Dallas anyone??

I may be there. This is one of the roadtrips we haven't done b/c it usually doesn't work out.

 

Only if the airfare drops.....

 

JC and I will be at the match. I am talking to him today about where we want to sit. The prelim discussion was to get tickets behind the team bench.

 

finally the thread and posts I have been looking for. I'm thinking of making the drive up from Austin. It's been three years since I lived in DC, but two solid years of barra membership before that still beats in me somewhere

 

I think I talked my wife into driving up from San Antonio to see the team play.
So is there a consensus on where we are sitting?
We are bringing three younguns so I'd prefer sitting somewhere with friendlies on the off chance there is any trouble.
Of course we could probably pick just about anywhere and be sitting by ourselves.

 

All right, I'll keep an eye out, worst case I'll just pick somewhere away from 120 and 121 which appear to be their supporter sections.
Good luck today, hope everything works out for you.

 

Dallas fan here. We're a pretty friendly bunch, but I can't make promises for the SS section. They may not have the huge numbers as other places, but they are fiercely loyal.

Also take into account that if you plan on getting there early, the East and South sides are in the sun. Other than that, not a bad seat in the house.

 

Got notifiied about an hour ago my flight tomorrow morning was cancelled for maintenance, spent about 30 minutes on the phone with the airline, finding new routing to get me to Dallas for the match, and thanks to UA, I will still be getting into Dallas tomorrow about the same time I was originally in stead of Sunday morning. phhhhh......

 

A couple thoughts on attending last night. I had been to Pizza Hut park before for an MLS Cup (the Dynamos over the a Revs team that had the Cup sewn up before blowing the lead in regulation) but had never seen DCU there before last night. The game notwithstanding, I am glad I made the trip, if only to add another away game notch to my belt.

I drove up from a Hill Country town near San Antonio -- approximately 270 miles each way, on a drive that went through Austin, Georgetown, Waco, Hillsboro, and Waxahachie before getting to Dallas. There is not much to see on the drive. Frisco, TX, is considerably north of Dallas, so you have to drive fully through the city to get to the game. Dallas seems like a pleasant enough place (I've spent very little time there in the past), at least as can be discerned from the North Dallas Tollway. Frisco is a real hike from downtown Dallas. It's out in the middle of nowhere. The stadium is nice enough, if underwhelming. The crowd was quite small, and, to be honest, it felt like a not-all-that-well-attended game in Germantown. The seats are all pretty close to the field. It was fairly quiet. I could clearly hear Hamid's and Hartman's instructions to the defenders each half they were on my end.

The nice thing about Frisco is that there is a hotel about 500 yards from the stadium, which is where we stayed. Plus there are several restaurants/bars in the vicinity. That allowed me to get good and plastered, starting well before the game in the luxury of the airconditioned TexMex cantina. Beer lines at PHP are very short, partly because there were few fans, and partly because there are adequate concessions. The service is not nearly as dreadful as at RFK, and the workers not nearly so surly. So that was pleasant. Also, the Burns have cheerleaders who are unbelievably hot. They roam the concourses a lot. That was pleasant too. Ticket prices are a bit too high, which may help explain the crowds they draw. Or maybe it doesn't. But they were higher than I wanted to pay.

The game itself was utterly forgettable, which is good, because what little I recall was terrible.

All in all it was pleasant evening, but there is nothing about the PHP experience which suggests that the moniker "Major League Soccer" is terribly accurate. It really does seem pretty minor league, as befits the woeful history of the franchise. The fans appear to be about the meekest I've ever encountered in any MLS venue. That's a charitable description. My buddy said it was the saddest-sack group he's ever seen -- which is the state that 15 years of misery can bring you to.

One real sour note (other than the game, which I concede would have been worse if we had lost as we deserved). The outside of PHP has a big blown-up photo of the 97 US Open Cup champs celebrating. I looked closely but could not see referee Rich Grady in the mix whopping it up. I figure they photoshopped him out of that.

I saw only four DCU shirts (not counting one from a team staffer). I saw exactly two Dallas Burn shirts -- most folks apparently focusing on the current FCness and not on the history they've ditched. I was hoping to see an Ariel Graziani shirt but did not.

Brek Shea sold me meth in the parking lot after the game.

 

Boy's gotta eat, right? I mean $133K only goes so far on hair products.

Thx,

Jay!

 

Two other small items:

1) the souvenir cups feature the supposedly heroic story of the Burn winning the western conference championship last year. They are also flimsier than a wax paper cup, and the ink half came off when I just ran them through the dishwasher.

2) The men's rooms are pleasantly airconditioned, as opposed to RFK where they are even hotter, more humid, and more disgusting than outside. Also, each urinal features a miniature soccer goal with a tiny ball to try to shoot at with your stream. The idea is to keep people's shots on target, so to speak. Ingenious.

 

My experience wasn't too dissimilar from yours.
We stayed outside of town and were able to experience the lovely construction traffic coming and going on the Dallas Tollway.
I imagine being so far away from Dallas, the construction traffic, ticket prices, and beer prices have a lot to do with their attendance issues.
I've been to PHP 3 times in several years now and they've had road construction every time.
I imagine they may be finished by the time the US hosts a World Cup.
We were seated midfield on the sunny side of the stadium and from what I could tell their fans consisted of a bunch of kids behind us, a small group on the stage I mean beer garden and a small group of supporters at the opposite goal.

As far as other DC supporters I saw probably 20 or so I would guess. There was a couple seated next to us before they got booted for being in the wrong section. There was a few up front row next section over. There was a couple of La Barra Brava at midfield on the shady side and there was a pocket of DC fans near their supporter section so not bad I don't think.

 

Not me unless by flags you mean the 1, 2 or 4 year olds we had with us. I don't recall waving them around too much though.
It sounds like the group I saw on the same side as me toward their supporters section. Maybe 2 sections from the corner.

 

Those where the DC United supporters that live in Texas now. Pops met them last year. They started tailgating at 2pm. JC and I chatted with time briefly before heading to a local bar for a bit. When the team bus arrived CD9 went over and visited with them.