I am pretty certain I have now had the most fun I could possibly have wearing a Palace shirt (within reason of course). The Austin Eagles took over the NBC fan fest stamping red and blue all over Scholz’s Beer Garden. We are no longer a couple of people in a bar. We are the Austin Eagles and we are here to stay.
It has taken me a few weeks to get to this blog posting because I feel daunted at summing up the awesomeness of that weekend. There were so many magical moments I didn’t know where to start. I kept picturing each individual moment, constantly changing my mind which was the best. But it wasn’t just one moment that made it special. It was seeing the Texan (and single San Franciscan) family coming together and do what we do best - not taking ourselves so fucking seriously.
Singing hasn’t been that pleasurable since eighth grade choir practice sat next to Kim Mackenzie and her magnificent heaving bosom. The constant barrage of taunts to the Arse fans would have made even the most vigilant of Holmesdale Fanatics proud. My favorite chants from the day include “shall we sing a song for you”, “is this the Emirates”, “drinking your Chai tea” and of course at the Gunners’ third and entirely illegitimate goal “you thought you had scored, you were right, you were right”.
And singing was only part of the joy. Pulling into Aussies on Sunday morning and seeing a sea of red and blue was so special to me. Clocking Ryan’s stickers plastered all over the Brighton flags and silly seagull mascot - so funny. But I believe I know my favorite part of the weekend. It was the look on hundreds of clueless fans waiting for ages to get into Scholz as we stomped down the street screaming our songs, holding our banners and then strolling straight into the bar - priceless.
And amazingly because of how amazing all you Austin Eagles were that weekend, I seem to always forget about the actual game. Coming back to 2-2 and then seeing their goal disallowed was classic.
I want to thank all of you who came who made that weekend my favorite ever experience as a Palace fan.
