Found Free Beer Movement - Austin, Texas

What better way to spread the Free Beer Movement then my very own soccer team in Austin, Texas? Every Tuesday night you'll find Mr. FBM between the sticks for FC Arriba in the Super Social Co-Ed League for Austin Sport and Social Club; sponsored by who else.... Miller.

I snagged a 12-pack of the cheap stuff, Miller Lite, and dragged a cooler out to the field. Despite a stern talking-to from the field official about not having the beer in cups (apparently it's OK to drink there... just not from cans... go figure) we enjoyed a cold one after a thrilling 0-0 scoreline.

Beers were consumed and teammates were hipped to the FBM taking off in their own backyard!

Great success!

Free Beer Stories: Jesse from Paraguay

Editor's Note: Today marks the publication of our first "Free Beer Story" from outside the United States. Normally we get stories and pictures from Americans promoting American soccer, but in this case we have an American using Paraguayan soccer to get Americans interested in the sport. And free beer, of course! This week's story comes from Jesse, a sports-fanatic-but-not-soccer-fan-turned-soccer-fanatic-turned-free-beer-mover, who we featured in an interview a few months back.

Got your own "free beer story"? Send us it at freebeermovement @ gmail (dot) com and get a FREE Free Beer Movement sticker!

Some of the teachers here in Paraguay are big fans of one of the local soccer teams called Guarani and regularly attend games. Their excursions usually involve large amounts of beer being consumed prior to the games so I figured that this would be a perfect fit with the ideals of the Free Beer Movement.

We gathered two other teachers and another friend who had not been to a game yet together at the house of one of the fans before the game for the free beer part of the evening. We imbibed some imported Nut Brown Ales, Red Ales, and Golden Ales from Argentina to wash down a nice asado consisting of a large chunk of beef and some spicy chorizo. Having just discovered that these beers were imported they went over especially well as a change of pace from the national beers which all taste suspiciously like Budweiser.

Full of beer and meat we hopped in cabs and made our way to the stadium for the game between Guarani and the defending champions Nacional. Unfortunately for the superfans, Guarani came up on the short end of a 1 - 0 final despite dominating most of the game and having multiple good scoring chances.


Even with the loss, the new recruits had a good time watching the game, listening to and observing the "hinchatas" (crazy supporters groups that some might call gangs), and drinking beer. It was an overall successful night as evidenced by a quote from one of the recruits, "I think I just associate soccer games with being drunk at this point. This is fun, why don't we do it more often?"

Got your own "free beer story"? Send us it at freebeermovement @ gmail (dot) com and get a FREE Free Beer Movement sticker!

Who We're Buying a Beer For...

Who are WE buying a beer for this week you ask? Who are YOU buying a beer for this week? Oh, right... we're the one's who started this whole "beer buying" thingy. I guess you're under no obligation to purchase and beer... Our bad.....

On to the list!

The Beaverton, Oregon sports behemoth Nike recently launched its line of 2010 National Team World Cup jerseys, including those of the U.S. National Team. We're not here to debate the look of the brand new kits (beauty pageant, anyone?) we're here to praise the Swoosh branders for their environmentalism.

According to an article from Fast Company:

Nike's bottles-to-T-shirts operation is fairly straightforward. Recycled polyester comes from a Taiwanese supplier that cuts up, melts, and spins plastic bottles into a yarn for the shirts. Each shirt will consist of 100% recycled polyester and approximately eight plastic bottles. The shirts are slightly more expensive to produce than standard jerseys, but Nike claims that the costs ultimately even out because less material is needed for production. And on the outside, players and fans won't be able to tell the difference between the bottle-filled jerseys and the regular polyester shirts worn by non-Nike teams.

Environmentally savvy soccer lovers will also have the chance to check out Nike's shirts--the brand is using 13 million plastic bottles to produce jerseys for fans. All in all, Nike's initiative will stop 254,000 kg of polyester waste from being dumped in landfills.

