Hey everyone, I'm looking for 1 or possibly 2 tickets if anyone isn't going to be able to use theirs. PM me if you can help out!
I might have 1, 2 or possibly even 3 in one of the corners. I won't know until later tonight when I talk to some dads at my kid's practice. I'm not going to gouge anybody but I would like to pay for my service fee, parking and a couple beers. I will know for sure after tonight. PM me if interested. You would pick them up at my office downtown on Thurs or Friday.
I have one extra ticket in the General Admission fan section 118. Selling at the non-AO member price of $53. Must be a USA fan and can prove it.
On the ground in Denver! It is windy and getting colder. Any meeting places tonight or earlier in the day tomorrow? Near the airport, but willing to drive.
US soccer is doing a "pep rally" at 8pm at the paramount theater. What that is I'm frankly not sure but I'm curious.
Okay, for those of you there... ...tell us how the match was! How was the unique experience? What were the people saying in the stands? How was the atmosphere in general? How did it compare with other pro-USA crowds. Inquiring minds want to know...
Head still fuzzy.. Incredible experience last night. Random notes: - it was obviously very cold, couldn't believe that the snow just kept coming and never stopped. - AO tailgate was very festive, lots of drums, singing, and drinking. March was ok. - supporters section was great as always, just gets bigger and bigger. - the snow made it a more unique experience, one that I can't say I've ever seen before like that. - crowd never stopped the enitre time. Horn, drums, tubas, everything. - maybe 5% of stadium, at most, was CR fans but hard to tell because the colors are the same. - its the small thing like, at halftime everyone just hung out in the bathrooms to escape. The entire band was in there, tuba/trump/drum, singing, etc. Things like that are memorable for me. - sure helpeo have the lead early, and our boys played so very good. - blown away by how talented this class of player is to be able to perform on that field, its wasn't like a sloppy free for all. - the wind was blowing the snow directly into the supporters face the whole time. We were covered in snow. - saw peeps with ski goggles, and not just hipster ironic.. That's it for now. Why oh why did I book a 6am flight.......... See ya in a much warmer location on tuesday.
Okay, so I'm going to do a quick review of the Anthony Travel package for those that are interested to know about it. Keep in mind that I only purchased this package because I wanted to buy a ticket and not pay over the odds on stubhub (250-300$). To sum it up for those that don't want to read more, it was extremely fun, gave me a lot to do on Friday, but I probably wouldn't do it again simply because I don't like organized tours. The quick summary of events. US Soccer pep rally. As part of the package you get in a half hour early, which is you are a US official supporter, you get as well. Being on the VIP list meant we got a Q&A with Sunil Gulati for about half an hour and with only about 40 people in there, you could get your question answered and get a response. This was the highlight. Even some of the dumb questions (why don't you schedule games on Saturday?) didn't detract from it. Gulati was open, frank and forthright with his answers, even displaying a high degree of honesty about the World Cup Bid Process and other issues. The rest of the pep rally consisted of a couple of cool highlight videos, Marcelo Balboa answering Allen Hopkins softball questions, a Dispatch concert and then a panel of Gomez, Altidore, Guzan, Boyd and Klinsmann answering Hopkins softball questions. It was fun, but after the Q&A with Gulati this was kind of a letdown. The video highlights shown at the Pep Rally were used in stadium as well. The next morning the group got a free US soccer ball at breakfast and two guys won a signed jersey and match pennant in a raffle. Then we had two hours, which I used to nap because I was severely hung over from coming in the night before at 2 am from pub crawling. (Pub crawling not included in the tour). Then we boarded a bus to drive a comical five blocks and get out at an Irish pub for lunch and the highlight of the trip, a Q&A session with Twellman and Darke and then later Balboa and Agoos. Again, small group, around 40 or so, so you could easily get a question answered. Their answers were a bit more guarded than Gulati's were and they clearly got pretty annoyed when several fans repeatedly asked for their preferred starting lineup. After this I ditched the tour group, which was taking another five block ride back to the hotel, for another pub crawl. Got back to the hotel and caught the bus from the hotel to the stadium, which was pretty important because first we were dropped off at the front gate and more importantly we were given the option of sitting on the bus in the warmth out of the snow for as long as we wanted in the two hours before game time. Included in the package was the official US tailgate, which I have to say had some pretty good food. The only downside was that the food was cold almost immediately as it left the grill, but what could have been done about that? I don't think anything. I am pretty sure US soccer sold tickets to this and depending on how much they are, I would probably consider buying it outright, especially in the summer when the food won't freeze in seconds and the wind won't blow your plate over. Free bottles of water were also clutch as I downed probably four of them, and they wouldn't have been $3.50 each in stadium. I headed over to the AO tailgate to met up with friends after that and then went into the game. After the game the bus was right at the front door which was again, quite nice and rather than wait for the AO buses freezing my ass off as many people were doing, I had a nice ride back to the hotel. All in all this wasn't a bad deal. I found similar quality hotels in downtown Denver around 150 a night, so I figure $300 is the hotel. Breakfast, lunch and dinner could be around a $100, the food was pretty good except for breakfast which was average hotel breakfast food. The Q&A sessions at lunch with the ESPN broadcasters and former players was the only thing you couldn't buy on your own and probably the best part of the package. Can't put a price on that but I'd have paid a good $50 in a heartbeat for it and the bus ride to the stadium I guess could have been free on the AO buses, but you'd have to wait for awhile in the cold. The only thing I didn't really like was the tight schedule. I generally hate organized tours, as I feel I am being handheld the entire time and would rather be flexible to do what I want. The people on the tour were generally pretty casual fans. Few had been to more than one or two other US games, although all of them were quite pleasant to talk to, even if due to my hangover I probably wasn't.
I will also say that I could have easily purchased tickets at or near face value multiple times at the stadium.
Wow, totally surprised you didn't mention the 2am dinner run!!! (then again I'm sure you don't remember!)
By the middle of the first half, it was damn hard to see if the ball was at the other end. Even by the time of Dempsey's goal I could barely tell what was going on down at the other side.