Face: good, solid 7 1/2

Body: good, solid 7 1/2

Personality: good, solid 7 1/2

Can you believe Rosie O'Donnell is funny in this obscure reference?

Nobody expected the new setup to go off flawlessly, and it didn’t.  However, the area behind the North goal (which I’m starting my one man crusade today to call it “Fort End”) did look much more visually appealing than it had in the past.  This is due to both the team tarping off the top of the section and the new supporter group “The Rebellion” spreading out the Fort across 141.  And the overflow went into the sections to the right, so there was plenty of places to sit in 140 and 139.  That’s a big upgrade from filling all 38 rows of section 143 and the crowd slanting downwards.  More fans were closer to the action, a very good thing.

I think everyone agrees that the capo stand is a good idea, but it’s much too low.  The two people who volunteered to take up that position (Midnight Riders own Monty and Garrett) should be commended.  It takes balls to get up there and try something new, knowing you will be on the spot.  The big thing I think we learned is that the capo needs to be more of a visual lead than an audible one.  Even with the new police standard megaphone on the way (how Rev Army got one, don’t ask), I think it’s so much more important for the capo to be a visual aid.

Here’s some suggestions for future capos:

1. Utilize assistants in various parts of The Fort. I believe this is one of the serious ideas that came out of the meeting of the minds during the off season.  I think it’s important for these folks to get with the capo before each half and make sure they are on the same page as to how chanting will be communicated.

2. Number the song sheet and use those numbers to alert section on impending songs/chants. This would save a lot of the “what chant is he starting” confusion from sections 143 and 141.  A lot of times on Saturday, the Midnight Riders and Rebellion only got wind of chants when they were almost done.

3. Use a baton to synchronize the drummers. I think this is an excelsior idea.  Basically, something as large as a thunderstick (but definitely not an actual thunderstick) that the capo can pound on the capo stand.  Maybe a thin plastic pipe surrounded by foam.  It doesn’t have to be used for every chant (maybe some sort of a bag up there is in order to keep the props), but the ones which it can be helpful for are obvious.  Hold up the stick for “Rev-o-lution” and then pound the capo stand for the clapping.  Point the stick towards you for the call portions of songs like “Oh when the Revs”, pointing it to the crowd for the response, and then pound the capo stand to synch up the drums for the part where we all sing.

Shout belligerently, and carry a big stick!

Before I go forward, what is a “capo” anyway?  Is it a musical term or a soccer poseur name for a captain?  Either way, the assistants should be called “captains”.  “Assistant” makes you sound like a wuss.

Anyway, the thing I see key for the capo is having him/her (I’m being nice, we’ll never follow a girl as they make lousy leaders of cheer) a visual aid.  I think certain times in the game need to be set aside for certain songs and when key chants are being started, hand signals used to pass along as to what chant.  As the capo, you shouldn’t have to start every chant.  If you hear one being started, something that can be done is point the baton to the area of The Fort doing it while holding up a number signal as to which one it is.  Continue pointing until a verse ends and then pick right up doing the visual signals you would normally use for that specific chant.  Basically, the capo can also act as a facilitator as well as a leader in The Fort.

As for as the captains, they should really try to be the ones getting the clapping going, hopefully while keeping an eye on the baton to keep the beat.  Some of the leaders also have drums.  That’s great, too.  Just try to stay synchronized and have others nearby keeping the clapping going.

Speaking of drums, I like them.  They keep the noise going during downtime and can be an excellent focal point.  The issues we always have is keeping them from being offbeat, confusing some that want to participate in chants.  The capo can act as a way to get the drummers in alignment.  There’s a few ways to do this.  The first is getting a few drummers right in front of the stand, basically blowing away any competing beats.  Not a bad idea, but we should welcome everyone who brings a drum to support the Revs.  The capo should be on the lookout during down times for such beats being started by drummers in remote areas of the supporters section.  If possible, point to them in the same fashion I mentioned to facilitate chants to get the attention in that direction, and then start banging the baton in that beat.  A gesture like that can be the difference from a supporter feeling left out and ostracized to one who will be willing to promulgate what we are trying to do in those sections.

