Clint Dempsey, US Soccer Superhero in flight. (from his Facebook page)
I admit it. I’ve been busy. Between parenting 2 kids, beginning the restoration of our “new” 125 year old house (you can read about that at the Hatton House blog here), and trying to steal time to write and paint, I’ve been running around. So as the rest of AO Des Moines bailed one by one from our US vs Italy watch party at Victor’s Sports Bar, I prepared to bail also and maybe watch from home. I really wasn’t in the mood to watch a game in a bar that was empty, save me and the kids. What’s the point?
Imagine my surprise when I picked them up from school and my nine year old asked if we were going directly to the bar for the game. Wait…you WANT to go to the bar? Yeah, of course Mom. Look at that…my children are supporters, die hard, official supporters. We all talk about the proverbs that our kids will keep us young and be our legacy, but the truth is, this is the first moment when I realized the real truth behind all those trite little sayings. Here are my children, excited about going to watch a game at a bar, in the middle of the afternoon with just me. Fantastic.
Now, I could pretend that this fairy tale ends with my kids being riveted to the game and asking insightful questions about the gelling of the Klinsmann era team, and how Dempsey and Altidore are exceeding our expectations as they make the transition from good players to history-making great players. I might feign that they were frustrated by our back line and apprehensive about what happens to our defense if , G-d forbid, Tim Howard ever ceases to be available at the top of his game. Wouldn’t it be great if they sat there discussing the cautionary tale of Giuseppe Rossi, and how you should never underestimate the potential for growth in this US Soccer?
But they didn’t. They were kids. They snacked on their food, pretended to play video games (no, you can’t have any quarters, the game’s on!), asked me how long until it was over, and generally behaved like the 4-1/2 and 9 year olds that they are.
But then, at the end of the game, when I was too excited that we might finally beat Italy, and friendly or not, beat them at home. I couldn’t even sit down, and didn’t really care that my roller coaster of play-by-play squeaks and squeals must have sounded insane to the handful of people at Victor’s not for the soccer game. But my children noticed, and came close and watched. I told them that we’d never beaten Italy before, and told them about the times I’ve watched us play Italy, and that this was a really amazing moment for us in the soccer world. We stood there, through all four minutes of extra time, me standing with them clutching me from their perch standing on chairs, until finally the game ended with the US victorious and we could shout and create havoc in our little corner of the bar. I think, when I look back over my encyclopedia of US Soccer experiences, I will remember that moment. My kids and I, practically alone in a bar, watching the US beat Italy for the first time ever.
When we got home last night, and my husband asked the kids about their day over dinner, my daughter proudly told the story about watching that soccer game, and I could tell that she got it, even if George Vecsey couldn’t. It was an epic win for the US. And my kids made sure I didn’t miss it, and for that, I’m so thankful.
Let me preface by saying that I did NOT want to come to Slovenia. There was a rumor that the US would play Germany on this date, and I was all about going to Germany: I have friends there, I speak the language, and I love watching Germany play almost as much as I enjoy watching the US. So when Slovenia was announce, I was pretty upset. I almost decided against making the trip entirely: I don’t speak Slovenian, I’d only heard of the country because they were in our group in the 2010 World Cup, and who knew how they felt about that experience. But after grumbling for a few days, and realizing that I could still see my German family friends after Slovenia, I decided to continue with my dream trip of Eurotour 2011 planning.
I arrived at 2 AM on game day, and felt lucky to find a pizza stand open who called a taxi to my hotel for me. I checked in and slept until 15 minutes before breakfast closed. I spent the mid day checking out the city of Ljubljana with two other American fans, and headed to the stadium bar around 3:30. Our first stop in the stadium neighborhood was to pick up tickets. I’ve been to enough games to know that if you haven’t seen a bunch of Americans walking around, we’re probably going to be a small crowd at the game, but I had no idea how small our contingent was until we got the the visitors ticket booth. I walked up, and as I was fishing my passport out of my back pocket to show ID to pick up will call, I said “Hi, my name’s Tanya.” And before I could get my passport out, she handed me an envelope with my name on it. When you can get tickets with a first name and no ID, it’s going to be a VERY small crowd.
