DOS A CERO
Gotta book down some details about the trip to my first game!
I got the whole thing planned out the prior weekend, set up an hour by hour itenerary on Evernote, which made the whole trip awesome and stress free. Took forever to find a hotel that wasn't $400, but I got one!
Spent the morning getting ready and pumped for the trip, got my bag together and some cash, and Wes picked me up for lunch. Whataburger was slammed, so he ate a Dairy Queen salad, which came on a plate(I had no idea they had plates there). We head out, and cruised to San Antonio, talking about trusting church leadership, soccer and fandom, wives, bible studies, all kinds of stuff. We got there, landed at the La Quinta, and there were a good mix of US and Mexico fans already. Simple hotel, but better than a motel, and not at all shabby for $115 with tax. We checked in, got our stuff in, checked for bedbugs, and started walking. I felt pretty naked with no keys and no knife. Stopped by The Station Cafe and had a garlic roast beef sandwich. I loved it, though it was definitely not healthy every-day food. Turns out it was a good thing Wes missed his FatBurger at lunch, as he says. I wish places would carry something other than fountain drinks and tea and potato chips for sides.
The walk was about a mile, nothing to see. San Antonio is an unremarkable place.
When we got to the Alamodome, it was clear they just let it all roll there. No signs, instructions, intercom, nothing. So we wandered around the plaza looking for what was there, mostly promotional stuff of no interest(including a Chevy dealership showing off Man U jerseys). I got in line and picked up a warmup jersey(the primary was sold out in Medium) and a new track jacket to replace my Ireland jacket. I got that Ireland jacket from a Target over a decade ago and had no money, so I put it on an XXL hangar and came back in 2-4 days, whatever it was, and bought it. Its worn out, and I am happy to have replaced it with a good quality track jacket tied to some good memories.
After wandering through the crowd to the door, and the interminable, line-less waiting traffic, I swapped out my shirt. I don't think I look any different than when I started working out at the start of the year, but I feel like I care less about body image, just from using my body to it's abilities on a daily routine.
We were under a bit of an overhang, so all the Mexican women screaming were busting out ears. I will remember to try to get a middle tier seat next time. Below the overhang was getting sprayed with beer from the middle tier. The view was actually fine, we had a little tv for the sideline stuff we couldn't see.
The pitch was crap, but life goes on. I was so pumped! Watching in person, I was concerned that I wouldn't have the skillset to watch the entire field of play, but I loved it! You can see the goalkeepers pressing, the fullbacks sneaking up on set pieces to provide options and draw defenders off the box, you can see a CB(Omar) shutting down a forward(Cubo) for the entire game by excellent marking and winning headers, it was awesome. Somehow the coin toss went the other way and we were attacking the first half toward the AO section, and attacking the "Pancho's Army" section the second half, where both goals were scored. I could not believe that Jordan Morris beat the keeper like that. And Wes asked who Agudelo is, and I said he is a "creative striker, for MLS" and was thinking "he's also good at holding up play, but I forgot to say that" and then he just does it. Most won't remember that Bradley's late corner almost made it 3-0 very very narrowly. Great game, I can't WAIT for July when I get to see the USMNT again, Honduras, Panama...gonna be exciting. Chris B should be able to make it to that one, but his friends bailed on him on this one. July he should be sitting on my row. We saw Addrian afterward, which was nice. He was talking up this coffee his people roasted that month.
Afterward, we left so pumped up, and grateful we didn't park at the stadium or try to drive back. There was no food to be had, at only 11pm, and when we got to the hotel, there were flyers for pizza places that had the worst yelp reviews I've ever seen. So we tried to order room service. It was some 1800 number that had us on hold for 10 minutes after the 10 it took to decide what we want, and they said it'd be an hour and a half to get food. 1am arrival? No thanks. We crashed out, and I slept like crap all night. I was thinking about the game, dreaming about the game, couldn't tell if I was awake or asleep.
We got up, got out, and headed to Rosella Coffee for breakfast. Wes had oatmeal, and I had two strange "egg cloud" sandwiches. The coffee though. It was the stuff Addrian roasts, from Cuvee in Austin, and I could have chugged three of those lattes. Its been so long since I've had a properly roasted and ground bean and real microfoam! I had to order another to go and bought some beans. Some thing called Witness from Cuvee, super acidic and fruity stuff that has been killer as shots in my morning shakes. It balances out the banana just right. Good stuff.
Great trip. Can't wait for Saturday, when I take the girls to Houston. Even though yesterday we didn't get through a trip to the pier without blowing money on pole fees and live shrimp, Lily having a waaay out of character poop catastrophe, and ending the trip early. I sent Mae to her mom's for some relax time, but Phoebe just screamed at her "NO!" the whole time. I made dinner and we put the kids to bed, and had a nice quiet but cold dinner when they went to sleep, porkchops with Stubbs sauce, and shrimp we didn't use for bait. The only visitor was a quiet cat.