Sure Nike has used child and sweatshop labor in the past, but let bygones be bygones! They're on the "green" bandwagon now! Seriously, though, this is a great move for Nike. Even if "caring about the slow destruction of our planet" is "IN" right now are you all glad that global sportswear companies are getting behind it? (Aside: Nike even dropped out of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, who are active global warming deniers... take that!)

Additionally, Nike says that the jersey push will prevent some 13 million plastic bottles from ending up in landfills. So that's step one. Step two is taking care of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch!

When you're watching U.S. versus England on June 12th just remember the team scoring all the goals is also saving the Earth.

Speaking of the Nats, the Yanks might have an unlikely ally in Sir Alex Ferguson. According to a report in the Times of London the Manchester United manager has been in close contact with Coach Sweatpants (have you ever seen him not in them?) about the English contingent on his team along with several other Premier League managers.

Coach Bobbo had this to say about his foreign manager spies:

“I have been in Europe a lot lately and I’ve had the chance to catch up with different people,” he said. “I appreciated those opportunities, whether it was watching training sometimes or communicating about our players.

“Occasionally, there are some managers in England who subtly let me know they will be rooting for us that day. You can guess that they were not actually born in England. That’s all part of it, I guess.”

The gum-chewing (obsessively almost) Scotsman gets big points for siding against the fish-and-chip face stuffing English and giving some help to Coach Bradley.

Fereguson, who is known as a connoisseur of fine wines, will get a bottle of whatever he wants if we beat England on June 12th.

One part of the U.S. Soccer world that doesn't need any help winning is the U.S Women's National Team, which took home its seventh Algarve Cup this past week, defeating Germany 3-2 in Portugal.

Carli Lloyd’s goal in the 18th minute was followed by a powerful header from Abby Wambach four minutes later, staking the U.S. to a 2-0 lead. German forward Inka Grings pulled a goal back five minutes before halftime, but a goalkeeper mistake from Germany’s Nadine Angerer allowed Lauren Cheney to make it 3-1 in the 69th. Grings finished her brace with a goal in 74th minute to make the end of the game tension-filled, but some tremendous ball-winning in the back by central defenders Amy LePeilbet and Rachel Buehler helped the U.S. hold on to the victory.

Check out the highlights:

Over the years we've becoming HUGE fans of the USWNT and women's professional soccer. It might come from Mr. FBM's high school days as equipment manager/waterboy/goalkeeper coach of the Sun Prairie (Wisconsin) Lady Cardinals soccer team. It might come from his younger sister's storied soccer career. It might come from the striptease that was Brandi Chastain's celebration in the 1999 Women's World Cup Final. Who knows?

The point being we love all forms of the American beautiful game and our proud of our women's national side for their absolute domination of the sport. A few years back we worried about how the team would replace such household names as Mia Hamm, Brianna Scurry, Michelle Akers, and Julie Foudy, but we now have a new generation of American women taking center stage in Abby Wambach, Hope Solo, Shannon Boxx, and Heather Mitts (oh... Heather Mitts!).

Of all the people we've bought beers so far this is the group we'd most like to actually follow through with!

Viernes (Friday) Video: 723 Football Films

Out of seemingly no where came the production group, 723 Football Films as they've loaded YouTube up with a series of fantastic U.S. Men's National Team videos.

One of their first productions was "The Speech"

Alongside that fire-in-the-pants-of-an-American-soccer-fan comes a series of "goalographies" of Nationa lTeam players.

Landon Donovan:



Clint Dempsey:



And "feature" videos of Jozy Altidore and Brian McBride:





There are several more "goalographies" on 723 Football Films YouTube Channel including Brian Ching, Eddie Johnson, Carlos Bocanegra and DaMarcus Beasley's tallies for the Yanks.

Looking forward to all the great videos these guys will put together before June.

Found Free Beer Movement - Baltimore, Again!

The boys from the American Outlaws chapter Baltimore Brigade have done it again! Here's their promotional flyer last week's USA vs. El Salvador American Outlaws watch party. Can you find us?

Hint: the Baltimore-centric FBM logo across the bottom!

Where's your Free Beer Movement?

