Estadio de Pantalones

Went to the opening event at Levi's Stadium last night. I only got the briefest of views of the place because I was with the twins, so I couldn't wander, but I'm happy to offer my take of what went well and what didn't.

Getting there:
Not really a problem. We made sure to drive down early. Getting there via 880 and 237 to Great America Parkway a couple hours before kick-off was a breeze. We only encountered traffic when we originally got in line for parking lot 6. After not moving in that lane for 10 minutes, I changed lanes, and decided to park in my backup plan lot, #3. I knew my old Casbah and Club Quake comrades were there, and the extra $5 to park ($35 total) wouldn't be too bad. I was right. Once I switched lanes, I got right into lot 3 without any delays. I also noticed that if you did a left turn U-turn at Bunker Hill and Great America, you'd be able to get into lot 6 a lot faster from the other direction (consider that a tip).

Getting in:
Metal detectors? Really? I'm not too keen on emptying my pockets and taking off my belt to go to a game. An airport is a semi-secure location, a stadium is not. I was little paranoid about someone snatching my phone while I put my belt back on.
This is the first time I've ever used electronic tickets. They scanned the ticket barcode with no problem at all. No one had any problems looking at my phone for the seats we were at.
Everyone seemed to crowd around the north side of the stadium, so they need folks to tell guests to move to other gates to keep things from clogging up. We were on the south side, so we just walked to gates closer to that side and got in with no crowd delay.

Inside:
Wow. Roomy. I really mean roomy. No cattle pen this. The bathrooms are huge! I nearly got lost trying to find my way out. Lori said the same for the women's bathrooms. It was easy to get around without a lot of trouble.
I was never able to connect to their WiFi, and I never got the stadium app to work either. Some people did because I did see food being delivered to their seats which was one of the things you could do with the app.
In terms of food, sell your first born to eat here.
Lori did pick up some popcorn, M&M's, and hot chocolate. She noted that they were running out of items (something that's easy enough to correct), and that they had trouble hearing her order over the noise (something not so easy to fix).
After the game, we walked around behind the luxury box side of the field. That whole side says, "if you have to ask, you can't afford it".  We weren't allowed in after the game, but we could see a team store, escalators, bars, and restaurants. I'd like to get the chance to take the tour some time, just to see it.

Getting out:
Great America closed just as the game was ending resulting in the carmageddon everyone predicted. The crowds leaving the stadium blocked VTA from really moving quickly, and there were huge queues of people waiting to get on. Organized queues, but stationary. As we walked back to our van, traffic was not moving. at. all. It did, however, give me time to plan our escape. We managed to get out of the lot with no problem, and I turned away from the main clog of traffic. Bingo. Completely clear. It seems the biggest lesson I learned is to be flexible, and have multiple options to getting in and out.

I am interested to see how well they do once they have an event that fills the place completely.
The wine and cheese 49er crowd has their palace. :-)

Now can we build this thing?

Start digging, dammit!

Been too damn long, and fans have been put through too damn much.

Oh, San Jose.

Today is the "I hope both teams get food poisoning and shit all over the field" Cup.
Of course I will watch because I'm not just a soccer fan, but an American soccer fan.

If you put a gun to the head of one of my daughters to make me pick a team, before I beat you to a bloody pulp, I'd pick the Dynamo. I will say however that every time I see those two stars over that Houston badge it takes me back to the bitterness of the move. I put in a lot of work to try and keep the team here, and the pain and disappointment of not being able to do that still bugs me to this day.

The current version of the Quakes ain't helping to ease that pain.

I ran into David Alioto before the first regular season game before the Dynamo and Quakes. I'd mentioned the conflicted feelings I had because I personally knew those players now on Houston. I had no problem cheering for the new Quakes to beat the Dynamo, but at the time I had no ill will towards the individual players and coaches on Houston. Alioto looked at me like I'd grown a second head. He mumbled something about "they've moved on" and "they're just players" and other shit that most sports execs say about players that makes them into units of business rather than actual humans (a pet peeve of mine, btw). In that moment, I felt like he didn't get it. He hadn't spent the time we had as fans helping grow this league, and in that moment it showed, badly.

Fast forward to this season:

"I think for a long time, we didn't embrace our history and heritage as a club."

That was said by David Kaval, current president of the San Jose Earthquakes, during the broadcast of the last regular season game. WTF? If you're talking about this new Lew Wolff owned team, then yeah, I agree with you, if you mean longer than that, then I gotta ask where the fuck have you been? The team got renamed from the Clash as a fucking tribute to the history of the club. Johnny Moore? Remember him? Throwback jerseys? NASL Team reunions? Bringing back Krazy George? All this happened before this current version. I'm beginning to wonder if anyone has a clue in the front office. Please do something that shows me you've got a grasp of what's going on here.

I'll be honest, a lack of money has been the main thing that has kept me away from watching live games, but even if I had the extra income to go, I'd pause in giving the current regime my money. Personally, I don't plan on going to another game until I see construction start on the new stadium.

BTW, Lew, David, why haven't we had a US Men's game in the Bay Area in several years? I get that Buck Shaw is too small, but we've got other places here. I remember a kick-ass friendly with Japan at a packed Phone Company park. That was that last one I attended here in the Bay Area. If I knew now what I didn't know then, I'd have sucked up my pride and gone the the friendly at Spartan back in 2007. We haven't had one since then. What's up with that?

