More Sunday sports

Yes, it seems odd, since we usually take in our sports from the comfort of our own TV room, that we've actually been to live sporting events two Sundays in a row.

Some of you might have read about our attendance at a Spurs pre-season game last week. Then a few days ago we were out again.

Our much-decorated women's national soccer team played Australia in a friendly match right here in San Antonio! (Here's the article in Monday's paper about the game, with much better pictures than you'll see here, I'm afraid.)

It was very exciting to get to see these real international stars in action, and they didn't disappoint. Here they are, just after celebrating the second of what was eventually 4 goals scored against the hapless Aussies.

But the real treat in seeing such a match is getting to watch the players you are used to seeing in a mediated fashion (i.e., on TV) right there in the flesh. Pretty cool. 

Especially the really big guns...

super-super-star Abby Wambach warming up...she scored the 3rd goal later

a somewhat blurrier super-star, Alex Morgan...
moving too fast for my lens!

Here are some more scenes of the occasion. Don't worry, I'm not including any more in-game shots. My little camera just isn't up to that challenge. Unlike the ones these guys were sporting, along with their endline credentials which gave them a much better vantage point:

I didn't realize that our own national federation is celebrating its centennial this year...

The beginning rituals of international matches are always fun to watch. Here the flags are being carried out onto the pitch in advance of national anthems and team introductions:

And here are the starting teams entering the field:

You can see by the upraised cell phones in the foreground that I wasn't the only person trying to get good pictures here with inadequate equipment.

The fans themselves are another big attraction at soccer matches. This group of very enthusiastic and tireless amateur cheerleaders (the best kind! you don't need amplified prompts or scantily clad dancers when you have these folks with their drums and chants!) kept up the spirit level non-stop. It was fun cheering and clapping along with them...

I'm showing you this particular shot our of the many I took of this group because of the sign near the left edge: "Keep Calm, We Have Hope." Which could be just a nice philosophical epigram, but it actually refers to our goalkeeper, Hope Solo, who did make some pretty spectacular saves in the first half to guarantee our clean sheet.

Henry was kind enough to take this picture of me with the field in the background before the game started. Honest, I didn't know that the Aussies would be wearing Houston Dynamo orange when I selected this t-shirt to wear...

It might look like there aren't too many people in attendance, but that's because this isn't really a soccer friendly venue (in fact, it was a fine crowd, of over 19,000, the largest to see the US girls at home this year).

The rather inappropriate site for the match was our (ridiculous) Alamodome, which is vacant most of the time, and therefore available for this match. It should never have been built, at least not where it is, thereby taking the space that should have been saved for a Spurs arena. But that's a topic for another discussion, and probably a different blog.

It is a somewhat attractive structure, though, especially with the gorgeous blue sky we had Sunday as a backdrop...

Since it was such a lovely day, we didn't mind avoiding the extortionate parking charges and walking from a free spot several blocks away. I took these pictures on my way out.

Live sports! As much a treat as live music, and we don't take in either of these entertainments as often as we should.