Send us your stories and pictures of soccer and beer (especially those of your efforts with "soccer newbies") around the nation and we'll feature them on the site. E-mail us at freebeermovement @ gmail (dot) com.

"America! Fuck Yeah!" USA - Netherlands Game Day Edition

Obligatory image of crushed orange. We're looking at you, Holland!

Skip work. Take a long lunch. Call in sick. Quit.

Do something to get out of whatever it is that you normally do and watch today's U.S. National Team game against the "Total Football" Orange Machine Holland. As an American soccer fan these are the games that we're supposed to get for. They define our fandom.

A meaningless international friendly? Not one featuring most of the members of both national squads South Africa-bound World Cup squads. The United States playing in Europe against one of the top five teams in THE ENTIRE WORLD? Sign us up!

A reason to have a few (or more) cold ones on a Wednesday afternoon? Say no more.

As an American soccer fan you have a patriotic duty to report to a bar filled with like-minded fans. Feeling like serving the call of duty further? Grab a few soccer newbies, too. A fellow burnt out co-worker, you worthless roommate that doesn't usually leave the couch in between class, the cat that just sits on the window sill. We don't care. These games are signature American soccer and Free Beer Movement days.

Days where we get to show off our American soccer pride with... um.... pride!

It's game day here at the Free Beer Movement, which means we wish our boys good luck and send all of our lovely readers elsewhere in the soccer Inter-web-blog-o-sphere.

Why?

Cause we don't do news. We do drinking and America loving and we do it during soccer... no sense and pretending we're going to have any professional insight to hand out here.

If you're looking for quality coverage of today's massive match up between the United States and the Netherlands check out these links:

- The Shin Guardian's "Preview" and "Oranje Slices: Game Day Post"

- That's On Point's "Netherlanding Story"

- ESPN Soccernet "Instant Analysis In-Game Blog"

And since we couldn't decide on which orange-related image to include in this post we're doubling up and dropping this one, too.

Get it? Orange Crush! We're creative!

The FBM 6-Pack Interview Series: "Superfan" Erin

There are few people who completely embody the ideals of the Free Beer Movement more than our interview subject this week. We're chatting with Erin D. aka "SuperFan". Her USMNT fandom has been featured on "The Original Winger" and the US World Cup Bid site. If you follow her exploits on Twitter you'd also know that she's one of the biggest proponents of "BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEER" in the world.

This summer she's traveling to South Africa to follow the US National Team and to do so she's selling... what else? Beer koozies to help support her cause. If you're short any preservers-of-beer-coldness we highly recommend these. You can also follow her journey on her blog as well.

Erin was kind enough to share her story of soccer and beer and more beer. And just because a sixer isn't usually enough for Erin this "FBM 6-Pack" actually has a ninja beer attached to it; a bonus seven-pack! Read on.

1) You're often referred to a "SuperFan". Where did the nickname come from and how did you earn it? How do you plan on retaining such an honor?

It started after the USA vs Costa Rica game in Washington DC. The Original Winger did a write up and after it was posted it was linked to by the Go USA Bid for World Cup 2018/2022. When the did the brief write up/recap and linked to the original story, they titled it "MNT Superfan has her day in the sun (and rain)". My friends saw it...started calling me Superfan and it spread and ended up sticking. I went ahead and embraced it. There are worse things people could call me! . As far as retaining the nickname? I am just going to keep doing what I am doing...which is being passionate about the sport and my teams. There are plenty of other Superfans out there doing what I am and more. The more Superfans the better.

2) You also happen to enjoy beer a lot. What is it about beer and soccer that go so well together? What's your poison?

The camaraderie that comes with hanging around at a tailgate before a game and then marching into the stadium and giving it your all for 90 minutes...there is nothing like it. At the tailgates you get people from all walks of life. All nationalities and socio-economic groups are represented and the majority have two things in common: Beer and The Beautiful Game.

