sjearthquakes.com: In just a couple days you’ll be at the 2018 FIFA World Cup Final! Has it sunk in yet? How have you been preparing?
Anders Young: “It hasn't sunk in quite yet. It's been a crazy week but right now I've been looking up things to do in Moscow. It's a quick trip so I want to get the most out of it for the time that we are there. I definitely will go see the highlights, right now I'm just trying to get my body clock switched over so we aren't jet lagged when we get there.”
SJEQ: Walk us through cracking the code back in 2015. What is your experience in binary code and talk about your time at the stadium that day.
AY: “When we first heard about the code in the seats, most people were thinking the code was in all the seats because the stadium is a mosaic of colors. We did a Season Ticket Holder tour of the stadium being built in November or December of 2014 and I remember someone said that the code was going to be in the red seats in the Supporter's section. It was around the time I was taking a numerical methods class and we were literally talking about the basics of binary and numerical methods. It didn't take me that long to figure it out, but at that point I still thought the code was in the entire stadium. I was looking at all of the other seats to see if there was a pattern in the different shades of blue. I remember one day I was just scrolling on Facebook and I saw that crack the code contest and I had what I thought was potentially the answer, and it was right!”
SJEQ: How long have you been a Quakes fan? Besides winning tickets to the WORLD CUP FINAL, what has been your favorite moment with the club?
AY: “We've been going to games since 2003 as Season Ticket Holders. I'm going to go really far back, the All-Star Game in 2001 at Spartan with Landon Donovan and his blonde hair and the stars in the grass. 2003 obviously the Cup, 2003 was fun.”
Anders’ Father: “When the team came back and a Quakes rep called me to buy tickets! That was a good day. I did think the team was going to come back for years and years and I remember where I was exactly.”
SJEQ: What are you most looking forward to about Sunday’s final?
AY: “Seeing two teams that are really playing for something. We don't get to see two National teams play competitively too often. It will be cool to see players like Pogba, Mbappe and Modric going at it.”
SJEQ: Who are you taking on the trip and what are your planning to do outside of the match?
AY: Taking some random guy... (his dad, Roger Young). The only thing I've been looking at that I really want to go to is the Cosmonautics Museum, just because I'm a space geek.
SJEQ: World Cup Final predictions time: Who do you have winning the final? Who scores, how does it end, etc.
AY: I'm going to have to go with France because I picked them originally to win it all in my bracket, so if they win I will be happy. I think the score will be 1-1 after regulation and extra, France takes in it pks. France will win 5-4 in pks, it will go down to the last one.
