I went to the 2009 Gold Cup opening round matches at the Oakland Coliseum on July 5th (Guadalupe beating Panama and then Mexico downing Nicaragua). The crowd was pretty small for the first game. Most were there for the Mexico game and stayed in the parking lot to party up until game time. H and I came late so we decided to park in the Coliseum lot. We almost had a heart attack when we saw that it was $30 just to park. Dang - the tickets cost $30 each. I don't think I have ever been to an event where the parking was just as much as the event ticket. This world is screwy.
Interesting things that we spotted in the parking lot: "Cage" 1v1 football, girls sponsored by beer companies taking pictures with guys in the crowd (H posed a few times!). You'll have to ask him about one particular gal that had an expression that never changed! Lots of food being cooked on BBQ's and little supporter bands marching all over the parking lot with their national flags. Inside the MEX/NICAR fans were in a frenzy (90+% were Mexico supporters). We almost had an international incident occur in the section next to us and we had one guy throwing up and going unconscious in our section (a little bit too much of the liquid refreshment I am guessing). It is too bad - he missed a good match.
US MNT Defender Heading for AC Milan!
It was announced today that Oguchi Onyewu has been signed by AC Milan. His impressive work in the Confederations Cup must have helped his cause. I'm looking forward to see how ACM will use him - he is a powerful dude.
