If you caught Saturday's MLS All-Star game on TV, what you saw was a mildly entertaining match that lacked the firepower of the past three All-Star games. What you missed by not being there in person was one of the most exciting sports rain-delays of all time.

  About 20 minutes into the game, the storm grew to such Bushwood proportions that, despite the fact no one holding a golf club was struck by lightning (nor to my knowledge did anyone cry out "rat farts"), the players were pulled off the field.

That's when things got interesting.

The Interactive: Five minutes into the delay, a not-so-slim fellow in a sleeveless T-shirt got things started when he ran onto the field, commandeered a soccer ball and attempted to go coast to coast. With security closing and exhaustion setting in he let rip a shot that was thisclose from being the first goal of the day. That's like a fan running onto a baseball field, stealing a bat and attempting to hit home runs. Creative.

The Escapist: About 10 minutes later, I heard the crowd erupt and headed back to the press box to catch the tail end of a fan evading about five security guards before hopping a fence and escaping into the stands. A great rain-delay escape is always a crowd pleaser.

Group Effort: Soccer fan clubs are disturbing groups to say the least. But at one point the group El Norte stormed the field and did some kind of demented rain dance around one of the goals. In the end the whole thing was just confusing.

The Topper: In the heaviest moment of the storm, a grossly drunk guy pranced onto the field and gave his audition for "Rain Delays -- Too Hot for TV" by ripping his shirt off and then mooning the stadium. A very pissed security guard tackled him with one of those NFL Films of the '60s clotheslines that made you flinch in your seat. It just goes to show, if you push a good thing too far ... well, someone will write about it on the Web.

Player involvement: Due to the delay the All-Stars warmed up for the second half during the halftime show. Rather then stretch with the rest of his teammates, Ariel Graziani wandered over near the stage and was blatantly gawking at singer Paulina Rubio when he was nearly hit by fireworks from the stage. As they say in the soccer world: brilliant.

  In case you didn't catch the game, or gave up when the Ghostbuster clouds engulfed the stadium, the game ended with the MLS All-Stars defeating the U.S. national team 3-2. Graziani missed his only scoring chance when he headed a shot off the crossbar. No word on whether he got the girl.

Liam McHugh is a frequent contributor to ESPN The Magazine.