Way back in 2004, I took a trip to Chicago to catch a game between the US and England. A few things stick out in my mind from that day. The first is that the England supporters totally overwhelmed and embarrassed the American supporters. It was the only time in my life I've been embarrassed into loudly singing my own national anthem. The second is that although the game was played in America at Soldier Field, the stadium was covered in England flags. The third thing that sticks out that is the Eddie Pope had a horrible game, and thus began my mixed emotions over all things Popeish.American soccer supporters are coming along nicely; apparently they even managed to sing some lovely songs while in Germany. We're pretty good at putting our flags up, too.
But one of the things I really appreciate about the English supporters is that they give their flags a little bit more personality. The English flag can be used to support not only the national team, but the club team and the hometown of the fans (or even Bob Marley lyrics). We wouldn't dream of putting all that on the American flag, it's likely someone would try to pass a law denying you that right if you did. But we don't bother with that kind of sanctimonious malarky for our state flags, luckily enough, which is why I'll have no problems (except maybe some heckling from the locals) when I show up at tomorrow's Real Salt Lake vs Chicago Fire game carrying a flag that looks like this...
As you may recall, this all began back in April with this post where I asked all the teams in Major League Soccer to make me a fan. It took me 18 days to make my decision, and tomorrow I'll be wearing an Eddie Pope jersey (a gift) while sitting in the brand new Toyota Park (formerly Bridgeview Stadium) and meeting the GM of the team I chose, Real Salt Lake.
Everything comes full circle, I suppose. My first World Cup game was Germany/Spain in Chicago, and now my first MLS game will be in Chicago, supporting club and country with a reverence that continues to grow.
And we're going to win and on a 90th minute volley off my left foot (I'm right footed), and I'll be carried off the field by Eddie Pope and Chris Klein to the jeers of the Fire fans, but I'll be well respected around the league, and I'll make my first national team start in our first friendly after the world cup.
Well why not? Everything else has turned out better than I could have expected.
4 comments:
i so wish i thought of that indiana flag with a Crew logo beforehand. very nice. have a blast, and definitely beat chicago.
make a flag, man. just make sure you put the US logo on it, and bring it to national team games. i think it'd be fantastic if every US fan did that.
we used dark color specific iron on paper, and the total came up to about $40 altogether.
$40 ain't bad at all...i always liked the city of Indianapolis flag, maybe I will do that one.
i originally was going to do the indy flag, but that flag is more expensive (the flag guy at the circle center mall explained that those flags are hand-made) and i wanted to make a miniature flag for steve, and they don't make a miniature indy flag.
but the indy flag is definitely a better flag, i think.
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