Wednesday, March 26, 2008

Primetown: Nashville Reflection

I finally have some down time after a hectic couple days to reflect a bit on the Olympic Qualification Final and the trip in general.

On Sunday, some of the ESC NYC Crew were looking for a place to watch the big EPL games. However, unlike NYC, nothing in Nashville opens before 11 AM. And I mean any day of the week.

Luckily, we got into the Big River Grill but were forced to watch college hoops (not a bad second option) because the bar did not have Fox Soccer Channel. Eventually, we walked across the Cumberland River and made it to the stadium for the tailgate. It was a relatively small tailgate organized by ESC Ben and 4Winds (who drove down to Nashville in the trailer). The food was aplenty burgers, dogs, etc. But the highlight of the tailgate was the 4 racks of ribs brought by Maaaaaaan 2.0. Absolutely amazing. They definitely went down well with the bottle of jager I brought to the game.

Inside the stadium, the atmosphere was darn good for a meaningless game. The Hondurans came out strong, but the US contingent was solid. I'd say the stadium was 60% Hondurans/40% US supporters. We out sang the Hondos for much of the game, but once they hit that wondergoal in extra time, some of the US supporters were stunned and the Hondos cheered in full force making for a great atmosphere.

It was a disappointing loss, but not much further than what I suspected when Freddy Adu and Jonathan Spector left to go back to Benfica and West Has respectively.

After the game we headed to Bosco's for some post game chow. After singing for 90 minutes and jumping around, it was definitely time for another meal. At Bosco's, I had my most bizarre moment of the evening where I ran into an old friend from college who was living in Nashville. I heard he moved down there, but definitely didn't expect to run into him at a random restaurant. He works in the music industry, so where else would a guy end up than the Music City.

Eventually, we said goodbye to our hosts for the weekend. MetroFlip and I headed to the Springwater for $2.00 pints of Shiner Bock and discuss our time in Nashville. Finally, it was time to call it a night and a trip.

On my way home Monday morning, I was going through security at the airport. Right after I went through security, I saw none other than US goalkeeper Chris Seitz, then forward Robbie Findley, and then defender Patrick Ianni. I couldn't let the moment pass so I did a little US chant and talked with the boys for a few moments wishing them luck in Beijing. Cool moment and definitely a great way to end my trip to Nashville.

It won't be too long until I'm posting again, MLS kicks off this weekend and the ESC is hosting an event in Kearny, NJ. It is also the day of the Old Firm match which I'll be watching with my Rangers buddies at the Kearny Scots Club. Looking forward to that. Till next time... C'mon US!

When I'm able to upload some Nashville videos onto Youtube, I'll post them here. There are a couple of really good ones including the singing of the Olympic song and one of the smoke bomb that was let off. Hopefully, I can get those uploaded later this week.

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