I originally booked a room block at the Holiday Inn downtown for $109/night (add $10 for parking). As a suggestion, if you have at least two sets of people who want to book rooms, I suggest looking into room blocks. The rate should be so that you shouldn't be obligated to fill the block at 100% and $0 deposit. Some room blocks will require you fill at least 40% or some other figure; be sure to ask. You'll usually have to sign some sort of contract (stating guests are responsible for hotel damages, etc), and this will also stipulate when the deadline is for people to reserve rooms. To give you an idea of how much the discount was, the room rate a month ago, according to someone who researched, was over $200/night.
I ended up moving to the Hilton Garden Inn at the airport because it was $50/night when using cash and points. I've stayed at this hotel for work before, and in general, I like Hilton Garden Inns. As a diamond member, there's a free cook-to-order breakfast (french toast, corned beef hash, etc), adjustable firmness dials for your bed, and a fridge/microwave in ALL rooms. They typically have bath and body works for shampoo/conditioner (can't go wrong there!), and the staff is always nice.
My Hertz car rental was free, which was interesting. Typically, at minimum, even though I use points for my reservation, you still have to pay airport taxes, concession fees, and if you're in Salt Lake City, a facility fee. But apparently Columbus charges NOTHING when there is no base price ($X/day), and I am not complaining, at all. I ended up with a Volvo S60, which was a really smooth ride - probably my second favorite sedan behind the Buick Verano (that I've driven, so far). My flights were also free thanks to miles, although you still have to pay $2.50 each way due to taxes. Usually a direct flight from Houston to Columbus on United is over $1000, and I have yet to figure out why this is. Oh well.
My flight departed around 7AM on Monday morning, which is SUPER EARLY for me. I should note Chris (one of the four American Outlaws to attend all Gold Cup camp games) spent the weekend with me after arriving from Costa Rica (for the USA game) on Saturday, headed to the Dynamo home game against the NYRB on Sunday, and then rode to the airport with me to Columbus on Monday morning. The poor guy waited three hours at the airport because a shuttle service is ~$100 from my house. What a trooper!
I arrived around noon at the hotel with the intent to nap, but hunger and adrenaline kicked in. Megan was hungry too, so I picked her up at the Holiday Inn downtown. I also received a text from a favorite San Diego couple of mine, and I went to pick them up at the Holiday Inn near the stadium. Todd called it his personal yellow cab service. :-) The four of us went to lunch and joined some Denver people at Barley's Brewing Company. I ordered a blueberry lemonade, mashed potatoes, a scotch egg, macaroni and cheese, and a salad. I've noticed even when I'm on my personal dime now, I tend to order many things. It seems I like to try out different foods when at a new restaurant. The food coma hit, so then I went to the hotel to nap.
Fourth Street Bar (American Outlaws Columbus' bar) was utter madness. I arrived around 6PM or so, and it wasn't that busy. The party really took off around 9PM (probably after the pep rally), and it was insane. People were shoulder to shoulder and couldn't move; had this happened in Houston, the fire marshal would've shut us down. We luckily found a couple of open picnic tables and parked for the night. I had asked chapter leaders on their Facebook group to come say hi and posted where we were. I also tweeted from the official AO Houston account, just so that other members knew as well. Almost all of the tables usually inside the bar were removed, so seating options were scarce. I can't even begin to go through all the different chapters (San Diego, Phoenix, Portland, DC, Detroit, etc) that hung out with us, but it was a fun night. Like Denver, because it was so packed, I didn't drink much. I did notice the bar prices were more expensive than previously though. My Angry Orchard hard ciders (on tap) were $6 each; last year, my long islands were $4 each. I think I finally went to bed around 2AM on Tuesday.
Nine hours later, there was a meeting at Elevator Brewing Company for chapter leaders. We quickly reviewed upcoming plans for the group (don't worry - nothing MAJOR like getting free stuff for ALL members lol) and game day logistics. It was also really a time to mingle with once another. Many of us have communicated with each other through social media but hadn't met face to face. So, it was nice. The long island I had was delicious.
From there, I picked up tailgate supplies, and then it was time to tailgate. This is where things got kind of dicey because game day events were spread out. I could be wrong, but as far as I know, US soccer didn't want us tailgating on stadium property because they were charging $50 for their official tailgate. Again, this is pure rumor, so don't necessarily take what I say seriously. So, that's why American Outlaws had two events - one at Fourth Street Bar and one at a parking lot off of 17th street. Both places only had street parking (so limited). Fourth Street Bar (who didn't run the air conditioning Monday or Tuesday) was packed as usual. The 17th street parking lot wasn't any better because there was hardly any shade. I should note temperatures were in the 90s this week in Columbus. US soccer even issued a heat advisory for the game and allowed each person to bring either an empty water bottle or factory sealed water bottle into the game.
We stayed at Fourth Street Bar for a little bit and then headed into the stadium. I didn't want to park near the mega tailgate (non American Outlaws event, but tailgate for all US supporters to join) because it was far away from the stadium. I picked a random spot so it would be easy to leave, we hung around a bit, and then we went to fan fest. There was so much open space for fan fest, but hardly anyone was there a couple of hours before the gates opened. The only good thing is that I snagged a pair of USA sunglasses (with the American flag printed on the lenses) from Marriott. I thought they were giving away free night stays, but alas, they were just giving away sunglasses. Since I'd left a pair at home, I gladly took them.
