Collingwood delivers my first AFL game

Thank goodness Collingwood beat Richmond Saturday night because it would not have been as good a first AFL game for me otherwise.

In Miami, going to a sporting event can be a real headache. The latest news in Miami’s sports scene is around the new baseball park, a “gauche waste of public funds and taxpayer money” for the Miami Marlins, a losing team. The Sun Sentinel reminds fans how difficult, not to mention expensive, it is to go to a game.

With limited parking — the 37,000-seat stadium has fewer than 6,000 on-site spots and those are reserved — mass transit may appear to be the better option. That’ll work for afternoon games, but not for night games because Tri-Rail’s last train leaves its southernmost station in Hialeah at 9:40 p.m.

In contrast, going to an footy game was easy and affordable. We walked to the train station just a couple of blocks down the road and hopped on for a 20-minute ride to the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG). We paid $21.30 each for general admission tickets, $14 for two beers, and made our way to the rafters. Ok, so it’s not like sitting behind the goal posts. I couldn’t make out faces, but I could see jersey guernsey numbers and overall enjoyed the terrific view.

The Pies have a young, new coach, new players, and they were sloppy at times. The first half was not the most exciting, but they brought it in the third quarter and cruised to a 12.13 (85) to 8.16 (64) victory.