For Garret and Lisa Stackman, this isn’t a typical road trip. As D.C. United fans and season ticket holders for the last eight years, they have had their fair share of road trips and experiences with United, but this time they are a part of the Black-and-Red for the weekend.
As winners of an adidas sweepstakes, the Stackmans were flown to Houston for the D.C. United’s game against the Dynamo on Sunday, Oct. 12, and they got an inside look at how the team operates on the road. What started with joining the squad on the team flight and taking the team bus to the hotel will finish with two tickets to the game, pre-game field passes to watch warm-ups, a ride on the team bus back to the airport and flight home with the Black-and-Red. Celebrating their 21st wedding anniversary this weekend, hear what the Stackmans had to say about their first several hours with the team.
DCU: How did you two become D.C. United fans?
GS: I went to a game at the Maryland SoccerPlex for a U.S. Open Cup game eight years ago with some of the guys I work with; we were all soccer fans and that first game was really fun. My birthday was coming up right after that so Lisa bought us half season tickets for the rest of the year and the kids loved it. We got full season tickets for the next season and now for the last eight years we have been going, and it’s been great.
A great memory from when we first started going was with my son when he was four years old. He’s sitting on my lap and all you really need to know is which way the team is going. So, he’s on my lap, and someone dribbles in to the 18 and shoots, and my sons arms go up before anyone else’s and it ended up being a goal.
DCU: So this is a family thing for you all?
GS: Oh yea, whenever there’s a home game we go unless we are out of town. And whether it’s going downtown to eat at a restaurant as a family before the game, like Barracks Row or Capitol Hill, we love to support the local economy because we are supporting a DC team. Other times we all just grab food and tailgate in the parking lost and we have a blast. We love to bring other friends when have extra tickets and we are really excited for next season that they are going to give some extra tickets for friends with the full season ticket holder package. It’s a great idea to encourage people to come and experience it. We love it. We love Talon. We love everything.
DCU: As fans, how has this year been for you?
GS: Even when they don’t do well we love the experience, but obviously this year has been incredible. The home wins have been great, and we get to watch the boys gel as the season goes on. We were a little concerned after the first game, but they really gelled and have been playing great together. End to end, this team is really good.
LS: What has been really fun this year are the attendance levels. The atmosphere is just really exciting when it’s that full.
DCU: You have only been with the team for a few hours, but how has the experience been so far?
LS: Oh yeah, this is great.
GS: The flight was good and it’s interesting to see how you guys travel. Everyone seems pretty excited about tomorrow.
LS: I felt like I was at a receiving line at the airport when everyone got off the bus and they came up to us and said, ‘oh it’s nice to meet you and happy anniversary,’ it’s all just very exciting.
DCU: Have you gone on any other road trips to see the team this year?
GS: The kids were at camp so we went to San Jose this summer which was really fun. We met Steve Birnbaum’s mom on the sideline and she was very happy because it was a good game and we won. We are going to try to go to every park that we can. Maybe once a year we will go on a trip to different road games. We want to get to Red Bull Arena.
