A Nashville SC Thanksgiving

It’s been a few days since Nashville SC’s match against the Philadelphia Union, their first match in Geodis Park.

I’m still lit. I’m still feeling grateful. I still feel so thankful.

Thanks to NSC for having the stadium in great shape for the debut. While there are still a few finishing touches to go, the landscaping looked great, as did all of the interior.

Thanks to the club for putting on a fairly interesting program before, during and after the game. You let the fan experience be the fan experience it should be but also added nice touches around it.

Thanks for having Judah and the Lion play after the show. While I don’t mind the anthem, I don’t care when it’s played and this move seemed to circumvent the normal grumbles online.

Thanks to everyone on social media for, more or less, show more gratitude than complaint about the one or two growing pain moments.

Thanks to those who parked and walked in the neighbor (I say as someone who lives only ¼ mile from the stadium) for being overall very considerate of the stadium’s neighbors. When I took my dog on a walk the next day, it was as if thousands of people hadn’t invaded, then left, the hood. There were few, if any, indications that people had been there. (I actually expected to encounter a number of empty beer cans on the route, the type of items some of my neighbors simply wait for someone else to pick up, even when the items are on their own lawns).

Thanks to the staff in the stadium and in all the local eateries/bars around the stadium for their competence and patience. I know my friends at Smokin’ Thighs were worn out by the end of the day, but they worked hard to serve a crowd that absolutely ballooned twice that day.

Thanks to those of you who paid neighbors to park on their lawns. One of my buddies made $1100 that day and bought me a beer as a result.

Thanks in a big way for whoever was the genius that came up with the idea for those big ass fridges in the clubs. What a great idea, making the experience easier for everyone in those areas. You’ll be hearing about #TheFridge a lot from me. It’s one of my new best friends.

This it? pic.twitter.com/PWpEJK1IYF

— Vincenzo (@HeHateV) May 2, 2022

Thanks for those of you who didn’t throw cans and bottles at players or other fans.

Thanks to Soccer Moses, who catches the camera’s eye a lot and keeps pushing us for goals, goals, goals.  And thanks to the NSC organization for slowly embracing him. Soccer Moses is the best of all of us.

Thanks to everyone who put on a tailgate, adding to the festivities.

Thanks to those who showed up just for the experience and who were not necessarily soccer fans. The guy sitting next to me had never attended a soccer match at any level until this one. He’ll be back.

Thanks to the club for announcing low, low ticket prices for next week’s evening US Open Cup match.  Way to keep the momentum going.

What a great time. I feel like thanking everyone.

Author: John Sloopgrew up in Asheville, NC, and after forays to Georgia and Iowa, found his way to Nashville over 25 years ago. On a trip to Portland, Oregon, 15 years ago, he watched the (then) USL Portland Timbers youth squad play one afternoon and fell completely and totally in love with soccer, to the detriment of his love of all other sports. In addition to thinking, writing, watching, and talking about soccer, Sloop teaches media and rhetoric at Vanderbilt. He is currently serving as the Chair of the Board of the Belcourt Theater and is part of the team that runs Tenx9 Nashville, a monthly story telling event.