I can invite non soccer friends to a game and they are mildly interested....when they find out that soccer fans DO tailgate and drink beer before the game they become a lot more interested. I am pretty sure every person I've brought out to a game has enjoyed it immensely. When they get to the tailgate before the game they have this realization that soccer fans aren't that different than other sports fans in our country.

As far as my poison...being in Houston, it is HOT and SWAMPY for most of the MLS season. We also like to start our tailgates plenty early. I usually stick to a light beer. Plenty of people give me crap for that...and that's ok. I can definitely enjoy a good brew. At soccer games...I stick to the cheaper light stuff. I am a teacher after all...and the keg beer usually isn't anything too fancy.

3) You're a female island in a sea of male soccer fans. How do you feel about that? What's different about being a fan as a woman versus a man? What are the advantages? What are the disadvantages? What can American Soccer do to get a larger female fan base?

I love being around all the guys. They guys I hang out with know and respect me and always look out for me. They know I am passionate about the game and will give everything I have during the game. Being a woman and a fan...I'll sometimes meet guys who don't know me and find out I am a soccer fan. They will sometimes assume I know nothing about the game and are surprised when I do. I think an advantage is that I've got that group of guys that looks out for me. A disadvantage, like I said before, is when you go to an away game or the likes and you've got people who don't know you assuming you are there just because your with your husband or boyfriend. The assumption that I would only be there to be with a guy.

4) How many National Team matches have you attended? What are some of your favorite USMNT moments?

Let's see. My first USMNT game was last year in Chicago against Honduras. I had watched plenty of matches before but only last year REALLY started traveling for both club and country matches. From the moment everyone met up at the pregame bar before heading to the stadium, I was hooked. The atmosphere and passion was electric....and I felt at home. It was at that game that I KNEW I needed to go to World Cup. After that I went to the El Salvador game in Salt Lake City, Costa Rica in Washington DC and the last one I attended was the Honduras game in LA.

My favorite moments from games I attended would have to mostly come from the DC game vs Costa Rica. The emotions surrounding the game where just incredible. The energy and passion during the game. The stands at RFK just rocking for 90 minutes...and the last minute goal were just incredible feelings. Then after the game when all the players came around....it was all just a surreal experience. Another great moment would have to be watching the game a few days earlier vs Honduras. It was a closed circuit feed with only one US friendly bar in Houston showing it. The feed was horrible and you couldn't tell what was going on. But the passion in that place was just amazing. I was so happy to see that many people pack into a place...under the assumption of paying $20 just to watch the game (they ended up not charging cause of the poor feed). It was just amazing.

5) You're also a huge Houston Dynamo fan and a member of the Texian Army. Tell us why the Dynamo are the best team in Major League Soccer?

I respect our players and organization so much. Starting with the front office. They are always around and approachable. I've walked up to Oliver Luck at a few games to ask stadium and other questions and he is always open to answering them and talking to the fans. From the COO and Vice Presidents on down to the ticket reps. I have had nothing but great experiences.

As far as the players, not only do I enjoy watching them on the field...but what they do for the community day in and day out is just amazing. There are always players at Texas Children's Hospital talking and visiting with the kids. They are out there just being upstanding citizens in the community...but ones who are also approachable and love hanging out with their fans. They respect and care for their fans as well. I imagine that it is this way in many MLS cities as well and that every fan believes THEIR team is the best. That's great...the more players and fans around the league that are getting the word out about this great sport the better. The Dynamo and their players have a special place in my heart.


6) You're travelling to South Africa for the World Cup. How big of a trip is this for you? What games do you have tickets for? What are your hopes for the USMNT there?

This is a huge trip for me. The farthest I've been from Texas is Canada and Mexico. So for me to be going to South Africa is pretty big. I don't know if it will really hit me that I am going until I board that plane.

I have tickets to the three US group games. I also have tickets to the Netherlands vs. Denmark game and Brazil vs. Cote D'Ivoire. I am very excited. I would love to see the US win the whole thing. Do I think that has a high chance of happening...probably not. But why not dream big? Like I tell my students...you've got to set high goals. Settling for mediocrity just isn't good enough. Can I get cheesy here? What is the saying...Shoot for the moon and you'll always land among the stars? I say if you are going to the World Cup...your goal HAS to be winning it. Otherwise, why bother going?

