{"id":8059,"date":"2023-07-29T00:56:38","date_gmt":"2023-07-28T23:56:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=8059"},"modified":"2023-09-21T04:38:06","modified_gmt":"2023-09-21T03:38:06","slug":"48-hours","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=8059","title":{"rendered":"48 Hours"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Silicon Valley Gooners flying our colors at LA Ale Works<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

There’s an oft-spoken pleasure about supporting a football team that delights people from all parts of the globe. It’s not the wins and losses, it’s not the great goals or the heartbreaking injuries that cement the bond between the supporter and the team. It’s the connections made around those things that the team does, with fellow supporters, no matter where we call home, that we carry with us when we are inbetween those things. We remember the connections and the social joy along with, and often before and more thoroughly than, anything that happens on the pitch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And so it was that Arsenal came to California on the third stop of their North American tour, to play Barcelona in a “friendly” on Wednesday last at the magnificent SoFi Stadium in the Los Angeles suburb of Inglewood. A near-capacity crowd of 70,233 supporters came out to cheer on their teams; we would have been at capacity (70,240) but for the breakdown of a Lyft XL some miles from the stadium, stranding 7 Barcelona supporters without hope of getting to the stadium before the game was over.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In advance, I thank you for spending some of your time here reading the following about the two days I spent from midday Tuesday to midday Thursday striving to grasp the evanescence of joyous experience and convert it to the feeling of buoyancy that comes from connection and sustained pleasure. Consider it a play on the light, on the sounds and smells, of memory and desire…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You Can<\/em> go Home Again<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I was raised in Los Angeles, in a different suburb North of SoFi about ten miles, so when it was announced that the game was to be played in our Silent Stan’s $5 billion home for his LA Rams, I knew I must go, for it was going home. Seeing Arsenal against Bayern at the LA Galaxy stadium (another ten mile drive, but South from SoFi) in 2019 brought me close, and enabled me to stay with my uncle, but it may as well be back of beyond from where I grew up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This time I got to stay a block away from the Sorrento Italian market, my go-to alimentari for sandwiches when my friend Frank and I would go to baseball or football games, or just to have a terrific meal back in the 80s. Albert’s parents opened it in 1963; when I told him I’d not been there in more than 20 years, but essentially chose my hotel because it was so close to their shop he was chuffed. Try the mortadella, it’s out of this world (I brought a quarter kilo home for Mrs. Scruz; the look on the TSA agent’s face when I tore back the wrapping so I could prove it wasn’t anything nefarious was priceless!).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I also got to fold in visits with my sister and an old friend, my writing mentor (who would not be pleased with this less-than-glittering prose, sorry Susan), and a walk of a mile or so down one of my neighborhood streets where I spent much time in my teens and early 20s…also in the 80s, but don’t worry about a theme developing here. And plus \u00e7a change, plus c’est la m\u00eame chose; while the old neighborhood was missing some things, others remain. The YMCA has been torn down and Ketchie’s Stand is now an office block, but the Yamaguchi Bonsai Nursery is still there, and they are still using Nora Sterry grade school’s youth center for children’s programs: it was batik and tie-dying back in the dusty days of my youth. Louis Dunford’s “The Angel<\/a>” kept springing to mind. These streets are indeed my own, and my blood will run forever through their stone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Strangers on a Plane, Friends in a Lyft<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

With the game on Wednesday, and an event brought to LA by IslingtonFM on Tuesday, I made a half-day of it at work that day and drove to my friend Sumit’s house. A word about Sumit. He is the head of our Silicon Valley Gooners (SVG) tribe, and lets me park at his place to Lyft to the San Jose airport. He is a vibrantly devoted Gooner, with a warm heart and a great sense of humor, who seems to know everyone. And he’s generous, to a fault. This time we went together, as we were on the same flight down to Los Angeles. On the way to the airport, and on the way from the airport to our hotels, he was telling me about the crew of Arsenal supporters he’s gotten to know that travel the world and have missed very few of any Arsenal games, preseason or otherwise, for the last twenty years. I would get to know them later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And on the plane I met Hamsa, a Barca supporter on his way to SoFi, who was generous in his praise about Arsenal, and staunch in his support of his Blaugrana. It was much more fun chatting and teasing with him than it would have been if he were a Tottenham or Chelsea supporter; he had a heart, and a good soul, you see. He was on our return flight as well, and was sincerely congratulatory on our win, praising the quality of our play while still showing much love for Bar\u00e7a. It was a pleasure to meet him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Old Faces, Old Friends<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was also a great time to rekindle friendships stifled by Covid and other issues, and to remember the greats of our supporters’ club and our Arsenal. By the time I got to the bar to meet a chunk of SVG folks, it was just in time to hit a Lyft yet again to travel across the cities of Los Angeles to South Central, and The Beehive<\/a>. Their website would have you believe it’s 18 minutes across from the airport, but you add a drive from Santa Monica and it was more like an hour and 18 minutes! Clearly, driving in Los Angeles is not for those lacking patience. Along the way I met Sumit’s frieds Dave and Dave, two dedicated Gooners. Dave the elder (from here on out I’ll refer to him as Four Cent…let’s just say he knows how to tip) is from Reading, the younger Dave from Brisbane. They are part of that group of travelling Gooners, who were all together again at the Beehive, as we were entertained by IslingtonFM and a number of bars with really expensive beers ($8 Stella cans, what?).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Three Arsenal joys at the Beehive: meeting four of the Invincibles, seeing the Arseblog<\/a> crew (Andrew, Andrew, and Tim), and getting up close and personal (but not touching!) the Invincible gold trophy presented to the club for our trophy cabinet…there’s only one!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Still Invincible<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

