By Jake Appleman
Soccer returned in
Spain last weekend and it brought back a specific memory. In October of 2011,
I was sent to Valencia by the New York Times to write about a small club,
Levante UD, which was making waves across the soccer world by hanging with the
likes of Real Madrid and Barcelona.
It was my first
feature for the paper. One of my favorite sportswriters, Sid Lowe of The
Guardian, had already written extensively about Levante’s surprising rise
and, as I took the AVE bullet train from Madrid to Valencia, I feared that I
had nothing to add.
Like many bizarre
experiences, this one started out small. I went to The Lighthouse Cafe near the Levante
stadium where an employee named Dani played Italian hip hop before switching to
Al Green’s “You Are So Beautiful” because he didn’t want to get in trouble for
playing Italian hip hop. There was a frog carved in wood hanging on the wall,
with the tag line “Macho Levante!” (Levante are known as las granotas, or The
Frogs.)
Basque club Real
Sociedad were Levante’s opponent on the night, as a half-empty Ciutat de
Valencia stadium bore witness to history. Levante stormed back to win 3-2 on a
miraculous free-kick.
I had been speaking
Spanish with some other reporters as we idled after the match waiting for
player interviews, when someone from La Sexta suggested they interview me because my Spanish
was good and because I was from the Times. I had never done TV before and
thought the idea was cool. I was a Spanish major in college. My professors
would be proud. It went well, so another member of the press asked for something similar. I obliged.
Most of the players
were too busy celebrating the historic victory so most of the interviews for my
story were put off until the next day’s practice. I went about my business that
night, working on my story and happy that I had ably answered some questions in
my second language.
The next day, I rode
out with members of the Spanish media to Levante’s practice facility. It was a
bit of a trek, along twisty roads, past orange fields. I wasn’t ready for what
was awaiting me: news cameras upon news cameras and a number of outlets ready to add
on to things I had said (innocuously it seemed) the night before.
In Spain, Real Madrid
and Barcelona – the two greatest soccer clubs in the world – dominate
everything, and that includes the press. Daily sports newspapers sell tons of
copies, ensuring the historical prestige and superstar cache of the big two
feed Spain’s soccer economy and maintain a hybrid hierarchy that is, among
other things, political, economic, and institutional. Stories
that would barely qualify as sidebars to American sportswriters have their own
sidebars in Spain, and sometimes they mutate.
It isn’t so much that
Levante wanted to use me in order to become a bigger deal, it’s more that they
had to. The New York Times brand is to newspapers what the Real Madrid or Barcelona
brand is to soccer. It was a win for everybody: the club gained exposure and
the press at large was allowed to write about something different and
interesting, even if it meant funneling the story through an American
perspective (which is often a popular media tactic among smaller nations not
having to deal with Ryan Lochte).
The TV
cameras for the group interview happened. More TV interviews happened after the group interview. My
mind would later flash to a subtle sigh and grin combination that would often cross
Carmelo Anthony’s face before he spoke after Knicks practice; I felt like I
understood. I was followed paparazzi ninja style as I toured the team's practice facility; perhaps a bit of my own medicine from one media member to another. An exclusive sit-down in the Levante team museum with a reporter
from AS, one of Madrid’s huge two daily sports newspapers, happened. An interview with the team website happened. An
interview with Radio Barcelona happened while I was being interviewed by the AS
Reporter. A photoshoot happened. A late-night Valencia soccer talk show
with Rafa Benitez's biographer, Paco Lloret, happened and beforehand, while I was sitting a makeup chair, a friend texted
from the States to tell me I was on the front of the AS web site.
I compared Levante’s
remarkable rise to the American dream – coming from nothing to make good – and
that became the narrative. Other words I didn’t say because of a semi-limited
vocabulary appeared in quotes attributed to me. I went with the flow.
Getting caught up in
a whirlwind can be remarkable. I was shuttled around so much, I ate dinner
alone at the same restaurant near my hotel three nights in a row just so
something felt routine. I arrived back in Madrid after the long weekend and was
greeted with, “we heard you on the radio!”
In May, Levante was
relegated to the second division. They won their first second division game on
Sunday, 1-0 over Numancia. A promotion back to the first division is possible.
The frogs have been leaping a lot in their recent history: relegated in 2005,
promoted in 2006, relegated in 2008, promoted in 2010, relegated in 2016.
And yet, something
else about that experience sticks out now. I support Atletico Madrid, Real Madrid’s crosstown rivals. In
2014, Atletico bought French playmaker Antoine Griezmann from Real Sociedad.
Griezmann, 20 years old at the time, had been on the other side of Levante's big win.
Lately, Griezmann has
established himself as a one of the best players in the world. He’s been all over the
news and the global soccer consciousness. After consecutive 22-goal seasons in the Spanish capital, the out-clause
in his new contract is reported at $100 million euros. He helped Atletico
to the Champions League Final in May, missing a penalty kick that proved
costly, and won the Golden Boot for France at this past summer’s European
championships. Last November, his sister survived the terrorist attack at the
Bataclan.
Griezmann missed
Atletico’s first match this season due to a yellow card accumulation from the previous
season. His mates got off 26 shots, took 20 corner kicks and only scored 1 goal
in a dispiriting draw against a team that rose to the first division as Levante fell. It will be nice to have him back this weekend. A
youngster in the shadows during that bizarre weekend in Valencia is still going,
and, in truth, carrying the memory.
I had fifteen
minutes.
Antoine Griezmann’s
had five years – and counting – and I absolutely love watching him play.
