Austin FC has 17,000 people on the waitlist for season tickets. So, it’s kind of a big deal. The great news is, the first home game of the season, coming up in June, is going to have 100% capacity! This is super exciting for the city and Central Texas.
Lets get back to the fan part.
Back in 1995, when an expansion team was awarded to Jacksonville, Florida, I worked for a radio station there, and was on a pregame show where part of my job was to help women get excited about and help them to understand football. There, I was talking about American football. Here, we are talking about football—or soccer—the most beautiful game. One of my favorite stories ever: we had a ladies night where women came to the stadium for a ‘Backstage’ tour of the locker room and meeting rooms. They got to ask a player and a referee questions. The guy who was there was a tight end. He was young and so polite. The ladies asked him all kinds of questions. Finally one woman raised her hand and said, “When you’re running with the ball, why do you always seem to run towards all the people—when I’m watching on television, I can see there’s all kinds of room where you are not running—why don’t you go that way?”
The tight end laughed and laughed-he said he WISHED he could see what she saw!
This is happening when I watch Austin FC. I pretty much yell at the TV—hey, shouldn’t you have a set piece or planned play for a corner kick? When you get a free kick—shouldn’t you kick it into the goal? I mean, that’s what happens in the movies...
I am fairly certain everyone who knows anything at all about football (soccer) will laugh and laugh at those statements—like who am I—totally new football fan. That’s fair. But...am I right? Just curious.
Maybe I need some mad schooling by some super fans. I don’t know. Maybe I’m talking out of my backside. I do want to be a smart fan...
My suggestion is maybe someone does a crash course for noobs like me to understand what makes a good football team and good player. What do you think?
In the mean time—Verde! Verde! Verde!