Two of the world’s top football teams, Chelsea of the English Premier League (EPL), and A.C. Milan, from Italy’s top division, are coming to Maryland to play on exhibition in Baltimore on July 24.

I can’t begin to describe just how excited I am about this. I ordered tickets from Ticketmaster as soon as I read about it. I went ahead and purchased two of the fancy $175 VIP tickets. It allowed us to get two seats five rows up from the field along with access to the pre-game party tent before the game. It also allows us to watch both teams practice the day prior to the game. I’m not sure if we will be making the practice or not. I bought the VIP tickets because I wanted us to get the very best seats possible.  When will we ever be able to see Chelsea and A.C. Milan play again?  Probably never.

Chelsea is one of the teams in the EPL that I love to hate.  They are owned by a Russian mobster and other than German midfielder Michael Ballack, I pretty much despise every player on Chelsea.  A.C. Milan has Brazilian superstar Kaká, probably the world’s greatest football player.

We went to Washington D.C. to watch the U.S. National team defeat the Cuban National team in a qualifier for the 2010 World Cup. It was an awful game played in a run down, awful stadium. Many of the Cuban players had defected before the game. Some of the fans in attendance were making asses of themselves by throwing their expensive, watery stadium beers into the air and lighting smokes bombs every time the U.S. team scored.

Hopefully none of that crap will be going on in Baltimore.