- by Aalok Patel, writing from the Bay Area
Being casual spectators of the sport, my parents have very little knowledge about soccer. They only watch matches once every 4 years for the World Cup, and even then probably only when the quarterfinal stage begins. Needless to say, their soccer standards have been set very high and other games pale in comparison. Whenever I’m watching a soccer match on TV, my Dad makes the same comment every time, “You know, after seeing the World Cup games all these other ones are so boring”. While that statement isn’t verbatim, you get the gist of what I’m saying. Admittedly, his opinion is justified sometimes (when I for some reason have decided to dedicate time to watching various CONCACAF Champions League matches), but he’s been wrong a number of times as well (Mid-table English Premier League and Europa League matches).
Having attended San Jose Earthquakes games throughout the season, it’s been an exciting year for us. It finally seems the team is starting to click: Opara’s had a stellar rookie season (get well soon please), Geovanni and Stephenson have been great acquisitions, Wondolowski and Convey have been in tremendous form, Busch is a ridiculously good “backup” goalkeeper, and so on. I’ve always had the firm belief that watching live soccer is much more fun and entertaining than a game on TV, regardless of the discrepancies in quality (okay so I have a few limitations, I’m not sure how exciting it can be to watch a local U-10 youth soccer game if your kid/sibling/nephew/etc isn’t playing). With the Earthquakes’ recent run of good form, I decided it was time to take my parents to an MLS match and show them how enjoyable a non-World Cup game can be.
Luckily, the Earthquakes were running a “Fiesta Latina Two Pack” promotion, which included goal view tickets for 2 games and a free t-shirt for just $35. Because of various schedule conflicts amongst us (me, my parents, and a friend who regularly attends matches with me), I picked two Wednesday night games (Chicago Fire on 9/29 and Chivas USA on 10/20). The combination of the Earthquakes’ hot streak and the overall disappointing seasons for Chicago and Chivas, made me fairly confident these games would be the perfect situation to entice my parents into getting hooked to soccer. After explaining to my parents which team they should root for, telling them the appropriate colors to wear, and giving them knowledge on relevant players, they were finally ready for their first MLS match.
With a capacity of 10,300 (don’t make me look like a fool, Wikipedia), Buck Shaw Stadium is a relatively small venue for an MLS team. Normally this results in great attendance percentages and a decent stadium atmosphere. My only worry with going to weekday games was the possibility of a near-empty crowd (sans the supporters’ sections of course), which would surely leave a bad impression on my parents in regards to the popularity of MLS. Luckily, there was a full house (nearly) in attendance for the Wednesday game against the Chicago Fire.
My Dad is a fairly easy person to accommodate. With beer and hot dog in hand, he was ready for the game. With my Mom’s only pet peeve being weather, the recent heat wave was a blessing in disguise as it made way for perfect nighttime game temperature. Thinking back to the days when my parents watched me play youth soccer games, I knew it wouldn’t take too much to get them excited initially (a misguided shot on goal, finishing a fairly easy penalty kick, etc. are sufficient enough to hear them erupt with joy).
As we made our way to our seats, they were impressed both with the number of people in attendance as well as the close proximity between the seats and the field. At the beginning of the match, my parents definitely had their original mindsets towards soccer in tact. Within the 10-minute mark, my Mom was quick to whisper to me how the game still seemed rather dull compared to the World Cup matches. I quickly told her to keep those comments to herself and continue watching the game. As the first half progressed the Earthquakes began playing well and had many chances on goal. If luck was on their side, the score could easily have been 3-0 in favor of San Jose. Each of these near-goals did their part to stir some excitement within the spectators at Buck Shaw Stadium-including my parents. Then, unfortunately, a great portion of this momentum was diminished as Steven Kinney put away a Ljungberg corner in the back of the net, giving Chicago a 0-1 lead. As the first half came to a close, I reassured my parents that the Earthquakes indeed were the better team and the second half would show this.
Boy, was that a stupid thing to say. Between the Earthquakes’ defensive errors, inability to finish, horrible refereeing (think CONCACAF Champions League, okay maybe not that bad I’m obviously biased), and some admittedly well-taken chances on Chicago’s part, the game ended 0-3. My parents flat out told me during the second half that if they didn’t know any better, San Jose was the weaker team and Chicago was playing in their prime (it was quite frustrating to listen to commentary on CSRN’s Around the League the next day that believed, along with me, the opposite was true). Nonetheless, they were still insistent on staying for the whole game. Moreover, there was an aspect to the match that they absolutely loved.
My parents were supremely intrigued by the existence of a supporters’ section. The notion of unified, diverse chants as opposed to the generic “Let’s go (insert team name) let’s go!” cheer throughout the match was something they had never witnessed in sports before. The fact that the energy levels in the supporters’ section remained constantly high throughout the match, even when the Earthquakes were losing and playing badly, only further fascinated them. Every few minutes, my Mom would tap me, then look at the supporters’ section, and just give me equal looks of pure confusion and admiration. My Dad has always had aspirations of directing movies, and he regularly fills the void with his Flip Video camera. It’s fair to say he spent equal amounts of time recording footage from the match itself and the supporters’ section.
On the ride back home, the car was extremely quiet. I was terribly frustrated that a team whose season had been far from stellar embarrassed the Earthquakes at home. My Dad casually broke the silence with this statement: “You know, when you see a game live, the result really sticks with you”. There was unanimous agreement amongst everyone in the car. Even though the game didn’t go as I had planned, it was clear that it had set the hook to lure my parents back to another match and hopefully leave them with an improved impression of the San Jose Earthquakes. I’m looking forward to taking them to the match against Chivas USA on October 20. After that game, I’ll compare and contrast how their level of enjoyment as well as attitude towards non-World Cup soccer in general and MLS matches specifically may have changed.
