The Outlaw Experience

Sitting with the American Outlaws for the game means one very fundamental thing. You stand. The whole game. When we showed up before the game, the Outlaws were already standing. We assumed the position.

Standing with the Outlaws means another thing. You chant. You sing. You yell. You do everything within the rules to give your team an advantage. Throughout the game, we participated in many different chants. I was familiar with many of these chants and songs; some of them, I was not familiar with. Here is a list of a few of them that I remember. Salty language has, of course, been removed.

(to the tune of Yankee Doodle)

Come on Yanks go score a goal, it’s really _________ simple.

Put the ball into the net and we’ll go ___________ mental.

Da-da-da-da-da-da Da-da-da-da-da-da

Da-da-da-da-da-da Da-da-da-da-da-da

(to the tune of Chim-Chiminy)

Tim-timiny, tim-timiny, tim-tim teroo

We’ve got Tim Howard and he says ______ ____!

(to the tune of Camptown Races)

Everyone South of the Rio Grande, you cheat, you cheat.

Everyone South of the Rio Grande, you cheat all the day.

(some random tune)

Same old Messi, always cheating!

Same old Messi, always cheating!

There were many others, most of them involving “USA”. I really think that we are lacking some outstanding chants here. Maybe most other countries are in the same boat. It’s not like club teams like Manchester United and Fulham where the fans spent 38 weeks a year more concerned about that team than about their national teams. They have the time to just come up with new chants all the time. Maybe we just need to be more creative. I really like that we have just grabbed onto the whole Revolutionary War theme. It’s really the best theme we could have going for us.

When the teams come out for the game, they come out together in two lines. Usually they are accompanies by a young kid who gets to line up next to one of their heroes. The FIFA anthem plays as they marched out and we all held up our USA scarves. It’s a great atmosphere and it’s very unique to soccer. I think some other sports could do with what they do. March out the starters and introduce them simply. None of this pyrotechnic, noisy, flashing atmosphere’s like in the NBA.

When the teams were lined up for the national anthems, Argentina’s anthem was sung first. They had a singer come in and the stadium got quiet. The Outlaws in front of us got us to quiet down and shushed anyone that tried to distract from their national anthem. I liked this a lot, I grow tired of people that whistle and boo through our national anthem, which has been known to happen in Mexico and other parts of Central America. I held my USA scarf up most of the time during their national anthem.

Then as our anthem was about to start, I saw some movement below me. The hardcores near the field level had brought a massive flag and were handing it back to the row behind them, who passed it on to the row behind them. Before we knew it, the flag was over us and we were all jumping and hitting it from underneath to make it move. The anthem was going by then and we all sang along under the flag while making it wave. It was really cool. Tim’s friend Brandon got some video of it, and I’d like to make sure I get it as well. After the anthem was over, we passed the flag back down and I thought that was the end of the flag.

I found some video of it and here it is. It was taken by someone else, but you can spot Ryan in this video towards the beginning. Pardon our singing. Our voices aren't that good to begin with, and they're made worse by our incessant yelling.

During the game, most of the hardcore chanters were about 15 rows in front of us and they were the ones that started the chants. Since they were chanting toward the field, we had a hard time hearing what they would. Fortunately there were a couple selfless guys that came back into other sections and listened carefully for the cheers and would turn around and got us going up to speed with the others. They were kind of like drum majors in a marching band that were peppered around the supporters section to get us all on the same page. The one that was near us was great; he’d turn around and really get us fired up and doing the right chant at the right time. Energetic. That’s the kind of person we need in our supporters sections all over the world to rally Uncle Sam’s Army and the American Outlaws.

Here is some video of the guy that was our leader of cheers, taken by someone else. I couldn't really see us, but we might be there somewhere.

After the goal was scored, it was just pandemonium in the supporters section. People jostling each other, screaming, laughing, jumping. Before I knew it, the flag was coming back up again and it ended up over us again. Here is some video of what it was like in there, taken by someone else. It's pretty much exactly what it looked like for me.

It got up there so quick, I really couldn’t figure out who the goal scorer was. But who cared?? We made the flag wave and cheered and yelled to the extent that we could. During this time under the flag, I felt some kind of muscle in my stomach do something weird. I was instantly concerned I had torn a muscle of given myself a hernia of some kind. I put my finger on it and it hurt quite a bit. But that was of secondary importance. We were level with Argentina!! We’ll deal with the medical ramifications later.

The game ended 1-1 and the players started to trudge off the field. The Americans made their way over to us and applauded our section. During most of the game, I had no idea if the players could hear us or not, but their applause seemed to indicate that they had heard us. We applauded back, and chanted the names of various players until most of them were gone. The Outlaws started to disperse. We stuck around for a while in the freezing cold, snapped a few more pictures, and headed out.

When I got home from the trip, I got online and saw that video of the game we attended was archived, so I turned it on and watched it. You could clearly here the fans singing the anthem. It was really cool. They showed the flag on TV and I could point out to my parents where I was. Once the game started, you could hear most of the chants we did as well. We aren’t as loud as the England fans or the Turkish fans, but it was neat to hear our contributions.

I loved my experience with the Outlaws, foul language aside. When I get married and have a family of my own, I probably won’t be able to sit with the Outlaws again until my kids are grown. And even then, I’ll probably be too old to really be with the kids in the supporters section. Therefore, I am going to sit with the Outlaws at every game I attend where my wife is not with me. I love cheering the Yanks on.