Heyyy, I know that dude.

San Jose City Hall has an exhibit on the history of San Jose soccer called "City of Champions: 2001, a San Jose Soccer Odyssey".

If you look closely, you might see someone I know. :)

The new season

MLS begins
Two new teams with shiny hopes
and serious fans.

My beloved Quakes
Going up and down, again.
Lather, rinse, repeat.

San Jose Ultras
Getting in trouble again.
Oh you rascals you.

The new Casbah flag
has advertising on it.
Times are a-changin'.

Quick shots

Well done, Quakes. You went much further than I thought you would. A few more offensive tweaks, don't overdo it, could bring greater results for San Jose.
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It was so nice to see the US ping the ball around instead of route 1 over the midfield. Breathtaking goal too. The youngsters have got some game. I've got some hope. Bradley, make the vets compete against the young'uns. They need that inspiration...including your boy.
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C'MON YOU ZIPS!!! BRING HOME THE CUP!!!
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Congrats to Mexico beating the USWNT. It's a good wake-up call for that team. Italy's gonna get stomped, though.
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Sporting KC? C'mon, man! At least Athletico KC or (the) Kansas City Athletic(s) would've had a nod to past history. Wiz and Wizards wasn't great, but it doesn't drip of pretentiousness like "Sporting" for an American team. Kinda like Real Salt Lake.
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R.I.P. FC Gold Pride. Possibly the best women's soccer team on the planet. I long for the day when people get over their bias about women's soccer and women's sports in general. Look for something to love in those games instead of something to criticize. Thanks for for bringing another soccer title to the Bay Area.

All we are saying, is give us more goals!

Wondo's exploits this season notwithstanding, the Quakes need a stronger finisher. Maybe the inclusion of Geo and Eduardo will pay dividends next season after they get a bit more MLS seasoning, but it's not quite clicking the way it should.

Now, I'm not saying this as if the Quakes suck, they don't. I'm talking about what it'll take to make the club one of the best in MLS. Wondo may be the answer. If his growth as a player continues, he might end up surprising us like DeRo did. For now we'll continue to grit our teeth as the Quakes continue to fight to hold onto a playoff spot.

I was at the WPS Championship a week ago. Maybe we can sign Marta. :)

Wow, that was a surprise!

It was nice to see the boys in blue again. Although I'm not so fond of the current style of top.
Nonetheless, thanks to the front office for listening to the fans.

Day 5

If you had bet me who'd have the bigger goal differential Germany v Australia or Brazil v North Korea, I'd have lost a lot of money. Good on ya, Il Boys for never giving up.


Now that I've seen Italy, the Dutch, Germany, Brazil, England, Portugal, and Argentina, I gotta say the Germans look the strongest thus far. We'll see how Spain does tomorrow.


Congrats Kiwis on getting the point. I apologize for doing the "Aussie, Aussie, Aussie, oi, oi, oi" chant to future ex- Quake Simon Elliott once upon a time. :) Next time though, make sure you check to see if there's a moat around the pitch before you run around like madmen.

C. Precious Ronaldo damn near had the goal of the tournament though.

It's Getting Better All the Time

You know, I tore 'em one when they looked bad, but I gotta admit these past two games the Quakes have looked like they could be a playoff team this year.

Don't go getting the MLS Cup polish yet, but I will admit the boys in black and blue are looking much better than the train wreck of that first game. It's nice to see the crowds filling Buck Shaw too.

It's hard to tell from TV, and I sure as hell don't trust stuff I read from BigSoccer, but I'm wondering how the merged supporters sections are doing getting along side by side? Are you trading off chants? Are the Ultras dominating the cheering? Is anyone other than Sean reading this thing? :)

It was a thing of ugly.

Wow.
That was about as bad as I've ever seen San Jose look. Real Salt Lake might be reigning champions, but you made 'em look like Man U.

C'mon, you Quakes! Get this shit together!

Now where did I put those shoes?

"This has to be a marathon, not a sprint."

This oft used sports cliché is usually used to describe the philosophy a team takes over a season to help win a championship. Steadily building up the team over months to peak at the end of a season.

In this case, Lew Wolff is using it to explain the struggles he's had in running the Earthquakes. For me, this cliché doesn't quite work. It really hit home for me as I watched the Seattle Sounders take home the Dewar Cup as U.S. Open Cup champions. This team in it's first MLS season is already successful on and off the field. Yet, my dear Quakes struggle on and off the field in its second season back. If this is a marathon, the gun went off last year, and the Quakes are still at the starting line.

What's the answer? If I knew, I'd have a job. Toronto FC showed that you didn't have to have a winner out of the gate to bring in fans. Chicago and Seattle showed that you can have a good team on the field right from the start. Are soccer fans in the Bay Area that fickle? Are we that poor? I know I couldn't afford season tickets this year. Could it be a combination of all of the above and more? Again, I wish I knew the answer.

Oh, San Jose.

A man up with a one-nothing lead in stoppage time.
Way to snatch defeat out of the jaws of victory.

You'd have thought that the Quakes were the ones playing a man down. They couldn't string together passes to save their life towards the end of the game. It was like watching the Brazilian onslaught during the 2nd half of the Confed Cup final.

C'mon guys you can do better.