Patrick's Diary - 11/1/2015

It's a very intensive Sunday.

Getting up at 8:00 am, I stopped at McDonalds to have my breakfast. While chatting on WeChat, I heard someone sitting close to me talking in Chinese Mandarin but couldn't hear the words very clearly. A pretty woman at her 30s faced to me eating hers but it was several tables away, so I wasn't able to talk to her. I wouldn't have talked to her anyway, neither would she, I bet.

After lunch, I came back to my bedroom to wait for Seahawks' game to kick off. It became a game of low scores at the end. However, Seahawks made several impressive plays during the game.

Wilson threw to Baldwin whom made a first down, the former was able to throw the ball more effectively in this game than before.

Cassel's throw was blocked a little bit by a Seahawk and ruled fumble initially but reversed due to forward pass having been made. Seahawks would have led the game with bigger margin if the call had stood.

Seahawks' throwing games were improved in this game, Graham made another first down.

Lockette ran a 50 yards kickoff return but the exciting play was called off because Sherman made a holding foul. 

Baldwin made several first down in this game. 

Hauschka's field goal was blocked by a rookie cowboy but he made the winning one at the end of the game. The scary part of this game actually was that Ricardo Lockette was hit harshly while he was trying to make a kickoff return and sent to the hospital. As we heard in this week, he had to go through a surgery due to head injury. Football is a very dangerous game. 

After watching the Seahawks' game to the last second, I drove out on my way to Centurylink Field. Sounders would host another Dallas' team at home in semi-final at Western Conference. This was the second time I came back in this week. On Wednesday, I was a sort of exhausted after work, so decided to park in the attached garage at Clink, but parked in a remote lot because I was fine to walk today. This lot was just next to New Star Restaurant we had a delicious lunch 3 weeks ago. When we went to that restaurant, we didn't need to pay parking because they have a dozen of reserved spots. Today, it's charged $18.32. Compared to 40 bucks, it was still much cheaper.

I had bought the seat at Club 210 twice and the lady who guarded that section had already recognized my face. When she let me in, she asked if I would go to the restaurant exclusively for the club, I definitely would go to grab a cup of beer. It's a bit earlier for dinner then though. Centurylink Field owns fantastic dining facilities, especially at Club and Suite Levels. Overall, it is one of the best stadiums in the world as far as I have seen.

Waiting for the match to start, I witnessed fans coming into the stadium and tried to count the numbers, probably more than 40,000. Seattle fans are always able to make amazing atmosphere. 

Sounders hadn't played very well in the first half and they let FC Dallas score the first. In the rest of the first half, they had been struggling to make the opportunities of shooting. Wind was a factor and they needed to make more ground passes because crosses in the air weren't accurate in that condition. 

During the halftime break, I started feeling hungry, so went to the concession stand to buy another cup of bud and a paper holder of garlic fries. Coming back to my seat, the second half had started for a minute. 

Sounders hadn't been able to tie the match but performed much better. Ivanschitz was a very skillful player and dribbled through Dallas' defender to score with his left foot. It's a very accurate shot at a perfect angle. This goal reminded me his performances in Europe I watched in several clips on Youtube when he was signed by Sounders. 

Valdez was subbed in second half, he was a warrior as he always is and tried every minute to find the opportunities. Martins always plays a key role in the front. Pappa hadn't shown his accuracy very much today until the last several plays before he was subbed. 

Dempsey finally took a free kick opportunity to help us win the match. It's a incredible shot and the entire stadium was boiling at that moment. Instead of only high fives, I hugged the two fans sitting in front of me with tears in my eyes. 

At one point of the last several minutes, I screamed to a Sounders' defender but probably scared the lady guard who happened to stand at my sight. She thought me to scream at her because she might block my view. She kept saying that she wanted us to have fun. No, ma'am, I didn't mean to you. 

Fans left the stadium with so much joy. I hope I can come back again in Western Conference Final. Of course, we need to get over Dallas in 2nd leg in Frisco, TX.