New Outlaws-The trip to the game

Before getting into the car to head over to New Meadowlands stadium near Seacaucus, we stopped back at the hotel to gather some things. As we changed into our jerseys, collected flags, it seemed to feel like we were suiting up for some kind of battle, mostly because our tickets had us sitting in the Supporters Section with the USA Soccer fan group known as The American Outlaws. This group is tantamount to the student section of college football and basketball games. They stand the whole game, chant, wear coordinated colors, and, usually, drink a lot. They’ve been known to travel long distances to support the US Men’s National Team. When the process of qualifying for the World Cup required the US to play in Cuba, several of the American Outlaws defied the US travel ban to Cuba, and somehow got to Castroland and attended the game. They covered their faces with American bandanas, so that government officials couldn’t identify them, given that the game was broadcast nationally on ESPN.

The American Outlaws documenting their presence in Cuba

We thought this would be a fun group to watch a game with, and we got tickets with them.

Professional sports stadiums have always been interesting to me, particularly how they are viewed by fans. Some fans prefer to hold on to old grounds that may be outdated because of the memories, atmosphere, and legacy within them. Places such as Lambeau Field, White Hart Lane, Craven Cottage, Arrowhead Stadium, and Anfield are examples of this. Others prefer to wow their fans with state of the art facilities that have retracting roofs, massive Jumbotron screens, and other such bells and whistles. New Meadowlands stadium, where the USA game was played, is one such stadium.

New Meadowlands Stadium with the Outlaws in front of us. 20 minutes before gametime.

As good as club owners get at building awesome stadiums, they seem to get worse at getting people in and out of their stadiums. The stadium was about six miles away, but it took us about an hour to get in, because four lanes of highway traffic converged into one in order to get into the parking lot. When things started to slow down, immediately, warnings triggered in my mind that we wouldn’t get there in time. It was our hope to arrive at the game in time to march into the stadium with the rest of the Outlaws. However, after some aggressive driving by Tim, we got into the stadium with about 30 minutes to spare. The Outlaws were already in their section, but we settled in nicely and got our vocal chords warmed up.