So, it appears this Wayne Rooney thing is happening. He tweeted a photo of him on a plane to the states about an hour ago. That's not the point of this though.

On Tuesday, I was invited by the Mayors office to the DC United scrimmage against the Richmond Kickers held at Buzzard Point last night. Obviously I eagerly accepted said invite and was placed on the guest list; likely for the first and last time. Doors were advertised as being at 6, with kick-off at 7, and I was told food and beverage would be provided.

I play it cool and get there around 6:45, get checked in and go through security. Get my tickets for "food" and 2 drink tickets. This is when the good vibes kick in; actually they kicked in as soon as I was dropped off by my Uber and started walking towards the stadium; it's quite striking and looks quite nice. The staff seemed really geeked up to show off their new toy and were all really nice and accommodating as you enter and get oriented. Then i saw the tables loaded with white boxes, which were our meals. Come on guys.. you catered this thing with completely meh turkey and roast beef sandwiches? I had pupusas and churros dancing in my head, at the very least one of those sketchy chicken tenders and fries baskets that always seem like a good idea until you take that first bite, nervously chewing, as it dawns on you that you just bought and are eating sketchy chicken tenders and fries. Whatever, turkey sandwich it is; can't beat free. Then I headed to the beer cooler and was greeted by another life-or-death choice: (googles how to spell "Heinekin") Heineken or Heineken Light? I was not expecting to have decent beer options, but even this was a bit of a punch to the gut; Heineken it was though, I'm not one to turn down a free beer.

Off to find a seat I go. They put us all on the west sideline, as it was pretty apparent that the inner workings of the east sideline weren't quite finished yet. I'm a STM, who chose seats on the west sideline, so my goal was to find and sit in "my seat." Success, lucky No. 13 was unclaimed. So, I settled in, gnoshed on my sandwich, sipped my beer, watched players warm up, and tried to take it all in.

The verticality of the place can't be described. The "tiny little hate box" moniker that is floating about is appropriate. You're sitting right on the field, and everywhere you turn is just a wall of seats (hopefully filled with people during games). It's easy to imagine it being an intimate and intimidating place to play. The south stand is particularly impressive. Then the game started - It became obvious really quick that this entire exercise was an effort to work out the kinks in their gameday production, working out the anthem, lineup announcements, etc. Also, the likely starters for saturday played the first-half before giving way at halftime (Right to Left - Ousted; Robinson, Brilliant, Birnbaum, Fisher; Durkin; Stieber, Harkes, Lucho, Asad; Mattocks). Mattocks scored the first goal in Buzzard Point history with a deft little first-time chip on a low cross in from Lucho in about the 25th minute. Bathrooms and concessions are nicely located (on the west sideline at least), though concerns over the number of bathrooms do seem a bit warranted - I counted 8 total urinals behind the west stands; sorry ladies, no recon was conducted on your facilities. I got up, got a beer, and was back in my seat, in literally less than a minute at one point; the concessions are that close. This was obviously only possible becauseIi handed in a ticket for my beer instead of having to conduct an actually transaction, so don't expect it to be that fast. Also, during that one minute of time, Richmond scored to tie the game. No idea how it happened, but it did.

Half-time came and went and DCU marched out a completely different lineup for the second half. The 4 or 5 players who actually have names on their jerseys that are healthy right now were all out there - Jeffrey (at right back), Mullins and Dane Kelly (playing up top together), Russell Canouse!!, and maybe someone else. None of them looked particularly good. Oh.. wait.. the other guy was Bruno Miranda, who actually did look quite good. He was on the right wing and was marauding up and down the pitch. I'm really not sure why he doesn't get more time. That being said.. whoever No. 44 for us is/was was the best player on the field during the second half; quick, good movement off the ball, good moves with the ball, a couple great crosses, took players on and beat them, and had a blistering shot. Then again, maybe he just looked amazing because everyone else didn't.

This is about when the bad vibes started creeping in. This was a corporate crowd obviously, it was held as a thank you for everyone who helped make the stadium possible so there was a few people from all the government agencies around, from all their consultants and contractors (I spent the night hanging out with two guys who installed all the previously mentioned urinals), families and friends, etc. To say that the majority of the crowd were not soccer people is an understatement. The comments you heard around you made you cringe at times; lots of "I think that was goaltending" and, I kid you not, one person explaining to his friends that the half-circle at the top of the box was a 2-point line like in basketball, so goals from out there counted double. Maybe he was joking, but I honestly don't think he was. It was rather surreal, but even weirder, all of these people were really into it. They were enjoying themselves. Across the board all the stuff i overheard indicated that people had tickets, or were going to get tickets, they were making concrete plans to actually attend games. Now, this sounds all well and good; we all want the stadium packed and the indicator is that it will be. But I couldn't help but be a bit bummed that the FO's efforts to white wash the fan base were actually working. I'd been holding out hope that the team would need to get back to its roots and reach out to the people who'd been coming to games for years who they abandoned, that they'd need to make some kind of effort to get back in our good graces in order to fill this stadium, and I just don't think that's the case anymore. Their completely oblivious antics aren't going to have any ill effects, and that was a sad reality to come to. Due to some combination of poor on field play, having a newborn at home, and disgust I got up and left with twenty minutes to go in the game.

There was some hope though; a guy behind us who'd been to a few games at RFK was explaining to his friend the supporter section ("different looking seats off to the left") and telling them about how it's full of people bouncing and singing, with drums, and it's absolutely crazy to see. Before I could do it, the guy next to me (previously mentioned plumber I was chatting with) turned to them and told them how that wasn't the case anymore, that the team refused those groups tickets and that the fun groups weren't going to be a part of the experience going forward. This revelation totally took the wind out of the guy trying to hype up his friends and we all chatted about it further for a while. So, some random people you happen upon do know what's going on with the supporters groups, casuals when informed of the situation and the likely impact on gameday visuals do seem to care, and the idea that an empty or lifeless supporter section being enough to force a change is actually plausible. There's a chance. Not sure it's a very big one though; I'm as pissed as many of you are at the FO and SE board and all the insulting and tone-deaf "outreach" they are making, and I completely forgot about all that for a good hour lastnight. It was the furthest thing from my mind as i was taken in by the fancy new stadium and how awesome it was. It's going to be an uphill battle certainly. Hopefully the supporter section is empty, and hopefully the SEs keeps giving interviews where they refer to tifo as "a banner" and try to wax poetic on issues they know nothing about and the FO realizes these guys really don't know anything about being a supporter group, and maybe, just maybe, this whole mess will get resolved and Buzzard Point can become what the random guy behind me thought it was going to be.

A few random notes: They've got a lot of work to do, the team store is just a shell, the main entrance is a mess of equipment, the in-stadium signage is non-existent, etc. For those wondering about storage of personal items, it does appear they have an outside vendor that's going to provide storage of items that you can't bring in to the stadium, via a trailer setup in the street that charges 15 bucks per item. Ha, goodluck with that not making people angry. Finally, I don't proofread as a general rule, so forgive any mistakes i may have made.