We headed to the All Star Bar, and on the way, found the Slovenia Supporters selling scarves which I had to buy, and fell in love with when I saw the top read “Majhna in ponosna – little and proud.” How could I not fall in love with Slovenia? I talked with the guy selling them, who turned out to be a leader of the supporters for Slovenia. We had a good time chatting, and as I was leaving, he gave me a really nice Slovenian flag. All I can say is “you had me at “majhna in ponosna.”
We had five Americans at the All Star Bar, and several Slovenians that looked confused to find us there. The stadiums in Europe are all alcohol free (yeah…take a moment to let that sink in, AO nation) and it was unbelievably cold and damp, so I quickly switched from cold beer to Kuhalo Vino, a hot spiced wine that was going down real easy. We compared notes on travel, and came up with my favorite phrase of the night. When people speaking foreign languages without the listener understanding, the listener just nods and says, “What you say is very interesting.” It was a well used phrase for the night.
We headed to the stadium, wondering if our section would even fill a row. Would they have riot gear cops around a single row? If 7000 Slovenians got pissed, exactly what were we going to do about it? When we got to our seats, we were about 2/3 the way up the lower deck, almost in the corner.I was happy to see several serious looking riot geared up police behind our section. We got the AO Des Moines banner hung in our corner, and then went down to the front row of where the US boys were warming up. We were SO close to the field, it was really great. The intimacy of a women’s game, but with the men’s team. It reminded me of the old days, when you could run into players anywhere, before anyone knew about soccer in the US. We realized that it was minutes before the walk out, and no one had kicked us out yet. I ran up to the old seats and grabbed our stuff, updating the only other Americans (a couple from Austria) that we were permanently relocating and they were welcome to join us.
I’ve never been prouder to belt out our national anthem than I was at that game. It was so patriotic to be there, with my four new friends, cheering on our boys. And when we scored, what seemed like immediately, it took a moment to realize that, although the stadium was pin-drop silent, we had scored! We went nuts, and there was the deafening roar of five people cheering. It was completely unreal and fantastic all at once. The field was veiled in fog, so thick that we couldn’t see the far side benches from our front row vantage point. It was an amazing night, on an amazing field, with a great host. The Slovenians got some chants going, and they had a great coordinated fan group in the end zone. Their supporters got call and respond chants going with the other fans in the stadium, and created a great atmosphere. They were great sports being down or tied, and were great sports shaking hands with us post game leaving the stadium and back at the bar.
Of course I’m glad that the US is playing better, and happy that the Klinsman plan seems to be coming together (I told you all to stop worrying). I was glad to catch Boca’s 100th cap… I remember when he was a new guy on the team… they grow up so fast! But there’s something really special about going to the “rare” games. I like being part of the tiny little group of supporters, cheering against all odds. I love all US Soccer matches, but I will always have a special (WARM, finally) place in my heart for Slovenia.
Filed under: International Soccer, Supporter Culture, Uncategorized, US Soccer | Tags: Friendly, Paris, USMNT
My trip in Paris has been really lovely, but I’m typically pretty incognito as an American in Europe. Most Europeans assume that all Americans have long hair, and I speak enough French and plenty of German, which is not typical, so I was surprised to see how my interaction with Parisians took a nose dive once I was in my USA gear for the game. Then after the game, on the Metro back to my hotel, still face-painted and decked out, but in good spirits, the drunk French boys were a little ridiculous.
Four of us Americans stopped for food next to the stadium to let the Metro traffic die down, and around the stadium, the French were pretty nice. People shook hands, took photos with us, it was relatively friendly. Jason, a supporter from New York, and I took the Metro most of the way home together. When I left him, I had a transfer and one stop til I was back at my stop, “La Fouche” (my new favorite word to say in French). I beat the gate closed for the second time (is there anything as exhilarating as making the last train with only minutes to spare?) But then I was trapped on the platform, waiting for the last train, with a bunch of drunk French kids who hadn’t bothered to go to the game, but felt they knew enough to be obnoxious with me.
