The thing new 1906 Ultras should know about that game is that our precursors, the San Jose Ultras, played a material role in the affair. I was there (and not an Ultra at the time) and I’m convinced that the comeback would not have occurred without the Ultras.

The Ultras occupied the south stands at Spartan Stadium, and were basically a scraggly collection of punk teens from the perspective of ordinary fans. There were never all that many Ultras at games in those days, and this cold, misty November there were probably at most 25 occupying an area of a couple thousand seats. But they owned the south end zone. And they terrorized the Galaxy and their goalkeeper Kevin Hartman throughout the epic second half and overtime with their incessant and searing chants and songs and taunts. They wore the Galaxy, especially Hartman, down and you could see the fear and defeat on their faces. I know, because, somehow sensing a comeback would be completed and wanting to witness it up close I moved at halftime from my midfield seats to sit near the front of the south end zone. So I was among but not of the Ultras. And they were fucking amazing. They screamed and chanted without end and got thousands of regular fans along the sidelines to join in their frenzy. They mercilessly hectored Alexi Lalas, then a Galaxy reserve player, warming up in front of them. (I still believe this is why Lalas, after he became GM the next year, disliked the Ultras.) The Quakes players fed off the energy of the crowd and the crowd in turn fed off the energy of the players. The Quakes attacked, and attacked, and methodically broke down the Galaxy defense, all to the incessant backbeat of the Ultras.

Both the aggregate tying goal in the 90th minute and winning goal in overtime were scored right in front of the Ultras, and defender Troy Dayak did the “Lambeau leap” into the arms of Ultras in the south end zone afterward. Earlier, after the tying goal, the Ultras started a devilishly simple chant in taunting cadence that had thousands joining in: “We’re gonna win! We’re gonna win!” Everyone KNEW IT. Including the Galaxy. They were already psychologically beaten.

The atmosphere at Spartan Stadium that night, led essentially by 25 Ultras, as well as of course some sterling play on the pitch, was the most electric I’ve ever experienced at a sporting event, far exceeding this past Sunday.

The match was legendary and, I believe, will be discussed reverentially a century from now among Quakes fans as the club’s and the Ultras’ finest hour.

Regardless of whether or not you agree with any or all of that, as one of those 25, I got goosebumps reading that.

Any line-up changes? Doubtful. Peguero arrived in San Jose on Monday so even if he’s ok’ed to play on Sunday, I can’t imagine he’ll start.

Who is out? Third week in a row injury free! But I was a bit worried on Saturday when Cannon came up from a save, flinched, and grabbed his side. Also, Corrales had that second half leg cramp and this week O’Brien has fluid in his knee. Ruh Row – key players we can’t afford to lose just as we’re finally gaining momentum. But I don’t want to completely discourage everyone so here’s a bit of good news: Juan Pablo Angel probably won’t play at all.

Who is gonna score? Now that Kamara is dedicating goals to his recently deceased brother, he automatically gets one for every game he plays in. Also, remember against Chicago, when James Riley took that looong shot from far outside the box? It would’ve been so great if that one actually went in.

Who is gonna shine? I’m calling it the Hernandez hustle… the comeback kid (3 clubs in 4 years). Our Jay was on fire on Saturday. I say, this time around, he comes out from behind and lays off some lovely passes that net results. Then he gets a raise (ahem).

Biggest improvement? Of course everyone must give props to Ronnie O’Brien for breaking the curse and scoring our first MLS goal. And I think it was O’Brien and Ned Grabavoy who really stepped up on Saturday and created some wicked scoring opportunities for our strikers. Also, Shea Salinas fired off a fantastic cross that had me yelling “our little baby all grows up!” in the bar (I’m not kidding, I really did). And our Ivan was all over the pitch creating chances left and right (but mostly left) with Corrales acting the ever present anchor on the line. Oh crap… basically, I’ve just got to gold star sticker the report cards for the entire midfield. Fantastic job boys. Let’s bring it again on Sunday.