7) You've begun raising money for your trip by selling koozies. Tell us some more about that campaign.

I am a single teacher with a mortgage (and a house that flooded last year and was unlivable for 6 months! Whole 'nother story). This is an expensive trip. I knew others were doing things to help raise funds for their trips so I started thinking. I thought about a shirt...but that could get expensive to produce and ship and you have to deal with sizes, etc. Then I thought about what would represent ME and knew I had to do a koozie.

I don't think they are as big in other parts of the US...but in Texas everyone has koozies for their beer/soda/water drinking. I guess when it is hot outside we are trying to keep our beers colder for a little longer. So, I had a friend help me with the design and got them printed up. I think that a koozie is something that any USA supporting person can use even if you aren't a big soccer fan. People get very patriotic when it is our country being represented...so I'd like to see a lot of people with USA koozies in their hands this summer! People can order them on my blog. I also plan on updating the blog while in South Africa. That was my main reason for starting it...so people can get a fans view of the World Cup by checking out the blog in June.

To order koozies you can go to: http://tinyurl.com/usakoozie

Who We're Buying a Beer For...

While the American soccer frets over the potential work stoppage that may destroying our nation's domestic game we're drowning our sorrows in beer. Luckily we've got a few bright spots in an otherwise dreary week for the sport in the U.S.

Enter Maurice Edu. The U.S. National Team midfielder recently returned to action after months on the sidelines with a knee injury, for his club, Scottish powerhouse Rangers FC, and this weekend played in one of soccer's greatest rivalries.

I'll let my esteemed journalist colleague (ha! look we're journalists now!) Mr. Grant Wahl explain why Celtic FC versus Rangers is one of the best sporting spectacles in the world.

From Grant Wahl's classic 1999 piece on former USMNT Claudia Reyna's participation in the Old Firm:

"Celtic-Rangers, the world's most bitter club rivalry. While soccer may have other hallowed matches—Barcelona-Real Madrid, Boca Juniors-River Plate in Buenos Aires, Roma-Lazio in Rome, Flamengo-Fluminense in Rio—none come close to matching Celtic-Rangers for a purity of hatred that involves politics, class and, above all, religion. In fin de siècle European sports there is no greater symbol of sectarian strife. Stabbings and bar fights in Glasgow, a city of 688,500, are regularly investigated for Celtic-Rangers links. And this year, as has often been the case, a Scottish championship was on the line. "There's nothing like it," says the 25-year-old Reyna. "All you can tell people is that you have to come here to believe it."

Believe this, if you can: 59,918 wild-eyed fans—neighbors, even—divided into two religious camps by a human wall of police. Two hours of eardrum-shattering noise, including chants about Catholic scum from one side and Irish Republican Army songs from the other. Hundreds of Union Jacks and Irish tricolors fanning the flames of nationalist bitterness. A referee beaned by a coin, his head spouting blood.

Imagine trying to play soccer amid all this, trying to clinch a title in front of a stadium full of people, most of whom hate you from the bottom of their souls. Only then will you have an idea of why Reyna sat slack-jawed at breakfast the next morning. "Sometimes you don't experience all those things in your entire career," he said. "They happened to me in the same game"

Welcome to the holy war universally known as the Old Firm, which has pitted Celtic's Irish Catholic faithful against Rangers' Protestant supporters for 111 years. A social organization founded in 1888 to aid Glasgow's poor Catholic immigrants, Celtic and its successful soccer team have aroused the undying resentment of the Protestant establishment, symbolized by blue-clad Rangers. It's why Rangers forward Paul Gascoigne famously celebrated a goal against Celtic by mimicking a flute player to commemorate William of Orange's victory over the Catholics at the Battle of the Boyne in 1690. And it's why Celtic players take special pride in crossing themselves when they score against Rangers. "It's the last bastion of the sins of our fathers," says Ian McGarry, a soccer writer for the Scottish Daily Mail. "In the past the division represented itself in the workplace and in everyday society, but now the only place where it's still acceptable is a sporting occasion."

