Stormin' the Mike!

So I've talked about the Indy Eleven before... Indianapolis' professional soccer team. This has been their inaugural season, with the fall series wrapping up in a few weeks. They've won a few games... none at home, but there have been a few... and numerous draws (ties). But the home crowd has been aching to see a win at home... hence, the 10,000+ sell-out crowds every home game.

In fact, the 'legend' of our fandom has gotten out. Not too many teams in the NASL can boast a single sell-out crowd, let alone an entire season (if not every game, it's been pretty damn close). Plus, we have the Brickyard Battalion, which sings, cheers, and chants the entire game behind the west goal. It's an absolutely cool atmosphere to be in. It's been fun being a season ticket holder.

So anyway... last night was their second-to-last chance to score a home victory for they fans. They were playing the Minnesota United, though... the top ranked team in the NASL. But the Eleven came out strong, scoring early in the first half in the 8th minute. And the Brickyard Battalion did its thing to celebrate. The remainder of the first half was a lot of hard playing by both teams, but never the less, went into halftime with Indy up by one.

The second half started off with a bang, with the Eleven scoring their second goal in the first minute (or, as soccer enthusiast would recognize, the 46th minute). I think it happened so fast that a lot of people weren't even back in their seats yet! But the cheering commenced, just as loud as usual. The rest of the half was much of the same hard fought battle, with an additional (unheard of) seven minutes being tacked on to the end of the match. But Indy held on, much to their fans delight.

And after the final whistle blew, those fans 'Stormed the Mike' - they ran on the field like it had been their calling all along. The smoke bombs went off, the cheering was more of a roar, and the high fives with the players seemed never ending. It was such an awesome thing to see and be a part of. The historic, first home win in the inaugural year of the Indy Eleven. We believed that they would win... and they did.