[MichiganRed]

What a wonderful weekend! So many things happened that I hardly know where to begin.


Our hotel was located just across Grant Park from Soldier Field and when we arrived Friday afternoon it was overflowing with England supporters. I would be willing to lay odds that of the one hundred seventy odd guest rooms ours was one of the few occupied by people who hadn’t needed a passport to make their way to Chicago.


We saw plenty of England <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com[img] /><st1:country-region w:st=[/img]England</st1:country-region> shirts (of both the football and rugby varieties) and a plethora of club shirts including Liverpool, <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = " /><st1:country-region w:st="[/img]England</ST1[img]"></st1:country-region><st1:country-region w:st="[/img]England</st1:country-region">shirts (of both the football and rugby varieties) and a plethora of club shirts including Liverpool, <st1:PlaceName w:st=" /><st1:PlaceName w:st=" on?>Manchester</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType w:st="on">City</st1:PlaceType>, Burnley, <st1:City w:st="on">Norwich</st1:City> and <st1:PlaceName w:st="on">Bradford</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType w:st="on">City</st1:PlaceType>. I found it a very pleasant change from the usual hip-hop NBA and NFL jerseys seen on our streets.


Saturday morning found us in the back room of The Globe Pub near Wrigley Field watching the Scottish FA Cup final while the front room was packed cheek-by-jowl with people with funny accents watching Southend and Lincoln City fight it out in the Division Three playoff final (I’m sorry, Coca Cola, did I just say that? I meant to say League Two, honest I did). Then it was back to the hotel to grab our stuff and join the throngs heading toward Soldier Field.

</O
Our <st1:City w:st="on">Stanley</st1:City> shirts were the source of quite a few comments on the way across the park and up to the stadium proper. People seemed to be more than a bit surprised to see them and were universally positive in their response.


As we were posing for the picture with the flag in front of the stadium (the one posted on the “fishy” site), a man passed by and then did an almost cartoonish double-take. When the picture was done, he said, “I love the flag but next season Altrincham are going to walk all over you!”


“I doubt it,” was my reply. “But even if you do, you can’t have Craney back!”


He laughed and said, “Too bad, that.”


We arrived at our seats in plenty of time to hang the flag and sit back to enjoy the spectacle ahead of us. This was a first for me and I wanted to soak it all in. I don’t know what perspective the Sky Sports feed used (ESPN shot opposite the benches with the England goal to their right in the first half) so I don’t know how much you were able to see of the stadium but it was positively brimming with England flags and England shirts and England songs. The lower sections behind each goal were covered with flags as were both tiers of the west stands with clubs of all levels represented. Almost all of the Premier League clubs were displayed along with a fair number of league teams but I was pleasantly surprised to see a Dagenham & Redbridge flag just down the way from one promoting Leigh RMI. I’m probably biased, but I think the S<st1:City w:st="on">tanley</st1:City> flag was the best of the lot! While my camera skills are terribly lacking, I do have some pictures of all the flags that I will try to re-size and post here a little later.


All things considered, it was a fantastic day. The atmosphere in and around the ground and on the streets was brilliant and it was unfortunate that the product on the pitch couldn’t match up. I understand that this trip wasn’t exactly popular with some of the powers-that-be in English football, but I, for one, will be eternally grateful for having been able to share this experience.
</st1:country-region>