A friend of mine that has season tickets for the Chicago Fire was able to get tickets for the “public safety” test match of their new stadium on June 11, 2006. It was unreal to attend this match. I remember going to see the Chicago Sting at different baseball and football stadiums in Chicago when I was a kid. Even when the game was well attended there were a lot of empty seats. For this game there were 14,000 people about 2/3 full. It made for a great atmosphere. We sat behind of of the goals next to “Section 8″ the ultras seating. The stadium itself is great. Your close enough to the field to hear the players. Nothing to cut down site lines. Next time I go I want to check out the upper level and someday watch a game from the executive suites.

The game was not all that great. Well that’s not fair, Chicago did great for 90mins. It was the last 3mins that pissed me off. Up 2-1 after the 87min I thought they would have a win for their first home game. In the first minutes of added time it’s 3-1, Chicago. We’re done . . . Right? Nope. Final score 3-3. The last 2 minutes were like watching a spring college game. Directionless, inexperience, reckless. How do you screw something like that up in just 2 minutes? That was Sunday. Monday just made my mood worse after watching the US vs. Czech Republic. That was so pathetic that I had to leave the house rather than see the final 15mins. I went back to work in a very sour mood. Luckily no one had to talk to me the rest of the day.