I think it was fate. When I was a little girl, I had to share a bedroom with my older sister. When my other sister left for college, my older sister and I got our own bedrooms. My Mom said we could paint our rooms any color we wanted. My sister choose lavender, I wanted orange. After my Mom made sure that was the color I wanted (she imposed a 2 day cooling off period), she let me paint it orange. Apparently I was Forever Orange even before MLS existed!

But my love for the beautiful game began with the old NASL Tampa Bay Rowdies. My family had moved to Tampa while I was in high school and to help me adjust and make friends, I joined the marching band. It wasn't too much later that the band played during halftime at a Rowdies game. I had never seen soccer before and was entranced. I begged my parents to attend other Rowdies games and the next year we were season ticket holders.

When the old NASL folded, I turned to Mexican soccer for my fix (this was before streaming and the internet - yes, I am old). It was fun but I never really found a team that I could call my own. Then the World Cup came to America and MLS was born. By now I was living in Houston but I followed the Tampa Bay Mutiny as closely as I could. When they folded, I was adrift. I tried supporting the Dallas Burn, but it never felt right. So I watched MLS, but no team had my heart.

Then news came that the San Jose team was re-locating. Every time San Antonio or some other place was mentioned as their new home, I would wish horrible catastrophes on those cities. Then the announcement my heart was waiting for - Houston was getting a soccer team! As soon as season tickets were available, I signed up. I vividly remember the first game at the Rob - the atmosphere was electric, the start of the game was delayed because of the large walk up crowd, Ching introduced himself with 4 goals, and Alejandro topped off the evening with a bicycle kick. That evening I fell in love with the Dynamo and from that time on, I have been Forever Orange in truth.