The commentary is so bad, I ripped the speakers out of my television. So now what should I listen to during the game?

How should I prepare for this game? Meditation, yoga, or perhaps a little acupuncture. If you stick needles in your joints, then maybe you don’t need to stick them in your eyes. Consider my argument a form of f*cked up karma.

Any new rules for the drinking game? Funny you should ask. On Saturday, we caught the second half of the LA/Houston game. After one too many camera shots of Steve Cronin flashing his “deer in headlights” pose, we decided it was appropriate to rename Cronin, Steve Holt (and by rename we mean shout out his new name and and pump a fist in the air). So now, anytime a goalie does something really stupid, it’s officially a “Steve Holt move.” I really want this to catch on. But I still have no idea what the appropriate corresponding drink is. Any ideas? (Shout out to ALLLGooD for this by the way)

Wait – YOU’RE missing an Earthquakes game?!?!?! I immediately fire you from this blog. Uhhh, I’m sorry. While I do spend a lot of time thinking about, reading about, and watching the Earthquakes, I actually do have a life outside of football. I know, crazy talk. I’ll be here working with these guys and back on Monday. But probably not back to report on the game since it doesn’t appear to be available on MLSlive (lame). Luckily, I’ve recently been upgraded to Power User at Hunt Park Insider.

I have no clue if there are any official viewing parties on Sunday. I do know that the Ultras are planning a pre-Dallas, pre-Buck Shaw meeting to coincide with watching it in San Jose. So if you are interested in getting involved with them, this is a great opportunity for you to check out their site, log onto their messageboard, and introduce yourself.

As for my supposed life outside of football, I’m crazy excited that this weekend I’ll finally see the one band I’ve always wanted to see live. So that’s how I leave you…

Are you a morning person? Well you are in luck. Saturday’s itinerary begins at 10:30am right when the Coliseum gates open. I think basically all the supporters groups will be in Parking Lot A chillin’ and grillin’. And there will apparently be a pickup game between the San Jose and Chicago supporters to watch. Good times. Bring stuff to put on the grill or I think you may be able to purchase a hot dog or two off someone. Here’s a handy dandy map so you can find Lot A (or just follow the smoke).

Thanks to Allison for the map modifications. According to the Casbah website, there is a pre-game festival happening between lots A and D at 11am. No idea what that means. I’m hoping for a parade of some sort or maybe a rousing game of Marco Polo. The actual stadium gates open at noon and the official pre-game events start around 1pm.

Getting excited about the return of the Quakes? Unemployed? Hey! You’re in luck! The Quakes are hiring Security for the Buck Shaw games RIGHT NOW. And the pay is a whopping $9.00 and hour which I think still puts you at a higher salary than some of the players. I really do wish that was a joke.

Yeah, I dunno. I was so bummed out on Friday I completely forgot about the positives such as the folks who traveled down to the HDC to support the team. I’m also a little bit inspired by Chicago Sean’s recent post so I’m bogarting his idea to rep the SJUltras for their efforts to bring some atmosphere to a game that really looked like it was completely lacking. Too bad ESPN2 barely showed you guys.

Anyhoo – should be good times in Oakland on Saturday and, uh, hrrrmm… bit of a testosterone heavy group you got there. Is it ok if a girl stops by and says hello?

And on that note, centerlinesoccer is totally legit yet they put this little rinky-dink blog in their Community Links section under “news sources.” Wow, uh… I’m speechless.

* According to the economic impact summary for the proposed SSS (and my fandom certainly DOES NOT extend to reading that thing) the new stadium will include a concert stage. Personally, I don’t have an opinion about this one way or the other. The stage design might not be as bad as some pundits are predicting. And a few outdoor concerts could wind up being a great revenue stream for the Quakes.

* The reserves schedule was released. Great news. Can’t wait until we have a reserves squad.

* The Mind of Scads wrote a little feature on the 1906/Ultras supporters group. You need to scroll down a bit on that link to read it.

