On Saturday, October 27th, I attended Club Quake's Year-End Celebration dinner in Santa Clara. I wasn't sure what to expect, but it turned out to be an incredible evening.

We'd been promised an appearance by the San Jose Earthquakes players, but they were honored at the San Jose Sharks (ice hockey) game that evening, so they didn't arrive until after we'd eaten (about nine o'clock).

It was an informal gathering -- perhaps 200 fans and the players -- so there was plenty of opportunity to chat with the stars, take their pictures, and have them sign autographs. Of course, I, not being used to the celebrity phenomena, didn't think to bring anything for anyone to sign and didn't have a permanent marker. Doh!

Still, I did have the foresight to bring my digital camera, and I nearly filled a 64MB Compact Flash card with photos (over 100 pictures). Below you'll find some of the best picts from the event.

I have no idea if other sports give this kind of access to the athletes, but this was pretty amazing.

Marc Zeedar

Instructions: Click on any of the pictures below to see it larger. Once you are looking at the full-sized picture, there are left-right navigation arrows at the top right of the page for you to advance through the entire slideshow.

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bobblehead 38K	crowd 36K	playstation 25K
players 148K	donovan_and_marc 72K	coachyallop 86K
landon 60K	junior 47K	troy 122K
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