A night at Titan

Sunday's SuperLiga match was a bit of a change of pace. Instead of the usual Home Depot Center, we gathered at Titan Stadium to take in the action. Back in the day, going to Titan Stadium was a bit of a welcomed change of scenery from the Rose Bowl. Instead of the cavernous American football stadium, we got a to spend time in a cozy little stadium where we were all close to the action. But HDC has changed all that because HDC is such a great place to take in a soccer match.

There were some positives, though, but there were also some drawbacks. For starters, my view from the press box was terrible.



Here's how the plusses and minuses added up.

Plus: For me the stadium was a helluva lot closer than HDC. I left my house at about 3:50 and pulled off the 57 freeway at about 4:20. I shaved about a half hour off my drive. Parking was easy too. For fans, it was five bucks as opposed to the 15 at HDC. For media, all we had to do was show our credentials to park. That would never fly at HDC. It makes too much sense, i suppose. If you don't have a credential at HDC, you've gotta park on Victoria or cough up the cash. I've parked on Victoria plenty of times; sometimes I've parked way up near Central and hiked to the stadium.

Minus: If you don't know your way around the stadium, it's easy to get lost. Cal State Fullerton is a decent sized campus and there are many entrances. There were signs that directed you to the parking but you could easily miss them. HDC is pretty much a straight shot off Avalon or (the way I go) exit Central off the 91 and make a right onto Victoria.

Plus: No one checked my bag when I got into the stadium. I walked right in and the press box entrance was mere steps from the media gate.

Minus: Ah, the press box. Gotta love the view. I almost strained my neck trying to keep looking around that metal thing in front of me. When the ball was on the one side of the field, it wasn't a problem but when it was on the other side of the field, I had to crane my neck around it. Also, the windows don't open up so we could barely hear anything - whistles, crowd noise, players yelling or whatever. Also, there were no TVs so we couldn't exactly watch replays.

Plus: Food was free. It was okay, the chimichangas or whatever they were tasted great. Usually food costs 5 bucks at Galaxy games and 1 buck at Chivas games. It's hit and miss. I don't usually eat at the stadium but I indulged a bit yesterday. Also, they had beer! Except...

Minus: ...they took it away! Oh no! I didn't get a chance to crack open a brew. Not that I would have, actually, but anyone could have during the first half. Someone in charge told me they had no idea where that beer came from and had it taken away. I suppose it was a good thing - otherwise, none of us would have made deadline!

Plus: It was an easy walk down to the mixed zone. And it wasn't really a mixed zone, it was sort of a free-for-all. No locker room access but the players had to walk past the area where we were all at to get up to their respective busses.

Minus: The field was utter crap. I got a good look at it from below. It affected the match and players couldn't stop complaining about it. I don't blame them.

Titanic site

It's abot a quarter hour to kickoff or so until Chivas USA-New England's SuperLiga match. Here's what the scene looks like as well as a couple more pictures inside.






It's a change of pace from what we're used to obviously. Usually, matches around here are at Home Depot Center but because of the X Games this game had to be played elsewhere, and this is elsewhere.

The capacity here is 10,000 but it doesn't look like we'll get anywhere near that amount.

I think the last official match played here was in 2002 but don't know for sure. I'll try and locate that information for one of my stories and will let you know when I find out that information.

The picture that shows behind the goal is the locker rooms and I'm assuming where they'll have some sort of post-match mixed zone. You can see the little SuperLiga background thing they set up for interviews and such.

I can't recall exactly how many games I've been here. I was the Galaxy-Revs 2001 Open Cup final and at least one Galaxy Open Cup match (against Seattle Sounders Select) as a reporter. I came to a Galaxy Open Cup match once as a fan and also came here for the 2001 CONCACAF Champions Cup matches, as a fan as well.

The field doesn't look to be in the greatest shape but it's hard to tell from up here.