* I’ve got zero information on who made it on the plane to South Carolina. And to the trialists who did not, a guy named Richard Lee is offering classes here in Oakland to train people how to work in the medical marijuana industry. Don’t laugh. Its actually a thriving niche business here in this State.

And I think that wraps it up for today. I’d personally like to give a little shout out to two friends who got a write-up in a local magazine I’ve never heard of for their monthly DJ nights. I also implore everyone to click here to check out an amazing collection of graffiti art from all over the world. Lastly, congrats to our womens Nats for p0wning at the Algarve Cup.

Here’s today’s song. I’m a huge John Legend fan and I’m a huge fan of the Colbert Report so this video has been on constant repeat on my laptop all week. The last time John Legend had a concert here, I wrapped up an insane 12 hour work project then hiked my tired ass up to the hill behind Berkeley’s Greek Theater to listen to the man sing live. It was totally worth it.

Moving on… this slow news week is killing me. Soccer Spin has a little update on our two new trialists from T&T and there’s a video of the 2007 World Series of Poker champion Xao “Jerry” Yang wearing a tryout tour jersey at the March 10th World Poker Tour event in San Jose. I’m mentally adding him to that MLS Rumors celebrity list. Also, bigsoccer user athletics68 took photos of Shawesome Stadium Friday which are available here.

In local news, my favorite taco truck in Oakland moved and I’m devastated. So to anyone living in or visiting the Town, please be on the lookout for the Tacos Chaves roach coach and drop me a line if you find it. Also, a few of us are getting together this Saturday at The Mad Dog & The Fog to watch the 4pm USA v Honduras Olympic qualifiers game. I think my friend and I will spend much of it lamenting what looks like the death of Benny Feilhaber’s career. What happened? And in the not-to-distant future (i.e. March 29th), there will likely be an all day viewing event for every scheduled MLS game at Kezar pub. Yup, the Columbus v Toronto game starts at 1pm and if I’m not camping on Angel Island, I’ll be there. And the Kezar event is also a general meeting for the 1906/Ultras supporters group so if you are thinking of joining them, this is a great opportunity to stop by and get involved.

So last night, I stumbled upon an amazing blog post from Precious Roy over at Unprofessional Foul. Its a great story that reminds us all what stupid things we’ll do to try to impress girls and/or guys we think are cute. I’m not gonna lie, I’ve done some dumbass sh*t in the past in this department. And on that note, here’s the band denver, with a song and video that could be a serious contender over at Cute Overload. Enjoy.

Oh and what’s his favorite smoothie? It’s called the HULK. Here’s his description:

Weight Gain, Butter Pecan Ice Cream, Bananas, Egg Protein, Soy Protein, Non-Fat Milk, Carbohydrate Mix, Vanilla, Wheat Germ, Turbinado, and Honey make up this little 8th wonder of the world.

DAMN! I’m speechless.

So it looks like LIFE got into the way of me taking a little trip to San Luis Obispo this weekend and I’m going to miss the games against Columbus and DC United (but I did ask the Ultras if they want to guest blog about the games but so far… no interest *sigh*). As usual, I’ll scour the internet this weekend and post any blogs or blurbs about these games from people in attendance as well as cross my fingers and hope my favorite trialists kick ass and gain a roster spot.

And I’m out. Here’s the latest installment of Song of the Week (and one of my favorite music videos).

Moving on… There’s another media-rich Quakes focused website about to debut: The 3rd Half. And they are looking for people to help grow the site. It also looks like there’s a small amount of pay involved (click on the link for details). Check out their highlights from Saturday’s game.

And The official Quakes site now has seating chart images available for both Shawesome Stadium and the Oakland Coliseum. Again, individual tickets are available to purchase now.

And did I mention how hooptie it all was? And I don’t mean that in a bad way at all. Perhaps the positive spin for this is to use the word “intimate” to describe 4,000+ people braving the freezing cold to watch a sports team who doesn’t yet have uniforms with names on them. One of my favorite moments was when an extra bench got brought out to fit all the guys on the San Jose side. And there were a lot of guys on that bench and it was hard to keep track – especially when we were doing it by clutching a piece of paper listing player names and numbers.

