In our house, I am sometimes the energy cop for things like water conservation (shut off the water, please) or lights left on. Sherie likes to reuse all kinds of things that I might recycle or throw away, like washing dirty old plastic bags and cutting the smallest “fresh” flesh from rotting fruit.

But we are not as nearly green as the Greenbergs, written up the the Chronicle. And they feel that are nearly as green as they could be.  The green mind set is becoming cultural norms here in Berkeley.

Brad Freidel is a class act. Most fans appreciate his talent on the big save, his concentration during a game, all the hard work he’s done. And the respect he has earned from others in the football culture overseas.

This story on ESPNsoccernet.com takes the story of his gift back to the game to the current day. To the kids of Ohio, the USA, and indeed the developing world. I knew of this cool new academy he was building. I new it was to be free for the kids’ families.  But reading the quotes brings it all the more personally revealing about the motivation behind the man.
Brad, thanks for it all.

Sherie and I splurged for season tickets to the reborn E’quakes. We have now been to several games, so I thought I would give some opinions on the experience.

Yesterday was the first Beckam visit with the Galaxatives. So the Qs scheduled this at the Oakland Colosseum. This was the second game there (the first was the “home” opener against the Fire, back in April). I observed this:

• More folks turned out than any other game. In fact, our neighbor Heather and some of her soccer friends and their kids went, when I hadn’t know her to go to other games. In fact, nearly 40k, and the stadium brass took the tarps off part of the upper deck. They don’t do this for the As, so this is the biggest non Raiders attendance there in a long while.
• Many of the folks had Beckam jerseys, more England jerseys and many Galaxative white jerseys. They outnumber us old time Qs fans in blue.
• While many cheered Beckam, many of the same also cheered the Qs. (Some where die-hard Galaxatives fans who had traveled from LA. In fact, our seats where near the section for the traveling Gs fans with the drums, weird hair, etc.)
• The Qs fans were a bit louder than at the home opener, but do not give quite as much home team advantage as at Santa Clara, since most of the stands are pretty far from the field. While our seats are at the north end line, they are closer to the field than most (thats why I picked them). In fact, like the old days at Spartan, the action in the near corner gets hidden below the wall, which is the left-field corner for baseball.
• The field is pretty wide, which helped the Galaxatives more than the Qs. The Gs have more skill players, and the width helps give them some space. The Qs rely on heart and energy to close down the opposition. All three Gs goals came on crosses when there was too much space left for the guy on the edge to get the ball into the box.

My impressions of games in Santa Clara:

• The Buck Shaw Stadium field looks kinda like a high school football stadium. The stands are not very tall, and have odd gaps because the field is really a converted baseball stadium.
• Our seats are in section E, which is above the deluxe seats. Note that the deluxe seats below us are the only ones in the place that are your plastic theater seats with backs and fold-down seats. All the rest, including ours, are bleacher benches.  This temp scaffold structure does not have as steep a “rake” as I would like, so Sherie can have some difficulty seeing above the people in the rows below us. In retrospective I should have picked seats on the other side that are closer to the field on the steeper permanent stands.
• The  bleachers are getting more crowded each game. Makes for a fun atmosphere, if sometimes a squeeze for peoples bags and movement through the row. Better than too much space, and a lack of energy.
• The Qs supporters are getting more organized and louder each game. While Sherie and I don’t want to stand and cheer/sing in the end zone, the noise from those sections is getting better. However, many in the stands around us rarely make noise to increase the players energy level, but only react to some action in the field below. And some people have ignored the play and had social conversation while the game goes on.
• The stadium security staff is too rigid. The act very scripted in their actions. I don’t want to go into too much detail here (I have saved that for email to John Doyle), but they seem to make the paying customer feel like the least important people there, not the most important. Because the stadium is on a private college, there are weird rules about beer (must stay in the fenced in “beer jails” and not go into the stands or the general concourse areas).

Let me know if you want to share a game day, as eventually Sherie may not want to come.

This is really fun. Take it to the streets!