There’s a few more methods I think could work.  But if these ideas make sense to a lot of people, I would like to volunteer to be capo for the first half of the Colorado game to implement some of these ideas.  I’ve often watched a lot of the games on the scoreboard while turned away from the action trying to get chants aligned.  I don’t mind facing that way.  I had decent success keeping rhythm on the base guitar in my youth, and I would like to think I’ve been around long enough to know how The Fort ticks.

Anyway, we have nearly two weeks before the next match.  There will probably be a lot less pedestrian traffic next time, it would be an opportune time to work on some improvements.

So I’m not big on 2010 so far.  However, this Saturday the Revs open up their home schedule at Gillette Stadium.  I have to admit, I hadn’t been too excited about the team or league during the off season.  However, thanks to Kenny Mansally, I feel the bug coming on.  For reasons beyond my control, I’ve missed all of the fan-related festivities.  The 1st ever supporter’s summit, the Rider’s meeting, and the season ticket holder gathering.  Truthfully, I was only mildly disappointed about missing some of the team stuff.  Some great news did come out of all that, some of which has me excited about the upcoming campaign.

The first and foremost are the changes to The Fort.  Take a look at this picture:

Looks like they are truncating the supporters sections.  Not to “toot” my own horn about that idea, but “toot-toot”.  Now, let’s see how it all plays out.  Since I vowed to make this blog a Fort-centric theme, lets get cracking on some predictions:

Prediction #1: On “normal” nights, we won’t fill the sections enough where everyone is standing.  That’s a cruel prediction to start off with, but I think I’m spot on with this.  I’ll get to ways we can rectify this later.

Prediction #2: The capo stand will take some time getting used to, but will become vitally important. For those who don’t know, they have installed a bit of an elevated stand at the bottom of the 142-143 aisle

Prediction #3: No matter what, people will complain. Some people are going to be bent out of shape not being able to lounge up top.  I hope they have a section open on the other side of the field to accommodate them.

Let me elaborate further on how I think this will go down.  For the game this Saturday, I foresee a fairly packed Fort.  We usually get decent crowds there for our openers.  With the reduced space, section 143 will fill up quickly.  It’s where people are used to standing.  The new supporter group, The Rebellion, has claimed section 141.  I am not privy to their numbers, but if they can fill their first eight rows, I’ll be very impressed.  That leaves the middle section 142, where Rev Army will need help getting standing supports.  If not, it’ll look divided and weird.

The key to this will be getting multiple rows of supporters, from 141 to 143, standing, singing, and waiving flags, to purge the area of people who would sabotage the effort of improving the section from a “participating supporter” perspective.  Providing The Rebellion does it’s job of securing the front rows, some people need to get in there 10-15 mins before kickoff and start saving spots, especially in 142.  Rev Army had been around rows 7-15 in 142 for most of last season, so just getting the first 3-4 rows could be the key.

This may seem like bullying other types of supporters, and in a way it is.  The team has been making “concessions” to make The Fort a better area for them to use to better the experience at Gillette, and thus progress the fan base.  What about someone who just bought the cheapest tickets available and  wants to sit down and enjoy some good soccer?  They do have every right to a seat, and that’s where the team needs to be there come game time to kindly relocate.  Because I guarantee, some will take issue with the changes.

However, it may just come down to them moving over a section or two.  The key is we need to become territorial to the way the sections are set up.  Oh, and be polite as possible.  The new rules don’t give us the right to kick people out of their seats.  Which is why I think it’s important to start the singing 5 mins early.  A lot of the problems may be alieviated just by those who don’t wish to be around us finding another seat.  I remember watching a mass exodus of rows 5-15 of 143 right at kickoff of the 2008 opener.  But again, I hope the team has representatives there to facilitate any issues we have with fellow Revs fans.

