A New World of Stars to See at Galaxy Games
Maybe Los Angeles is a pro football town, after all. . . .
Soccer football, that is. . . .
The crowd of 69,255 that saw the Galaxy defeat the New York/New Jersey MetroStars, 2-1, in their Major League Soccer debut on Saturday night at the Rose Bowl was a shocker. . . .
The Galaxy has sold fewer than 5,000 season tickets. A couple of weeks ago, estimates for opening night were in the 20,000 range. That was upgraded to 30,000 last week and then 40,000 on Friday. . . .
Long lines were formed in front of the ticket windows three hours before kickoff and the gate sale was about 35,000, believed to be a record for a Southland sporting event. . . .
Thousands of others were turned away on freeways because of a massive traffic jam. . . .
The Galaxy must have given away a lot of tickets, right? Wrong. . . .
“My son throws free tickets around like they’re manhole covers,” said Danny Villanueva, father of the Galaxy president and general manager of the same name. . . .
Ticket prices are $30, $17, $14, $12 and $10. . . .
The Galaxy originally was going to cut the Rose Bowl capacity from 102,098 to 26,100 for MLS games, but will have to revise those plans. . . .
The fans were so enthusiastic that you would have thought Wisconsin was playing in the Rose Bowl. . . .
It was nice, for a change, not to hear a lot of cheering for a New York team--well, New York/New Jersey--at an L.A. home game. . . .
“Gal-axy, Gal-axy,” they chanted. . . .
“The crowd support was unbelievable,” said Cobi Jones, the U.S. national team midfielder from Westlake Village and UCLA who scored the first goal. . . .
Jones was greeted warmly during the pregame introductions, but the most popular players among the predominantly Latin crowd were goalkeeper Jorge Campos from Mexico and midfielder Mauricio Cienfuegos from El Salvador. . . .
Campos, bedecked in lime shorts and a yellow shirt that were conservative for him, brought the fans to their feet when he made a mad dash with the ball into MetroStar territory in the second half. . . .
The rest of the soccer was pretty entertaining too. . . .
Players who had been barely introduced to each other couldn’t have been expected to put on a smooth performance, but the Galaxy scored in every half, and there were enough scoring opportunities to make it interesting. . . .
“I went into the dressing rooms before the game and they were stone silent,” said Steve Sampson, coach of the U.S. national team. “The players were taking this very seriously.” . . .
Both sides hustled. And so apparently have the MLS advertising salespeople. . . .
The sign boards surrounding the field were packed with ads. . . .
However, the name of a beer company on the backs of the Galaxy shirts and sweat suits and the frequent commercials on the public address system were a bit much. . . .
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Call me a sentimental slob, but I feel sorry for Greg Norman. . . .
One of the great golfers of his generation will be remembered mostly for his collapses in Grand Slam tournaments, particularly the one at the Masters on Sunday. . . .
Thumbs down on the snobs who run the tournament for not allowing TV cameras to show the first nine holes of any round. . . .
CBS got to tell only half the story of Norman’s collapse and Nick Faldo’s rally. . . .
Which was the biggest surprise Sunday, Faldo winning the Masters going away, Magic Johnson bumping the referee at the Forum, or Al Unser Jr. not winning the Long Beach Grand Prix? . . .
During a stretch from two outs in the first inning to one out in the sixth Saturday night against the Florida Marlins, 46 of Hideo Nomo’s 54 pitches were strikes. . . .
“You can’t get any better than that,” Dodger Manager Tom Lasorda said. “He had two strikes on them before they even knew it.” . . .
Pernell Whitaker no longer seems unbeatable. Ike Quartey looked much better than Whitaker in their fights Friday night on HBO, and another part-owner of the welterweight title, Felix Trinidad, might be favored over Sweetpea. . . .
Skip Away should get a lot of action in the Kentucky Derby after his romp in the Blue Grass Stakes. . . .
The Mighty Ducks’ magic number for reaching the Stanley Cup playoffs is 1997. . . .
Understatement of the year from Sacramento King guard Mitch Richmond after he was named to the U.S. Olympic team: “With this team, I think we can win the gold medal.”
