Playing Catchup

Despite the timing of my last post on this blog, I did not die in the insanity that was Azteca. There are a number of factors (and lame excuses) surrounding the fact that I haven't posted here in a while. Having been out of work for a couple of months, my head went into a bit of a tailspin; I won't bore you with details, but sometimes it felt a bit like this.

So, what's been going on with the national team during the last three months, then? Oh, not a lot, I guess...

Recuerden Azteca

So, yeah, that happened. I ended up leading a group of roughly thirty US fans to the game via the light rail; the idea of me leading anything is a bit frightening, but it worked out pretty well. We didn't start getting hit with things until well into the second half; it definitely was more intense by the end of the game. The police did a much better job of protecting us than they did in 2009.

My biggest disappointment on the night was the behavior of some of our own. I've come to expect the usual racist and homophobic chants along with the projectiles from the Mexico fans at Azteca. What I didn't expect is that we would hear the same from our own fans--things like "Chicharito takes it up the ass". I expect us to be better than that; on that night, a large portion of our group was not.

Ya mon!

Had a good time with the American Outlaws in Jamaica. I opted to buy the AO package for this trip, since I had no idea what to do otherwise. The resort in Montego Bay was quite nice, but it's definitely not how I generally roll.

The bus trip to Kingston was fun, if a bit long. The game itself was great, though once again I was disappointed with some of our travelling crew: we were asked by the ushers/security at the game to sit down, and some of the group made a big stink about it. Now, I generally prefer to stand during games; however, when you're in someone else's house, you have to play by their rules. Sit down and keep making noise.

The day after the game, a group of AO members took on some members of local club Montego Bay United for an informal friendly. I tagged along and took quite a few photos of the guys getting beaten badly in a unique atmosphere at MBU's field.

Seattle

In case you've been under a rock, here's how massive Seattle was:

I'm in... Utah.

That's right, I'm typing this from my hotel room in Salt Lake, the day before the second half of the Hex kicks off. The US sits in first place in the hex, with a game in hand over Mexico. That's pretty good, but nothing's ever certain in the hex. Tomorrow's another big game; finishing off a nine-point June would go a long way to securing a spot in Brazil.