I Left Splurt at about 4:30am in quite a 'state' knowing I had to get up at nine to meet Cable's Top Man Casanova to go to the match as a press affiliate. But at 10:30am, when my eyes opened panic set in. Cas had already left, damn it! I caled Fyah in a state of hungover disarray, screaming for her to come get me. Within the next 15 minutes, I showered, dressed, had an entire converstaion with Yvonne, our web consultant in Boca Raton, regarding credit card information AND managed to wolf down a bowl of frosted flakes.
En route to the match, I drained a quart of OJ and picked me up a Heineken (Jooze tip: Heineken cures even the worst hangover). We parked in a secret spot only five minutes from the stadium. Out of the seven of us that were there, I was the only one without a ticket and none of my press boyz were there to hook me up, so basically, mi get lef...
FYAH: LIE! We were begging her to come in! We were going to chip in to buy her ticket!
*Kiss teet* For four grand?? Yuh mussi MAD! Mi did aright.
Anyway, in they went, out I stayed...IN the hot sun with no sunblock or hat! It's all good though, coz all the starlights had to be outside before they went in, right?
I happened to buck up on ALL 5 of Morgan's Heritage. What a ting! They were hyped up for the match although they were a little late. Carlene the Dancehall Queen walked in with eyeballs stuck all over her body due to her choice of outfit...a little yellow bikini thingy and official Reggae Boyz jacket! Entree Bounty Killer with Kid Kurup in tow. They told me to come in with them but with all the bungle of man and hype surrounding the Killa, I got trampled and my pretty white K-Swiss got real dirty.
Bounty gone inside to catch the goal. Lucky him. Kip Rich and I stayed outside until Half Time and listened to the crowd roar as Tyrone Marshall scored his debut goal for the Reggae Boyz. I'm sure Fyah will tell you it was awesome.
As Half Time started and Kip Rich left me outside to broil, I decided that it was time for ME to go inside! With some half-truth, a big smile, a camera and years of hustling experience, I trotted onto the field. Bling Dawg was just coming off the mic but I heard that TOK tear down the stadium with 'Chi-Chi Man'. LOVE DAT!!
With the Skyy Disco Don Dada, Squeeze shouting at everyone to sit down, the players ran out. Second half. Talk about close calles! 10 minutes into it, Barry Hayles (no. 7) came off and Ricardo Fuller (no. 10) ran on. Crowd MASH UP! The ref was being pretty anal throughout the match and no more goals were scored. Elephant and Beenie Man were making the most noise about it. A 'bear' cussing was coming from behind me. It was very exciting though - especially seeing newcomer Leon Gordon making his debut as keeper for the Boyz. We literally attacked him at Lime Cay a few days later!
Quick question - What is UP with TIGER THE MASCOT?? Did everyone see or hear about the Trini Lion? He was so cool! JFF - Y'all gotta do SOMETHIN' about our TIGER!!! Geez....a-n-y-w-a-y...
When the JDF soldiers filed onto the track, we knew the match was coming to an end! Jamaican people really know how to make up noise! Wow. Coach Clovis de Oliviera ran off the field with tears in his eyes and right up to Beenie Man to congratulate him on his Grammy and thank him for coming. Beenie Man exclaimed out loud, "THIS IS FOR ALL JAMAICANS!!" with his hand in the air and dreads flowing. What a beautiful thang!
The players came off and I was getting squashed. I was getting squashed up into Freddie though, so I didn't mind! It was a problem getting out of the crown and into the grandstands to leave especially after the unfortunate incident that we won't discuss on this happy page, but with the help of Stone Love's Geefus and 'bling bling' Colin of Hellshire's Sunday night 'Link on the Beach', I got out just fine.
Into the hot sun again and off to Indies for a post-match party. After about half a dozen cues of V/X and the same amount of house special pizzas, we retired for the evening. What a beautiful day!

One!
Mic.