(this is my second attempt at this post after being busted in school computer lab when supposed to be doing science research) i can say that i'm almost as n00b as you can get to the MLS. i'd been an EPL fan for about 3-4 years already when i started following MLS casually on TV last year, but i hadn't been to a game at all until this spring. i think i'm one of the only people happy the fire moved to naperville, they're like two miles from my house, which means i've been to every home game i could get to this year. i love it. unfortunately, this means the only incredible memory i really have is meola being sent off a few weeks ago...i know it's pretty weak but it's all i got. i'll have some stories someday, i dont plan on ceasing to attend home games any time soon...
Not weak at all. Be proud and wear it loud. Besides, every game with the Section 8 supporters is a memory unto itself.
I remember watching DC-San Jose on ESPN and thinking it didn't matter how bad the soccer was because we had arrived. I arranged 30 of my college friends to see the Burn play their first game the next weekend at the Cotton Bowl against the Clash. Wynalda flicked us off in the Inferno. Dustin Christman will remember that one. I also remember being at a lonely gas station in the middle of the California desert and seeing the attendant at the desk watching the Metrostars on the ABC game. That really was surreal. Some bubba in a desert town watching the Metrostars on TV. I also remember Takawira and Khumalo and all the other third world "stars" that the league forced on us. There was so much hype about these guys and look where they all went. Just about every one of them was a bust except Etcheverry and Moreno, who were already bonafide stars from WC '94. The Wiz uniforms were awful. The Clash wasn't much better. The league has come a long way. Nobody stays on the league because of hype anymore. That worked in '96 when they were grasping for anything to promote the sport. Now, it's the play on the field that matters and it's amazing how many solid "B" level players we've produced in the US. Eventually some of them become "A" players like Mathis, Sanneh, and DMB, and that's what everyone always wanted from this league. I just hope we last another 7 years!
Re: Re: Re: Question? Does your collection contain music from only one band or genre? If the answer is yes you're one sad man.
Re: Re: Re: Question? Hey, nobody, and I mean nobody, spins around in a big goofy white skirt like Stevie Nicks spins around in a big goofy white skirt. Don't stop thinking about tomorrow, man.
Re: Re: Re: Fans since league inception v. more recent fans It's the same way with my mom. But, we can always hope.........
I first got interersted in soccer when I was 13. I remember following the 1994 World Cup in the newspapers. I got really excited, especially after the win over Columbia, and I remember being disappointed when the tournament was over. I remember sometime in 1995 reading in Boy's Life magazine (back then I was in Boy Scouts...) about Tab Ramos and the new league that was coming to the United States...Major League Soccer. I got excited about soccer again. I tried to follow the league, but MLS didn't get much coverage in the local papers. In fact, I hadn't realized that MLS had started until one time I had tuned into ESPN Radio and heard somebody comment on how a team from a small market like Columbus, Ohio was leading the league. That's pretty much how the first few years were for me...living in non-MLS markets, trying to follow the league in spite of spartan press coverage. I actually caught a game or two during the 1997 by happenstance...when we'd be over at my then foster-mom's parents' house (they had cable, my foster parents didn't). I remember seeing the Crew play a game at the OSU football field...and a few commercials: one for the league featuring John Harkes ("the Juggler") with some seals and another for All-Sport (or whatever Pepsi calls their brand of sports drinks) featuring Alexi Lalas telling a disbelieving grandchild about how before athletes had All-Sport they didn't have fields with bounce pads and shrinking soccer goals. It was late in the 1999 season, after I moved away to college, that I was first able to really follow the league. I remember trying to find games on TV, but the only ones I could find on a consistant basis were the Univision matches. It was while watching a Crew-Fire game towards the end of the season that I realized that I was hooked on soccer. Since then, I've followed the league. Last fall, I left college due to some financial aid problems, and moved back to Seattle to find a job to pay off a debt incurred due to said financial aid problems. I've missed a lot of games on TV this season because of work, but have tried to catch every telecast I could. I'm not really sure which group I'd fall into for the purposes of this thread...while I've followed the league since the first season, I really only was able to actively follow MLS since late 1999.