Last season the Galaxy played RSL away midweek, Mark and me watched it on TV and vowed if the this season's fixture was on a weekend we would go. So when the MLS schedule came out that was the first one I looked out for. It was on a Saturday so we decided to make a weekend of it and tie it in with a visit to Vegas.
We drafted in Alex our fellow Simi Valley Galaxian and bought our tickets via the ACB.
That weekend arrived and I picked Alex up in the rental car just as Billy Joel singing Piano Man played on the radio.
"I hate Billy Joel, but this is brilliant" I announced to Alex.
Knowing my punk and indie roots, Alex looked at me in shock.
"Look Alex, if that song had been written by Bob Dylan or Tom Waits, it would be hailed as a classic by now"
He vaguely agreed, I guess to humour me, but I have always felt this way about this particular song. I had never heard it until I came to the US, when I saw the video one day on VH1 back in 1988 and was instantly smitten, I guess it's one of my guilty pleasures. We all have them, get over it.
The trip to Vegas was uneventful except for a stop in Barstow. Years ago I would always stop there because there was an English owned pie shop at the Greyhound bus station, I have passed by a few times without stopping, but this time because Mark was there I had to check it out.
I had raved about this place to him and was actually quite excited as we pulled up. Alas, it wasn't there anymore, probably long gone and is now replaced by a Panda fucking Express, dammit!!!!!!!
We checked in at the Gold Coast, debated how to get our cooler of beer upstairs, decided to just take a 12 pack and put it on ice instead.
Next up we realised we were hungry and set off in search of food. On our way we grabbed a couple of casino hot dogs at $1.25 each. A bargain, I had three and Mark and Alex had two each. We found a bar selling $3 Stella Artois, had a few and then Mark and I ordered more food. Burger and chip for me, fish and chips for Mark and nothing for Alex as he is a lot smaller than us.
We moved on to McMullins via the free hotel shuttle with the intent of checking out other places after a couple of drinks, but that never happened. We ended up bladdered on Boddingtons, had a decent chat with a few locals and generally had a very enjoyable night.
A cover band was playing so I stumbled over and made a request. I was the first person to put money in their tip jar and was a bit peeved when my song wasn't played first. With the help of one of our new Vegas native friends, I stumbled back over to the band, offering more money and whispered a few pearls of wisdom drunkenly in the singer's ear.
Within a few minutes an announcement came over the P.A. I can't remember exactly what was said but it was words to the effect of;
"Some drunken English twat in the next bar has informed me that if this song had been written by Bob Dylan or Tom Waits it would now be cherished as a bona fide classic. Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you Piano Man by Billy Joel"
A loud cheer came us from us lot as we ran back to where the band were swaying back and forth and singing along. It may seem a bit embarrassing now, but it was a great end to a great night.
We boarded the shuttle and got back to the hotel with the intent of drinking more, but it was after midnight and I had said all along that we would be on the road by 5am with me at the wheel as I was used to getting up early, so I went straight to bed.
We got up as promised at 5am, struggled a bit, but were making our way to Utah by 5.30-ish. I must admit that I felt a bit rough and dealt with it while Mark and Alex tried to sleep. We actually made good time with just one pit stop for breakfast at McDonalds and to fill up the car with gas.
We arrived at the hotel in Sandy UT at about noon, met an English RSL outside, checked in and refreshed with a couple of Bitburgers. I did a bit of socialising with fellow Galaxy fans and before we knew it we were off to Oscar's to pick up our tickets and have a couple of drinks that the Galaxy front office had bought for each fan who had made the trip. The bar was actually pretty good, we chatted with ACBers we know and had a pretty awesome and fairly cheap lunch. The only draw back was the beer served was only 3% and pretty much undrinkable to me.
Plus Mexico v Paraguay was being shown on TV and I had to watch that red twat Chicharito score a couple.
Fellow Galaxian Linda showed up and thankfully gave us a ride back to the motel where we had a few more beers.
Then the entire Galaxy away support was summoned down to the hotel lobby an hour before kick off so we could make the march to the stadium together.
It may sound a bit naff, but it was a good laugh. It's not like back in England where some firm marches through some town causing mayhem, smashing shop windows and beating up opposing fans, it was all in good fun and friendly. There was a bit of banter with the locals, but nothing offensive.
Rio Tinto is a fine stadium, not quite as good as the HDC, but still a cracker. The Galaxy contingent were put at the top of the stand as far away from the RSL Ultras (or whatever they call themselves) as possible.
The LA Galaxy were appalling that night and got stuffed 4-1, we did have a few decent chances and hit the woodwork, but in reality 4-1 flattered us. Not that it made any difference to the traveling support, we sang throughout the game and jumped up and down for 90 minutes. Enthusiasm at its best and although I mainly joined in to keep warm, I was quite impressed.
To say it was freezing would be an understatement. I was wearing a thick parka, wore a scarf, had a beanie on and wore fleece lined leather gloves but still felt in danger of getting hypothermia by the end of the night.
Mark and I still couldn't believe that despite this, locals were stood by us with their young kids wearing nothing more than shorts and and a RSL shirt and they looked as is they weren't bothered by the weather. Fuck me, it must be like that all the time up there, how do they cope? I remember when I first came to L.A. it was March in 1988 and I went out in shorts and t-shirt on what I thought was a gloriously sunny day only to be confronted by Los Angelinos wearing sweaters and jackets looking at me like I was mental.
So after being slaughtered by RSL, we were kept in the stadium for half an hour while the police and stewards cleared the locals. I thought to myself that we might have gotten a result if Landon Donovan hadn't been on international duty, but in fairness RSL would have destroyed us even with him, they were quite impressive.
On the way back to the hotel random locals would shout abuse at us as they drove by, not really very brave, just made twats of themselves as far as I'm concerned.
We had a few more drinks in our room, hung out with Dex, Fredy and Dennis and then tried to get some Arby's. Big mistake, they were closed apart from the drive thru and it was even fucking colder than before.
The next morning we woke up to the snow, went back to the stadium for a few photos, threw snowballs at the stadium, had some breakfast and then set off for the uneventful drive home.
In all it was a great weekend, obviously the Galaxy were rubbish, but it was great meeting up with Linda, Eric from Middlesbrough, Fredy, Dex, John and the rest of the ACB we chatted with. Steve Coogan and Rob Bryden and their video "The Trip" made the journey seem a little faster. We saw places called English Fork, Spanish Fork and Beaver. I saw someone with a fucking buffalo in their front garden just off the freeway in Utah, not a farm mind, just a front garden. The mind boggles, I bet that stops people soliciting from knocking on their front door. Does one take a buffalo for walkies?? I must know.
The scenery on the trip was breath taking. I was transported back to my childhood watching old western movies and kept expecting to see a group of Apache on horseback start tailing us at any time firing arrows at the rental car.
"There goes the deposit Mark"
Mind you, they'd be shit out of luck if they wanted to scalp me, that happened naturally years ago.
Driving through four states in one day is some feat in my opinion, but it was well worth it and we all had a great time.
Can't wait for the summer and our Vancouver/Portland jaunt.
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