We’ll play at 9:30 on the Mall, metro side near Washington monument

Three weeks ago someone beat me to booking tomorrow morning on the tidal basin. The Exiles planned a game and booked the afternoon, but they assured me they had nothing to do with the morning booking. I assume it has something to do with the rally tomorrow, but seems like a random location. Maybe the soccer people were overzealous. At any rate, the tidal basin still shows reserved tomorrow. I will go early and scope it out, but I don’t expect we can play there.

I’m very mindful of the rally tomorrow with with our safety as number one priority. Secondarily ease of accessing the field. The rally is supposed to be only about 700 people and will be at Union Square, next to the Capitol reflecting pool. There are only a few minor road closures near the capitol, so getting downtown shouldn’t be a problem. Secondly any interaction with the protesters should be almost non-existent if we play on the Mall section between Smithsonian Metro and Washington Monument. For what it’s worth there is also a counter-demonstration at Freedom plaza around noon, which is too far away and too late to have any effect on us.

If for some reason the Mall is cordoned off in the morning, the fallback is the mall on the WWII memorial side. I’m still going to check the tidal basin in the morning, but barring any last minute change we’ll meet on the Mall.