And they may not have to go far.  I’m hoping we can pack all three sections with standing supporters.  By past experience, I think 143 and 142 is a real possibility.  But I think I’m going to go with my gut and predict there will be people sitting in the upper roes of at least 141 and 142.  That’s just a sober prediction, something I won’t be at kickoff tomorrow.

If The Fort is packed enough week over week, we’ll successfully claim it as an area for a specific kind of Revolution supporter.  That’s been one of the clear goals from the start.  If experience is any guide, it’ll be a bumpy road getting there.

I’ll be back next with a review oh how all these changes went down on Saturday.  Remember, bring your scarf and some blue streamers if you can hack it.

In my opinion, 2009 was a year of slight decline for The Fort.  Lower overall attendance affected the numbers in our section.  Although a lot of the “pedestrian traffic” mitigating the “gap” issues of years past (the gap being a series of rows of people just standing and not participating), it’s hard to say The Fort sounded better than it did in 2007 and 2008.  Granted, I’d slot 2009 ahead of 2003-2006 in regards to atmosphere, but clearly we didn’t make great strides.

Reasons?  Well, the economy cut down on the amount of games a good deal of regulars attended.  I have no clue as to the numbers, but I know several people who made less games.  The Season ticket holder lot on the North side was also very sparse.  Supposedly, the Defend The Fort ticket sales went well.  That added to the number of season ticket holders in The Fort, but a lot people I’ve spoken to who bought them were attending games regularly anyway.  Still a good idea, though.  At $200 for 18 games, you can’t go wrong.

The state of the team may have also worn on some of the supporter enthusiasm.  Let’s face it, that was some of the worst soccer by the home side since the start of 2004.  Granted, the recent run of form since then hadn’t seen a proportional rise in attendance for various reasons.  I also don’t think that it had a serious impact in keeping people away as the economy did.  However, there seemed to be something missing this year in regards to spirit/passion/whatever.

There’s also personal perspective that is skewing my opinion.  I didn’t come into the season with a lot of hope, and the team dropping key players like flies didn’t exactly get me pumped for the on-field festivities.  Throw in the fact I thought for certain I was moving out of town for work from August-October, and I wasn’t as excited to go to games as I was in years past.  Those factors could be throwing my assessment off.

On the plus side, I had a handful of memorable moments in The Fort this year.  Taylor Twellman’s two appearances got the place rocking.  In fact, that DC game was simply incredible after he came on at the half.  Beating New York 4-0 the next week is always fun and Twellman got his 100th and 101st goals.  In regards to chants, we have a new permanent fixture in “Mama, mama…”.  Flags finally got approved for permanent use thanks to the hard work of a few Midnight Riders.  We are forever grateful for time they put in to clear that ridiculous hurdle, as the flags adds to our gameday atmosphere.

Looking forward, I hope we can make 2010 the best year ever in The Fort.  There are whispers of a new banner.  We’re hoping the Barra can grow in Section 140.  There’s a new supporter group forming that wants to call Section 141 home.  The midnight Riders will still be loud and proud in Section 143.  Rev Army, wherever the heck they want.  If all this is the case, let’s hope the front office takes my advice from a previous post and tarps off the top rows, concentrating the supports horizontally.  If not, it will likely remain a scattered mess.

We’ll see.  One thing’s for certain, and that is I’ll be there all year once again.  The new theme of this blog will be to talk about the goings ons in The Fort, offering up critiques and letting everyone know about the unique culture we have developed in order to better support the Revs.

Cheers, Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and see everyone in 2010!

Like Soccer? Enjoy Beer? Have Friends? Do they enjoy beer? Do they like soccer?

If you answered “yes” to the first four questions, but “no” to the last one, then this is the site for you!

Welcome to the Free Beer Movement where we are promoting one simple idea:

Invite your friends to see a soccer match and buy them a beer.

