March 10, 2021 by Gary Singh
GAME ON: The San Jose Earthquakes team celebrates after defeating the LA Galaxy to win the 2001 MLS Cup.
Photo Courtesy of Major League Soccer
As sports venues prepare to open back up, the San Jose Earthquakes will also spend 2021 celebrating the 20th anniversary of their first championship team, the 2001 squad that won the MLS Cup.
As former players, coaches, trainers, fans and employees begin to chime in with their memories of that season, I feel obligated to join the fray.
2001 was when I began covering the team, writing match reports for a now-defunct website called Slide Tackle Magazine. They loaned me a laptop and a voice recorder just to do the gig. I don t remember how it started, but I was there every game, back when CEFCU Stadium was still called Spartan Stadium, in the beautifully crumbling old press box, surrounded by heavyset sportswriters and visiting PR people in bad polos and 90s hairdos.