I witnessed a curious phenomenon on Saturday. When a certain soccer player was in possession of the ball, the pitch of the crowd’s cheers got noticeably higher – and not just because more women (and young, young girls) suddenly began screaming, but because men, too, apparently love David Beckham with such a fervor that their voices take on the quality of love-struck tweenage girls. I was unaware Kenny could hit those octaves, but when presented with a shirtless David Beckham, indeed he can. While not my type, I must admit that I too was impressed by Mr. Beckham. However, as I get to sleep with perfection every night, I could remain composed, or as composed as one can be at a professional sporting event.

Other highlights of the evening included:

• Seven goals (SEVEN!!!) The hometown boys (LA Galaxy) won, ending a pretty long losing streak, much to the chagrin of DC United.
• Three yellow cards
• One red card (for reals!)
• One Hat Trick (Landon Donovan is amazing. Sorry Beckham, he is. Mr. Donovan deserves our support. And more space at the teams’ merchandise Booth – which carries 95% Beckham products. I guess we shouldn’t interfere with demand – or supply, or pricing; Government, please take note – and the crowd has made it clear that they want Beckham product. Every third person had on his jersey.)
• Overpaying for mediocre food and yelling at strangers (the best part of any professional sporting event, right?)
• Hanging out with new friends, Angela and Jamie (who is British, which somehow made the game so much more fun for me – especially because he was wearing his hometown team’s jersey and ran into a fellow fan from the Motherland.)

So here’s to “Firsts!” We had so much fun at our first professional soccer game; I think I’m hooked. If you haven’t tried it, check it out. This is coming from the couple who doesn’t follow any sport that doesn’t involve riding a board in some fashion, who never watches it on TV, and who usually only shows up to games long enough to, well, overpay for mediocre food and yell at strangers for a little bit before peacing out early to avoid a traffic nightmare.

If you’re still not sure, consider this. It’s non stop action (unlike baseball and football) and the timer doesn’t stop, so the 90 minute game will not drag out over four hours. Really, it’s good. Now that I think about it, so is Hockey. Anyone have spare Ducks tickets?