Full Speed Ahead With The Earthquakes

Major League Soccer really is a major league.

That sounds simplistic, but bear with me. I've always rooted for the league and the Earthquakes--and when there was no team in San Jose, DC United--but I always subconsciously considered it to be far inferior to the Premier League. The players looked slow, the passes looked slow, the fields looked clunky. Yes, the entire field.

But I've been to two Earthquakes games now, one last year and one on Saturday night, and seeing it in person is an entirely different question. The atmosphere has been outstanding, and everything looks polished smooth, and this is while they are playing at the University of Santa Clara, not even their own stadium--although their own stadium is now officially in the works.

Well, it looked smooth until before kickoff, when a fog machine and pre-match fireworks obscured everything during a strange electric guitar rendition of the national anthem. The anthem went on so long I thought the guitarist got lost along the way.



To see these players up close is to realize how fast and big they are. A shot that on TV looks like a slow bouncing ball actually zips along, passing outside the goalpost almost before it leaves the foot. That's how it felt, at least.

Which makes me realize just how much more intense and rapid a Premier League game must be in person.

2012 has kicked off with a win for the Earthquakes. I can't wait for the next game.