Normally, Bell's Greek Pizza at 225 M.A.C. Ave. is busy in the wee hours of the morning serving up slices, as the bar crowd stumbles in to engage in late-night fervor and feast.
But for the past month, the little pizzeria has been packed all afternoon as it plays host to a large and diverse gathering of international flavor.
People of Asian, African, Brazilian, Danish, French, Greek, Guatemalan and Turkish backgrounds, to name a few, all have been flocking to Bell's with one common goal.
Well, they are hoping for many goals as international soccer event, the 2004 UEFA European Cup, rolls on. There are 16 nations competing in the games shown at Bell's and locals with backgrounds from many of the nations are rooting for their homelands.
Bell's manager John Mavruk is serving up some soccer with his slices, as he shows every game from the final round of the world's second-largest soccer tournament.
Only the FIFA World Cup is larger.
On Wednesday, a full crowd witnessed, the host, Portugal defeat the Netherlands, 2-1, to earn a place in the finals, which will be played at 2:45 p.m. today. The other semi-final between surprise squad Greece and the Czech Republic is today at 2:45 p.m.
The games, all being played in Portugal, aren't available on regular cable or satellite television, so Mavruk bought a pay-per-view package to feed the hunger of East Lansing and MSU soccer fans.
"There are a lot of European people in the area and on campus," said Mavruk, a native of Turkey. "They like to watch it. It's fun."
Mavruk said the eatery has been crowded for every game, which has benefited business as well.
Fans are charged $6 to watch each game, and many silently eat a slice or two as they concentrate closely on the game - which is played out in the corner of the eatery on a 30-inch television.
Soccer fans such as Brazilians Fabiano Ferreira and Alex Rodriguez said they come to Bell's because they wanted to avoid paying the $24.95 pay-per-view fee per game at home.
"Bell's is the only place showing it," said Ferreira, a veterinary medicine graduate student. "Being from Brazil, I kind of miss more soccer being on TV, and soccer isn't as popular here."
Ferreira said he has been to several games at the pizzeria and each contest has been packed.
"It seems crazy to come to a pizza place to watch soccer," Ferreira added.
Rodriguez, a graduate student, argues the consistently-crowded games are evidence international soccer belongs on regular television in the United States.
"It's proof if you show good soccer, people will come," he said. "If you don't show it, how can you know?
"This goes beyond the sport, it transcends borders."