Here’s a lesson kids, even in a foreign language, it’s tough to out insult me. So here’s my guide for dealing with drunken, obnoxious French fans:
1, Be friendly. I think it was Jason that initially said “When we travel, we let the away team have one goal, to be a good guest.” Most people laughed and shook our hands. But a few were determined to changed my mind back to the belief that French people are really just a bunch of d bags.
2. When the comeback is “Yeah, but you still lost.” My next comeback was “You didn’t even go to the game, and I had a great night there. It was a good game.” Which they’re supposed to see as, dude, it’s just a friendly, lighten up.
3. But some didn’t, and to those, you must start speaking English very quickly, although still with a nice tone “Look, you won by one point in a friendly, big effin deal. I’m an American, you think I’ve never been to a loss before, get over yourself.” You can rattle on here as long as you want, but as you walk away, slow down your English a little and say “Hey, in the 2010 Coupe du Monde (World Cup in French…and you must use French just there), where were you guys in the 2nd round? (You can hold up 2 fingers, just to make sure they get it). Granted, I didn’t have a huge sample set, but that wiped the smile off 100% of drunk French boy faces. Except the one guy, who was particularly amused watching me fend off one particularly drunk fan. As the drunk fan stumbled away with his sad face on, I caught him smirking, and asked if he spoke English. He said yes, and we just smiled and laughed about the whole “drunk guy getting hauled off by his girlfriend” scene. All in all, it was a great night in Paris.
One more day here, then it’s the night train to Florence for 2 days there. I speak zero Italian. Should be interesting….
Filed under: International Soccer, Supporter Culture, US Soccer | Tags: Friendly, Paris, USMNT
It’s been a busy summer at our house. I closed my store, moved our house, and it was generally chaos around every corner. So I took some time off from this blog, (except for that stadium policy thing…that needed to be said.) but I’ve decided to make a comeback in style.
I’m in Paris for the USMNT friendly vs France, and then headed to Slovenia for that game. These are my first two away friendlies, and I’m very excited to be here…too excited…plus the jet lag is not helping my sleep situation. All I can say so far is every French person I’ve talked to is surprised that Americans are here, (and 1500 strong, according to US Soccer). My favorite response so far to the why are you here answer: “But you’re a woman.” I thought of making a joke that I was aware of that, but let it slide because it was delivered with such a great French accent. French accents make just about everything sound better. Have a French person say “Kentucky”. It’s almost sophisticated.
But I digress. Paris has been great today, although there seems to be a low level of game promotion going on. If you’re here in Paris with me, please join me at the American Outlaws meetup before the game. Details can be found here: http://www.theamericanoutlaws.com/events/us-vs-france-111111
See you all tomorrow, or later today Europe time!
Filed under: Family Fun, Supporter Culture, Uncategorized, US Soccer | Tags: Stadium Language, Tifo, US Soccer, USMNT
An email went out to the American Outlaws nation yesterday, telling us that US Soccer wants to promote a “classy reputation” by not having profanity in the Supporters Section. The “You Suck A**hole” chant at the US vs Mexico game in Philadelphia was cited as the reason for why we, the supporters, are being punished by losing our privilege of hanging banners for the game tomorrow.
I’m a mother and a supporter. I bring my children to games, including the game in Philadelphia. My views on language in the supporters section are well established and outlined here, but let me add that I was far more concerned that stadium security was not dealing with drunkenness that was escalating to violence within and between supporters sections than I was about explaining to my children that certain words are only appropriate in certain situations.