I wasn’t really paying attention to things like where to sit and any other small details. Our group decided to sit close to the supporters’ section which to my pleasant surprise placed us directly behind the San Jose bench. So when the team walked out and sat down, my friend and I immediately assumed (and assumed correctly) if we yelled loud enough, the guys on the bench would hear us. After we yelled “Hey Earthquakes” a few times, we got waves from Ryan Cochrane and Ian Russell (awesome). And that pretty much set the tone of our evening. Whenever we were impressed by a player on the pitch and he got subbed out, we yelled his name until he turned around and waved back at us.

So who impressed? Number one for me was James Riley followed closely by Shea Salinas. I loved those two because they hustled their effin’ asses off and weren’t afraid to move forward (Riley) or back on defense (Salinas). In fact it was a nice combo for those two together on the right side. And there was much love and appreciation from our group for our boy Fabrice Noel who really tried to take our struggling offense to a new level. In fact, we quickly nicknamed him “saucy” and came up with the idea of creating the website: signfabrice.com as a hilarious and feeble attempt to convince Management to offer this guy a contract. Also, late in the second half, Adam Smarte came on (and I immediately informed everyone around me he went to Santa Cruz) and really performed. Both he and Salinas had some fantastic break aways that never converted into real offensive attacks – either because no-one else was in position or our their runs resulted in poor passes. But both Salinas and Smarte were fast as hell and we immediately nicknamed Smarte “crazy legs.” Here’s a great video from bigsoccer user spejic thats very “shape of things to come”; Garcia to Noel to Salinas who blazes past the Houston defense and almost makes a good pass across the box.

The real highlights of the game boiled down to Brian Ching getting ejected for yellow card accumulations (I think) and a small confrontation between Adam Smarte and Pat Onstad which maybe was the result of Smarte running full speed into and kind of bouncing off of Eddie Robinson’s ass. Also, Cannon saved us from losing the game with a nice save towards the end of the second half. Again, spejic captures it but unfortunately it’s from a distance where its hard to see the real action.

Afterwards, we went back to Kezar Pub to wind down and drink loads of water (my throat is still killing me). We wound up standing at the bar right next to the front door so when Jay Hernandez, Shea Salinas, and James Riley walked in, I magically happened to be in the perfect position to nudge Jay with my elbow and say hi. I shook everyone’s hands and told Riley he’s “f*cking awesome” (my exact words to him). Later on, I wandered to the back of the bar and had a slightly longer chat with Salinas. I told him he did a great job and that I hope he makes it on the team. He said he hopes so too and that I should put a good word in to Frank for him (HEY FRANK – ARE YOU READING THIS?!?!?!).

There’s probably more stuff but I’ve forgotten it right now. I completely spaced on taking any pictures with my new, piece of sh*t camera and despite heading over to San Francisco early, I never wound up helping the Ultras make their signs (I just drank their beer instead – sorry guys, I’ll make it up you somehow). And despite the hooptie aspect of the whole experience, I had a great time and couldn’t stop smiling the entire night.

One last thing before I head out and enjoy the rest of this sunshine. It seems we signed a new forward: Federico Arias. He comes to us from Argentina. Here’s the info from the Quakes website:

After the game, general manager John Doyle disclosed that the Quakes are close to signing Argentinean forward Federico Arias. The 28-year-old has played with Rosario Central and Velez Sarsfield in Argentina, and also endured a forgettable five-month stint in 2003 with then-English Premier League side Southampton in which he failed to make a first-team appearance. Arias is expected to sign once he successfully passes a physical.

Great news. As shaky as the team was tonight and on Wednesday, one can’t help but feel confident its all going to come together nicely sooner than we expect. And – no pressure or anything – but I hope that happens around about the time we play LA in April.