I hadn't been to a game since May or June and was pretty shocked by what I saw on Saturday. I have always been a fan of GSU. Back in the day it was only ESC and many people weren't too hip about seeing a new group. SMF made it a point to be welcoming and try to convince others that two groups was alright. We always had their back in 16A, inside Giants Stadium, on road trips, at El Pastor, we've been to Bellos a handful of times for pregame. Anyways you get the point, I am much more pro-GSU than the average ESC fellow.
My conclusion after Saturday is that it seems like GSU is trying to take a stance and show they they are different (whether that is harder, cooler, more badass idk) than the other SGs that support the same team as GSU. It started when SMF was walking into the stadium and crossed paths with GSU leadership. These are guys we used to spend time with outside of games, I've been to their houses and met them on the town dinner. When down in DC for a trip, SMF #2 (who lived in DC at the time) took those guys out to dinner and showed em a good time. Yet when we see them on the sidewalk before the game this Saturday they can't even be bothered to look up or respond, they just walk right past us, brushing shoulders but obviously too cool to say hey to some fellow supporters and friends they hadn't seen for a while. It was very middle-schoolish.
Whatever though SMF was still ready to have a good time. We got into the section and were doing our thing. I even told El Braneckito, hey man look at GSU, they got those 3 flags and theres organized jumping, they look pretty good. We were getting down and having a pretty good game, and then someone in ESC started our best song, "As Long As I'm Breathing." This song was WRITTEN by one of our own members (every other song we do is borrowed from Europe or South America) and it is one of our only songs that supporters of other clubs don't sing. But for some reason GSU wasn't participating at all and even seemed to be mocking it. I asked SMF #2 what was going on and he said, "GSU doesn't sing Spanish songs." And I am thinking but it's "As Long As I'm Breathing." Thats not Spanish. But the song has ONE (that is not an error, only one) Spanish word in the song so apparently GSU cannot sing it! Honestly are you kidding me? I couldn't believe it.
But then it got better! We started doing Vamos and El Braneckito told me about the nachos things. I looked over at GSU to see one of 3 things. Either people were not singing at all, they were were singing nachos grande, or they were doing some combination of those two while flipping ESC the bird and yelling stupid wanna be tough guy stuff like, "think you're tough get down here," or "I'll kick your ass" etc.
So there I was singing one of my favorite songs watching while a whole group refused and some of them even yelled in my direction to come fight them. At this point, I am at a loss for words. In the past when singing Vamos the whole section would join in, get stronger and closer, and it really fires up the energy of the section. This time while singing it, I felt a little different.
Of course this continued when we sang Ole Ole Ola. I honestly can't remember the last time I sang louder than that. I had so much more energy and desire to show up our own fans than any Montreal away fans or anyone else. I just couldn't believe how our own fans were trying so hard to intentionally sabotage our own supporters.
So does saying "Nachos Grande" instead of "Vamos" make GSU racist? No. Does pouting like a little child every time we start a Spanish song make them racist? Not really. Does refusing to sing a song because it contains one single Spanish word make them racist? Ehhh. Does trying to fight ESC every time they start a Spanish song make you racist? Not entirely. Does flipping the bird, yelling at, and trying to start shit with any fan that starts a Spanish song mean they are racist. Not necessarily.....but when you combine all of this stuff, it certainly begs the question.
We all support the same team right? GSU has added a lot of new "chants" borrowed from English teams. They aren't songs, but ESC participates in all of them. And with that said, GSU can't be bothered to sing songs that have been around this team since WAYYY before they were? And only because these songs are Spanish?
That's what I saw on Saturday after being away from RBA for a couple months. Thats how I came up with that opinion that they are trying to distinguish themselves from the other SGs as tougher, more extreme, or whatever.