Of course 2008 Eastern Conference Final. I remember Frankie looking like a spaceman with that body suit on. I love the CONCACAF Champions League matches. Great to see high caliber Mexican sides. My favorite was 9-22-10 against Santos Laguna. This was the high water mark of Andres Mendoza who scored in the 84th minute to win it 1-0. Remember a ton of Mexican fans yelling "Gol Cero" after each save among other colorful things. Mendoza scores and I start yelling "Gol Uno!" On the road in Philly at then PPL Park. Josh Williams scores and then gets sent off with a red card. Crew win with a man down in extra time by Eddie Gaven with a perfect feed from Higuain. I was laughing like a maniac and running out of the stadium with my Crew jersey before I get assaulted by Union fans. Crew Stadium hosting the World Cup watch parties in the big tent was a lot of fun.
2017 playoff wildcard in Atlanta. Marching with the Home supporters to the match touting save the crew. 67,000 people cheering against your team. Zack Steffen.
I hurt my knee dropping straight to the concrete floor at The Goat when Parkhurst cleared that ball off the line. I hurt my shoulder and elbow giving HI 5's. #SportsInjuries
Another favorite memory. Dave Stephany had to do some interviews so he put me in charge of the Cup for about 20 min at the airport. Still a great memory..... This is the picture I had them put on the jersey number when they did that promotion. Twas a pretty good sports year for me with the Phils winning the Series a few weeks earlier.
4-5 years ago, buck-a-brat night. Not sure the opponent but I think the keeper was Frei. We were winning late, Frei in the north goal, someone threw a brat into the 18 from the stage. Frei picked it up, took a bite and threw it back into the crowd where it hit my daughter in the face. The whole stage started screaming at him and my daughter thought she was the coolest kid in the stadium. Another kid memory. I did worked with Avin to do a Crew team training with the church league I was coaching in and sold 3000 tickets to our group. Got to know Avin a little and he saw us walking into a game and asked my daughter to do a halftime race on the field. She was 8. Had to start in the south endline and put on oversized sweatpants, run to the half line and put on a jersey then run to the north end and shoot from the top of the 18. Winner got a grab bag and her row in the stands all got t-shirts. She won and was asked where she was sitting and replied "We STAND with the Supporters!" The promotions people walked over to the corner and just threw t-shirts into the crowd and heavily congratulated her on the win when she got back to the section. That was a good day! Oh, that was 2009 and in her bag was a ball signed by the entire Cup winning team. She still has that ball displayed in her room!
Yeah mine is like a lot of them. Eastern Conference Semifinal in 2008 vs. Chicago hands down. Just everything was perfect in a strange way. Crowd, team, atmosphere. Which is rare. My next is the away game at Chicago in 2008 or 2009 where we were electric. Brought like 200 fans and crowd banners. After that probably the two or three away games I went to in Toronto. Or the one I went to on a weekday at DC United. If anyone would like to share yours and your Crew history and what it means to you, as well as your thoughts on the Austin news, feel free to write up a word document and send it and I'll post it on my website. https://www.dropbox.com/request/Z5ZGDDlp0gJL3LsvghEt
+100 to that! And in 40 years, tailgating before the game, I'll call all the youngsters over & start with "Hey kids, come on over & let [grandpa / uncle Robby] tell you about the time when Evil Tony tried to steal the Crew from Columbus..."
There were two consecutive games when we pink-slipped Nee at the end of the match. The third time, in an effort to thwart security, we did it at halftime. Needless to say, they were *quite* prepared at the end of that third match. There was also the game when we were chanting "sack Andrulis!" near the post-game press conference. Anyway, it was so loud that every time the door was opened, whatever a coach or player was saying got totally ruined by "sack Andrulis" and a bunch of clapping/drumming. That was also the game when we chanted outside the office. We could have gotten tossed out, as security had a watchful eye on us, but instead, we had two high-up FO employees come out and talk to us, one of whom was actually on our side. Way back when the stadium first opened, we didn't have CSC, but another company instead. We had a guy who beared resemblance to Stone Cold Steve Austin... but he was the coolest security dude ever. On hot days, he would toss us bottles of Naya (league sponsor at the time) to the point where he got the nickname "Naya Man." The 1999 USOC final. Soooo many memories involving harassing their mascots. (I'm still wondering why Rapid Man looked a bit like something out of a toothpaste commercial.)
With the passage of time, I have come to see all of these events from other perspectives. I think this video is from the first time the pink slips were dropped. The second time I botched the drop. As I was told, I dropped them like a load of bricks. So I would guess safety played a part in the heightened security at the end of the game. Boy do I smile knowing we got him at halftime. I was going to share a memory that I think I have shared before, so my apologies, but I think I had previously shared the one about my dad and standing with supporters. So what the hell, here we go down memory lane. Mister Fan of the League, Role Model, Saad (or whatever else you call him) was a bit newer to Crew things in 2005. He took it all in and on though, and I very much respect him. I still appreciate the leadership and class he showed in those days. I forget the game. If I went back and looked at the 2005 schedule, then I could possibly pinpoint it. Crew were winning. I had my pink slips. The very small group around me knew I had the pink slips. Translation: The supporters’ section was not large. (If anyone has any group shots of those days, please PM some to me. I will buy you a beer!) Saad and I are talking about the pink slips. He did not understand why I wanted to drop them. I gave him my best Hornby, “because this match is a meaningless match and you need to see the bigger picture of the season” line. And then the pink slips were dropped at the end of a win. See: video above.