Crimson Tide Country Takes Fresh Look At Soccer

Huge crowds are nothing new for Legion Field in Birmingham, Ala. But it’s strange to see the stadium packed without the accouterments of a typical Alabama football crowd.

No boxes of detergent with toilet paper for the Roll Tide chant, nobody wearing red plastic elephants on their heads, no uniformed cheerleaders.

Instead, there have been Tunisians wearing fezes, pounding their tablas and making snake-charmer-like music on their zokras. Or Mexicans blaring trumpets, wearing sombreros and lapping the stadium with their national flags.

And there have been record numbers of red-white-and-blue fans.

“It’s been nothing short of astounding,” said Gene Hallman, chief executive officer of the Alabama Sports Foundation, the administrative body for Olympic soccer here. “Birmingham has caught the Olympic spirit in a big way.”

Indeed it has.

Saturday night’s attendance of more than 83,000 for the USA-Argentina men’s match was the biggest crowd in Legion Field history.

On Monday night, more than 45,000 fans showed for the U.S. men’s 2-0 win over Tunisia, despite a horrendous thunderstorm just before match time.

The level of support has been especially surprising, since many outsiders considered Birmingham a bad bet for Olympic soccer. Too small, not ethnic enough, too few soccer fans, they said.

“College football will always be king here, but we are showing everyone that we can support other major sporting events,” Hallman said.

Eurobashing of Atlanta

Four days into the Olympics, the European media is nearly unanimous in its verdict on Atlanta’s organizing talents: a shambles.

European newspapers and news agencies griped about the stifling heat, failures in a computerized results system, inefficient emergency services, chaotic transportation and Atlanta’s self-glorification at the Opening Ceremonies.

“Olympic Chaos,” headlined London’s Daily Mail as it detailed the story of the British women’s rowing eight having to hijack a bus to take them to their Lake Lanier race venue.

French newspaper Le Monde reported that emergency services were faulty, noting that it took more than an hour for an ambulance to get injured Austrian judo competitor Eric Krieger to the hospital.

The Daily Express ran the headline “Games Betrayed” and criticized Olympics organizing chief Billy Payne for being deceitful about the mean temperature and humidity levels of midsummer Atlanta.

Not like your old Schwinn

They look like something that aliens might ride in an Arnold Schwarzenegger movie. The handlebars point 45 degrees to the side and 45 degrees down and cost $30,000 each. The rear wheel is bigger than the front.

It is SuperBike II, which the U.S. riders will ride in Olympic competition on the track, but not the road. The eight track events will run today through Saturday at the new Olympic Velodrome at Stone Mountain Park, a 6,000-seat portable facility in suburban Conyers.

Sad Izzy sighted

The mystery of Izzy, the disgraced mascot, continues to deepen.

Quite simply, where is Izzy? Gone to the rowing venue? Sent to Orlando, Fla., on a goodwill soccer mission? Banished to the media transportation mall, the lowest rung on the Olympic ladder?

Izzy was at the airport when visitors were arriving for the Olympics, fortifying them for the credentialing chaos. Since then, no Izzy.

Scott Ostler of the San Francisco Chronicle, however, spotted Izzy on Tuesday afternoon at a women’s basketball game, wandering around in the lobby near the food court.

“He looked despondent and didn’t seem to be interacting with the non-Izzys,” Ostler reported.