So one can imagine that when these teams get together it's going to be a wee bit important to both sides.

And, as a causal fan of the match up, but a huge fan of our boys "over there" the game becomes EPIC when Edu, the former Major League Soccer Rookie of the Year, scores the game winning goal, deep into stoppage time.

Here's the clip. A scramble in front of goal and Edu stabs it home. Just watching the unbridled celebrations by players and fans alike speaks volumes to what an important win it was for Rangers.

Just another American abroad making a name for himself in some of the best leagues in the world. These high-profile contributions not only push American soccer players into the sport's consciousness, but hopefully will begin to push into the greater general consciousness of the American public.

American soccer lacks the marketable face and personalities that other sports have. Think (before his fall from grace) Tiger Woods or LeBron James. We're not suggesting it's Maurice Edu (!), but just commenting on the fact that American soccer needs a face. Maybe we have it in Landon Donovan, but for whatever reason, people aren't buying it. But maybe it's not even the face that is the problem. Maybe it is still the sport itself in this country.

It's the classic "chicken vs. egg" conundrum for American soccer. What comes first? The profile of the sport creating marketable and recognizable players or certain individuals raising the profile of the sport. We've certainly seen one side of the equation in David Beckham (and to a lesser extent Donovan) try and fail.

Speaking of David Beckham our next beer goes to the author of a book about the man and his ups and downs with the Los Angeles Galaxy, Mr. Grant Wahl. This is old news to the soccer world, but Wahl got a promotion from his employer, Sports Illustrated, a few weeks ago. He is now the magazine's full-time soccer beat writer. He previously split his time between soccer and college basketball.

We've lamented the coverage of soccer in the media world before and particularly Sports Illustrated (the print edition), but SI's commitment to soccer gets a HUGE boost with this announcement. Just as ESPN has ramped up its soccer coverage it looks as though the nation's preeminent sports journalism magazine has countered as well. The rag will also launch its first-ever World Cup preview issue before the tournament (duh!) and sending writers Joe Posnanski and Peter King along and a few others with Wahl to South Africa. Some see the addition of Posnanski and King, who are not soccer writers BTW, as an insult to the sport and soccer fans in America.

We're torn here, but really its a step in the right direction. I think the real point to be made is right now, in this country, the major media outlets do not have quality soccer reporting talent. There are tons of great writers and commentators on the sport in this country, but none of them are employed by the places with the money to send them to South Africa this summer. Print media is dying and the old guard of sport journalism is usually disrespectful, if not downright hostile to soccer. So SI sends two seasoned writers who don't completely hate soccer to join their soccer guy for the summer.

Grant Wahl's appointment to full-time soccer writer at Sports Illustrated is beer-worthy in that it's one more step forward in the fight for the sport's relevance in the United States.

The journey may be long, slow, and often painful, but the cause is good and just.

Viernes (Friday) Video: "Pelada" Pick Up Soccer Movie to Make World Premier in FBM's Backyard

In two weeks the movie, "Pelada" will premiere in the hometown of the Free Beer Movement, Austin, Texas, at one of the world's largest music and film festivals, South By Southwest. For anyone that has heard about this film it is a exciting and satisfying end to a very long journey for the four individuals involved in its making.

For those of you who have not heard of "Pelada" please check out its trailer. The basic premise of the film follows two soccer players as they travel the globe in search of pick-up soccer games. Of course they are not hard to find (Mr. FBM joined in several during his journeys in Central America), but the story is electric.

Recently, the makers of "Pelada" were featured in stories by The New York Times and by Sports Illustrated writer Grant Wahl.

Check it out:

Pelada from Rebekah Fergusson on Vimeo.

And while we don't consider ourselves in the same realm as either the NYT or SI the FBM will be joining the venerable rags as one of the few places where an interview with the filmmakers can be found. Yes, that's right dear readers... the Free Beer Movement is going to be stretching its long-dormant journalism legs!

