On August 20, 1995 I drove to Downing Stadium on Randall's Island, NY to watch my one and only ever APSL game between the New York Centaurs and Colorado Foxes. New York generally drew small crowds so I was surprised to see an almost packed stadium. It was later that I realized that it was a double header with a game between the two Ecuadorian clubs Barcelona and LDU de Quito to follow. New York beat Colorado 2-0. I watched a bit of the Ecuadorian game but then decided to leave half way through as it was Sunday and I had a 2 hour drive back to northern Connecticut and work the following day. I never found out the score and years later any amount of googling it amounted to nothing. It wasn't the summer of 2025 where I found a picture of the Barcelona team posing at the stadium and the Spanish caption indicating that they had won 2-0.
"My parents, brother, and I left Iran in 1980, shortly after the revolution. After a brief stay in Italy, we packed all our belongings once again and headed west to the exotic and the unknown: Vancouver. We had recently been accepted as landed immigrants, meaning Canada graciously opened its doors and we gratefully accepted; we arrived at Vancouver International Airport on my 10th birthday, three suitcases and one sewing machine in tow. After respectful but intense questioning at immigration, we were dropped off at a hotel on Robson Street, which was then still a couple years shy of becoming the fashionable tourist hub it is today. We were jetlagged, culture shocked, and hungry, so that first night, my father and brother courageously ventured out into the wild in search of provisions. I fell asleep before they returned. The next morning, I woke up at 5 a.m. and ravenously feasted on a cold Quarter Pounder with cheese and limp French fries that had been left by my beds...


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