2026 Season Opener for CITY SC

Last Saturday (21 February) saw St. Louis CITY SC and the rest of Major League Soccer (MLS) begin the new season. I left for downtown west St. Louis for the match late that morning. Julie could not come as she was recovering from recent shoulder surgery.

After parking just south of Enterprise Center and walking about 0.5 miles (08 km), I arrived at Energizer Park. I saw the Budweiser Clydesdales being prepared to parade before the match. At the stadium's Lou Fusz Plaza, I saw fans milling about, live music being played, and the Energizer Bunny posing for photos with fans.

I then made my way to the Schlafly Tap Room, where the St. Louligans were having their pre-match Street Party. After getting a can of Schlafly Kolsch beer, I ordered chicken tenders with corn on the cob and fries from the Heaterz Hot Chicken food truck. Additionally, I bought Schlaffle (raffle) tickets from the St. Louligans, whose Charity du Jour Saturday was the Josh Yaro Foundation, which provides educational necessities for children in Ghana.

About one hour from kickoff, the St. Louligans gathered with the other supporter groups--Fleur de Noise, STL Santos, and St. Louis City Punks--for a brief rally before marching into Energizer Park. We settled into our places in the North End for the match. Olympic heptathlon champion Jackie Joyner-Kersee brought out the match ball before walking to our end to wave a flag and beat a drum.

CITY came out in their all-gold Tina Turner Kit, which will be their alternative strip for the next two seasons. The match against Charlotte FC went well. After a scoreless first half, Marcel Hartel put CITY on top in the 60th minute. However, Charlotte leveled it 13 minutes later and the match ended drawn at 1. Still, for the first match of the season with several new players, CITY played well.

The next morning (22 February), I was at Eliot Unitarian Universality Chapel for the early service. I shadowed one of their greeters for that service, since I had indicated that I would like to volunteer to be a greeter a few times a year. It went pretty well, learning how to offer service programs to attendees, count adults in attendance, and collect offerings. Julie was in the audience for that service.

Right after that service, I joined with eight other new members in being formally welcomed by the associate pastor and the church board. After starting the ceremony in the sanctuary, we moved to the pastor's office for the membership book signing. (Julie took videos of this ceremony on her phone.)

Right after that, we each had our photos taken for the church bulletin board. Our membership will be made official by the board when it meets next month.

After coffee and conversation at the church, I drove Julie home for lunch with her roommate Joan and two others. We then played the card game Cards Against Humanity, an adult game I had never played before. It was fun and I would not mind playing this game again sometime. I came back home late that afternoon.

Later.

Websites of Entities Mentioned in This Post:

St. Louis CITY SC: St. Louis CITY SC

Energizer Park: Energizer Park | St. Louis CITY SC

Major League Soccer: MLSsoccer.com - The Official Site of Major League Soccer

St. Louligans: Saint Louligans – Supporting Soccer in the St. Louis Area – St. Louligans – Supporting St. Louis Soccer

Schlafly Tap Room: Schlafly

Heaterz Hot Chicken: Heaterz Hot Chicken

Josh Yaro Foundation: Education in Ghana | The Josh Yaro Foundation

Eliot Unitarian Universalist Chapel: Home

Cards Against Humanity: Home - Cards Against Humanity