Game #103- Sporting KC

Sporting KC vs Atlanta United FC

Children's Mercy Park

May 5, 2019

I headed out to Nashville celebrate a bachelor party with Brad DeVore, a good friend from my college and fraternity days at UCSB.  After two long days in the party town I planned a quick trip to Kansas City to knock out another game from my list.  Lining up the trip a few months ahead of time I was able to connect with one of my oldest friends from age group swimming days (back at Glendale YMCA) and convinced Rebecca Robinson (I nicknamed her Becky Lou for some reason when I was 10)  to go with me to the Sporting KC soccer game vs. Atlanta United FC.  

I landed in KC around 10 in the morning and considering I got about 5 total hours of sleep in the past two days (a combo of partying too late and getting no rest on a crappy, loud air mattress), I was hoping and praying I could get an early check in at the downtown Marriott.  Luckily I was able to squeeze myself into the room where I took a well needed and deserved 4 hour “nap”.  I don’t know if I would have been able to keep my eyes open at the game if I didn’t get some sleep.  So around 6pm Becky picked me up with her two boys and we headed to the Yardhouse for some food and a drink before walking over to the stadium.  I don’t know if we necessarily were allowed to park in the lot for the game but we did and it was free…not something you can do at most games.  

Sporting KC has an awesome new stadium kind of in the middle of nowhere.  It’s located approximately 30 minutes from downtown, the Kansas Speedway is out there, and it is surrounded by a big mall…but other than that I don’t recall there being any real communities.  I think the thought was, if you build it they will come.  And they certainly do come in KC.  The stadium seats just under 19,000 but they regularly have over 20k fans with the standing room only tickets.  Also with it being a soccer specific arena the building really accentuates the crowd cheers and chants.  I personally liked how every seat in the stadium was close to the action.  The majority of the arena was all lower bowl except for the suites so each fan feels close to the action. 

Although the stadium was great, our seats were fantastic (only about 10 rows from the field), the home team was stifled by the current MLS champions.  The majority of the play was in the SKC zone where AFCU outshot the home team 19 to 10, but the real telltale sign of the game was shots on target which favored Atlanta 8 to 3.   Atlanta’s Ezequiel Barco was a tiny dynamo out there where his speed and accurate passing was completely unmatched.  The guy stands at around 5’5” but in this sport that only matters in the air.  When the ball was on the ground no one could match his speed.  Not only did he get a goal at the 47^th minute but add in two by Josef Martinez at the 39th and 76^th minutes, the game wasn’t even close.  A 0-3 loss was tough on the home team who fell to the second worst in the western conference.  I guess my highlight of the game was being able to see three national team members on the field at the same time.  Graham Zusi of KC, and Atlanta’s Brad Guzan in goal with Brek Shea coming in late as a sub.  I just hope the mens team kicks it up a notch soon because their play has been almost

as bad as KC’s loss today.

The disappointing part of the brand new stadium experience is the ticket situation.  There were absolutely no hard ticket stubs.  I asked all around, even talked to the ticket attendant in our area, and she stated they don’t print them anymore.  I guess it’s the wave of the future but that sucks for fans.  I know I am not the only one who likes to collect these things for memories sake.  I can’t imagine not having some of my stubs from Kings games as a kid.  Oh well…

Game #102- Pittsburgh Steelers

Pittsburgh Steelers vs New England Patriots

Heinz Field

December 16^th, 2018

On the second day in Pittsburgh, I wanted to explore the city a little bit before heading to Heinz Field for one of the biggest games of the 2018 season.  Last night I went to the Pens game, today I searched out the old Forbes Field outfield wall as well as the home plate.  Then I made my way over to Bicycle Heaven where they had thousands of amazing new and vintage bikes (some from the 1890’s, 1930’s cruisers, the words fastest bike in the 80s and one of Pee Wee Herman’s bikes).  It was great to check out some spots in the Burgh before walking to the Stadium.  

Outside Heinz I got some cool pictures of the large inflatable Steelers player, the huge Christmas tree, The Tribute to Children monument and the Manchester Bridge Sculpture.  But the really exciting exhibits are in the stadium.  Pittsburgh is one of the only sporting venues that truly celebrates their team and players.  The Hall of Fame walk in the concourse area, there is a ton to see including the Hall of Honor, old locker set ups with former Steeler memorabilia, past Super Bowl championship trophies, all the Terrible Towels since the 1970’s, the first game ball used at Heinz Field, the history of the Steelers logo, old uniforms, essentially everything you can imagine about this historic team.  They did a great job of spacing out the items so spectators have the opportunity to see it all and not be surrounded by hundreds of people. 

Making my way from the concourse I decide to traverse around the inside of the stadium to get pictures from all sorts of angles.  I like this venue because it truly is set up for the home team.  Bright yellow seats, Steeler logos everywhere, and to top it off the building is right on the Allegheny River where it splits with the Monongahela River, thus the reason why it is called “Three Rivers”.  The views from the nose bleeds are spectacular.  I took a bunch of selfies as well as panoramic shots before the fans started to trickle in for game time.  

The Patriots are 9-5, the Steelers are 8-4-1.  But over the past 5 or so years the Patriots have had the Steelers number.  Somehow, some way Brady always seems to pull off a comeback and break the Pittsburgh fans hearts.  It also doesn’t help that the Steeler have already lost 3 in a row.  The always strong and steady Steelers “curtain” defense has been shaky the past few weeks and they really needed to step it up to have a chance, and that is exactly what they did.  Brady was kept to 279 yards of passing and only one TD while Roethlisberger went 235 with 2 TDs, but more importantly Pittsburgh shot down the NE receivers.  Gronkowski only had 5 receptions for a measly 2 yards, Edelman had the yards but nothing to show for it in terms of points, while Jaylen Samuels had a spectacular day of rushing for the Steelers with 142 hard fought yards and Antonio Brown was impressive with one of the two passing TD’s. 

The game really came down to inches.  Chris Boswell missed a field goal early in the game (which he has been doing a lot lately) which was critical to the outcome.  It was actually kind of sad when he came out the fans all started to boo, almost wishing for him to miss…which he did.  But he was able to hit a 48 yarder toward the end of the game to put the Steelers up by 7 with a little more than 2 minutes left in the game.  Normally that would be sufficient for a team to pull out a win, but again these are the Patriots led by Tom Brady.  You could feel the tension in the 38 degree air every time he would step back to make a throw.  Slowly but surely the offense was making it down the field and with seconds left on the clock, the Pats had one final chance to tie (or win if Belichick wanted to go for 2…which he would), but the Steelers defense stepped up and the place exploded.  I have not seen a crowd that happy with a win in a long time.  It was made even better seeing off of the “Massholes” completely decked out in Patriots gear, heads down in shame.  You just knew what they would have been like if New England pulled off a win. 

The one memory of the game that I can’t get out of my head is the nutty Steelers fan behind me.  For the final 10 minutes of the game he kept screaming “Let’s GO!  Let’s GOOO!  LET’S GOOOOO!!!!”  all while banging on my seat.  His wife tried to calm him down because he was making everyone around him go deaf, but he was having none of it.  I get it, I am really excited about my team and their wins as well, but this was a regular season show down.  He was acting like it was the super bowl.  Maybe for him it was.  Also, Terrell Edmunds looks just like Steve Urkel with long hair...just saying.

It was a great weekend, I knocked out the last two games in the Pittsburgh area.  I think the next time I come east at this time I will need to see if I can check off the Buffalo Bills and Sabres.  I’ll need to check the Kings schedule for 2019-2020.