Is there anyone out there that would go to the Houston match, but they can't get anybody to go down with them on Sunday? I thought this might be a good thread idea, 'cause as of right now, I can only think of 3 Aztex supporters making the trip. Now, my plans are still tentative, but I might have room for 1 more person if they don't mind riding with a bunch of tailgating chairs, cooler, flags and other gear. Go ahead and post here if there is anybody else out there who want to make the trip but needs a ride or wants travel buddy. I'm trying to sell the idea to my friends as a sort of Thermopylaen battle. "Just you, me, and Jay Needham's dad against 16,000 screaming Houstonians!!"
Dedicated to you Cp, and any other brave souls that make the trip to the swamp with ya. [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PnxlhajOolw"][/ame] THIS, IS, AUSTIN!!!! UP THE RAW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I'm going to the game in Houston tomorrow, see you there! For those not able to go, you can follow the highlights on my Twitter feed: http://twitter.com/aztexan You can also try the very first, almost-guaranteed-to-fail-miserably, pre-beta, pre-alpha, trial run of a new gamecast system I'm building: Scorecrow. http://scorecrow.net/matches/12
Thanks for the tweets TwoMeters. I followed along but didn't get to check out the gamecast. So how did we look? Many fans from Austin make the trip?
Just quickly, as I'm pretty beat from 6+ hours on the road to & from Houston. By the way, after seeing at least 10 dead animals on the side of Highway 290, here's my suggestion for the name of this annual Aztex-Dynamo rivalry: the Roadkill Cup. Both teams are clearly still in preseason, the Aztex (after only a week in training) even more so. The Aztex also had a good number of trialists, 3 or 4 at least. So this was very much a scrimmage/practice/scouting game for our boys. It'll be interesting to see if next weekend's game at Nelson has that same feel, or if we'll be more in-it-to-win-it in front of a home crowd. The final was 1-1, but only due to an own goal by Houston (a pass-back that the goalkeeper missed). It could have been 2-1 if the Dynamo had converted their (soft) PK, but they blew that one. Gallardo, back from a couple weeks training with Monterrey, looked great. Despite being back on the their heels most of the game, the rest of the Aztex squad in general showed good fight, good hustle and flashes of Oh Yeah. I was surprised at how few Dynamo fans showed up (I doubt they broke 1,000), especially given that it was free admission. Both of their warring supporters groups were in attendance & quite audible, though. For the Aztex stands, it was mostly staff & family, with the addition of me, CplDaniel & a buddy he brought. Nobody wants to go to Houston; who can blame them? Scorecrow, btw, choked as predicted , and stopped reading new tweets at about halftime. Oh, and I had the kickoff time wrong by half an hour. So not a big success, but bugs to fix & tweaks to make, etc. I hope someone will get in touch with me about live-tweeting next week's game, because I can't be there.
It was a great trip down to Houston. The police were out collecting tax revenue...ehr, I mean protecting us from speeding all morning. I have nothing but positive things to say about the whole Houston match. Brought one of my best friends to his first ever soccer game ever, at any level, and the whole experience could not have been any better! All the Houston supporters we met were great folk and very welcoming hosts. They came and got us while I was off talking to Wes Allen's father to tell us that our team was marching across the parking lot from the dressing rooms in the main stadium to the field where the match would be played. So we got to grab our flags and march with our team to the stadium (the little stadium where the match was held). Houston has great drumline supporters that I think help the game. We sang my Aztex-edited "German Bombers" twice, and chanted "We are, We are, the Aztec Nation" a bunch. Miguel Gallardo had a great game. He earned two truncated renditions of "Oh, Miguel" but being the only person who knew any of the lyrics, I had to sing it quite loudly. Every time Eddie Johnson touched the ball, it triggered an instant response out of us. No less than 3 chants of his first name. "Eddie-Eddie-Eddie." Every time he touched the ball even if he instantly 1-touched it to another player (who might have wondered why we chanting someone else's name while he was dribbling). All in all, great fun. Miguel and Olum really pleased us spectators. After marching in with our flags alongside the Aztex, we came out as the first Dynamonians began to trickle into the field. It was a group of goal-keepers. I met Mr. Tally Hall who I saw score a goal against a team in El Salvador in the CONCACAF Champion's League. I got to shake his hand and congratulate him on that. It's cool when goal-keepers score (and not an own-goal). Here's a link to that if anybody want to check it out. [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7p5cu3Qwxcs"]YouTube- Houston Dynamo goalkeeper Tally Hall scores a goal[/ame] All in all, great day. I'm very thankfull of the friendly welcoming we die-hard RAW-blooded Aztexans received in Houston. As somebody who was trying to introduce and bring somebody into the Soccer lifestyle, I can say the whole day could not have gone any better.
It was rumored that Stu Holden might have been in town recovering, and could attend the match. He wasn't there...but who know's maybe he'll show up Sunday.
Good time goood MF times Cp. I sure hope you, and those you made the trip with, can Kapo one or two of those chants of yours this season during home matces back in Austin. Cheers, AND UP THE RAW, Allways and forever!!!!!