The San Jose Earthquakes finished off the Chicago Fire 4-2 at MLS Cup 2003 last Sunday at the Home Depot Center in Carson, California. It’s taken me a while to post this, but I wanted to edit down some videos and have them ready to go at the same time.
These are certainly heady days for fans of the San Jose Earthquakes. Picked by most people, including many San Jose fans, to finish near the bottom, San Jose came very, very close to finishing the regular season with the best record in the entire league. The Chicago Fire, another team picked to finish near the bottom, just beat out the Quakes for best regular season record.
After a heart-stopping come from behind win against Los Angeles, San Jose managed to come from behind twice and score in overtime to win the Western Conference championship over Kansas City. Even after showing such incredible heart and willpower, few people picked them to beat Chicago in the MLS Cup final. Of course, Chicago were dominant in their half of the playoffs and were looking as strong as ever. If you were an Earthquakes fan who attended one of the two previous games, though, there was no alternative other than to believe in the Quakes.
After standing, shouting, and chanting loudly throughout the entire game, I was surprised that I could still speak at the end of the game. The damage set in by the next night, however, and I ended up with a very sore throat and a cold. It was so worth it.
I haven’t uploaded my photos, yet, by I did manage to post a couple videos from during and after the game that I shot with my tiny digital camera. Please don’t expect professional quality. The audio is good, especially for a single tiny microphone, so be sure to have the sound turned way up on your computer.
December 5th, 2003 at 1:23 pm
Wow, did you actually fly to Chicago just for the game? Impressive.
Must have been great.
How come soccer fans, across the whole wide world, only know one chant? And I think they stole it from the world of bull fighting anyway.
December 6th, 2003 at 11:09 am
Paul, Paul, Paul. Check out that first sentence again - “at the Home Depot Center in Carson, California.” Just like the NFL’s Superbowl, the location of the MLS Cup is picked before the season begins. Although it risks a lower attendance (at least until the MLS gets more popular) because you often don’t get to take advantage of hometown fans, it does assure that the championship games are played only in the best of the stadiums.
So, we just had to take a short flight down to LA for this match. Of course, we have in the past flown cross-country to D.C. just to see a Men’s National team World Cup qualifier.
While I get a little bored with the Olé,… Olé, Olé, Olé chant, listen to some of the videos I posted to hear at least one more.
One funny chant adopted from the English is used when the other team has an extra-wide player, like Chicago’s goalkeeper Zach Thornton.
Who ate all the pies?
Who ate all the pies?
You fat bastard. You ate all the pies.