We proceeded to the north gates because our section was in the north bleachers (on the stage, underneath the canopy). We walked along the west side of the stadium, and then realized there was no entrance - the northwest entrances were blocked or for media only. We then walked around to the east side, and the same thing occurred. A security guy explained all north gates were closed (unlike Crew games), so there were only two gates open on the south side. Gate four, according to the security guy there, would open later than gate five, so we opted to wait outside gate five. People started lining up about an hour before gates opened.
Per usual practice for Crew games, bags were throughly searched and wrist banded. Apparently there was a security thread, so everyone was also wanded. We grabbed scarves and ran towards the north end, only to find out that we had to wait again. ESPN mandated people could not go into the sections until 6:30PM, even though the gates had opened at 5:45PM. The poor Columbus Crew staff had no choice to hold us back. I tweeted that A) the Columbus Crew staff would be trampled like WalMart on a Black Friday B) With heightened security measures, it's ironic there's now about 1000 people held hostage underneath the stadium and C) There was a Mexican fan in the middle of the mob, which made for a dangerous situation. Eventually the Crew staff gave up and let us go as we kept inching further and further in. Some literally ducked down and protected their heads as the mad dash began to the sections, since they were general admission. I think next time someone needs to tell ESPN they're seriously putting people's lives at risk.
I found an empty corner in the front row next to an AO Austin guy and his dad. Most of AO Houston moved to a center section of the bleachers in the third or fourth row, but I was content with the corner. Chris came over to ask me where my friends were, and I told him I'm here to watch the match. I prefer a vantage point where I can see and still have fun. Since it was hot, I really didn't feel like being crammed shoulder to shoulder, so the corner was perfect. A KC couple was behind me, and we made a pact to make the corner look more crowded than it was if someone wanted to suddenly push in. It worked. :-)
So began the 2-hour wait. It's amazing what you will do to ensure you have a good seat. After all, these tickets were about $65 including shipping, which is a lot of money. This might've been the most we've ever paid that I can remember. I will say US soccer did do a good job in selling primarily to US fans. There were hardly any Mexican fans. In the eighth minute, there was a group of four guys who had tickets in our section but stood in the walkway. They refused to move after being asked by security, since it was a fire hazard. I was waving a flag and accidentally hit one in the head with the pole. The guy complained to security, but the lady just shrugged, since they weren't supposed to be there in the first place. Eventually the police came to remove them.
Overall I think Columbus did a great job considering capo stands weren't allowed. The one thing that helped unify the sections was simple: a microphone and a speaker. I noticed some capos were active and some were not. According to someone who was in the south end, they couldn't hear what was going on in the north end. I really do think a sound system needs to be set up so that there is one speaker in front of every section. It doesn't have to be loud (because then the sound would be manufactured), but this way, the sections could be more cohesive.
Of course the atmosphere was electric after that first goal. I've always been a big believer that if you can score the first goal of the match, you can set the tone for the rest of the game. It was followed by a second, and the realization hit: we really could clinch a world cup spot. Sure, since February 2012 when we put down the deposit, we thought, "Oh yeah, the US will qualify," but it doesn't really sink in until you get closer to the date. And then you realize...all the games attended since last year (been to all domestic USMNT games except three friendlies) have been worth it. And I mean truly worth it.
Post game we found a television in the stadium, sat on some crates like homeless people, and watched Honduras score their second goal. The US and Costa Rica (who tied their match) qualified for the world cup. As we were leaving, Papa John's was giving away their "old" pizza, meaning it had been cooked some time ago. We took the entire stash. There was a huge box, and I also carried about ten pizzas or so. We handed them out to US fans. I was starving (hadn't eaten since breakfast), so free pizza, even though lukewarm, was perfect.
I should note we had to drive to Kirsten's vehicle in the same parking lot in my car, so I drove with seven people in the car, including one in the trunk in the parking lot (with all the free pizzas). As we maneuvered through the lot, if people were in the way, we yelled, "Please move! We've got someone in the trunk!" People really did then move quickly. Maybe I should always yell that, and then I could move through the parking lot faster LOL.
I dropped a couple of Houston guys off at the Holiday Inn downtown and happened to run into Robert, my favorite AO Detroit guy. I then drove him to Tip Top, a bar within walking distance. I said hello to a couple of AO DC folks (Jim & Shelly). I was neither hungry nor thirsty so then I headed back to Fourth Street Bar. It wasn't as packed as Monday night, but it was still pretty busy. At about 11:30PM or so, the police shut down the back patio, so everyone had to either move inside or to the front patio, which means the bar became unbearably crowded. At that point, it was time to leave. I said my goodbyes to various people from multiple chapters. I found one of our Houston guys on the phone on the sidewalk. It turned out he was staying near the airport as well, so I took him to his hotel. By the time I finished packing, it was 3AM this morning. I had a hard time sleeping because the adrenaline was pumping.
This morning I woke up, had breakfast, chatted with the hotel front desk who asked about the match, chatted with the waitress who was rooting for Mexico (whose sister was at the game), and departed. I should note Columbus airport at this time neither has a United premier access lane nor TSA pre-check, so it took about 20 minutes to get through security. But, leaving my hotel (literally down the street from the airport) an hour before departure was plenty of time. Brad Davis of Houston Dynamo was on my flight as well.
So, in a nutshell, that was my USA vs Mexico experience. This was probably the most meaningful game I've attended because yesterday solidified our world cup berth. My next soccer-related trip is Saturday in Philly for Houston Dynamo. Have a good evening!
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