I told Gilberto how sad I’d been when he broke his back in 2005, and he says it doesn’t give him trouble now; he looks fit enough to spell Thomas Partey if we needed him to step back on the pitch. Ray Parlor and I had a couple of brief interactions, keeping it light and full of laughter. Lauren was a complete gentleman, listening to my tipsy requst that he do everything he can to impart his steel and his skill to our current defense; I wanted to tell him to teach them how to be hard bastards, but I feared he might take offense… And Edu, we talked over the fence separating the VIPs from the crowd. I asked him when he was announcing Mbappe, and he came back quick as lightning, “At the game tomorrow night” with a grin and a twinkle in his eye. All four of these men were generous with their time and energy for everyone, again and again snapping selfies, answering inane questions, and managing to stay dry under the gushing adoration of a legion of fans. Top, top class. I also got to meet Frimmy (the previous lines apply to him, too); when I asked him if he’d brought his golf cart to do some target practice with fans aboard he said they wouldn’t let it through customs…his laughter is just fucking excellent. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There was a bit of a stage show, with some American MC bringing up the Arseblog crew and asking them various about the season past, preseason, and the season to come. Tim talked about the women’s team, and Arseblog talked about how he was overwhelmed by the reaction of the supporters on this trip, again and again praising the far-flungs’ ability to rise with the fart of a sparrow (\u2122 ‘Holic) for games and drinks and the cameraderie that comes with. I later spoke with Tim about our four women out with ACLs (Meado, Viv, Leah, and Laura), asking if he knew when they were coming back, how their recovery was going. He said they’d be back pretty much in order, Meado as soon as this Fall, though Viv’s knee was completely blown and was going to be a much longer rehab, so might be back (or not) about when Leah is recovered at the end of the coming season (or into Summer). I was pleased to make his acquaintance, he’s well-spoken and seemed amazed by it all as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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There’s only one…<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

The trophy was up on a pedestal onstage, gleaming and winking seductively. So naturally I was drawn to it, and sat and put my arm around it, without touching it. It’s shiny and golden and smaller by half than the one raised by the new statue of Ars\u00e8ne Wenger, engraved with our records and the teams to which we did not lose the entire season. It was special to see, and to share with everyone there, grinning and beaming.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