While cursing in the supporters section doesn’t bother me, I can understand why US Soccer would want to cut it off. There has been an increase in cursing, and while I’m not offended, I do miss the days when our (as supporters in general, American Outlaws, Sam’s Army, whoever you stand with) chants were stunning for their creativity than cursing. It strikes me that this is a parent-child relationship gone bad. US Soccer birthed a new movement of passionate supporters, American Outlaws, and their child is growing up faster than they perhaps expected, and they’re getting difficult to control. American Outlaws doesn’t want to be the kid with a bunch of rules anymore (children rarely respond well to punishment without clear warning), and (at least some of them) don’t take kindly to being told to limit their free speech rights. So here’s my attempt at mediation in this relationship:
To US Soccer,
As a USSF referee, we’re taught to be careful the promises we make in a game, and the punishment must fit the crime. By taking away the supporters right to hang banners, you’re punishing people who aren’t the problem. My children take extreme pride in carrying the American Outlaws Des Moines banner and stadium flag and seeing it in the stadium. That is a huge part of how they support the US. They were devastated when we couldn’t hang banners in Philly, and panicked that we might not be able to carry in the stadium flag. Don’t take away the creativity of your supporters as punishment for those who show no creativity and think supporting is as simple as chanting YSA and flipping off the other team.
By all means, let’s work together to get the cursing out of the section. A directive that anyone chanting YSA will be immediately ejected would be a fitting punishment. That may seem like a giant undertaking, but we all know you don’t have to caution the entire wall to respect 10 yards, just the first brick in it. Let’s get more educated stadium personnel, who feel empowered to remove the people who are causing problems so that the supporters section is still raucous and fun, without becoming dangerous or alienating the rest of your growing fan base.
PS I also reffed Latino league. Let’s not pretend that there’s far more bad language in English than Spanish. I think we’d all feel better if we did better than “those aren’t our fans”. Deal with all of it or none of it, please.
To the Supporters,
I’m with you. When I read that email yesterday, I was furious. But after sleeping on it, US Soccer has a point. Do we really need to curse in every chant? Would “Mental” be any less inspiring to the team if we went “freaking mental”? The American Outlaws mission statement is “To support the United States National Soccer Team through a unified and dedicated group of supporters.” So while US Soccer is not in charge of any of us, are we really supporting them if we’re specifically doing what they ask us to refrain from doing? We can do better. Don’t get angry, get creative. Show them that we are more than cursing. It would make my day if those going to the game tomorrow found some funny, even sarcastic, curse free replacement for YSA. I know there’s someone out there with something very funny and ironic to say. Let’s get that person some paint and bed sheets, ASAP.
Ultimately, we could fight and be pissed off, but what good will that do for us? You can have all the free speech you want, but in a private event, it won’t be you far. Ultimately, US Soccer can make all our lives pretty miserable, but it would be directly against our mission to drive them to it.
To everyone:
We’re all on the same side here. We want to grow US Soccer and having games with great atmosphere will make that happen. This is one of those aggravating “you’ll charm more bees with honey than vinegar. We can both do better in working together to create that atmosphere.
Filed under: Uncategorized
It’s true. Every parent dreads that moment when your child grows up enough to start asking about the serious stuff in the world. And today, it happened to me. We were driving home from the US vs Mexico game, and my 4 year old son had already passed out. I was chatting with my almost 9 year old daughter about the game, and how excited I was to watch Klinsman coach for the first time because I was a huge fan of his as a player. But as I was chattering away, the back seat got quiet. You could almost feel the air get heavy as my daughter dropped the big question:
“Momma, why did Mexico have so many more fans than we did?”
Kaboom! The sex talk?….no problem. That was a piece of cake compared to this one. My kids grow up in an alternate universe, where most of their parents friends travel to several games a year. They know that we go to every World Cup. We discuss soccer constantly at home. How could I tell her? My sweet, innocent girl, that her beloved America isn’t always like that. That people all over the world are as passionate as we are about soccer, but in our country, most people aren’t really that into it.
So we had “the talk.” About immigration and assimilation (or non-assimilation) into a culture, and how the US is still growing it’s soccer community, and that’s why Mom and Dad volunteer with American Outlaws and Free Beer Movement to try to bring new fans into US Soccer. It was pretty touching. She handled it well. And another parenting milestone goes into the books.
Filed under: Family Fun, International Soccer, US Soccer | Tags: Klinsman, Mexico, USMNT
I’m way behind on this blog. Sorry. I have lots to say about the Women’s World Cup and so much more, but I’ve been busy closing my store and traveling with my kids, this summer kinda got away from me.
