NASL Championship Final, 2nd Leg (1-3, advantage Minnesota Stars over the Ft. Lauderdale Strikers
Awoke to radio clock at 07:02, lay in bed with anticipation and noting the condensation on the windows due to the atumnal frost … lulling back to sleep awaiting the claxon alarm number two due in another fifteen minutes.
The national news gives way to Minnesota Public Radio's hourly news, and I am startled to hear the words NSC Minnesota Stars, and the NASL over the local media airwaves. Wait … what did I hear? Actual and correct facts about tonight's 2nd leg of the new NASL Championship Final to be played in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. Wait …what? …. again, this is an interview with another friend, Brian (Inside MinnesotaSoccer). Short but sweet mention of the biggest game in our local professional soccer history since 1999 when the Minnesota Thunder defeated the Rochester Rhinos to win the A-League Championship (one level below Major League Soccer).
Well, now, I'm fully awake and the adrenaline and corpuscles are chasing each other. Roll out of bed, and into the kitchen to start a couple cups of coffee, then into the shower and shave.
Grab the horn case and backback, and I'm out the door to the LRT park and ride ramp by the Mall of America.
The journey has begun. I love travel day, generally I am so wound up the days and hours before that I can not sleep. But this last week, with the team up by two goals going into the second leg of the championship, I have been very calm. Compared to last week, when I was 'mental' the whole week. It has been a strange calm, which I trust has encompassed not only me, but the rest of the Stars players, front office and fanatico.
08:30 +/- and I'm at the station. Tee-minus one hour until departure.
08:34 at the 24th Street station, wrangle my gear; pockets emptied, bags readied for the dash thru ticketing kisosk, and security. Preparation and experience of traveling makes the process a breeze – compared to so many others in today's traveling public.
08:40 and the TSA agents getting on at the Humphrey Terminal 2 give me the once over, most likely due to to my jackass hat and scarf streaming from my backpack. Low threat, I am.
08:44 and the LRT has arrived at the MSP Lindberg Terminal 1, up the stairs and escalator, the a short tram to the land side of the airport.
09:02 and I have arrived at Gate 14 to the welcomes from my fellow traveling companions: AJ, KJ and Chris (plus Coach Lagos wife, Amy).
Your local professional soccer team battled their way into the final playoff position after a brief poor run of form in the last quarter of the season. Sixth place earned an away game against third place FC Tampa Bay (Rowdies).
1st leg was last Saturday night at the National Sports Center in Blaine, where the Stars won by a score of 3-1.
My friend Bruce (duNordFutbol) said many years ago that soccer in America is the game of the internet, so we fans have become accustomed to zero media marketing or mentioning from newspaper, radio or TV establishments. It is thru the internet that soccer fans of any stripe access news of the game that we love.
AJ and I are lucky on the plane, for he grabbed a window seat online earlier, and I'm on the aisle with an empty middle seat. The plane is almost full with a sprinkling of open seats.
Pushed back from the gate on time at 09:35, and waited for the de-icing rig before we can taxi from the gate and take-off. Just minutes before zero ten hundred, our Delta, Airbus A-320 SR is wheels up and we're on our way to Florida. Three and a half hours flight time
35K feet at 10:30, and AJ's got his electronic gadgets at work all set up with the wifi network, and streaming live to his FB and twitter accounts. Other Dark Clouds will be picking up his chanel and sending it viral.
14:06 and we've touched down in Florida.
Shuttle bus to the car rental.
Anthony and Andy arrive via AirTran and Atlanta, and we're off in our rental mini-van.
16:00 and we're checked in to hotel, and ready to head to the stadium. I am hungry and thirsty for some Surly. Apparently there is good eats about 5-10 minutes walk to the fishing pier, but don't think we've the luxury of time.
16:30, and we've decided (or maybe I decided) to head down the road toward the Fishing pier.
Aruba Cafe is the destination, and I have a Mahi Mahi Sandwich … mmm, just what I was looking for to kick off this epic road trip. It is always most difficult to make decisions when traveling as a group, and I always like to know the big picture as far as the logistication. There were several groups of our traveling supporters, and our flights were the latest in this afternoon, so we really needed to eat.
Finished dinner, and we now are all with full bellies, and on our way to the Lockhart Stadium, and it is raining (again). Nice short drive of maybe ten minutes, and we are parked near the pre-game tailgate party. The rain is coming down again, looks like we're in for a rain game – the best.
Upon arrival , we find that there are about a dozen food trucks set up in the parking lot. Could have saved us some time, but with the rain, the pre-game festivies have been dampened, with most people huddled under pop-up canopies.
Soon, we are heading into the stadium to set up our flags and banners in our assigned corner for the visiting fans. One new banner is especially brilliant: Occupy Ft. Lauderdale. The image is of the old man from 'Family Guy'. There were people stopping to take photos all game long.
A slight drizzle continues as we are all set up and the Stars come out to begin warm up. We, the supporters begin our pre-game warm up as well with some song and chants as well. One of the pleasures of traveling to games, is that generally, we plan to enter the stadium early.
First out for warm ups are the goalies and Coach Carl. Joe and Matt are each going thru their pre-game so that they are all ready when the rest of the field players.
The traveling supporters section includes sixteen plus several family members. Other families are 'sequestered' into the opposite corner of the field. The security is quite militant about moving between one part of the stadium and other sections. It seems as though they should have provided better VIP seating for the parents of the players, or other important club staff.
Awoke at 0800 this morning, just before the watch alarm went off. Quick shower and I'm ready to update this travelog. The throat is quite sore, and the voice is dodgy from the events of last night (ninety minutes of singing and cheering for your NSC MN Stars.
Sitting on the couch in the hotel room and a see an osprey soaring up the beach, just above our roof top, couldn't have been more that 100 feet away, very cool to watch it riding the steady wind coming in from the Atlantic.
Since I awoke before the alams went off, a quick shower and I'll be ready to make a walk down the beach. The wind is steady in from the Northeast, and there are good waves crashing on the sandy shore. Early Sunday morning, and there are very few people on the beach, a couple wandering and a few others running.
Teresa and I make a few quick calls/txt messages to the remaining traveling menagerie. Pity those who were booked for zero six hundred departures, for it was near 2 AM when we returned from the post-match celebrations.
With no contact made to our remianing comrades, I suggest that we walk the 10-15 minutes down the beach, and find a place to get a cup of joe. We are met at the beach by a young para-surfer who has his para-sail in the stiff breeze, and is walking his board toward the surf. Ingenuity and athletecism is amazing in what can be developed for recreation. The guy is speeding across the waves.
Return text messages begin flooding in, and AJ and Jeremy are going to be walking down the beach to meet us. We've got just under an hour before we must depart for the Ft. Lauderdale and Miami airports. Luckily we have several people with transport, so the logistics have worked out well.
Jeremy's Crown Vic was a great way to ge to the airport for the journey home. Teresa is dropped off for her AirTran departure, and AJ and I stayed in the back seat for the true limo drop off by Jeremy at the Delta terminal.
Cubano sandwich at the airport; AJ w/ wait for flight, no coffee, more water in gate lounge.
Flight on Airbus A320 to CGB (Cincinati, Ohio) about 2 hours, uneventful, with tomato juice.
Layover at CGB, where it was nice and quiet; AJ cat napped for a short spell before we
My domesticated animal almost killed me upon my return, by leaving a sweatshirt half drug up the stairs
No comments:
Post a Comment