EVENTS: Red Bulls soccer: What you need to know

Never been to a Red Bulls game? Not sure WHAT a Red Bulls game is?

The days of Pele and the New York Cosmos aside, America has always maintained an indifference to soccer...mainly, by calling it "soccer" while the rest of the world calls it football. But thanks to the arrival of David Beckham, soccer seems like it may make it as a professional sport in this country....

Or not. Saturday was opening day for the Red Bulls, New York/New Jersey's pro team. As a rough estimate, I'd say 10,000 people attended the event (the official count was 17,000 and change); in Giants Stadium, this meant two of the three levels were completely empty. 

Still, there was a fair amount of enthusiasm throughout the crowd. A few things we noticed:

1. Despite the ownership and the name, we couldn't find any Red Bull for sale.

2. The die-hard fans (maybe around 500) are all pushed together on one end of the stadium. If you want to sing endless renditions of "Ole!," this is where you want to be

3. A drum corps was located in one of the upper tiers. Thankfully, it was nowhere near our seats.

4. Want alcohol? Coors Light is $7.25, Guinness is $7.50 and Bass is $7.75. Pony up that extra quarter or two, big guy...and be sure to order before the end of halftime, or you're out of luck. This HAS to be the most restrictive drinking policy in pro sports, no? (Yes, I'm aware that many European teams do not allow alcohol in their stadiums...but we don't have hooligans!) 

5. There are no soccer hooligans.

6. The game opens with four dudes in full Red Bull attire parachuting into the stadium while doing skydiving stunts. It's, admittedly, very cool.

7. Apparently, any player that receives a red card (that's for penalities) are fined $250 (as Jeff Parke of the Red Bulls found out...as a player making five figures per year, this is not chump change).

8. It was free scarf day, and those RB scarves are kinda...groovy.

9. The Red Bulls won 2-0. In case you care.

10. July 19: L.A. Galaxy (a.k.a. Beckham's squad) are comin' to town. It's worth a trip out... 

Oh, and this Simpsons clip pretty much sums up soccer in America:

Simpsons on soccer from http://cruftbox.vox.com/