The premise behind this “movement” is grassroots in it’s purest form.  And those who have been around the Midnight Riders have seen this philosophy in action.   When I walk around tailgates, I talk to a lot of friends who speak of how there would be no way they would go to as many games if it wasn’t for the good times enjoyed in the parking lot.  While all that is going on, many get drawn into the game and the team and it becomes every bit a part of their lives as the people who originally brought them.

The atmosphere in The Fort only benefits from this process.  Beers help to dull the insecurities many may have about singing or chanting in unison in support of your team.  Many find it fun, or at the very least unique.  It’s one of the hooks that makes the American soccer experience work for a lot of us.  Simply telling your friends what goes on just doesn’t cut it.  Offering them free beer to get them to the stadium to see for themselves does should do the trick.

All that being said, just make sure there are plans in place to drink responsibly to make sure everyone gets home safely afterwords.  Turning someone into a soccer fan only helps when they are able to make it back to games in the future.

I’d write more about this, but it’s so profoundly simple.  I’d like to see some select tailgates set aside for free beer buckets.  Maybe spread the word around and have Midnight Riders members give “donations”.  Could be a good recruitment tool.  Bring a friend knowing there would be free beer already there, invite other Revs fans over to the tailgate, etc…

But yeah, next season be sure to offer some of your finicky non-soccer fan friends free beer.  You never know who you’ll convert.

Here’s some promo links to the FBM blog:

(Sidenote to the whole job thing: After I had applied for my GI Bill payments, ordered my old transcripts, tracked down my medical records, paid my application fees, took the testing where I reverse engineered all the calculus I forgot in the last 16 years to place as high as I could, designed a class schedule that would fast-track me to another degree when I’m done, and recopied 1/3 of my A-School notes so I can challenge a few courses, I got a call from my friend at that energy firm.  KPC&L called them up out of the blue and wanted to know if I was still interested and if I could start immediately!  We both chuckled.  Way to go, KCP&L!  Good luck raising rates 25% due to your wind offsets.)

So I’ll be here for the next two seasons at the very least.  I’m going to renew my season ticket, but dropping the extra one I had.  So, I should be making every game and will be in The Fort.  Hopefully I can use this blog space to help make it better.  Maybe use it to plan displays, pass along new song lyrics, etc…  Before I get to the title of this post, let me say a few things about the state of The Fort:

The Fort took a bit of a step backwards this year.  Sure, the $200 deal (which I love) had to have added to the number of season ticket holders.  I’ll probably write a future post on this subject, but it clearly didn’t add to the already existing numbers going to games for a number of reasons, a lot being economically-related.  Especially worrisome is the fact that more people came to see the team play during a cold water hurricane during the 2007 playoffs than were there on a stunning autumn afternoon in 2009.  The 2007 conference final had a completely packed, standing and singing section 143 on three business days to sell tickets.  On a week’s notice in 2009, section 143 was half full.  People just weren’t as excited as they were in years past, and that has much to do with the team’s malaise.  However, what used to be a coordination problem from too many “pedestrians” occupying lower-middle rows and not singing, turned into similar or worse noise with more of the regulars close together.  On the plus side, the flag situation has been resolved, and that will only get better.  Some of the younger people are stepping up and leading chants.  That’s always good to see.  But it was clearly a down year, something that can’t be ignored.  I’ll elaborate on all of those issues in the future.

Getting back to the point of this post, I wrote a little diddy back in May about what I think the team should do with Gillette Stadium.  I heard rumblings that the team would consider covering up some rows in The Fort, bringing the fans closer (not that it matters much with 7k people in the stadium).  I hope that’s not just hot air.  Here’s something else I think they should do:  Shift the field closer to the north, 7.5 feet to be exact.  I’ll explain the benefits to this, but first, why 7.5 feet?  Take a look at this picture:

