After a short meeting welcoming everyone and distributing all the Revo gear (which looks extremely cool!) we head off to the home and birthplace of footy, the Melbourne Cricket Ground, or MCG, often referred to simply as "The G". We have tickets to see the Melbourne Demons – St. Kilda Saints match this afternoon. We are about 15 minutes outside of downtown, so we walk through the park and get a feel for the location of everything. Once at The G, we sit in the third deck. The G is undergoing substantial upgrading currently and the work done so far makes it look quite a bit different from when we were here three years ago. There is still about a 20% slice of the stands that is under construction. When completed, it will hold in excess of 100,000.

The match is high scoring early and continues that way throughout. The Saints put on a clinic on how to run through, how to get numbers to the ball, pretty much how to play the game well. The final score of 176-88 is a record defeat for the Demons. The good part for us is that from where we were sitting, we could see the spread of the field and watch for positioning, how plays develop, and so forth. Revolution Coach Alan Nugent takes advantage of this to point out to the team how various plays develop and hopefully this understanding will carry over to their games. There are some sports that you can watch on TV and have a good feel for the game, and there are other sports where there is no substitute for being there. Footy belongs in the latter category because of the tremendous space that the players cover and the speed of the game. It is good to be back at The G.

After the match the team breaks up with some heading out to dinner and other back to the hotel to relax and catch up on sleep. I am in the latter category. After all, I need to have time to write these journal entries.

Sunday July 31^st 2005 Melbourne, Australia

Team meeting is every morning at 7:30. No one is late as they don't want to pay the $20 fine. Even though these boys have just got together, they are already a cohesive team, a single unit with a single goal. They even voluntarily chose a no alcohol policy until the Cup is over. Each team meeting starts with a review of the team mission, team rules, and team goals for the day. Next is the day's schedule of events. Today is a review of team strategies, followed by a short training held at a nearby oval. Here in Melbourne it is difficult to go more than a few blocks and not stumble across a footy/cricket oval. It is very much like the softball/baseball fields back in the US: they are everywhere! The team has its first run on Australian soil with the primary goal to shake off the haze induced by a 20 hour flight (more if you started from farther than LA!). Lot's of guys are slow to start, but as the training progresses, the skills begin to take over and the intensity picks up. I am sure they will be totally fired up by Wednesday.

After training, lunch is hosted by Nando's, a local restaurant chain. Jay Mueller and his wife Michelle have coordinated this for the boys and the chicken and salads are devoured, partly because of hunger, but more so because it is really tasty! Thanks to Jay and Michelle for arranging this!

Next on the agenda is another trip to the G, this time to see the Fremantle Dockers and the Collingwood Magpies. There are several interesting aspects to footy matches in Melbourne. One is that at the opening of the game, when the teams come out of the locker rooms, they run through a giant banner. When I say giant, I mean GIANT, as they are about 40 feet high and 100 feet wide, requiring a couple of dozen supporters to hold it in place. The team boosters create them and they have some pointed comment about the match their team is about to play. Another is that there are nine teams in Melbourne, so which part of the city you are raised in often determines which team is your favorite. That also means that most of the teams have The G as their home field. Yet another is that every team has a team song and as the team comes out to do battle, their song is rattling the ear drums of the fans. After the match, the winning team's song again rocks the stadium. When the players get back into their locker room, they gather together and sing their team song yet again.

This match is much closer, albeit lower scoring, being level at 65 at the three-quarter break. Fremantle however manages to put on a three goal burst and hangs on for a 13 point win. We sit behind the goals on the lower deck this time. At The G there are a number of sections, such as the Members only, where admission is restricted. The remainder of the stadium is open seating so we had arrived a bit early to make sure we could get everyone together down near the player's level. This provides a different perspective on the game. You can see all the grabbing, holding, and so forth much clearer, at least when it is at our end. The boys marvel at the precision passing that the defensemen make even when deep in their zone. These are the passes we are taught to "never make" back in the states. It is clear that our rule is based on skill level.

The weather this afternoon has been fantastic, with nary a cloud in the sky and it is difficult to remember that this is their winter. Those of us from the northern hemisphere have just come from 100+ degree heat and were expecting winter-like conditions, not spring-like shorts-and-t-shirt weather. Still, it won't be like this every day so we enjoy it while it lasts. After the match the boys again disperse to pursue individual goals for the rest of the day. I head off with about a dozen of the boys to the adopted restaurant of the Revolution, Pellegrini's Italian Restaurant in the downtown area. We usually go to the back kitchen area and have Ma Pellegrini take care of us: tortellini, ravioli, lasagna, spaghetti, and the sauces, pesto, bolognaise, marinara, etc. The team found this last time and Pa Pellegrini proudly displays his picture with some of the Revos from that trip. Dinner is excellent as always and we walk back to the hotel to get some rest.