Thursday, September 5, 2024  

“BAR INTERNACIONAL DE ESPORTES,” the driver announced. Tony immediately looked at his watch. It was slightly after seven o’clock Philadelphia time, which meant it was after eight in São Paulo, and the line at the sports bar entrance was already crowded out on the sidewalk.

“Damn, they wasn’t lying about getting here early,” DaQuan commented as he swung open the back passenger door.

“Now we gotta see how long it’ll take to eat,” his wife Camilla said, as she climbed out of the car behind her husband.

Tony climbed out last and saw the security men, who were all dressed in black Bar Internacional de Esportes T-shirts, except for the main two guards at the front, who were wearing a red Nike Travis Kelce jersey and a purple Nike Derrick Henry jersey, and checking adults for IDs and scanning everyone for weapons.

There were close to thirty people in the line, all dressed differently. Some customers wore their various NFL football jerseys while others were dressed for a normal romantic date.

“How many are rooting for the Chiefs?” the security guy in the Kelce jersey asked the line.

“Hey, Patrick Mahomes!” one of the waiting customers yelled out in a white number 15 Patrick Mahomes jersey with a red Nike swoosh on the left arm.

“How many are rooting for the Ravens?” the other security guard, in the Henry jersey, asked.

“Lamar Jackson!” a Black man with no accent yelled. Instead of a football jersey, he wore a dark blue Baltimore Harbor T-shirt with a striped bass design on it.

“Yeah, he’s obviously from Baltimore,” DaQuan commented, with a small laugh.

Tony grinned, and joked, “I wonder where they’ll think we’re from,” with DaQuan’s and Camilla’s Sixers gear and his Rocky T-shirt.

Camilla smirked, and said, “Some of these people won’t even know who the Sixers are.”

As soon as she said it and joined the line at the back, someone yelled out, “Philadelphia Sixers! Joel Embiid!” He was a tanned-skinned Brazilian man with light eyes and brown curly hair, who was very excited to express his love for the Sixers. In fact, he walked right up to DaQuan and shook his hand effusively.

He said, “Joel Embiid married a Brazilian, Anne de Paula from Rio. So, we like family!” he joked, in his accented English.

Tony laughed, and said, “Yeah, I forgot about that. He is married to a Brazilian.”

“Yes, they have a son, Arthur. He is half Brazilian,” the man commented. “But he looks just like us. He could be all Brazilian.”

DaQuan continued to smile without getting a word in. The man then looked at Camilla, and said, “You could be Brazilian, too.”

That’s when DaQuan was finally able to comment. He said, “Yeah, my wife could pass for anything. Dominican. Puerto Rican. Jamaican Coolie. Creole. Trinidadian, you name it.”

“Yeah, well, I’m Black,” Camilla stated strongly. It stopped her from being all confused. She didn’t even like talking about race. Once her maternal grandmother passed down the story of her mother being disowned by the European side of her family for marrying a Black man, Camilla’s mother made the decision to be Black only, and that was it.

DaQuan had even told Tony about it. He said, “Everybody got some different shit in ’em. I got Native American blood,” he stated. “Straight outta South Carolina. My pops got it from my North Carolina people on the other side.”

The light-eyed man said, “I have Native American blood, too. So, we really are cousins,” he joked again, as the line moved up toward the entrance.

Tony said, “Yeah, I got Sicilian blood in my family. And you know about them.”

“Right next to North Africa,” DaQuan commented. The Brazilian man got excited again.

He said, “I have Sicilian blood, too. No lie! On my mother’s side. We have many Italians here in São Paulo,” he told them.

Tony could see it in the man’s thick and grizzled eyebrows. He said, “Yeah, I heard.”

“So, we all are brothers,” the Brazilian man stated. Camilla shook her head and laughed about at it. She didn’t know if the man was making things up in his excitement or telling them all the truth. But he sure looked different. With his sandy-colored skin, light eyes, and matching hair, he could be from anywhere, including the Middle East or the Pacific Islands. “IDs,” the security men asked at the front.

“Okay, I’ll see you guys inside,” the Brazilian man announced. “I’m still waiting for my friends to join me.”

Once inside, the three Philadelphians had the same response as everyone else. “Damn, look at this,” DaQuan commented. “Look like they got five restaurants in one.”

“Pick anywhere you’d like to sit,” the young receptionist informed them with a smile.

~ Touchdown In Brazil by Omar Tyree and Kensington Books ~ AVAILABLE NOW for Pre-Orders

3 Reasons for Men to READ THIS BOOK

#1) The Exploration of World Travel – It is uplifting, sensible and progressive to think internationally, while expanding our horizons. Don’t get stuck on just one city, one town, or one culture. Learn to explore other possibilities. This book will take you to Brazil. Go in and learn about it. And enjoy the southern hemisphere!

#2) The Connections of Fathers, Sons & Family ~ Every race, class, and culture has family ties and struggles. How do you connect to and deal with your father, mother, wife, children and so on? This book will normalize those experiences as you read, relate and learn. Humans are all different, and all the same. Relate to it.

#3) The Addictions of Life Can Ruin Us All – What are your addictions? Be honest about them. This book will make you consider your own addictions while reading about someone else’s. That’s what the best novels do. They allow us to be bluntly honest about who we are, while reading a character in our own privacy.  

#4) NFL Football – Did we mention the Bonus of NFL football love for the game, the teams, the players, the jerseys  the colors, the rivalries, the history, the bets and the live action with singing, chanting and talking trash? It’s all in there with Philadelphia Eagles, Green Bay Packers, and Brazilian fans, as well as the youth, learning to play and love flag football, including young, excited and skilled girls.

Touchdown In Brazil by Omar Tyree… another classic story…