Yesterday, Sporting Kansas City asked me to come out and watch Chad Johnson, better known as @OchoCinco, tryout for MLS Soccer. Yeah, awesome huh!? (i was excited, i love soccer, i played competitive soccer growing up and i’ve had 2 ACL surgeries b/c of soccer), so I’m a *big* fan of the sport. I posted this video blog to show you what I saw watching @OchoCinco tryout for Sporting KC (formerly known as the Wizards). I also took some pictures and posted them to flickr. Enjoy!

This weekend I toured the new Kansas City soccer stadium being built for the Wizards (it’s still under construction till June 2011). I shot a quick ‘n short video blog to show you what the progress on the construction looks like. It’s impressive isn’t it!? I played soccer growing up (through high school), so I’ve always been a big fan. This stadium is GOING TO BE INCREDIBLE! (i’m excited for it, if you can’t tell). *update*, the Kansas City Wizards blog has linked to this.

A few facts about the stadium (more):
- 18,500 capacity
- Natural grass field
- Canopy roof
- 300 HDTVs

(click to enlarge the PANO image)

I had the chance to attend the MLS soccer game between the KC Wizards and the LA Galaxy here in KC and I video blogged my experience. Disclaimer: I want to make it a point to tell you the Wizards offered me free press access to the event. I decided to put together a vblog on my own and was not paid to do this.

So you know- I really never “stage” or script any of my video blogs. For event blogging, my goal is to just encapsulate a real perspective from my vantage point. That said, I had a great time taking in the whole experience. And this wasn’t just any normal game- this was the game of the year. David Beckham played in the game.

There were so many mixed reactions to Beckham’s appearance- which I found surprising. Everyone I talked to was on 1 of 2 sides. You either really really hated Beckham or you absolutely loved him. Not many people were in the middle of the road. Regardless, there certainly was no shortage of anyone giving their opinion on how they felt.

During the game, there was an incident between Beckham and a fan that I managed to capture completely on film. You’ll have to watch the video blog to hear the entire story from the hecklers themselves- I managed to grab an interview after the bitter exchange happened.

One thing I will note, that is interesting- CNN and a other news sources are reporting this today with the facts not quite right. My video blog illustrates that the person who insulted Beckham’s wife was NOT the person who shook his hand. I mention this because typically bloggers get criticized for not fact checking or telling the complete truth- and this is an small example of the blogger getting it right and NOT the major network (interesting to point out, not that it changes the world).

Check out my video blog on YouTube and also the photos I took with my camera.

UPDATE: this video blog is being linked all over the internez! Over 10k views in under 24 hours! So cool, a first for me as a indie video blogger. And now it’s over 100k total views!
» Washington Post
» Yahoo Sports
» Deadspin

As always, drop me an email or make a comment with your thoughts, good or bad- your feedback helps me get better! If you’re searching for more, check out a friend of mine’s video blog as well (Whitney), she captured some footage and her experience.
–

My independent video blogging is now getting me access pri-mo events!?! Whaaaat? This weekend I was offered the opportunity to have press access to attend the KC Wizards MLS soccer game here in Kansas City. And this wasn’t just any normal game- this was the game of the year. David Beckham played in the game.

[record scratch sound] One quick throw-back to my younger life; growing up soccer was my favorite sport. It was the sport I played all the way through high school. I also played competitive club ball. In fact, I had aspirations of playing in college [cue pity story]. My senior year, I tore my ACL in my knee- which prevented me from playing in college. Long story long, you can see why I’m a huge fan of the sport. So, getting an invite to this was awesome!

Fast-forward to the game this weekend, my press access let me walk-in with my camera to snap some pictures. You can imagine, the ‘real press’ there had cameras worth more than my life. I sorta felt like the little kid who showed up to a pickup baseball game who’s glove was from the toy store (enough about my camera envy) Take a look at the pics I snapped while I was there. While they might not be as good as ESPN’s, they should give you the idea of what it was like to be there.

You can view the flickr slideshow of photos here.