Ah, so it is Wednesday and summer continues in Chicago! The best part about summer is all of the wonderful outdoor activities going on in the Chicago area: food festivals, jazz in the grass, walking and boat tours, golf, music and arts festivals, races, drive-in movies, picnics and sporting events. Summertime in Chicago is truly a wonderful thing; we have a beautiful city!
So far this summer I have been to some picnics (see my post on the Chosen Few picnic here), played in a golf outing (see my post on the Omega Open here), and participated in my first 5k (see my post on the Divine Nine 5k here), among other things. A surprise outing a few weeks ago was to my first professional soccer game featuring our very own Chicago Fire.
We were invited to go to the game because our little niece, who plays in a soccer league, was going to be on the field before the game during the national anthem and she walked one of the Fire players onto the field! She was uber excited and I was excited for her. So off we all went to the game.
Here is her little cute self (she's wearing the pink socks):
It was my first (professional) soccer game; I have done my stint as a soccer mom to the Teen and Tween so I wasn't unfamiliar with the game, just meaning it was the first time I've seen it played well. (Not that the kids weren't cute, but watching a bunch of toddlers run around in the grass very early on a Saturday morning, sometimes in the rain is not my idea of fun! I recall once when the Teen was little and playing soccer all of the kids stopped playing in the middle of the game to chase a butterfly. But, I digress...) And what did I learn? Soccer games can go a really long time without either team scoring!
The game was on July 11th and the Fire played the Seattle Sounders. There was such excitement in the air and it was crowded! We were seated near the Seattle peanut gallery who were excitedly cheering for their team and diss chanting (is that a word? if not, add to the growing list of Darvisms) us! Like I said though, the game went a long time without scoring. There were lots of near scores for both teams, but no cigar until overtime. There was such a charge of electricity in the air, you couldn't help but be excited too!
I learned several things that night:
1) Soccer games do NOT stop the clock! Not for injuries or anything. I was shocked at first, but then someone explained to me that they add time to the end of the game for all the momentary pauses during play. They added 5 minutes to this particular game and we won during the over time! Go, Fire!
2) Soccer players are very hardy athletes! They got hit, knocked down, kicked, stomped on, chest butted, and hit that hard ball off the tops of their heads several times and just got up, shook it off and kept playing. Go soccer players!
3) Soccer is actually a very diverse sport. I had no idea; that might inspire me to pay a wee bit more attention to professional soccer.
4) You can't take an umbrella into the stadium. Learned that one as I was going into the checkpoint to enter. Apparently, you can't take anything in that could possibly be thrown onto the field. You also can't have tops on your water bottles (even those purchased inside the stadium). Who knew?
5) Sometimes the Chicago Fire peanut gallery is pretty lame... this was the case on the night we went. They were being trumped all night by the Seattle peanut gallery, boo, hiss!
6) Tailgating at a soccer game is EPIC! Again, I had no idea! I want to go back just to tailgate!
7) Bumper soccer during the intermission is the funniest thing ever!!!
8) There will be fireworks at a Chicago Fire game. Do not be alarmed, lol!
9) Leaving a soccer game at the end can take a looooonnnng time! We sat around the parking lot for awhile before we attempted to leave, and it still took awhile to actually get out of the lot, and then we were rerouted. So be patient!
Photos? You know I have photos! Take a look:
So am I the only professional soccer newbie? What's your home team? Holla @ Darvi! Be blessed!
