Championes, Championes, Ole, Ole, Ole!

Manchester United plays the Chicago Fire this afternoon at Soldier Field, so Trevor and I got ready for the match by going to visit the Premier League trophy (our Premier League trophy, since we will win it again this season [hopefully, though without van der Sar (and without O'Shea! booooo) it will be a feat]) at the Temple Bar, a United supporters' bar up on Ashland. The festivities were invite only, and T. and I got to go because we're members of the MUFChicago fan club (yes, and we're very proud to admit that, so ha.). The place was jammed with super fans who started the soccer chants about an hour before the trophy arrived and continued after it was gone. I have a feeling they might have gone straight through the night and are still chanting right this second.

We met Jayson and Cristen there, and Jayson was first to hoist the trophy:

The gentleman in the white was one of the guardians of the trophy, and he actually donned white cloth gloves a few minutes after this picture was taken

And check out the details from the Red Eye's spread on MUFChicago!

T. and I held off until the line died down (though it never really did, since most of the fans went up for a second lift and picture) and then we took our turn.

T. is sporting United neckwear, and I think he looks like he could stroll off the tour bus right behind Ferdinand

CHAMPIONES! CHAMPIONES!

And it was really exciting to be able to hold it up, since we weren't able to really touch the Champions League trophy when it toured a couple of years ago.

So this afternoon, Neill and Fran are going to come meet up at our place and then the four of us will head down to the South Loop for some lunch before wandering over to Soldier Field. Juli and Matt are going to meet us at the stadium, and Jayson and Cristen have seats with MUFChicago, so we'll probably hook up with them after the game.

The weather is awful--about 90 degrees with what feels like 200% humidity, and we're supposed to get thunderstorms all day long. So that's terrific. But we've got some emergency ponchos (and I might even bring my rain hat, which is red, so I'll still be team supportive!) and, actually, if it's overcast, the heat might not be so bad. And, really, who cares? Because we're going to see MANCHESTER UNITED! Yahoo!