Who here has been with MLS since the begining?

I was a member of the Screaming Eagles before DC United even existed. Back then (in 1995) it was Kevin Payne working out of his basement.

Sachin

 

I watched the first game, and the first season, on TV. Went to a few games at RFK as a Maryland student. Went to a lot of games that second season, including the rain-soaked final.

Whew. I'm old.

And by the way, Kevin Payne's basement is a lot nicer than most.

 

You could claim me as one. Been a member of The Midnight Riders since 1996 and have attended over 90% of all home Revolution matches since then.

 

I was there. The game did suck.

But then again, what were we supposed to expect from such a wide range of talent on the field, the pressue of playing the very first game, the shockingly blinding colors of the Clash uniforms...

And then, and in a magical moment, Wynalda curled a shot into the far right post.

I haven't looked back since.

 

I had the Soccer America cover with the pictures of the players in the MLS uniforms hanging on my wall. I remember thinking it was too bad the Colorado Foxes couldn't just move the name to MLS and that the Seattle Sounders should be in the league as well.

I remember the game that the US played against Bolivia that proved to be Jaime Moreno's ticket to MLS.

I don't think we realized what we had at the time.

 

Beginning with the first game in SJ, I've watched virtually every MLS match that was available on air (shootout/direct kick, included) till a few years ago when they started scheduling the matches simultaneously on Soccer Saturday. Now, I still watch at least two a week and fast forward through a few others. I still have my 96 DC United jersey.

 

Since the beginning of the beginning.

I still have the season-preview article I cut out from the Dallas Morning News predicting the San Jose Clash as 1996 Champs, built on the prolific goal-scoring of Wynalda and the solid defensive rock of Nigerian star Ben Iroha.

 

DC United fan since day 1 in 1996.

 

I was a young kid back in the NASL days watching Kyle Rote Jr. and Bobby Lennox score goals for the Houston Hurricane around '79-'80!

And I've been there for MLS since '96 when Waldo scored against DCU. I was playing in college and the talk was high among the lads of who could move on for at least a tryout and if the league would go belly up by next season!

Two contracted teams, two possible moved teams and a bunch of solid SSS still have MLS in some sort of purgatory. Garber, you da man but don't relocate franchises like the NASL did!

 

I have indeed been here since the beginning. I watched in Southwest Virginia the first game on ESPN and have supported DC United and MLS in general ever since. I was only in 6th grade at the time and now I see where MLS stands and I can say that I will be with it forever and will work my a$$ off to promote the game, the league, and American soccer in general until it succeeds. I would hawk tickets to games free of charge to the franchises if I could get more people to go and get more air time on television.

I'm DEDICATED

 

Watched most of the Clash/D.C. game on T.V. and actually missed Waldo's goal, the game bored me and I went to my room and hit up the Playstation's Fifa Soccer '96. A casual fan thereafter makind a few Clash games per year. Did not become a true fanatic until I went to college in the Bay Area in 1998.
I still remember Cerritos running amok and causing havoc at Spartan...wait that was last week.
Roy Lassiter is still my favorite of all time...that guy was electric.

 

I attended the first of many San Jose Earthquakes matches at Spartan Stadium in the spring of 1975. By 1978 my family had moved to Michigan and I started making trips to the Pontiac Silverdome to watch Detroit Express matches with Trevor Francis playing like the most expensive transfer in English history. Times were good!

But Detroit Express relocated after the 1980 season. And the NASL was dead by the end of 1984. And we had to endure the 12 Years of Darkness! Yes, there was some coverage of the 1986 World Cup in Mexico. And the occasional "Soccer Made in Germany" with Toby Charles. The United States qualification for Italy 1990 was a miracle. And nobody yelled louder then me during those magical days of USA 1994 when our boys let the world know that indeed there was a heartbeat for the game in the United States.

So your damn right I have been with MLS since that first glorious match in 1996! It represented the end of a nightmare for soccer fans in this country. And I don't think I will ever forget it. And I will be with MLS until death do we part.

 

I was at the first inaugural game in Kansas City - a 3-0 win over the Rapids.

My first club game that I remember was the Expansion Charlotte Lightning winning the 1981 ASL championship match at Memorial Stadium in Charlotte.

