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The Flash won!!!! They beat the 86'ers 1-0 in front of just about 3,000 fans.
Tonight's game was recorded and will be televised this Sunday on Cox channel 4 cable at 5:00PM. So they had the majority of the crowd diverted over to the other side of the stadium, opposite the pressbox. I'm sure it will look great on TV, but those of us on that side were looking at a lot of empty seats!
The game itself lacked passion, as I heard some people commenting. Neither team really took control, even though the Flash had more shots on goal in the first half. Lots of play in the midfield, but not very many runs towards goal. Each side would put two or three passes together but then lose the ball on the next pass. I'd say these two teams played pretty even...evenly mediocre.
The goal we scored happened right at the time I was looking down writing something for our little raffle. But I was told that our goalie, Joe Cannon, had just grabbed a ball in the area, and quickly drop kicked it ahead about 60 yards right in the path of "Chile" Farias, who took the ball and scored. The PA announcer said the goal was Farias and the assist went to Joe Cannon! When I heard that I looked around to see if maybe Joe had gone forward a la Jorge Campos or something, but there he was, minding the nets. But I'm even more convinced now that we have a great keeper, and I hope he has a long and prosperous career, even if he isn't called up by the MLS team with whom we're affiliated!
As I mentioned, we had a little 50/50 raffle, after we had the suggestion at our meeting just last night. It actually went OK. We had tickets and a sign, and we got the PA to announce it (although we would have liked a little more) and then the PA also announced the winning ticket number. At the time of the goal I was writing down the winning ticket number and a little copy for the announcer to read, so I missed the goal. So we had a winner, and we also made a little something for the THUNDER! We also had some more announcements about our club, inviting people to join. Each week things are getting better and better!
I had the big drum out again, and I didn't get as many blisters! But also there again was the samba band, who played a lot, and played really well. When I ran over to the press box, I could really hear the samba band, and I couldn't hear at all those that were banging on our big drum. Oh well. I also brought the remaining airhorns, and they attracted a huge crowd of kids, more than before. But many of the cans were out of stuff, so they weren't working. However, there were a few that worked, and the kids were taking turns giving them a toot, when a security guard came over and told them to stop! I stood up and asked the guy what the problem was, and he told me the rest of the crowd was complaining about the noise! I told him that I brought the airhorns because the Flash president told me personally to bring them and to use them a lot, which was true. Because the game was going to be on TV he really wanted a lot of noise and enthusiasm, which I agree with 100%. But the security guard told me that we had to do what the crowd wanted, so no more horns! Needless to say I was very disappointed.
This brings up a point that I've been struggling against lately. It seems others have also told me that they want to go to soccer games "to watch soccer, not to hear a lot of noise." This seems so against what happens in all the great soccer countries in the world. I love soccer, and I love seeing how great the crowds look in Italy, Argentina, England and other places. But the people here seem to think they are at a golf match or something, and just want to politely applaud when there's a good play or a goal. How can we overcome this? Is this something that is "American" and will be here to stay? Or will more people join in and acquire the "passion" that many other country's fans seem to have? "Americans" I'm sure will quickly point out that fans in those countries I just listed are known for violence, extreme behavior and other bad things. But I don't know if they also realize that not everyone is like that, and I certainly wouldn't advocate such things here. I think there IS room to be passionate and have fun and BE LOUD! I guess it's just going to take time!
Anyway, I'm happy the Flash won. That's 3 more points, over a team in our division. As things keep rolling I'm sure we'll make a run at the playoffs!
-Eric Bekins-
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