New Faces, New Friends<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

SVG maintains a Whatsapp group to coordinate activities, give and receive shit, and talk about amaro. I’ve met some of the folks at the bar, others I’ve missed meeting due to my own inability to get myself the 45 minutes down the road at 3:45 am. It was with great pleasure that we met at the LA Ale Works before the game on Wednesday, putting faces to names and meeting people I’d seen but hadn’t actually met (we have about 20-80 people at the bar on gameday). We filled two buses from the Ale Works to SoFi, and it seemed all SVG folks were on the Red Bus. Naturally, we chanted “what do you think of the Yellow Bus?” and had a great time doing so. Sumit, Vivek, Robert (and dad), Jason O (and junior Gunner Norman), Jason S, David, Kiran, Prithi, Drew, and Daniel, nice to meet who I hadn’t met, and thanks for a great time! Nirshan, sorry you couldn’t make it, thanks for the ticket help.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I also had the pleasure of meeting a number of the guys who travel to all the games all over the world. Besides David and Four Cent, I had a laugh at the Beehive with Keith (aka No. One Gooner), and sat next to Richard (aka Old Street) at the game. I had a long chat with fellow blogger Stubbsy; if you haven’t looked at his blog<\/a>, it’s excellent. We talked about how he does his posts about his travels around the world following Arsenal. It’s all about the passion and the connection, and not trying to be “a journalist” or even a “real” writer or anything like that. It requires his passion for Arsenal, a job that allows him to be able to travel, and a wallet something along the size of Lars’s wallet as the key ingredients (though, admittedly, we didn’t speak of money). A pleasure to meet you, gents, if you read this post.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At the Beehive I got to know Trevor and Shay, a father and son who drove down from Vancouver Island in Southwestern Canada. They have been watching games together since Shay was old enough to be aware what they were watching, and Trevor is a Gooner from way back, when he lived in London and before. Funny, thoughtful, and definitely enjoying the craic being made of the evening! You can see him dancing here<\/a> on the Arsenal website, in his beard and Dreamcast shirt. Hope you made it back safely, lads. And Martin and Lauren, from the Pike’s Peak Gooners, traded me scarves and were genuinely nice folk from Colorado Springs, Colorado. They had to put up with me taking the mickey about their travels up and down our row…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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From the snow-capped Rockies of Colorado to the curvaceous slopes of California<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Charity Begins…on the Road<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mike Feinberg was at every event, and all over all the time. There must be three clones of him to get as much done as he does for Arsenal America<\/a> (huge shout out to the organization for putting on many of the tour events!), among his other work. Mike’s a kind and funny guy who you might know from his podcasts, his videos, his charity work with Gooners v. Cancer<\/a>, the work with Arsenal America, his visits to various cities home and away, before and during the season, etc., etc. It was great to see him again and to chat, however briefly. If you care to donate to GvC, please do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Speaking of donations, we’re in the final days of putting together the donation schema around the “pick the final standings” and “first coach to get the tin tack” charity campaigns here at Goonerholicsforever. North Bank Ned has been working with others behind the scenes to get it ready for the season. We expect to announce in a future post what needs to be done, the cost, etc. All proceeds are donated straight to Bob and Meg Wilson’s Willow Foundation, which is the sole recipient of Goonerholicsforever charity work (see the link in the sidebar above).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

You Know How to Whistle, Don’t you Ref? You Just Put Your Lips Together and…Blow (the game)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

After all of this, there was a game. I won’t do a play-by-play, as you can find those elsewhere and this post is well long enough. Barcelona wore a Real Madrid top, all white, and it looked odd. Arsenal were in red and white, and looked stunning on a pitch that was not quite up to standard. With a referee who was definitely not up to standard, either. Obvious fouls were left unwhistled. Fouls were called on Arsenal players that were obvious dives by Barcelona players, and clear hacks of or clatterings into Arsenal players were called as fouls on the Arsenal players. A very poor referee, and still Xavi had the temerity to moan (well, he IS Bar\u00e7a, after all).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Under the lights at the magnificent SoFi stadium (all the travelling Gooners agreed it was the best stadium they’d ever been to, compared with those they’d been to around the world) they drew first blood against the run of play, but Saka soon equalized through their defensive mistake. We had a chance to go ahead but for a missed Saka penalty; they capitalized and soon had a second of their own, deflected past Ramsdale by \u00d8degaard in the wall on a free kick. But we levelled just before halftime through Havertz after an \u00d8degaard flicked header.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the second half we came into our own, and Bar\u00e7a withered a bit. A ball straight down the guts of the pitch from Ramsdale was chested from Jesus to the excellent Trossard. Defended by three he steadied himself on the left side of the box and blew the ball past Ter Stegen’s far post. A wonderful goal. Trossard followed it up with a brilliant first time volley on the jump from a Tierney cross. It was even better than the first. We had time to give up a goal after a slip by Holding on the terrible pitch, but at the death we regained our two goal advantage on a terrific wallop by Vieira from 20 yards out after good work by Jorgo and Martinelli. Arsenal 5 – 3 Barcelona has a nice ring to it!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A brilliant game to watch live, even though there were apologies to be made for the pitch, the ref, and the heat. The crowd seemed to be in about equal measure supporting either side, and our noise was deafening all game long. That noise did expose the single weakness of the stadium that I could find: the sound system. We could not understand a word that was spoken over the Tannoy, even when it was (relatively) quiet in the crowd.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Exhausted and Replete: Repeat ad Infinitum<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sumit and I flew back to San Jose after a packed 48 hours, joined on the return flight by Vivek (and Hamsa); thanks for all the time spent, Sumit, criss-crossing LA and finding our joys. None of us had slept enough, and all of us had gone on enough of the lash that by the time we landed we were all a bit worse for wear. But we agreed that we’d do it again in a heartbeat, and like a heartbeat do it again and again and again. We represented SVG, and Arsenal, to the last.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you’ve read this far, I thank you for your patience and for your time. It was one of the highlights of my personal Arsenal journey, certainly the best time I’ve had supporting them in the States. I met with amazing people, did fun, interesting things with them, and spent those 48 hours marvelling at the quality of light and sound and joy and pain that lifted me up and up and up…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let’s do it again!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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