DC United

I never knew a soccer game involved so much singing and dancing. As I stood in the rain among the Barra Brava crowd at my first DC United game, I found myself less able to pay attention to the on-field action because I was getting more swept up in chanting along in broken Spanish and bouncing up and down on the unstable cantilevered stands.

In front of me peering over a sea of black jerseys are three or four leaders of the cheering, waving their arms feverishly to make the chanting louder. They stood on chairs with their back to the game the entire duration. (I learned that they TiVo the game and watch it at home later, while live they are bringing the noise). These are true cheerleaders and the cheering does not stop the entire game. I almost pity the mascot eagle that came out at one point. In most other sports the mascot rallies the crowd, at DC United it was completely unnecessary because the crowd was rallying the rest of the crowd.

Barra Brava was crazy

Another contrast, from any other sporting event I’ve been to, was how lax the security was. They were visible, and I am sure if there were any real disturbances they would have been right there. But they led the Barra Brava crowd bring in drums and beat them through the game. They accepted people standing in seats not their own, in aisles, on the stairs and on chairs shouting to the rest of the crowd for the entire game. They were okay with setting off what were either fireworks or road flares that set plumes of colored smoke over the crowd. And they appeared to have no problem, when a goal was scored, at the amount of full cups of beer that were flying in the air like caps at a graduation.

It was such a remarkable and unique experience. When I got home after the United’s 2-0 victory, I told Selena how much I enjoyed it and that I want to go back with her (this trip was a Foolish outing,). I told her that I think she’d love it. She responded “I KNOW!” and then reminded me that she suggested two years ago that we go to a DC United game and experience the whole Barra Brava club section. I guess I had forgotten that she wanted to do that. Well, I’m on board now, so hopefully, we will both get out to experience another game later this season.

Any blog readers here big DC United fans? Share your thoughts or stories of the game experience in the comments below.