Your first time

[AFCA]

First TV match I can remember: Sitting on my dads lap (being 4 or 5 years old) and he says to me "Now that is Ajax, in the blue jerseys". I knew the word Ajax from chants and songs, but I never knew what it was before that day :-)

First visit: with my nephew to Ajax - Feyenoord in the Olympic stadium in 1990 I believe (I was 10 at the time). We won 2-0 but feyenoord had their worst season ever I believe that year. I can especially remember the feyenoord fans and Ajax fans climbing out of their stands, running to each others ends and trying to get each others flags. At a certain moment 3 or 4 Ajax boys set a feyenoord flag afire, and the whole feyenoord crowd starts pushing and pulling the fences until it comes down (naughty boys, the stadium speaker had kindly asked them to stop breaking the fences a few mintes earlier)... the Ajax fans, right in front of hundreds of feyenoord fans going mental decide it would be best to make a run for it and are chased by police who at the same time hold back the feyenoord fans. The Ajax fans open a hatch somewhere next to the field and go in, followed by police. I was laughing my ass off!

[seahawkdad]

First match on TV--one of many of the '94 WC games.

First match in person--not counting my oldest son's when he was in first grade (1982) and all my kids' games through the years (yes, 20 years and counting--and still watching)--DC United's inaugrial game at RFK.

First US match in person--US v Portugal (Olympics) at RFK when we broke the sports event attendance record.

First time standing with Sam's Army--2001, US v T&T at Foxboro.

First time playing--when I was 20, a pick-up game in a vacant lot in Ankara, Turkey

First time playing in a formal league--never--just messing around from time to time with work colleagues--mostly indoor on basketball courts with those small plastic goals.

First time reffing--1994.

and, most important of all:

First time a game brought tears to my eyes--US v Portugal, 2002.

[capt. america]

first match on TV - World Cup 94

first match I realized there was no turning back - EPL 98/99. I worked in pub in Central London, that was popular amongst Spurs fans, that i couldn't stand. They always gave me a hard time for being a Yank. The game was Spurs v. Leicester and Kasey Keller was so dominant, it was incredible. From that day forward, I was a football fanatic.

first match in person - Lazio v. Piacenza in Rome.

first time i cried b/c of football - US v. Germany
I was riding home from the pub in my car and I saw this young Mexican kid with a flag over his shoulder, walking hand in hand with his Dad who also had a flag and US kit and it just sunk in.

[Swampgas United]

First live game 1979 Sting v Cosmos at Wrigley Field 3-1 for the Sting

I cannot remeber first time watching on TV, but it would been in 1979 and a Sting game.

Played in 8th grade on a team, but did not play again until 2 years ago.

[Thomas A Fina]

Originally posted by dadman
Played with Scott Norwood (later of the NY Giants of pointy ball fame) who was the typical two-sport player of the time.


You must mean the Scott Norwood of Buffalo Bills
infamy. ;) Although in retrospect, the G-Men do have a soft spot for the man :p

--Tom

[Thomas A Fina]

Originally posted by otterulz
First ever game, back in 2nd grade which was about 13-14 years ago. I even got a goal in my first game. An Own Goal. . . .


Goose, is that you?

[Thomas A Fina]

First Watched game I remember : Italy - W Germany '82 WC Final on Wide World of Sports
(I remember a Netherlands-Greece game before that, but don't know what it was for.)

First watched US Nat Game : The Shot Heard Round The World - US 1 T & T 0

First live soccer game (Professional) - LI Rough Riders (I forget the opponent) about 1993

First National Team game - England - Denmark 1994 - El Tel's first game as gaffer, back when Darren Anderton looked like he would amount to something

First WC game - Nigeria-Italy WC '94

First USNT Game - US v Mexico/Pumas US Cup
(I had jalapenos and other stuff thrown at me by Mexican fans after shouting "tres a cero" at them)

First US Qualifier - US v Barbados

First US World Cup game - '2006 Germany opponent TBA

--Tom

[Pack87Man]

First game played: When I was about 5. Didn't score until my second game though.

First game on TV: USA vs. Trinidad and Tobago in 1989. Yup, you guessed it, the Shot Heard Round the US Soccer Community game. I was so proud, and since I was 8 at the time, I didn't realize that it was the first time the US had qualified for the World Cup in forever, and that it was a huge deal. Oh, how the years have passed.

No professional games in person yet, though I'm trying to get to a Chicago Fire game sometime soon.

[Labdarugo]

Great topic, Skipshady! This is fun.

First game on TV: Like Whirlwind, it was "Soccer Made in Germany" which was a show on PBS in the 1970s that showed a Bundesliga game each week. I tuned in because I was studying German. I had never seen anything like it and I was hooked. The singing. The flagwaving. The excitement and speed of the game. Great players like Beckenbauer, Rummenigge, Muller, Schumacher. Plus Toby Charles commentary ("Oh - it's in the back of the net!").

First game in person: Saw part of a game while I was living in Hungary but the first one was QPR vs Oldham Athletic at Loftus Road in London in 1992. Freezing cold. Bought a hideously ugly (in my wife's opinion) QPR ski cap which I still have and still treasure. (And still wear, much to her dismay)

First game played: After becoming a follower of the game and supporter of local youth soccer, I started to play as often as I can in whatever pick-up games I could find. When I first started playing (at age 40!), I was truly wretched. Now, I am merely bad. ;) My goal is to get to be "not bad" someday and play on an over-40 team. I want to have my own jersey ... I suppose that at my age I should be taking up golf or improving my tennis, but all I want is to play on a real team someday. Crazy, eh? But it keeps me going!

[copaantl98]

First match on television: US and Switzerland in 94.

First match in person: Metrostars and Revolution in 99.

First US game: US and Mexico in 2000 in the US Cup.

First time I played: Somewhere in the 4th grade around 1994.

I never played in a real match.