The five winners of Grupo Especial

A translation of an interesting article today by Luis Carlos Magalhães. To understand this you need to know that: Beija-Flor is absolutely dominant and has just won for the 5th time in 6 years; Salgueiro came in 2nd, their best result in years; Portela managed to finish in the top half, and will get to parade in the Parade of Champions; Mocidade managed to arrest its frightening downhill slide, and came in a respectable 8th; and Porto da Pedra, always in danger of being sent down to Grupo A, came in second-to-last and managed to cling onto Especial by their fingertips.

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After turning off the TV after the announcement of the Carnaval scores, I thought that Beija-Flor was clearly the only winner. My mistake!

Soon after, I met in the subway a Salgueiro friend who was bursting with happiness. "Hey, we almost got it! Tomorrow we'll have a celebration over at the Botija bar after 6, come on over!" He was so happy that if I hadn't just seen the scores, I would have thought that Salgueiro was the champion.

That night the telephone rang: "Hey, what do you think? We beat almost everybody and came in third! We beat them!"

The first Portela fan that I met was full of the same happiness: "Are you coming? Madureira's going to explode today! Império and Portela partying together! Have you ever heard of such a thing?" [Madureira is the home district of both Portela and Império Serrano, and their quadras are only a few blocks apart.]

No, I've never heard of that, no! I've never heard of it but I'm trying to remember. Império and Portela celebrating together? How could this have ever happened before? Either one or the other would have won, and only one would have celebrated, naturally.

This time it's different. Império and Portela celebrating, in the heart of Madureira, the birthplace of samba, their two victories in a carnival in which Beija-Flor just had an uncontested win.

On the way home, I got a taxi whose driver was a portodapedrense - is that what they're called? At any rate, a Porto da Pedra fan. When I got out of the cab, I ran into a neighbor who is diehard Mocidade. Both, the driver and my neighbor, were extremely happy with the results.

I went to sleep thinking that these Carnavals these days are very strange.

In my time it wasn't like this. Believe it, my young readers. The winner was one and absolute. The escola who beat all the others and ended in first place. You might not believe it, but that's how it was.

But that was a long time ago.

Today it's as if the parade has various sub-groups. Few escolas, today, have patrons like Beija-Flor, Grande Rio, and a few others. Others don't have private patrons, but have permanent corporate sponsorship throughout the year, like Mangueira has, or had. Some don't have either of those, but manage to arrange corporate sponsorship for a year here, a year there, as Mangueira did this year with Recife. Others have very lucrative ticket sales at their quadras, such as Salgueiro, Mangueira.

There are escolas with absolutely nothing. No patron, no permanent corporate sponsors, no ticket sales, and no one-time sponsors either. There are others who have everything and more. LIESA, TV, patrons, sponsorships, ticket sales, and, shall we say, friends.

This variety in financial condition expains in part this variety of reactions of sambistas to the final results of their escolas. Beija-Flor's dominance also further explains this state of affairs. Beija-Flor has reached such a height of mastery that all it has to do to win is for the others to make mistakes.

And so we see that today there are more than one, more than two, more than three... many winners, in the same carnival. The idea of winning has become relative to the [financial] condition of each escola. One victory for a Salgueiro fan here, another for a Portela fan there, and even one for a Porto da Pedra fan, why not?

The most important victory, first off, is what could be considered as a winner-who-really-won.

If an escola is one of those who has everything, patron, private sponsorship, public, ticket sales, and, as we said, friends, it has to come in no worse than 3rd, or it has failed. If it is the First-After-Beija-Flor, that's a victory. You can head right over to the quadra to celebrate.

The victory is even greater if the First-After-Beija-Flor is an escola without patrons or sponsorship. And thus we get the euphoria of Salgueiro, isn't that right, Tavinho, isn't it, Eduardo?

Another victory is to win a spot in Saturday's Parade of Champions. Especially if the escola has gone years without being invited to that party. [Portela.] Isn't that right, Claudio Cruz, isn't it, Monte?

There's another victory, celebrated just as much, that occurs when an escola far from its best days has become a target for those people who start taking aim at it like a soccer ball, to fall. When an escola like this ends in 7th or 8th place [i.e. safely above dreaded 12th place] - well! Let's order a beer! Especially if this happens with an escola that put on a spectacularly beautiful parade, as happened with Mocidade. Isn't that right, Gil?

And let's not forget the consolation victory. This happens when an escola is in the "Will it go down [to Grupo A] or won't it?" position, and it ends up NOT going down, as has been happening with the brave Porto da Pedra for the past several years.

And let's not forget the victory that occurs when an escola wins Grupo A and rises to Grupo Especial, but is considered to be a "yo-yo candidate" [one that will go down immediately back to Grupo A], but manages to come in second-to-last and stay in Grupo Especial. Hey, let's have a party!

As for these last escolas, I think it's time to give them the minimum condition necessary to have a fighting chance of staying in Grupo Especial. I think it should fall to them to choose, after the championship, the day and time of their parade [rather than having to parade first]. They should stay, along with the Especial champion, out of the lottery for parade day and time. It's one thing for a veteran escola to begin the parade; it's another thing for a new arrival, with its hands full of difficulties, to be put in this tight spot.

One more thing that has added to the happiness that has made Madureira smile again, at least a little, is the return of Imperio. THANK YOU IMPERIO.

And what a sorrow to see Mangueira with its worst result of its glorious history. Second-to-last place! I can accept not getting a score of ten for a samba because of its origin [Mangueira's samba this year was written by a notorious drug trafficker], - but to massacre Mangueira like that - no!