Great time. The players looked tired, as you can imagine, but they were more than happy to sign autographs for my 5 year old son and he even managed to get a picture with the Cup! That thing is taller than he is.
It was a pretty good time..The players did look tired but I managed to get my picture taken with nelsen and my hand on the cup and a pic with Alecko and his MVP trophy. The one female reporter from the sports machine was worth the trip in my opinion I took many pictures and most didn't come out because I didn't realize my flash wasn't on...sorry guys but I failed in my mission...I will see if any are really salvageable. At least I remembered the flash for my pics with the cup and Alecko! I was a little disappointed in the turnout...maybe 75 people. The news crews were there in force too...Channel 4 sports machine, ABC (WJLA), and Fox news, maybe CBS was there too but I'm not sure. Best part of the night was listening to all the people passing by before The players flight arrived. They saw all the DC united fans standing around and there were some good quotes. "What is this all about? oh a soccer team? Did you guys win a tournament or something?" "Oh honey look DC United must be here.....what's that?" There wer eplenty of other strange looks and funny quotes. Petke was still grinning ear to ear...and Nelsen was holding the cup the whole time..what agreat site to see the Cup being the first thing out of the terminal!
We had a great time. The players were very cordial, and were genuinely glad for our support. Some hung out for a good 20 mins signing and just talking to fans and accepting our congradulations. They even let fans hold the cup for pictures!!!!! I would guess 75-100 showed up. The Airport Authority Police were very professional, and very nice. They let us do our thing, and had a detail guarding the cup as it moved thru the airport. A good time and worth the wait for the late aircraft.
Yeah, turnout wasn't great, but it was perfect for my son. Yeah, that reporter was well worth the trip I was telling my wife she probably has no problems getting the tough interviews.
I saw EZ over by the baggage 4. He was not wearing the red United training jacket. Nick, I predict if you went home and told your wife about that reporter, you will be sleeping on the couch with the dog for a week or two
Don't let that hold you back, just think, if you moved to DC and became a reporter, you might someday get to almost touch the MLS Cup!
His wife and family are still in LA, and as he has almost no time with his newborn daughter, he might want to stay out there a little longer.
They just showed an interview with Freddy at the airport, so I guess he just made a beeline right past all of us. Or maybe I was distracted by the reporter.
Fox news just showed a quick piece about United arriving back at Dulles this evening, and the reporter interviewed Freddy, so he must have been there somewhere.
I saw Freddy, he kind of stayed close to the wall farthest from everyone, he was talking with Nana. Everyone was fixated on the cup and he kind of just slipped passed everyone haha
Freddy was there, he just made his way past the crowd fairly quickly and then got held up by the TV camera crews. He did sign a few autographs afterwards and shook hands with folks as he made his way to the baggage claim area. The best reaction I saw from people coming off the planes about fifteen minutes before the team came through was from a young boy.....Looking at all of us in our United gear...Looks up at his parents and says, "What? Is Freddy Adu here somewhere?"
Just got back, had a great time! The players did in deed look pretty wiped out, but they were great to all the fans who showed up and very willing to talk and pose for photos, etc. I personally got my photo taken with Nellie and the cup, Esky and his MVP award, and of me holding the cup. I got to congratulate Nellie, Esky, Dema, Freddy, Petke, Rimando, Perkins, Olsen.. and I think that was all I got to persoanlly congratulate. They all seemed very appreciative of the fans turning out to show support and offer congratulations. A special thanks to the staff memeber ( im not exactly sure who it was) who was allowing us fans to hold, and have pictures taken holding the cup. That was just way too cool! I side note, a british couple who was either on the same flight or came in at the same time approached me and started asking questions, and said they saw a bunch of guys dressed in red uniforms carrying a big "tropy like" object. I explained to them who exactly those guys in red were, and what the trophy was. They became rather excited, and decided to stick around to see the team come out into the baggage claim area. Alittle later on as things were winding down right after I had my photo taken holding the cup, they approached me again and asked if this was our first championship. I pointed to the 3 stars on my barra jersey, and told them we had won it 3 other times in 96,97,and 99, and that this was our 4th MLS CUP. They both got big smiles on thier faces and looked at one antoher and almost simultaneously said "OH WOW, so they are like the Manchester United of America!" Just thought that was a neat little story Id share.