Tomorrow night down in the Hardware City (a.k.a. New Britain, New Britski, and some combination of those two prefaced with “hard hittin’”) your New England Revolution begin their first title defense in their history. In the hometown of Lamar Odom and Tebucky Jones the Revs will meet the Richmond Kickers of USL Division 2 at Veteran’s Memorial Stadium. Fun fact, the stadium’s Wikipedia page cites last year’s victory over the Carolina RailHawks as the most famous thing to happen in the stadium. Apparently the late Connecticut Wolves’ nine years there didn’t rate.

 

The Kickers qualified for this tournament ... Continue Reading

Ahhh, another successful venture into the chilly Razor.

Last night’s match against an upstart Toronto side had fans coming from each side of the border, which led to an incredible tailgate. No surprise though, there always has to be something that doesn’t quite push the tailgate into that “A” range. At least this time it was something that nobody can control - the weather.

Almost all the tailgates that we’ve had this year include some sort of lame weather. Cloudy. Rainy. Cold. All the above. And the ones that did have nice weather were the games that the scheduling geniuses placed in ... Continue Reading

The U.S. Open Cup is a rarity in the soccer scene in this country. It’s a tournament with rich history (something we’re short on with soccer here) that goes all the way back to 1912 when Sir Thomas Dewar bequeathed a trophy to spur interest in the sport on this side of The Pond. The tournament has survived leagues coming and going. It is one of the oldest knock-out domestic cups in all of world soccer. New England, in particular, has a big role in the history of the Cup with legendary teams like the Fall River Rovers, Fall ... Continue Reading

Have you folks seen the Dish Network commercials with John Michael Higgins (Marty from “Evan Almighty” or the voice of Mentok The Mindtaker on “Harvey Birdman: Attorney At Law” for my Adult Swim friends) as the stupid cable company executive? The one who addresses problems like angry customers with ideas like just getting new customers or distracting customers with cheerleaders? They’re funny to a degree. Oh, har har, nobody’s company is run by people that disconnected right?

Uhm, right. Except this year we’ve discovered that the Revolution are being run by people who’s proclamations scarily mirror those of Higgins’ farcical network ... Continue Reading

In the spirit of M. Shyamalan’s new film, there is a “happening” going on. What in the world could it be?

There were no emails in my inbox regarding my column.

Now this means one of two things. Either you have a huge lack in ideas, or you’re not reading. Now most of you are intelligent individuals, so I am going to go with the lack of reading. So… TELL PEOPLE ABOUT THIS BLOG!!!!

Seriously, this is written for you – the fans. I am here to help the rookie fan or the seasoned veteran with their tailgate experience. ... Continue Reading

When it comes to becoming a fan of a soccer team in the US, the standard sports rule of supporting the local team generally applies. However, since the top tier league in the country only covers twelve of the 30-40 metropolitan areas, the waters are a bit murkier than sports like baseball. There are leagues below MLS, but without a national ladder, is your soccer fandom dependent on what league is closest? With about supporting a foreign team? Is it possible to switch teams? All of these questions will be answered in the ... Continue Reading

author’s note: This piece originally appeared as part of Mr. Fran Harrington’s final for his art school degree and is reprinted here with his kind permission. Also because I wanted more people than just his professors to read it.

 

In the middle of the seventh decade of the 20th century, those vaunted Seventies, young people in the Western World rose up against the established cocaine-and-caviar cruise control rock and roll was set on and began a movement later known worldwide as punk rock. In it’s heyday “punks” were scoffed at, attacked in the street, their records banned, their singles and ... Continue Reading

Well here goes number 2.

We’ll start by grading the last tailgate: D+

Honestly, midweek games are probably the worst time to have a game, so knowing my (or the Riders) luck, we have 5 this year. Sigh. With the game time slated for 7:30 in Foxboro, I knowingly took a half day from work just to be able to enjoy the full tailgate time, which starts at 5:30, allowing for delays in traffic. I mean seriously, we live in (or around) Boston, so we know how terrible traffic is and can be.

Long story short I ended up ... Continue Reading

Revs v. Hoops Preview

Despite what the front office and most of the media want you think, the Revs actually have a match this Friday against FC Dallas. Sure it starts at 6:30 pm and if you’re going straight from work you’ll likely miss more than a few minutes of action but we get to see the mighty Brazil right? Just make sure you save enough money for $40 parking and gas to idle in the parking lot for three hours after the match.

I, for one, will not be attending this match. I find the whole ordeal far ... Continue Reading

Hi there, my name is Jim Andruchow.  You may remember me from such internet sites as Big Soccer and Blue Blooded Journo, a Revs fan blog I manage.  When I was asked to participate on this blog, I really wanted to do something completely different.  One thing I’ve always wanted to do on the other site, but have never had time, was come up with some sort of rules governing American soccer fandom.  I thought this would be the ideal place to undertake such an endeavor.  Now, I’m not talking about me siting on my perch barking out edicts ... Continue Reading