For a fantastic weekend. You guys were great hosts. And man, do I LOVE your stadium. I hope Uncle Phil builds us one like it.
It was good to meet you at the half. Your boys sure got down to business after going a man down. With the second half side-switch, Dema was on my side of the field and I was just getting drunk enough to start screaming obscenities at him when he was sent off. Oh well. Congratulations on the 4th star.
Ditto, it was good to meet you too. Thanks for giving us props. In spite of what people are saying in the MLS N & A forum, I thought attendance was great and the play on the field wasn't too shabby either. And I won't be available until Wednesday, probably. We're going to RFK tomorrow night for the team rally.
Ha, I love our stadium...and good job on DC beating out KC...I was chearin' for DC...they played a GREAT game!
It was a great game, and I had an excellent view of the Barra Brava, certainly something to see live. The game wasn't bad, DC brought the intensity in the first half, and KC and Dema/Esky brought the intensity in the last half. Got to say, if LA couldn't be there and win it, DC is just as good.
No problem. I have to say it was depressing sitting in the stands and watching two teams that I could really care less about play for the MLS cup. But, I went anyway because I'm a soccer fan first. I wanted to bring a sign that said "Anyone but KC" My girl taked me out of it.(good girlfriend.) Anyoway, I have a comment then a question for you and the rest of the DC supporters. First congrats on the title for DC United. it was an exciting match and they deserved it. My question is regarding your seating arrangements. It seemed that the placement of both DC and KC supporters were extremely unfair. In watching you guys behind the post I can tell that it had a large impact on Bo. Although I don't think they had a chance regardless I'm at a loss for words as to why you guys were allowed to sit behind the goal and KC was put in the corner. Who was responsible for this and why was it allowed to occur. It just seemed really unfair for the KC fans to have to endure you all trashing the goal and Bo while they could only sit there and watch it happen.
I believe the Screaming Eagles were planning a road trip out here before they had qualified for the cup and had picked their seats behind the goal. MLS had reserved two sections for fans of each conference. One section was 127 for the western conference team's fans and the other was I believe 137 for the Eastern Conference fans, but since DC fans already had a section didn't use it. I don't think of it as being "allowed" rather this group was planning on attending regardless of their team making it and chose their area of choice.
I just got home about a half hour ago, but I'm too keyed up to go to bed. And I have to get up in about four hours for work. Not that I'll be too productive tomorrow anyway.
We really don't think in terms of fair and unfair, there's no reason for us to handicape ourselves to Wiz level and go to some corner. Best place for us was behind goal so we made sure to all buy tickets there and have time and contacts to put banners up on Saturday (many of us arrived Friday) KC group could have done same thing. It certainly wasn't organized by MLS or Galaxy hehe I liked your stadium a lot (and I've seen many in Europe). Wall, rails and benches are great for standing on, unlike RFK PS Your and NJ's security should be playing in final of tardbowl
Unfortunately I couldn't make it to the game, but I did last year for SJ v Chi-town and both supporters sections got equal seating positions as I remember. Whether that was because of the fans themselves or the HDC/MLS officials I don't know. I was up in the nose bleeds, if there are such a thing at HDC since all the seats are great. The one improvement over last year was certainly attendance -- I saw a good 6-8k seats empty last season for the final game which was a shame because it was a great game and the final should always be capacity. Malk
Mike,can you tell us that haven't been to the HDC what it's like. What do you like about it the most? I love watching games being played there at night.
I really like the overhang on the side where the team benches are. You can see it behind the players here And on the right in this shot I also like how close the seats are to the field. When we were behind goal, getting down to the first row was only about 10 yards from the back of the net. That was cool. I also just like the general feel of the place. I'm no architect, but I think the architects designed the stadium so it would give the fans a feeling of being connected to the game. Or maybe that was one too many $11.00 margheritas talking to me.
The Screaming Eagles ordered up the front two rows of section 121 back in Sept as we always have a core group of folks who attend MLS Cup no matter what. We just kept adding on to our order as DC progressed to the final and the DC front office got the section next to us. Not our problem if KC supporters waited til the last minute OR let the Galaxy FO decide where they were to be seated. Other supporters groups have knocked the SEs in the past for being too organized, whatever. We made sure we contacted the right folks early so we could get the section we wanted and had the bank to make purchases in advance. K
Sorry for additional intrusion from DC fans here in your forum. However, I would like to add something here about the organization and planning that helped land the DC fans in their prime spot. K and gocaps did this on their own with the interests of three different fan clubs in mind. We all pitched in together, agreed to stand and sing as a group, and cooperated to get this done. Hence, any implications about DC fans being "permitted" or "allowed" to do anything are ludicrous and just blatantly uninformed. If there is a lesson to be learned here it is that it pays to get your sh!t together like K, gocaps, and the Screaming Eagles have done it. It also pays to have great fan club relationships where petty differences in approaches to support do not get in the way of the big picture. The energy, enthusiasm and numbers of the Barra Brava were critical to what you saw. In addition, the key ingredient was our friends in La Norte who went to the Bolivia game at RFK the night before the final, flew out to LA, brought the huge drum with them, and drove the section hard for the whole game. Dedication, organization, cooperation, vision. All on the part of the fans. Take care of yourselves, don't rely on the staff to plan for you. By the way, pass word on to Sigi that his assumptions about the fan sections which he published are just plain uninformed. Tim
Hey Tim, I was wondering how you got the cooperation of Radio Shack. Didn't hurt that all the promotion stuff was in black and red, either.