Tonight I went to Commonwealth Stadium with Megan to watch an exhibition Major League Soccer game between the Vancouver Whitecaps and the Los Angeles Galaxy. I hadn’t really been paying attention I guess, so didn’t realize the event was happening until Megan asked me last week if I wanted to go. I said yes, curious about how soccer would go over in Edmonton and of course, about David Beckham.
He didn’t score a goal, but he was awarded an assist. The Galaxy ended up losing 2-1, but it could have been far worse if not for their keeper. Vancouver was clearly the stronger team tonight. For more on the game, check out CBC.
Every time Beckham touched the ball, the crowd would cheer! It was kind of funny and kind of annoying all at the same time. At one point everyone started doing the wave. Megan and I couldn’t help but think, “this isn’t a hockey game!” For the most part though everyone seemed to be having a good time (despite the intermittent rain), and very few left after Beckham was replaced in the 75th minute.
While walking to the LRT station after the game, we ran into the crowd of people waiting to catch a glimpse of Beckham getting on the bus to leave the stadium. We hung around for a while and eventually saw him emerge, but the photos didn’t turn out so well. He signed a few autographs, but disappeared rather quickly.
In the end, I’d say that soccer is more enjoyable on television (keeping in mind that I’ve never been to a game in say, Europe). I eagerly await the World Cup, for instance! Bringing the exhibition game to Edmonton probably had the desired effect though – to capitalize on Beckham’s popularity as a way to introduce more people to MLS.
Here are my pictures from the game.
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Watching Soccer live is quite different to watching Hockey live. When I went to my first Hockey game here, I was suprised about how much non-hockey stuff there was going on (music, videos, contests, etc) to make sure there was always something going on.
Not wanting to insult 95% of Canadians, but it seemed that the producers (I’m sure they had producers) seemed to think that the audience has extremely short attention spans.
Watching a football game at the stadium is different though. People are there for the game and that’s realy all there is to see.
Agreed, except that hockey alos moves much faster, and so the crowd actually doesn’t need the entertainment (but it pays the bills). I found that the game was not as exciting as on TV, simply because on TV you definitely get the best angle, and can always see the play developing, where last night we were so close to the field that it was almost like our view of parts of the field was obscured.
I don’t know. I’m sure it’d me exciting if the game meant something (like the CONCACAF match between Canada and Brazil where Canada actually played well and the game ended 1-1), but because it was an exhibition game, it seemed like the athletes were out there only because Beckham was here.
Did you see Gord guarding David Beckham’s bus?
Spectacularly I was checking the internet today and I totally freaked out. I actually develop my ex-girlfriend pictures on the internet. I have no understanding when she did this but my ex-girlfriend was making revealed with some other teen.
Does anyone have any info on this ex-girlfriend site?