There was an accident (didn't witness it, but motorcyclist was done and looking pretty rough as we passed) on rte 1 north about 2.2 miles south of the stadium. We got stuck right behind it at 4 PM, but were able to get around it fairly qucikly, however the traffic was already piling up behind us as far as we could see in the rear view mirror. That, and the way they had the cones and traffic flow set up didn't seem very productive coming from the south.
I read this one: http://msn.foxsports.com/soccer/story/7116878 Pretty nice quotes and statements about his tour of 'benches'. And for the sake of clarity, it was not ice (though that was funny too) that he was chewing from the cup, it was sunflower seeds.
Considering the problems we have had historically with LA, any kind of result is always a good result.
We weren't terrific, but we looked okay and the passing was good. Great tailgate, great atmosphere, Fort was loud and proud and from people I know who watched it on TV they said you could hear us loud and clear. Heard a lot of negative comments this morning on my ride to work, I'm wearing a Revs pin on my suit jacket lapel. "Your team ripped me off", "He didn't even play", etc from about 6 different people. Take that as you will. Great crowd, but I have a feeling the pattern for the next few years will be 13-14K for regular games, then 30K for the "Beckham" game. Rinse and repeat. Oh, and I never witnessed a more pathetic/frustrating thing than the FPD officer telling Monty he if didn't move us along, he was going to jail. Wow. New low. I thought their reaction to the Celtic friendly was bad.
That was a major problem and I'd like to think how they didn't plan for that. The whole stadium was trying to cross that bridge at the same time. In regards to the lady in green, she was classes, stepped on this lady's toes right by me. She was very fat and very ugly and hope neither of those things change for her anytime soon. Now for parking, as a group, we employ the "no eye contact" policy when dealing with parking attendants. We know where our final destination is (the fort) and we just drive there, with complete disregard for the directions those untrained morons dish out. I know this is probably promoting tactics that would lead to mayhem but last nights parking wasn't much better. We arrived at 4:30 and were having trouble getting to the lot. Its never that bad at pats games. The Krafts need to get their business together (wishful thinking I know). I agree about Shalrie but does anyone else think that avery john is absolutely awful with his distribution. I think he's done well enough defensively but all he can do is boot the ball up field when he gets it, which usually results in a turnover. Overall, I think the match was a good showing for the boys but like has been said it would have been nice to see Taylor finish a bit better. I think it was some quality soccer on display that should bring some purists and people who know the game. Maybe it could have even turned the opinion of a few eurosnobs. we'll see.
Regarding the traffic situation, I didn't have any trouble getting in as I was coming south from 95. Getting out was a utter disaster. We sat on Rte 1 for 1/2 hour without moving because they were letting EVERYONE cross the road to their cars. Either they need a temp bridge to get people across or they need to let some people cross, let some cars go etc..When they finally let a few cars go through mine was the last in line and the rent-a-cop kept yelling at me to move up "because people have to cross here" even though my bumper was inches from the car in front of me. I guess she thought I could just run over the car in front of me On the plus side I met some people who had bought the 4 pack and were just thrilled to be there for the Revs, couldn't have cared less about Beckham. The 14 yr old girl said her life ambition is to join the Midnight Riders and become a professional soccer player and how old did she have to be to join(and she was an Everton fan!)?
I thought security did a very poor job of keeping the aisles cleared, pre, post and during halftime, gawkers where clogging up the aisles to come down and take photos. I couldn't get in or out of my seat. We were literally yelling at people to take seats and sit down because if not, they would have stood at the front of the aisle the whole game staring at Beckham on the bench. I will give the guy credit, he stood there signing and signing autographs with a huge smile on his face, and I am sure there were plenty of douche bags saying dumb sh.iiit to him, but he kept signing and smiling.
The idiots on Ch. 7 News sent 2 news reporters to the game. The gist of the story -- can Beckham SAVE soccer in the US. Actual words muttered by one of the reports. Both stories on how he didn't play -- neither mentioned a score. Didn't actually get to see the match but I'm glad the Revs put on a good show before that kind of crowd. This team deserves more attention -- and I think they're slowly starting to get it.
After all the angst on the issue before the game I'm a bit surprised it took 25 posts before someone was willing to post that the lines had been removed Rep to 1226
For that matter, neither did ESPN News. They mentioned the size of the crowd, showed shots of Beckham testing out his ankle a bit before the game, plus his walk down the locker room tunnel. But not once did they mention the score of the game during their spiel. It got even more aggrevating as they followed it up with a report on the Man U - Reading game. You can report of the English game, but you can't even be bothered to give a score or highlights from the domestic game??? Mike
And you're not going to like the NESN-HD clip on the Boston Globe website either. All sooo predictable.
Relax---we all know the press has it's head up it's bung re soccer. Nothing new. What was a bit encouraging though was to see that almost half of the people at the game in my vicinity were wearing soccer kits and most of those were Rev kits. MLS is growing in a steady and healthy manner. Screw the current press bias---they will "get with it" about the importance and beauty of our domestic product eventually.
I missed the goal. I was in the bathroom. It is the 3rd goal this season I have missed because I was in the bathroom. It has gotten so bad, the people in my section call for me to go to the bathroom, just so the Revs will score. NECN showed the goal, and a nice bit of an interview with Taylor complaining about the Turf
Agreed. Once the revs are putting 30,000+ in seats for non-Becks games we won't have to put up with this crap anymore.
Great summary. I just returned from an Italian honeymoon on Saturday, so I watched this one at home. My only soccer over the past two weeks were friendlies, and the intensity of the first 20 minutes shocked me. It seemed like the combo of: - large crowd - Beckham-hype backlash - scouts are watching contributed to the fast-paced play. It seemed like the most intense August MLS game I've seen in quite some time. The Revs were certainly the better team in the first half. Joseph played with savage intensity in tackle and distributed well, Noonan played some clever balls and combined well with Ralston, and Parkhurst was, well, Parhurst. On the flip side, Twellman's profligacy appeared, and the Revs were unfortunate not to have a goal. Fortunately, the solid defensive shape meant Donovan, Pavon, and Buddle did next to nothing. In the second half, the Revs needed to do a better job of killing off the game. I was surprised Nicol waited that long to introduce Thompson and Cristman, both of whom helped protect the lead and keep LA honest on the counter.