During SXSW we'll be sitting down with the two players and two filmmakers (Luke Boughen, Rebekah Fergusson, Gwendolyn Oxenham, and Ryan White) for a chat about this awesome new soccer movie.

If you're in the Austin-area or planning on coming down for the SXSW Festival, check out the "Pelada" SXSW page for showtimes.

Stay tuned as there maybe also be some additional exciting news about the FBM and "Pelada" in the coming weeks.

Free Beer Stories: James from Chicago

Editor's Note: Twitter follower James posted this story on his personal website last fall and we wanted to share the tale with the American soccer world. Normally we share stories of free beer in action, but this one is more of a family tale sans beer. He did happen to bring a "soccer-newbie," though so we'll give him half-credit.

It's important to remember, as we've mentioned previously, that beyond free beer, we are promoting the game and hoping that the atmosphere of American soccer stands on it own laurels as well. James' story is just that.

A fan of the National Team and "over-there" soccer, James had not given the domestic game a serious look yet. What he left with was not just an appreciation of Major League Soccer and the Chicago Fire, but the desire to establish fandom for himself and his next generation. Read on.

Got your own "free beer story"? Send us it at freebeermovement @ gmail (dot) com and get a FREE Free Beer Movement sticker!

This past weekend I decided it was time to go check out the Chicago Fire for the first time. I have been a fan of the USMNT and Fulham for about 6 years, but have only been a casual fan of MLS. The MLS has a lot of issues to work through before they gain the respect needed to be considered a major soccer league in the world, but this post is not about those issues. I wanted to write up a post describing my first live experience at a MLS match and explain why the Chicago Fire have made me a fan for life.

Saturday night's match was the Eastern Conference Final between the Chicago Fire and Real Salt Lake. The match was being played at Toyota Park in Bridgeview, IL. The stadium is only a few years old, and is a very nice setup. There isn't a bad seat in the house in my opinion. Tickets for this Championship match were very cheap considering what it costs to go see a MLB or NFL game. I spent $25 a ticket, and had what could be considered premium seats. We were 12th row in section 104 which is only 2 sections from midfield.

The match was a sellout crowd of just over 21,000. Not too shabby considering the lack of popularity for MLS. The tickets for this match had completely sold out by Wednesday, so I was lucky to have bought my tickets on Monday. If you have ever been to a professional or national club match, you understand how the environment of the crowd is totally different from what you find at other sporting events. The crowd is very enthusiastic singing team chants and rooting with all of their hearts for their club. The Chicago Fire supporters club, Section 8, is a group of hardcore fans unlike what you would find at any other Chicago sporting event. These guys live and die with the Chicago Fire. For the entire match they are on their feet chanting, waving flags, and even lighting flares during the 90th minute. It is really an experience you cannot truly appreciate unless seeing it in person.

I do not think I could have ever picked a more exciting match to be my first experience seeing the Chicago Fire live. Needless to say it was an awesome game to bring Julie to seeing that she has never been to any live soccer match at a professional level. As time ticked away and we approached the 90th minute there was a nervous feeling that cannot be explained. You knew every time Chicago or RSL gained possession that it could be the end of the match. After 90 minutes of regulation and 30 minutes of overtime we had a 0-0 tie. We moved onto penalty kicks where the Fire eventually lost 5-4. When the winning kick was made you could hear a pin drop in the stadium. You could feel the heartache of all of the Fire fans in that moment of quietness as RSL celebrated on the field. In no time though, Section 8 was back with chants of "Fire til I die!"

I walked away from the game with one question "How much for 2010 season tickets?!" This Saturday sold me on MLS and the Chicago Fire. I can't wait to start a new family tradition, and take Luke to the games next year. This past Saturday's experience was an epic experience for me, and the Chicago Fire have a fan for life.

Julie and me before the start of the game


The Section 8 tifo during the national anthem.


Flares going off in Section 8 during the 90th minute

Got your own "free beer story"? Send us it at freebeermovement @ gmail (dot) com and get a FREE Free Beer Movement sticker!