let's go Oakland!

After finding a steal-of-a-deal for game tickets, Summer sent me an email titled, and I quote, "GUESS WHAT WE'RE DOING TOMORROW!!!!!" with this link. Alrighty...

Our $9.70 seats were pretty legit, tucked up under the overhang as a row of four (oh the poor other guy in our row...). Sum just had to get the lovely giveaway jersey, so we arrived a good hour before game time. Cool, I'll just eat. And eat we did. We made friends with the ladies at the concession stand, who hooked us up bigtime on the garlic fries. A freshly fried and steamy mound of fries with three to four times the typical amount of garlicy buttery goodness mixed in. *sigh* You know when you eat so much pineapple or Cracker Jacks that the inside of your mouth just hurts?? Yup...garlic'll do it to ya, too. But it'll hurt so good.

why yes, it does require SIX guys to water this dirt
the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum: keeping Californians employed

I wanna go to Hawaii, yaaaaaaaaaay!

Oh yeah, when they did the starting lineup (for both teams!), I knew the names of a whole three players, and for just one of those could I name the position he played. Looks like I'm a bit rusty on my baseball, which is fine by me, I'll take basketball in its place anyday...

I'm really unsure how I feel about this...

John Madden is retiring. Am I relieved? Am I appalled? Who the hell am I going to make fun of on Sundays? 'You've gotta run, or you've gotta pass.' Who will provide such gems of knowledge once the Eyebrowed Wonder ditches us?

I wonder what he'll do in retirement...

futbol mexicano

We met a guy named Hugo a few weeks ago who works for Tecate. That's right, he works for a beer company. One point of dream job criteria met? Yep. During conversation, we mentioned that we were dying to check out a futbol game (because would the trip really be complete without one? Methinks not.) Turns out, Hugo could get some great tickets from work. Like, number 2 team in the league versus number 3 team...a big game. Another point of dream job criteria met? Oh yeah.

As we walked to the gates on Saturday, one of the guys we went with mentioned that "checking out a futbol game can give you a true sense of Mexico". Damn, was he right. Where shall I even begin?

pregame 'show'/parade
Sponsorship for futbol is expensive, so sponsors want to be sure that their product gets noticed. Here in Mexico, scantily-clad girls are usually one such vehicle to getting attention. So, before the game, the "Carta Blanca chicas" and the "TelCel girls", "Takis mamacitas" and the "Home Depot girls" parade with flags and signs around the field, dancing and shaking their moneymakers. Interesting...

nothing says 'Mexico' like a lucha libre

vendors/beer-guy
While I am fully aware that beer-guys are part of life in the states as well, they're not quite the same. Beer-guys in Mexico are more-or-less on standby for each row of seats, waiting to cater to your beer-related whims. Once you've ordered one or eight, he runs off to gather your brew in a giant white bucket (think 20gallon paint buckets) and brings it to you, where he opens each bottle and pours your frosty beverage. You use a new plastic cup for each beer, and hang on to your empties until the game is over. Then, depending on the number of cups you have at game end, you pay based on the honor system.

please excuse the awful pic...its the best I could do, the place was PACKED

There are also food vendors, similar to those in the US. Pizza, churros, blah blah blah. I did love the vendedores that schlepped around giant cardboard boxes full of goodies - pork rinds, pumpkin seeds, chips, candy, you name it...all carried on their heads.
singing section
There is an entire section of the stands devoted to singing. Not just a jingle every now and then. They sang non-stop during the ENTIRE game. Loudly. Apparently one has to be invited to join the section. I attempted to take a video, but the quality ain't so great and its a smidge shaky...so it may be better to just listen to this one:

SWAT surrounds opposing team's fans
Futbol, as you may now, is serious business in Mexico. So serious that the Mexican equivalent to a SWAT team stands guard of the teeny tiny section that the opposing team's fans inhabit.


the crowd goes wild
I've learned that in futbol, high-scoring games aren't exactly the norm. So, when goals are scored, the place absolutely erupts. I'll save your eardrums on this one, and stick with a pic:


halftime shenanigans
Given the pregame show that we were so lucky to witness, I wasn't sure what could possibly be on tap during halftime. Two groups of 15-20 fans were plucked from the crowd to entertain, and that they did! There was a relay-race of sorts for our enjoyment.
- Phase 1: team A (wearing white) runs at a human-worm/chain formed by team B (wearing blue) and leaps onto their backs, with the objective to break them and make 'em fall. If he/she succeeds, his/her team gets to move to the second phase of the relay...if not, he/she must hold on for dear life until the opposing team completes the same routine, and his/her team gets another shot. If he/she falls off of the worm/chain, the opposing team gets to move to phase 2...
- Phase 2: Upon team A or B's success in breaking the chain, his/her teammate runs, jumps on a small trampoline through an obstacle onto a mat, gets up and shoots a free-kick at a Carta Blanca mascot/goalkeeper (yup, a guy dressed up like a bottle).
This goes on and on for several rounds, and the winning team gets to kick soccer balls into the stands at the fans. I think they also won tickets to something, but the freedom to kick stuff at people could be prize enough for me...

Since this isn't the greatest explanation in the world, let it act as a precursor and experience it for yourself:

other awesomeness

Even rarer than goals are penalty kicks. Lucky for us, we got to see one right in front of us, by Humberto Suazo, the Rayados' star player:

I loved that after he scored, the chant "Suazo...Suazo...ole, ole, ole, ole" quickly rose from the crowd...gotta love Mexico.

Final score: Rayados 3, Toluca 3

Matt, Tracy, Rob, Nicole (um, me.), Hugo, Eric, David, and Daniel

After the game, we gathered at Mister Papa Bill's bar & grill, and had more fun than we probably should have...the game was definitely a highlight of this adventure for me!

nah-nah-nah-nah-nah-nah-HEY!

After Friday’s obvious avoidance to packing, I hit the ground running Saturday morning. I spent 7 ½ hours consolidating stuff, packing up boxes, labeling things, and making a lovely little pile for Rob to sort through when he gets home this week.

Saturday night, however, was a different story. There would be no boxing up, sorting or even thinking about Casa Saratoga. You see, for Christmas this year, Kellie and I had bought tickets to the Sharks/Red Wings game for our Dad. No family on earth bonds over hating things quite like mine, and the Red Wings (and Jeff Gordon) are prime targets. I knew that our seats were good, but I didn’t expect to be quite so close to the glass. Literally, six people sat between me and the ice. Six.

The game was AWESOME. In fact, awesome doesn’t begin to cover it. Scoring went back and forth and back and forth and there were no fewer than eight fights per period. We sat in the corner on the end that the Sharks attacked for two periods…so rad. Three minutes into the first period, Clowe/Cheechoo/Pavelski (ugh, I can’t remember - lil help here, Kel?!) checked a guy up on the boards, and broke the freaking glass. Oh, it was heavenly…

The best part: the Sharks won it 6-5, with 5 minutes to go in the third…officially breaking my track record of attending Sharks games only to watch them lose. Leaving the arena was quite an adventure, folks were whoopin’ and hollerin’; I’m completely convinced that San Jose will burn to the ground when the Sharks win the Cup.

After screaming and cheering for 4 straight hours, I had NO voice yesterday. My Mom and Brian came down to help with packing, and we busted through a LOT. I’m feeling closer to actually being ready to go, and almost plan utter uselessness at work this week...