Columbus Crew are 1 - 0!

I went to the home opener for the Columbus Crew game on Saturday against Toronto FC. It was a great home opener. Toronto brought down 2,500 fans in buses for the game. It was a great atmosphere. Lots of cheering and singing by the great fans from Toronto, but The Crew had the better play. They scored one goal in the first half, stopped a penalty kick toward the end of the first, and scored another nice goal in the 2nd half. Most of the Toronto fans were nice, except when they threw beer and other objects from the top section after the final whistle.

The Crew removed some seats this year from behind the North side of the stadium and put in a stage. I had heard about it, but seeing it was another thing. I really wasn't a fan of it. I can't believe they actually took out seating from what was the loudest section in the stadium (where the Supporters sat and cheered loudly) to put up a stage... Saving Jane played after the game and they were really good, but I just found it odd that we weren't even aloud in front of the stage. There was a small section between the field and the stage where you could go to actually see the band.. IF you had a wristband given by the band. And I kinda felt a little bad for the band, as there really weren't too many people that stayed for the concert, and it was a nice day and everything. I personally think The Crew could've done better advertising before the game. I didn't really hear too much about Opening Day on any of the radio stations, and I don't get a newspaper so I can't speak for or against newspaper advertisements, but I don't know.. I didn't hear too much about the soccer except for the fact that I follow news concerning them online. But I think there definitely should've been more of a push to get fans into the stands, as well as to tell people about the post-game concert.

I'm getting excited about this seson, but of course, it was only Toronto, who finished dead last in the season last year and didn't make too many off-season changes. I'm thinking of possibly joining a Supporter's group this year (see http://www.crewunion.com), but we'll see.