What is MLS? Throwing Coke at Valderrama

Hough writes:

In 1996 I was in high school and visiting a friends brother with my friend in Dallas. We talked him into taking us to a Burn game, They were playing whoever Valeroma (sp?, guy with giant blonde fro) played for. I wasn't sure what to expect having only been to NFL, NBA and MLB games before. The game became pretty intense and we were sitting with many latinos. At one point Valderoma came near the sideline in the cottonbowl to make a throw in and one of the guys around us threw his coke at him, many more people did the same thing and before I knew it I threw my coke at him. I knew then that soccer was very differnt from the other sports I had been to. I must say I've never done it before, but that one game made me a life time FC Dallas fan even as I live in Kansas City and they are pathetic today.

You'll find stories like this one scattered throughout North America, this one from a 1996 match up between the Tampa Bay Mutiny and the Dallas Burn. What's interesting though are the cross cultural lattices with Dallas' Latino fans, some likely targeting Valderrama based on various CONMEBOL allegiances, bringing their own particular grudges to a run-of-the-mill Major League Soccer match-up and in turn converting an out-of-towner to the club and the sport.

This story also provides an interesting counter to the usual "build-it-and-the-Euro-loving-soccer-hardcore-will-come" model in newer MLS expansion cities. Major League Soccer was the deciding factor in Hough's conversion to the game, not any student exchanges to Barcelona or memories of watching the World Cup with dear old granddad: "I knew then that soccer was very different from the other sports I had been to." No family-fun time MLS game day stereotypes here, no whining about how it couldn't match the atmosphere in European grounds. Angry fans throwing shit at players on the pitch because it mattered that much to them in an American league.

Club football discovered by accident with your high school buddies, cheering with Latino fans by throwing Coca-Cola at a famous Columbian national in Dallas, Texas. Getting warmer...

Over the next couple of weeks, AMSL will be examining Major League Soccer through a series of anecdotes, stories, and opinions, to help get a better sense of where the league could or should be headed in future. Please see this post for an idea of what I'm after, and please do send in something either to amoresplendidlife[at]gmail.com or in the comments section below.