Now squint, you stupid jerk!  Anyway, 7.5 feet equals 2.5 yards.  The center circle goes to the 40 yard lines.  The Patriots logo extends nearly 2 yards past the 45’s.  If you were to move the field, you don’t want that yellow circle touching (thus cursing forever) the Elvis Pats symbol.  I’m a Patriots fan, I can understand the inevitable freakout that would cause (even with the team reducing the number of gridiron games to two this year).  There’s also the question of space.  The field turf is cut off in the corners:

I think there’s enough room on the carpet.  If not, the sidelines may have to be brought in a foot or two.  7.5 feet will be short enough not to make the goal line cutting through the thick white endzone line.  It’s also not far enough to screw up the seating arrangement.  The centerline would then be around the 2nd or 3rd seat in section 109, not the middle of the row between sections 109 and 110.  So, the field can be moved.  Now, I’ll explain why they should do this:

With Giants Stadium being retired, it appears we will now be the league leader in distance from the endline to the endline seats.  Getting the fans closer to the field will provide a greater home field advantage.  Moving the goal closer will also move down the row at which you see most of the action over the goal post.  If the plan is to tarp off a number of rows, this could be important to those in sections 142 and 143.  And better sightlines doesn’t just apply to The Fort, but all the sections that stretch to the west (where La Barra is located) as well sections 101-103, the primary seated Category 3 sections.

The area of the stadium this would obviously hurt would be the south end.  However, those seats are empty for most games of the season.  The only time you see a good number of people there is when there are large groups.  I would imagine a 7.5 foot move shouldn’t be a large enough change to matter for single game, younger fans.  Worried about what that does to the Cat 2 sightlines on that side?  Make section 115 Cat 3.  These things can be worked out.

The point being, you get the game closer to the most vocal and most regular fans in the lower cost seats without messing with the fans in the higher priced seats.  Security should still have enough room to patrol behind the north goal.  The positives surely outweigh the negatives here.  It’s value added to tickets that are already back to $20.  With the trend in attendance indicating they don’t have to worry about selling too many south end seats, I don’t see any reason why the team can’t do something like this.    It doesn’t even have to be 7.5 feet.

]]> http://midnightriders.com/blogs/chowda/2009/11/18/move-the-field-75-feet/feed/ http://midnightriders.com/blogs/chowda/2009/11/18/move-the-field-75-feet/ http://midnightriders.com/blogs/chowda/2009/11/18/move-the-field-75-feet/#comments Wed, 18 Nov 2009 17:54:00 +0000 Jim Andruchow http://midnightriders.com/blogs/chowda/?p=13 Ok, that looks like an odd request.  I’ll get to it in a second.  First, I think I figured out what I want to do with this blog space.  A few months back, I thought I was going to be moving out of the area for a sweet job outside of Kansas City writing the training program for a new generation coal plant.  But alas, KCP&L acted rather peculiarly incompetent with the specialty firm that I was going to work for and pulled the contract, so I decided to use my GI Bill and get some schooling to help build upon my navy experience .  I know for sure that I’ll be in RI for the next two seasons, so I thought I’d start blogging specifically about The Fort.  I was thinking about designing a rating system for each home game, make some suggestions, and talk about everything from attendance to coordination to security relations.  The original idea for this blog proved shallow, but this could be a good little niche.

(Sidenote to the whole job thing: After I had applied for my GI Bill payments, ordered my old transcripts, tracked down my medical records, paid my application fees, took the testing where I reverse engineered all the calculus I forgot in the last 16 years to place as high as I could, designed a class schedule that would fast-track me to another degree when I’m done, and recopied 1/3 of my A-School notes so I can challenge a few courses, I got a call from my friend at that energy firm.  KPC&L called them up out of the blue and wanted to know if I was still interested and if I could start immediately!  We both chuckled.  Way to go, KCP&L!  Good luck raising rates 25% due to your wind offsets.)

