That Ishmael is One Lucky Guy!

If you know the Funsucker family at all, you know one of their absolutely favorite sports is soccer (football here in the UK but they are our guests to I try not to correct them every time they say it). The boys, Raul & Ishmael, really wanted to see a football match. So they had their mother, Auntie C., check into it - and that involved calling me. Any chance they could see a Manchester United or Chelsea game? No, none, absolutely not. Seeing one of those teams involved some kind of act of God. But because this is England, there is a football club on every corner. So we suggested some other clubs and the boys were able to set their sights on something more attainable, the Fulham Football Club. So we looked into getting tickets. Good news there, Chizz's company has a box there and it was available. The stars were starting to align.

So the crew was off to Fulham to see the team play Manchester City (not Manchester United). We got there in plenty of time.
In fact no one was in the stadium when we got there. We made our way over to the box and it was pretty cool. The boxes are on the corners of the field. When we entered the box, we met Simone. Simone was assigned to the box to help us get drinks and food and such. The tickets for the box come with lunch, so she sets that all up for us. We ate a great lunch and were milling around the box looking at the field before most of the fans got there enjoying the decorations in the box. I must say the Fulham Football Club employees were very nice, they kept checking on us to see if we were alright. An employee of a local gambling establishment came by to see if we wanted to place any bets on the game. In addition to the final outcome of the game, you can bet on which player would make the first goal, what time the goal would be made etc. We chose not to make any bets. Another person came and offered us raffle tickets. The first prize was 1/2 the take of the game (after taxes and something else - we couldn't remember what it was). We bought 8 tickets, one for each of us.

The game started and we all sat down to watch on the balcony.
It is a much different game up close. First, it is very loud. And then there is the singing. Yes the singing. Not by entertainers but by fans. Each football club has standard songs that they sing when the team is doing well. Unfortunately, we didn't get to hear many of the Fulham songs. But we got to hear plenty from Manchester City. It is a strange feeling, the entire away section singing a song loudly. If you ever watch a football match on TV and think, it sounds like they are singing "Blue Moon", you are probably right. They use familar tunes and make up their own lyrics. I am not sure how everyone knows the new, improved lyrics but they all do. And it is not like they wait for a lull in the action to sing, they sing while the action is ongoing. Continually. It is very, very loud and I am surprised it doesn't distract the players.

The action seems to move much quicker in person. When we watch games at home on TV sometimes it seems these games last forever. But the first half just whizzed by. Before you knew it, we were in the back being served cake by Simone. Ah, the life. They announced the raffle winner of the grand prize and then they announced a second prize winner, S0828. We looked at our tickets, no winner. Wait, wait just a minute. Ishmael said "I think those are my numbers". We all looked at the ticket, it seemed to be a winner. Wow!! That's pretty exciting. The second place prize was 2 tickets to the next home game in 2 weeks and an LG product. We were told that someone would come by and verify the ticket. Since we noticed that the winner must be an adult and Ishmael is 11, Auntie C. claimed the prize. She had to go and sign some papers and get the prize. She was gone quite a few minutes. In fact she was gone so long that Chizz felt compelled to drink her beer. But the truth of the matter is that Chizz would have felt compelled to drink her beer if she had just stuck her head out the door. He calls it the slow drinkers' penalty.

Finally Auntie C. returns. She confirms that the prize is 2 tickets to the next game and the product is a surround sound stereo system with a dvd player. The best part? Because the US and the UK use different voltages, 110 v. 220, the funsucker family cannot use the DVD player. So they are leaving it here with us. Temporary custody if you will. They also can't use the game tickets, since they are leaving the Sunday before the game. Bummer, guess we will have to use those as well. Poor, poor us.

But we have come upon the perfect solution. Uncle Funsucker, Auntie C., Raul & Ishmael will have to come visit us, I mean the DVD player every year. Visitation rights for the DVD player, it seems like it is the least we can do!!