I’m one of the biggest sports fans you will ever meet. For a while, I thought that I would never be able to live without sports, but the two- or three-month period last year when the pandemic shut down all major American sports proved otherwise. You can live without sports. You cannot live without food, water, and good health. But sports is a huge passion of mine, so last spring was brutal.
Now that sports are back, still without spectators in many cases, but at least being played, I thought I’d take a look at the sports scene in Prague. What are the Czechs’ favorite sports and athletes? Do Czechs follow any American sports? What is the meaning of life? All those questions answered here! (Okay, maybe not that last one, but I can try if you really want me to.)
Here in Prague, the most popular sports are ice hockey and soccer. In hockey, the Czech team won the gold medal at the 1998 Nagano Olympics, and according to my students, this is something that the people here are very proud of, as they should be. A key member of that team, Jaromir Jagr (and his mullet), is beloved here. With nearly 2,000 career NHL points to his name, the 49-year-old was one of the greatest players in the history of hockey.
Wait…he was one of the greatest players? My friends, there’s an error in that sentence. I’ll give you a second to think about it.
Okay, time’s up. The sentence should read “he is one of the greatest players…” Yep, that’s right, Jagr still laces up the skates today, playing for HC Kladno here in the Czech Extraliga. In fact, he owns the team. The rare player-owner.
In soccer, or football as they call it over here, three teams call Prague home. Slavia Prague and Sparta Prague have an intense rivalry. Twice a year, the teams play in the Prague Derby. Fun fact: Sparta has won 133 of their all-time matchups, Slavia has taken 92, and 72 have ended in a draw (also known as a tie for you Americans out there). Prague’s third team, Bohemians, calls the Vrsovice district (on the southeast side of the city) home. The name comes from Bohemia, which, along with Moravia and Silesia, is one of the three major historical regions of the Czech Republic.
As of the publication time of this post, Slavia and Sparta are first and second, respectively, in the Czech league. Bohemians are languishing in 12th place out of 18 teams, a rank that only the Buffalo Sabres could envy.
On the national level, the Czech team qualified for Euro 2020, which will actually be played this year following its postponement due to the COVID pandemic. The team was drawn into group D with Croatia, Scotland, and England, who defeated it 5-0 in a 2019 game. Oh, and the Czechs are 42nd in the current FIFA world rankings. The English are 4th and the Croats are 11th. Good luck.
Other popular sports in the country include basketball, handball, badminton, and floorball, which is similar to floor hockey. American sports like baseball are not popular here, but I did find a baseball diamond in the city.
You probably have figured out by now that football (as in soccer) is a big deal here. But what about American football? While football is popular among the many expats here, Czechs generally don’t watch American football, although I did discuss the Super Bowl with one of my students. He said that he was going to watch the game, so I directed him to root for the team that would be wearing white (the Tampa Bay Buccaneers). I did that because I would be rooting for the Buccaneers. I have nothing against Patrick Mahomes and company. It’s just that, you know, the Bucs are my team.
Believe it or not, I’m a proud Bucs fan and have been one since childhood. How does a kid from upstate New York land on the Buccaneers when options like the Giants, Jets, and Bills are available? It’s like a soccer fan from Prague randomly deciding to be a fan of Ostrava. But when I was young, I wanted to be different from my family. They were Democrats, I was a Republican (although I’m rethinking that now). They were Yankees fans, I was a White Sox fan. They called me Alex P. Keaton. I was okay with that. As Jodie Foster once said, “normal is not something to aspire to, it’s something to get away from,” so joining my family and cheering for Big Blue wasn’t an option.
The Buccaneers had cool uniforms, a great name, and some players that I loved watching. Derrick Brooks, Warren Sapp, John Lynch, etc. I loved the “defense wins championships” mantra that the Bucs and many others had during the 90s. My uncle was a Bucs fan, so I decided to check them out. I was immediately hooked. It didn’t hurt that they were good in the late 90s and early 2000s, winning the Super Bowl in 2002.
So yes, I was a Bucs fan long before Tom Brady came along. I don’t want to hear “fair-weather fan” or “bandwagoner.” Thank you.
Before #12 traded in the snow and ice of Boston for the sun and warmth of the Florida Gulf Coast, the Bucs were going through a difficult time. They hadn’t won a playoff game since the previously acknowledged Super Bowl in San Diego when I was in 8th grade. Brady’s predecessor, Jameis Winston, was exceptional at throwing touchdowns….to the other team. He threw 30 interceptions in 2019. THIRTY. Do I really need to mention that his first ever NFL pass was a pick-six in 2014. I had seen enough. Luckily, the Bucs had also seen enough, so they went out and signed Brady.
I never liked Brady before he wound up on my team (I was adamant that he had deflated footballs and thought he was just too damn good) and was in denial when he first signed. However, I knew that he’d make the Bucs better, and you root for the team before you root for the players. The Bucs went 11-5 and defeated Washington, the Saints, Packers, and Chiefs on their way to another Lombardi Trophy. The final in the Super Bowl was 31-9. Yes, the Bucs defense held Mahomes and the guys to NINE points. Defense wins championships indeed.
I was pumped to see one of my teams win a title. You would be, too. I couldn’t wait to share it with the fellow members of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers community here in Prague.
Oh, wait…there aren’t any fellow members.
I have yet to find another Buccaneers fan in this city. That, coupled with the time difference (the Super Bowl began at 12:30 a.m. and ended at 4 a.m. here) and the coronavirus restrictions (closed bars and restaurants) made it impossible to find anyone to watch the game with. But it was a critical moment in my team’s history. My blood pressure was going to go up, down, and all around. I needed company.
Enter Franklin.
Who is Franklin, you might ask? He’s a stuffed frog I bought at the beginning of the pandemic. At the time, I had anticipated that I would try to get my foot in the door in the online teaching market and needed props. Unfortunately, the online teaching never came to pass. Oversaturated. But Franklin stayed. As preposterous as this sounds, Franklin has actually been a big help for my anxiety. It’s amazing what stuffed animals can do when you’re having an attack.
What does Franklin have to do with the Buccaneers? During the Bucs’ first playoff game vs. Washington, I grabbed him and sat him down beside me. I’m honestly not even sure why, but it was the middle of the night and I was groggy. You make strange decisions when you’re groggy, trust me. Anyway, he and I watched the game and the Bucs won, so I decided he was good luck. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. From that moment on, Franklin was always close by during all the Bucs’ playoff games. He was my, and the Bucs, good luck charm.
It’s amazing to see what the power of a stuffed animal can do.
During our next lesson, the student told me that he had watched the game and rooted for the Bucs, just like he said he would. Obviously, you always want to tell your students the right things, not just in English, but in life as well. Had the Bucs lost, our conversation–and our class–wouldn’t have been as happy. I hope that this young man and others in Prague will grow to love American football the same way they love European football.
Sports can heal. Sports can unite. Sports can be a valuable distraction. Even when the fans aren’t present, the athletes can feel their power. On that day and in that class, sports didn’t exactly do any of those things, but they did ignite a conversation and led to valuable speaking practice. To borrow a famous saying from sports, “practice makes perfect.” The more you practice, the better you get. Reading articles about sports is a terrific way to learn English. Watching sports matches in English is also a great way to take in the language.
So to those of you English language learners who might be reading this, consider sports as an opportunity not only for pleasure, but as a chance to open your eyes to the language of the world. You never know which doors it will open for you someday.
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