ATLANTA — Let there be no doubt, soccer -- at least the spectacle of it -- has most definitely arrived in Atlanta.
After years of waiting, wondering and sometimes doubting whether this city would ever earn a spot at the biggest table of the sport in the United States, metro Atlanta soccer fans displayed their hunger and passion for the game on Sunday, as they packed Georgia Tech's Bobby Dodd Stadium to the rafters -- and threatened to lift them off their foundations during some passages of play in the team's inaugural match.
And I have to admit, the team and fans swept me off my feet -- not that it was too difficult.
(NOTE: Atlanta United fell 2-1 in their first regular season contest in franchise history. Check back later for a video story from the game.)
Soccer was my first love (with apologies to the wife and kids). I grew up with it, and family connections to England made it more than just the "other" sport I played in spring around baseball. And yet it took more than simply playing soccer and the vague knowledge of its wider world (and Manchester United t-shirts sent by relatives) to make me a true believer.
I needed real soccer on real television. And it took until the 1990 World Cup for that to truly happen.
The tournament in Italy was picked up by Turner Sports, and all of a sudden the game I loved playing was given a new dimension. It became real.
The passion of the fans, the ability of the players... things I could never have grasped on the fields of metro Atlanta as a 12-year-old. It sucked me in, and I have never left it.
And on Sunday night, I saw that I was not alone. To watch 55,297 people lustily cheering a game that was once -- and still occasionally -- derided as "un-American" or the old stand-by "Communist" caught me somewhat by surprise -- and provided a few goose-bumps.
We do not live in anywhere near the same world as 1990. Kids all over the globe -- and, yes, here in the United States -- can grow up idolizing the newest or most sensational soccer stars no matter where they live. But having a team to call your own is something different, something special and unique. And while it remains to be seen whether this city and community will continue to pack 55,000 into the stands week-in and week-out, there is little doubt that there is an appetitie for the game. And it's a safe bet that there will be plenty of youth inspired, if only by the opportunity to experience the professional game firsthand, by the long-awaited arrival of Atlanta United.
