The Toffey Men Can
On Sunday, I went to my first MLS game up here in the Rockies. It's funny that I've been to Dick's Sporting Goods Park on average of about weekly since I've moved here, but it's taken me a whole year to get to a soccer match. It's a nice stadium - new construction so the same layout as Toyota Park in Illinois and a bunch of others, I am sure.
Sunday was Day 23 of the 90+ heat streak here in Denver, but luckily the game was at 6pm and around 3 some wind rolled in along with some clouds. The end result? Perfect, breezy, bone-dry low-80 degree partly cloudy evening. Aaah. Grilled out before the game - some swordfish and halibut that Travis and Elaine brought as well as some tomato bread salad and locally produced Andouille sausage. I made a lemon-blueberry cobbler with pistachio crumble for dessert that was a big hit after the game. Sorry, no photos.
The game was pretty great - a friendly between the Colorado Rapids and Everton, a British Premiere League team that was 5th overall last year. Their goalie, Tim Howard, has been having a great year. Everton scored at 7 minutes while we were still getting to the stadium and then no score until the 2nd half when the Rapids got one in. Pretty exciting. But Everton managed to get one more in, maybe with 7 minutes left in the game which made the last 10 minutes pretty exciting as the Rapids kept attacking. You could definitely tell the different play styles of the American team vs the European team. We had many more attacks/shots on goal and they had fewer, but very well-executed attempts. It was also funny watching the sub squad do drills on the sidelines while they kept one eye on the action. Why do the Rapids have 4 mascots, I wonder? Interestingly, the bar on the south side of the stadium stays open post-game and has drink specials etc. I thought that was pretty cool.
So I am finally mostly unsore today. Last week, I played 2 games savage Tuesday, another savage game Thursday, lifted Friday morning and then went and played an hour or so of pickup...no subs. Lesson learned - when you feel your body aching despite having recently taken ibuprofen, you might want to consider giving your body a rest. I was hobbling around all weekend with quads that refused to function correctly. A little old lady in a floppy sun hat passed me while I was walking to the farmer's market. How demoralizing. Oh well, 2 games tonight. Yay! Then DSUL on Thursday and tourney Saturday. Yay!
Along the weather lines, today will be the first day in over 3 weeks that it won't be over 90 (or over 95 to be more exact, sizzle sizzle). How exciting. There was an errant lightning strike yesterday that hit the hillside on the southwest side of the metro area and a huge grass fire broke out. The pictures are insane - Green Mountain is now Char Mountain. Between that and the tornado warning that evacuated Wrigley and Eduardo making landfall, yesterday was quite the weather phenomena day.
Sunday was Day 23 of the 90+ heat streak here in Denver, but luckily the game was at 6pm and around 3 some wind rolled in along with some clouds. The end result? Perfect, breezy, bone-dry low-80 degree partly cloudy evening. Aaah. Grilled out before the game - some swordfish and halibut that Travis and Elaine brought as well as some tomato bread salad and locally produced Andouille sausage. I made a lemon-blueberry cobbler with pistachio crumble for dessert that was a big hit after the game. Sorry, no photos.
The game was pretty great - a friendly between the Colorado Rapids and Everton, a British Premiere League team that was 5th overall last year. Their goalie, Tim Howard, has been having a great year. Everton scored at 7 minutes while we were still getting to the stadium and then no score until the 2nd half when the Rapids got one in. Pretty exciting. But Everton managed to get one more in, maybe with 7 minutes left in the game which made the last 10 minutes pretty exciting as the Rapids kept attacking. You could definitely tell the different play styles of the American team vs the European team. We had many more attacks/shots on goal and they had fewer, but very well-executed attempts. It was also funny watching the sub squad do drills on the sidelines while they kept one eye on the action. Why do the Rapids have 4 mascots, I wonder? Interestingly, the bar on the south side of the stadium stays open post-game and has drink specials etc. I thought that was pretty cool.
So I am finally mostly unsore today. Last week, I played 2 games savage Tuesday, another savage game Thursday, lifted Friday morning and then went and played an hour or so of pickup...no subs. Lesson learned - when you feel your body aching despite having recently taken ibuprofen, you might want to consider giving your body a rest. I was hobbling around all weekend with quads that refused to function correctly. A little old lady in a floppy sun hat passed me while I was walking to the farmer's market. How demoralizing. Oh well, 2 games tonight. Yay! Then DSUL on Thursday and tourney Saturday. Yay!
Along the weather lines, today will be the first day in over 3 weeks that it won't be over 90 (or over 95 to be more exact, sizzle sizzle). How exciting. There was an errant lightning strike yesterday that hit the hillside on the southwest side of the metro area and a huge grass fire broke out. The pictures are insane - Green Mountain is now Char Mountain. Between that and the tornado warning that evacuated Wrigley and Eduardo making landfall, yesterday was quite the weather phenomena day.
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