My face painted the Spain flag stripes - red, yellow, red - I stood in a Ronda, Spain bar last Sunday night. It was the big game and my first time watching a big game in a Spanish bar. I stood as a Spain traveler hundreds of miles from home watching amongst the locals, like the locals.

Spain was going against Italy in the quarter-finals of Euro 2008 - one of the biggest tournaments in the sport.

The Spain-Italy game played on the big screen as I stood amongst the chanting, singing, jumping and cheering locals, wishing my spoken Spanish was a little better.

I've experienced nothing like it.