The Adventure
1. The Train
L. and I ran up the stairs to the train station in Springfield a couple of minutes after the 2:50 p.m. scheduled departure time for the Vermonter train to Hartford. However, we got lucky and the train was running late. So we bought a round trip ticket just as the train was rolling in from Vermont and got on. On the way to Hartford, I remember seeing houses by the river only a few yards out our window, whose driveways went over the tracks. I thought that must be a novel place to live.
2. Exploring Hartford
Hartford's Union Station is a nice old brick building. We disembarked there and walked down the street to Bushnell Park. We walked by the Old State Capitol, the pavillon, and toward the Soldiers and Sailors Arch. Then, we noticed that there was a bicycle race going on, with a pellaton of bicyclists making laps around a circuit running through the park. We stopped to watch a couple of laps, then walked past the old carousel. We then walked out of the park and turned onto Trumbell Street, up to Pratt Street, where there was a street party.
3. Vaughan's
We ran into some unexpected expenses, as Pratt Street was roped off and it cost $5 a piece to get in. It also cost $10 a piece for shuttle tickets to the stadium. But it was fun. Once inside the gates, we walked down the brick street to Vaughan's, the Irish Pub that I had seen in the Hartford Advocate story a while back. We ordered a couple of pints -- I had a Guinness and L. had a Magner's Cider -- and settled into a table near the bar. The big screen TV above us was showing the FA Cup final. When we walked in, Liverpool was tied with West Ham United 3-3. The stereos were blaring 80s music, so we decided to get a table up on the second level. We sat near a couple of Latvian fans. The guy, with sort of a John Lennon/Oasis look going on, was wearing a Latvija jersey. I had bangers and mash for dinner and L. had a salad. I also had a pint of Smithwick's, which is a mighty fine ale.
After finishing up at Vaughan's, we went out on the street and sat at a table near a practice goal they had set up in the street. There were several young kids there, playing with a soccer ball. Several TV crews were roaming around, getting footage for the 6 o'clock news. At about 6, we decided it was time to catch the shuttle to the stadium.
4. The Shuttle
We waited for 10 or 15 minutes for the shuttle. When it arrived, we got on and the shuttle quickly filled up. In the back row, there were a bunch of Australians who spent the entire ride to the stadium singning football songs and chanting. They bordered on obnoxious, but it was fun for most of the time. They sang "Here we go" to the tune of John Phillips Sousa's "Stars and Stripes." After goading the people in the front of the bus for not singing, one of the guys in the front started the bus into a rousing rendition of "Hey Jude." That was fun. At one point, the Australians were heckling the Latvian fan, who was on the shuttle with us. Then he started chanting, "We're going to win!" Which made the Australians laugh. Then, he reconsidered his position and shouted, "We're going to get a goal!" Then we all laughed.
Then, the Australians got it into their head that one of the guys in the front seat behind the driver, an African-American with a clean-shaven head, was, in fact, Eddie Pope. So they started singing songs to him. One was:Eddie Pope is the captain of our ship (of our ship!)
Eddie Pope is the captain of our ship (of our ship!)
Our ship is a tanker, and Eddie is a wanker!
Eddie Pope is the captain of our ship (of our ship!)
Later, after the Australians sang a rousing chorus of "Stand up (if you're Eddie Pope)," the man stood up and took a bow. Everybody cheered. Once we got to the stadium parking lots, we were all in a good mood, singing and chanting and slowly making our way past the tailgaters to the stadium itself. When we came to a stop, the Australians chanted "Give us a beer!" to the tailgaters. And one of the tailgaters actually passed a can of Budweiser to the Latvian fan. So the Australians sang, "Latvian, give us your beer."
5. The Game
I already gave a short account of the game here. I'll just add that we had great seats, even though they were in the cheapest section. We thought of buying sideline seats, but the endlines were just great. Plus, we were in a pretty boisterous section. The Latvians stingy defensive tactics made for a low scoring affair, but it was pretty clear which team was the one going to the World Cup in a couple of weeks and which one was going to be watching from home.
Also, I'll add that L. decided that she really liked Kasey Keller. We got a good look at him in the second half when the U.S. was in the goal down in our end. Midway through that second half, the U.S. started to get sloppy and Latvia had several chances. Keller got pissed and was yelling at his guys, trying to whip them into shape. At one point, he made a diving save and I yelled, "We love you Kasey!" L. was proud of me.
6. The Way Home
So, after the game, there were fireworks and a montage of highlights from the U.S.'s road through the qualifying rounds. Then we wandered out to find our shuttle. When we got to the loading zone, there were just a half a dozen or so people there and the guy told us the shuttle would be there shortly. So we waited and the crowd grew. The Australians showed up, with their inflatable kangaroo and started singing. This time, the charm had worn off and most people were just annoyed by them. We waited and waited and eventually, we started to get nervous. We must have been there 45 minutes, before Lynette went up to one of the organizers, a lady with a clipboard and told her we were afraid we weren't going to catch our train and it was the last train out of Hartford. It turned out, the shuttle buses were actually on the property, but the police didn't let them through the special back entrance, so they were caught in the traffic leaving the stadium!
The lady with the clipboard took pity on us, grabbed her keys from her husband and whisked us off to her mini-van, telling us she'd drive us to the train station herself. She flipped her hazard lights on and we pulled into the line. Behind us, there was a state police cruiser with its lights flashing. At first, our driver thought they were after her because she had her hazards on, but the cop just wanted to get around us. There was a limo van behind the cop with its hazards on, so we pulled in behind that van after it passed us and followed it through the grass, past the line of cars and past the police barricade to the back exit. The cops thought we were with the cruiser, so they let us through. Finally, we got onto a side street and got under way. At this point, it was about 10 o'clock and the game had been over for an hour. Suddenly, it looked like we were going to make our train after all. Our driver weaved her way onto I-84 and we zoomed toward the city. As we got off at the exit, narrowly avoiding an accident, the lady told us she had been a travel agent and we told her about our aborted chance to go to Northern Ireland. She told us things happen for a reason and assured us that something good would come of it. We pulled up to the train station with 15 minutes to spare. We waited by the track and the train was right on time. We rode back to Springfield in a nearly empty car.