Crazy times, having little kids.
I got the whole thing planned out the prior weekend, set up an hour by hour itenerary on Evernote, which made the whole trip awesome and stress free. Took forever to find a hotel that wasn't $400, but I got one!
Spent the morning getting ready and pumped for the trip, got my bag together and some cash, and Wes picked me up for lunch. Whataburger was slammed, so he ate a Dairy Queen salad, which came on a plate(I had no idea they had plates there). We head out, and cruised to San Antonio, talking about trusting church leadership, soccer and fandom, wives, bible studies, all kinds of stuff. We got there, landed at the La Quinta, and there were a good mix of US and Mexico fans already. Simple hotel, but better than a motel, and not at all shabby for $115 with tax. We checked in, got our stuff in, checked for bedbugs, and started walking. I felt pretty naked with no keys and no knife. Stopped by The Station Cafe and had a garlic roast beef sandwich. I loved it, though it was definitely not healthy every-day food. Turns out it was a good thing Wes missed his FatBurger at lunch, as he says. I wish places would carry something other than fountain drinks and tea and potato chips for sides.
The walk was about a mile, nothing to see. San Antonio is an unremarkable place.
When we got to the Alamodome, it was clear they just let it all roll there. No signs, instructions, intercom, nothing. So we wandered around the plaza looking for what was there, mostly promotional stuff of no interest(including a Chevy dealership showing off Man U jerseys). I got in line and picked up a warmup jersey(the primary was sold out in Medium) and a new track jacket to replace my Ireland jacket. I got that Ireland jacket from a Target over a decade ago and had no money, so I put it on an XXL hangar and came back in 2-4 days, whatever it was, and bought it. Its worn out, and I am happy to have replaced it with a good quality track jacket tied to some good memories.
After wandering through the crowd to the door, and the interminable, line-less waiting traffic, I swapped out my shirt. I don't think I look any different than when I started working out at the start of the year, but I feel like I care less about body image, just from using my body to it's abilities on a daily routine.
We were under a bit of an overhang, so all the Mexican women screaming were busting out ears. I will remember to try to get a middle tier seat next time. Below the overhang was getting sprayed with beer from the middle tier. The view was actually fine, we had a little tv for the sideline stuff we couldn't see.
The pitch was crap, but life goes on. I was so pumped! Watching in person, I was concerned that I wouldn't have the skillset to watch the entire field of play, but I loved it! You can see the goalkeepers pressing, the fullbacks sneaking up on set pieces to provide options and draw defenders off the box, you can see a CB(Omar) shutting down a forward(Cubo) for the entire game by excellent marking and winning headers, it was awesome. Somehow the coin toss went the other way and we were attacking the first half toward the AO section, and attacking the "Pancho's Army" section the second half, where both goals were scored. I could not believe that Jordan Morris beat the keeper like that. And Wes asked who Agudelo is, and I said he is a "creative striker, for MLS" and was thinking "he's also good at holding up play, but I forgot to say that" and then he just does it. Most won't remember that Bradley's late corner almost made it 3-0 very very narrowly. Great game, I can't WAIT for July when I get to see the USMNT again, Honduras, Panama...gonna be exciting. Chris B should be able to make it to that one, but his friends bailed on him on this one. July he should be sitting on my row. We saw Addrian afterward, which was nice. He was talking up this coffee his people roasted that month.
Afterward, we left so pumped up, and grateful we didn't park at the stadium or try to drive back. There was no food to be had, at only 11pm, and when we got to the hotel, there were flyers for pizza places that had the worst yelp reviews I've ever seen. So we tried to order room service. It was some 1800 number that had us on hold for 10 minutes after the 10 it took to decide what we want, and they said it'd be an hour and a half to get food. 1am arrival? No thanks. We crashed out, and I slept like crap all night. I was thinking about the game, dreaming about the game, couldn't tell if I was awake or asleep.
We got up, got out, and headed to Rosella Coffee for breakfast. Wes had oatmeal, and I had two strange "egg cloud" sandwiches. The coffee though. It was the stuff Addrian roasts, from Cuvee in Austin, and I could have chugged three of those lattes. Its been so long since I've had a properly roasted and ground bean and real microfoam! I had to order another to go and bought some beans. Some thing called Witness from Cuvee, super acidic and fruity stuff that has been killer as shots in my morning shakes. It balances out the banana just right. Good stuff.
Great trip. Can't wait for Saturday, when I take the girls to Houston. Even though yesterday we didn't get through a trip to the pier without blowing money on pole fees and live shrimp, Lily having a waaay out of character poop catastrophe, and ending the trip early. I sent Mae to her mom's for some relax time, but Phoebe just screamed at her "NO!" the whole time. I made dinner and we put the kids to bed, and had a nice quiet but cold dinner when they went to sleep, porkchops with Stubbs sauce, and shrimp we didn't use for bait. The only visitor was a quiet cat.
Crazy times, having little kids.