So let me say this: KLLLLIIINNNSMMMAAAANNN! Oh how I’ve waited for this day. I love German soccer, and started my love of US Soccer through a series of US vs Germany games. I wanted to have Jürgen Klinsman as our coach for years. I was hoping he’d be picked in the last hiring round, and I’ve definitely wanted us to hire him since 2010. And there is a bit of me pinching myself, not believing my dream has finally come true.
As luck would have it, I get to go to his coaching debut with my kids, thanks to winning the Golazo Scavenger Hunt at the American Outlaws Rally! My daughter is now 8-3/4, old enough to be pissed when I don’t take her to games. My son is 4, funny and charming enough that I want to bring him just to see what he’ll do.
So here we go! I feel like it’s the night before my 1st date with the dreamy senior I’ve been wanting to date since freshman year, and I’m super nervous that he’ll show up and not be the catch I thought he was. I really think Klinsy’s dateable material….and somehow, I will find a way to get some sleep tonight. But for now, it’s just Mexico and kids and Klinsman….oh my!
Filed under: Uncategorized
Soccer has a new movement bubbling up throughout the land. In the 2010 FIFA World Cup, we sent more fans to South Africa than any other nation, in spite of a lackluster economy and 24+ hour flight to get there. You would think that we could use the CONCACAF Gold Cup to continue building that soccer movement across the country. Judging by what I’ve heard, that may not be the case.
I understand, Gold Cup is about making money. We don’t really need to know the CONCACAF champion every 2 years, but the tournament makes money. It’s crazy that we picked our representative for the 2013 Confederations Cup last weekend, only to pick a champion again immediately following the 2013 Confederations tournament. But soccer doesn’t have to make sense if it makes money. With the US hosting, it makes money: we have the big stadiums, disposable income, and diverse population to make the Gold Cup a money-making powerhouse.
But at what cost? I think Tim Howard was appropriately pissed off that the awards ceremony was not appropriately formal. His words were more like “CONCACAF should be ashamed of themselves. I think it’s a [expletive] disgrace that the entire post-game ceremony was in Spanish. You can bet your ass if we were in Mexico City, it wouldn’t be all in English.” Soccer Nation reported that the rehearsal was much more in English, and perhaps announcer Fernado Fiore, got excited in his home teams epic win and forgot the English part, but the award giving as a result wasn’t very ceremonious, as Howard eloquently points out, it was quite disrespectful to the host nation.
And the disrespect was rampant in the supporters section as well. I spoke with several fans who felt that security was lacking to non-existent, both inside the stadium and at the tailgate. Most US supporters I spoke with had reasonable expectations of the game environment. Longtime supporter of US Soccer Kirsten Heimlich summed it up, “I knew it would be crazy, I knew we’d be outnumbered, but I never expected to be treated that way in my own country.” Most of the fans from both sides were cordial and enjoying the rivalry, but when tempers flared, the security was completely inadequate to handle the violence and threats that developed. One family left while the score was 1-0, after being threatened that their children (pre-teens) would be murdered for screaming “Go USA.” Glass bottles were allowed into the stadium, and were thrown at US supporters, through the stadium checkpoints that often had no pat downs or bag checks.
Co-Presidents of the American Outlaws Davis Chapter (a supporters group for US Soccer), Russell Jordan and Evan Ream, attended the game and tailgate together. Jordan wrote the blog post “A Letter to US Soccer From a Concerned Fan” detailing the threats and violence they experienced that day, including a bottle being thrown at Ream’s head during the tailgate. They also noted that there was little organization or direction as the supporter’s marched into the stadium and multiple incidences of violence and objects being thrown from the Mexican fans that resulted in US fans getting injured within the supporters section.
