Soccer at Sac-Republic

Today we did some things we have not done before:  

1. We have not been to see a live soccer game.  Our local soccer soccer team The Sacramento republic is gaining popularity that we must have to experience this team before they become a national sensation.  And we did!  Thanks to Tim!

2. We have not been on a social date with the Wolframs (Gary and Karen).  Karen and Gary are our church friends.  They are very nice people, very dedicated to the Lord.  Gary plays bass and guitar in the worship team while Karen heads the Welcoming committee.  But even if we work together on a regular basis, we have not done things together outside of the church.  We hope to have more opportunities to get to know them better in the future.

3. We have not been seated among the cheering quad of a totally fanatic team.  We are not soccer followers.  And we knew very little about watching soccer - how much more on knowing about fans.  Well, we got seats next to the cheering squad.  In here drums beat throughout the game; fans sang cheering songs (I didn't understand) throughout the game;  fans waved their Sac-Republic scarves at the right time (we were obviously out of place because we didn't have scarves nor clappers);

4. We have not seen a soccer field being watered just minutes before the game started.  Well there are many things that we do not know about soccer but we unanimously thought that watering the field before the game starts would be a negative.  So we watched the irrigation technician water the whole field in sections.  But in my head, the question reverberated over and over again, "Why water the field just before the game?" Thanks to the Internet, you can find answers to almost any question. So it appears that there are two reasons for this: Firstly, if the field is built on sandy soil, water is used to increase the shear strength of the ground.  We all can imagine that wet beach-sand is always firmer than the dry beach-sand.  The players can have a better footing when the soil underneath the turf if the soil is firmer.  Secondly, they water the field right before the game starts because the moist leaves help the ball glide smoothly on the turf.  We should have known this before - but we didn't.  Now we know. :)

Overall, it was a good day.  Not great because our team did not even score at all.  The opposing team were way better - they scored 1.