So I’ll be here for the next two seasons at the very least.  I’m going to renew my season ticket, but dropping the extra one I had.  So, I should be making every game and will be in The Fort.  Hopefully I can use this blog space to help make it better.  Maybe use it to plan displays, pass along new song lyrics, etc…  Before I get to the title of this post, let me say a few things about the state of The Fort:

The Fort took a bit of a step backwards this year.  Sure, the $200 deal (which I love) had to have added to the number of season ticket holders.  I’ll probably write a future post on this subject, but it clearly didn’t add to the already existing numbers going to games for a number of reasons, a lot being economically-related.  Especially worrisome is the fact that more people came to see the team play during a cold water hurricane during the 2007 playoffs than were there on a stunning autumn afternoon in 2009.  The 2007 conference final had a completely packed, standing and singing section 143 on three business days to sell tickets.  On a week’s notice in 2009, section 143 was half full.  People just weren’t as excited as they were in years past, and that has much to do with the team’s malaise.  However, what used to be a coordination problem from too many “pedestrians” occupying lower-middle rows and not singing, turned into similar or worse noise with more of the regulars close together.  On the plus side, the flag situation has been resolved, and that will only get better.  Some of the younger people are stepping up and leading chants.  That’s always good to see.  But it was clearly a down year, something that can’t be ignored.  I’ll elaborate on all of those issues in the future.

Getting back to the point of this post, I wrote a little diddy back in May about what I think the team should do with Gillette Stadium.  I heard rumblings that the team would consider covering up some rows in The Fort, bringing the fans closer (not that it matters much with 7k people in the stadium).  I hope that’s not just hot air.  Here’s something else I think they should do:  Shift the field closer to the north, 7.5 feet to be exact.  I’ll explain the benefits to this, but first, why 7.5 feet?  Take a look at this picture:

Now squint, you stupid jerk!  Anyway, 7.5 feet equals 2.5 yards.  The center circle goes to the 40 yard lines.  The Patriots logo extends nearly 2 yards past the 45’s.  If you were to move the field, you don’t want that yellow circle touching (thus cursing forever) the Elvis Pats symbol.  I’m a Patriots fan, I can understand the inevitable freakout that would cause (even with the team reducing the number of gridiron games to two this year).  There’s also the question of space.  The field turf is cut off in the corners:

I think there’s enough room on the carpet.  If not, the sidelines may have to be brought in a foot or two.  7.5 feet will be short enough not to make the goal line cutting through the thick white endzone line.  It’s also not far enough to screw up the seating arrangement.  The centerline would then be around the 2nd or 3rd seat in section 109, not the middle of the row between sections 109 and 110.  So, the field can be moved.  Now, I’ll explain why they should do this:

With Giants Stadium being retired, it appears we will now be the league leader in distance from the endline to the endline seats.  Getting the fans closer to the field will provide a greater home field advantage.  Moving the goal closer will also move down the row at which you see most of the action over the goal post.  If the plan is to tarp off a number of rows, this could be important to those in sections 142 and 143.  And better sightlines doesn’t just apply to The Fort, but all the sections that stretch to the west (where La Barra is located) as well sections 101-103, the primary seated Category 3 sections.

The area of the stadium this would obviously hurt would be the south end.  However, those seats are empty for most games of the season.  The only time you see a good number of people there is when there are large groups.  I would imagine a 7.5 foot move shouldn’t be a large enough change to matter for single game, younger fans.  Worried about what that does to the Cat 2 sightlines on that side?  Make section 115 Cat 3.  These things can be worked out.

The point being, you get the game closer to the most vocal and most regular fans in the lower cost seats without messing with the fans in the higher priced seats.  Security should still have enough room to patrol behind the north goal.  The positives surely outweigh the negatives here.  It’s value added to tickets that are already back to $20.  With the trend in attendance indicating they don’t have to worry about selling too many south end seats, I don’t see any reason why the team can’t do something like this.    It doesn’t even have to be 7.5 feet.