Perhaps most shocking is the reaction of stadium security and officials to these acts. Traveling around the world to games, I have been subjected to more thorough pat downs and screenings to enter soccer games than at most airports. And I’ve been to US vs Mexico games managed by US Soccer and Azteca Stadium where I felt my safety was never in question. But the lack of preparedness at the Rose Bowl is appalling. For security to tell fans trying to report violence to turn around and watch the game is a horrifying lack of professionalism. Jordan told me that it had been reported to him that in the 75th minute, 5 security guards left the section in fear for their own safety, that is evidence of a serious problem with the entities producing the event, CONCACAF and the Rose Bowl. It should be noted that Jordan is a 21 year old personal trainer who is 6’2”, 230 pounds. If he doesn’t feel safe, what hope is there for a mother with her young children.
Photographer Douglas Zimmerman wrote a scathing indictment of the US Soccer fans for not supporting their team for the full 90 minutes. I asked him if he thought the fans were quieted by the threats and violence before and during the game. He explained that as an experienced soccer fan, he’d seen worse games, and felt the fans at this game were too intimidated by the rivalry, and that it wasn’t as bad as other games around the CONCACAF region. He said “I was hit in the head, but it wasn’t that bad.”
But this isn’t another place around CONCACAF, this is in California. I agree with Zimmerman and everyone else that I spoke to, it’s embarrassing as a supporter of American soccer to be so devastatingly outnumbered on our home field, and I do want to hear our supporters for the full 90. Can we really expect supporters, many of whom have very little to no experience with rivalry games on the level of US vs Mexico in the Gold Cup final, with no protection from stadium authorities, to feel comfortable supporting at all? When pressed, Zimmerman did admit that he didn’t think it was a safe environment for children. How can we be expected to grow soccer in this country, when CONCACAF brings a game with such a strong rivalry, puts it in the stadium with arguably the highest probability for volatility, and then refuses to direct the financial and manpower resources to protect the supporters at the event?
Reading the reports of this game, I found myself asking the question “At what point do we say thanks, but no thanks” to CONCACAF when it comes to hosting the Gold Cup? Is it worth the damage done, those fans that may never come to another US game because they don’t understand that it’s not usually like this? I think that if CONCACAF wants to take advantage of our huge stadiums and high profit hosting ability, we have the right to demand a few things in return.
We should have the right to demand the highest level of security at all games, but especially the most contentious final between arch-rivals. We have the right to demand marketing, in English, so that our hosting benefits the US and our growing fan base as much as it benefits CONCACAF. And while I understand the reasoning for not allowing the US to play Mexico until the final, I find that contrived schedule absurd. To play two games versus Panama was lame. No one cares that the US defeating the USSR in 1980 happened in a semi final game. Set a schedule for interesting games throughout. But first and foremost, we have the right to properly secured stadiums with appropriately trained and sufficiently staffed security people at the events.
I realize that it is an honor to host the Gold Cup, CONCACAF needs to raise their production professionalism several notches to make this event as beneficial to US Soccer as it is to CONCACAF.
It’s not like we were sleeping in the first half. It’s not like we weren’t playing with all kinds of heart. But US Soccer faced nothing but frustration in Game 2 of the Gold Cup Round Robin after beating Canada in Game 1 on Tuesday. After a junk goal and a 36′ penalty kick left the US down 2-0 to Panama, the team looked visibly shaken. We didn’t receive any favors from the referee, who seems to have never heard the term “home field advantage”.
Someone will have to explain to me how it’s not a conflict of interest to have a Mexican referee officiate for the US when the US and Mexico are expected to be the top two teams in the tournament. There were more questionable calls in this game than should be allowed by law, but (gritting my teeth) you have to play with the referee you’re assigned. The US came back and scored in the 2nd half in the 67th minute on a pretty header from Goodson to make it 2-1 in favor of Panama. I really needed to take some blood pressure medicine (does beer count for lowering blood pressure?) for how many times the US had amazing chances to score. Coulda shoulda woulda penalty kicks, Dempsey wide open in front of the goal while Donovan takes the tougher shot instead, Wondolowski misses a goal that would have been easier to score….the end result was a long night of frustration for US Soccer fans and players, and Panama ending up on top of the group.
Next up: Guadeloupe in Kansas City on Tuesday. Better luck, better officiating then I hope.
Soccer....Family Style 