The first World Cup I attended was in 1994, when a combination of friends and family drove from Akron, Ohio to watch games in Michigan, Massachusetts, and Texas.
The start of the games will always be associated with the day that OJ Simpson was chased by police on live television. But for us, we'll remember it as the first time we ever experienced a sporting event of this magnitude.
A bunch of us packed into two cars and drove up to Michigan to watch the USMNT's opening game against Switzerland on a boiling hot day.
When we returned to Akron our family - my dad, mom, younger brother, Leo, and younger sister, Ashley, and me - drove to Boston to watch Argentina's games. Our older brother, Daniel, had things to attend to and couldn't join us until after the first game.
Our dad is from Italy, but raised in Argentina, where he met our mom. We were too little to remember our days at soccer games in Argentina, so for us it was just awesome learning the chants and joining in among the thousands of Argentinians at the games.
Later, me, Dani, and a friend of our drove from Akron to Dallas for the third game. It took us about 24 hours. Right before the game we learned that Diego Maradona was suspended. Had Argentina won or tied they would've won the group and played again back in the northeast. However they lost and headed to California - way too far for us to keep driving.
As for the large 'sombrero' I'm wearing...It was a foam Miller Lite hat, which I turned around and wrote Argentina on both sides. It was a hit among the crowds, and cameras. Four years later in France, I was offered a Dutch hat in exchange, so I gave it up.
In all I went to five games:
Saturday, June 18, 1994: Pontiac Silverdome in Detroit, Mich.
Tuesday, June 21, 1994: Foxboro Stadium, Boston, Mass.
Saturday, June 25, 1994: Foxboro Stadium, Boston, Mass.
Tuesday, June 28, 1994: Pontiac Silverdome, Detroit, Mich.
Thursday, June 30, 1994: Cotton Bowl, Dallas, Texas
