It's really cool to see how everyone gets ready for the game. I too am always so comfortable about going to SJ feels like a second home. All of it's fun, from the drive over to the special cd I make for the trip. The smell of BBQs and suntan lotion, beer and garlic fries in the air. If lucky we get to leave the game with a Baha fresh burriot victory. But any type of win will do. We normally go to Gordon Biersch after the game, and talk it to death.
Since it's 380 mile drive for me - it's only now couple of times a year in SJ, AND IT IS IMPOSSIBLE TO PREDICT ARRIVAL TIME. Made it to CQ BBQ TG this year - terrific time, never knew that drinking and kicking at the same time could be so taxing. Since Chip-ass came to LA this year , I get to see the Quakes 4 times here + a possibility of US Open Cup. LA ritual is simple - find out who's going from the Quake fans, get to the parking lot 10-15 minutes 'fore the game and look for someone who is giving tix away, or someone's who's stuck, and buy them for $10 a pop. Then proceed to the Quake fans section, or the best seats in the house which are always empty, get a kick outta the Catholic Priest trying to rile up the Riot Squad. Once a year try to make an East Coast game, there - just talk to rival fans, kick the ball around, no problems. If watching the game on telly or feed - get all the family crap done, and ... envision the victory - yeah , positive thinking - all dat stoff.
It involves beer. ...but to expand upon that, our pregame routine is more like a checklist these days. Since, we also live over an hour away, we have to make sure we have all that we need for the day out. It breaks down to: Load all the usual, needed stuff in the car Drive the 90 minutes to Spartan Tailgate (read: drink a lot) w/ CQ Go into N3, hang the Irish flag on the railing, drink a lot with my buddy Jason and jump up on the railing after each goal. Other than that, there really is no routine. I'd have to say that the routine was probably more fun in past years because there was a degree of superstition that crept in--certain "lucky" articles of clothing that had to be worn, the tickets/parking pass had to be kept in a certain envelope on the way to the stadium, a warmup jersey had to be worn while tailgating (since it was pregame) then the game jersey had to be worn while in the stadium. (that applied to away games, too.) However, at the start of this year when the vast majority of the players left and there was no championship to defend, I felt as though the old superstitions would not work with the new players. It was time for a fresh start with no requirements or restraints. It used to be that I would only wear a Quakes' jersey to a Quakes' game. Now, we regularly designate a couple of games as "Celtic Saturdays" when we wear our Celtic Hoops (the other team we support) and of course we'll be wearing the '80s Retro Reds on July 23rd. Change, as they say, is good. It has made me less neurotic on gameday. )