 

my dad has had season tickets to the Earthquakes since the '97 season, I wasn't really into soccer till 2000, so during the 2001 season my convinced me to tag along with him to the Earthquakes games. I remember the first game i ever watched when San Jose lost their home-opener 1-0 to the Dallas Burn. Since then i've really been hooked to the MLS and I love the atmosphere and seeing the players close-up (we have seats in the 5th row).

 

Viva Revolution!!! Viva Revolution!!! Viva Revolution!!! Viva Revolution!!!

10 year season ticket holder and Midnight Rider.

My son and I made it to the first 7 MLS Cups despite the fact that the Rev never had a chance until the 7th. We also traveled to the Miami inaugural match as well as the first game at Crew Stadium (and we're both still getting season ticket applications in the mail from the Crew every year ).

Part of my following of MLS stems from guilt about not being able to support the local NASL entry in its day, although we did get to a number of Boston Bolts ASL matches in the late 80's.

 

I was here from the 94 World Cup. I attended all the Rose Bowl games except the final. From there I jumped on the LA Galaxy bandwagon and loved them for the first 5 years. I really enjoyed seeing the stars of MLS - Jorge Campos, Hurtado, Etchevery, Valderama, Cobi, Wynalda, Lalas, etc.

Then I got bored, got busy and jumped ship and game back thru my love of Euros, WC, La Liga, Serie A, EPL, Gol TV and FSC and of the game of soccer/football. I want it to succeed here in the US. The Galaxy still starts with a bang and then fizzles to a wimper. The MLS needs to be smarter and work more in line with the USMNT schedules. But I see things really improving. I love the HDC and the friendlies with the Euro, Asian, and Mexican teams. I see progress. I hope more soccer specific stadiums continue to open and that fans continue to support soccer in the US. I also hope the quality of play continues. I really think FC Dallas, and the Revs are quite exciting. I also enjoy watching San Jose, DC United, and the Metro Stars. It's all good, but needs to continue to improve.

 

Unlike our good Earthquake fans who had a team to root for, I spent nine seasons "with the league" rather than a particular club. Even now with RSL I find it occasionally hard to root for much beyond a good game from both teams. I'll work on having a team to root for.

One thing about that first game that has to be mentioned: with all of the media attention, it didn't matter whether the game was a stinker or the best played match since the 1970 Brazilians. All that mattered as we approached the end was that somebody score a goal. 0-0 would've been a disaster from a PR standpoint. Wynalda's goal meant worlds, and that it was well taken. Actually, well taken only mattered to the fans. I think the league was happy with a goal. Relief as much as joy.

But some of those crowds sure had us thinking big!

I like the reference to Iroha. I remember another Soccer America piece about the prowess of Harut Karepetyan.

 

Ten year Crew season ticket holder. Missed exactly 21 home regular-season games. We have had better times, and will again.

 

I had a watch party the night of the first MLS game between DC and the Clash. Of course, I had to combine it with "poker night" to get some to the house, but whatever, they came and we all watched.

Several of the people at my house to watch that game were with me, and a bunch of others, as we had a group of about 20 for the first home game at RFK, a 1-2 loss to the Galaxy.

I bought season tickets and have had them ever since, though after becoming a dad we reduced to a partial season-ticket plan.

I also attended the first five MLS Cups.

 

I remember watching that first game with a friend. I had decided to pull for DCU since they were allocated John Harkes, who was my all-time favorite player. It was the greatest game to watch, you could tell neither team had any cohesion yet.

I can't believe this is the 10th season, it really doesn't seem like it's been that long...

 

Sorry, I meant the result sucked. The game itself was awesome.

 

This thread reminds me of my favorite moment from that first DC-SJ game...

We were watching it at home, and my sister (who knew about as much about soccer as she did about Boxing at the time... read:not a whole hell of a lot) walked in the room and said, "Hey - That's Jeff Causey!"

We all looked at her and said, "yeah, he's DC United's goalie. how the hell do you know who he is?"

"I kinda went out with him in high school. He's been in this house."

It really brought the league and team down to Earth for me, and made a fan out of her. She comes out to a couple United games a year.

 

i've only been watching closely since around 2000 or 2001, but thats excusable since is was only 13 when the league began in 1996 and i have never lived even remotely close to an mls market.i would watch mls on espn whenever it was on, but this site is what truly got me into the usmnt, mls, and dc united specifically.