My Maracana moment: two black eyes and big soccer in Rio’s mega-stadium

As world sports fans are riveted Sunday on the Argentina-Germany final of FIFA World Cup Soccer at the famed Maracana Stadium in Rio de Janiero, I recall my own shining moment there, when I emerged with two shiners — a testament to the kind of passions played out on that great stage almost daily. It was 1983, and my (then boyfriend, now husband) Roland De Wolk and I were wrapping up a nine month backpack around South America. In Rio, we had to make the required pilgrimage to the altar of soccer, a stadium so big that it can accommodate the city of Fremont — which draws such intense fans [...]