]]> http://midnightriders.com/blogs/chowda/2009/11/18/move-the-field-75-feet/feed/ http://midnightriders.com/blogs/camille/2009/06/30/gold-cup-2009-better-than-the-superliga/ http://midnightriders.com/blogs/camille/2009/06/30/gold-cup-2009-better-than-the-superliga/#comments Tue, 30 Jun 2009 20:38:16 +0000 camille http://midnightriders.com/blogs/camille/?p=35

I really can’t justify any sort of discussion about the Revs right now. The SuperLiga? yawn. The US Open Cup? Well I’m not going to New Britain but I will have something to say about that after the match. It could be Edgaras Jankauskas’ Revs debut and the first Gabriel Badilla sighting in a long time.

If you’re a fan of the US Men’s Soccer team you are going to have to get over the disappointment of Sunday’s loss to Brazil in the Confederations Cup Final even quicker than most of the team who played in the match.

Most of that team will now turn its attention to rest, relaxation, and a certain August 12th match-date below the border.

US fans don’t have the luxury of such a break and neither do Charlie Davies, Freddy Adu, Heath Pearce, and Luis Robles. That’s because the Gold Cup starts this Friday and even though no Confederations Cup berth is at stake we have a reputation to improve (as fans) and uphold (as a team).

During my trip to Chicago to see the US play Honduras in a World Cup Qualifier it was really quite evident just how far the United States has to go with concern to fan support. There was a reported 56,000 people in the stadium that day and I would say about 38,000 of them were Honduran. Hopefully the US team can steal some of the momentum built up from their great Confederations Cup run and play in front of entirely pro-US crowds.

The team is going to need all the help it can get from the stands in the weeks to come. While I understand giving your big guns a rest after a strenuous tournament in South Africa with the big Mexican date looming. I am not in the camp that is just assuming the Nats will be at Giants Stadium for the final on the 25th of July. Costa Rica and Honduras are both sending close to full squads and showed that they can give the USMNT’s best XI a run for their money just within the last month. How will the inexperienced midfield, second-rate goalkeepers and youth of this team handle this challenge?

I can’t even begin to prognosticate what Bradley considers his best midfield out of this group and I’m sure there will be plenty of rotation with Grenada and Haiti as two of the opponents early on, but I will try my best, this has become a bit of preview of the Gold Cup without me really intending to do so.

US Midfield
I’m like everyone else in regards to Freddy Adu. I really hope he gets an extended run out to hopefully impress scouts of teams that will let him play and to give everyone else an idea of where he is best employed. I think the position I would most like to see him utilized is in a similar manner as Landon Donovan was in the Confederations Cup. He starts from the left but has a bit of free reign to roam where he is most needed. On the other wing I can see Stuart Holden gaining a considerable chunk of the minutes considering how well he’s been playing with Houston this year. Davy Arnaud’s veteran presence, the enigma that is Santino Quaranta and Robbie Rogers will also get play on the wings.

The center of the midfield is where all the real questions are. So seriously, don’t take my word for it, you could actually skip ahead to the next section right now.

Thanks for continuing though if you did.  Kyle Beckerman will be relied on quite a bit as one of the more experienced center mids and Logan Pause has always been a steady presence in the Chicago Fire midfield. If I had my pick of the group they would be my starting central partnership. Young guys like Sam Cronin, Colin Clark, and Brad Evans will be in the mix as well but their relative competitive inexperience makes me question how useful they will be in a hostile crowd or a tough knockout round match.

The US Defense
This is the group that I have the most faith in. There is plenty of experience here and several guys who have a real, legitimate, shot at a roster spot for 2010. The central of the defense will be anchored by veteran Jimmy Conrad who has always been a good soldier for the Nats. The other center back spot is expected to go to Chad Marshall who has been the best MLS center back over the past last year (Bakary Soumare may have something to say about that.) Two players who ply their trade in the Nordic region will also compete for playing time as well. Clarence Goodson who is a big question mark to many fans and Michael Parkhurst, who the Midnight Riders are very familiar with, both have the most to prove out of this group. Steve Cherundolo, who up until a week ago was everyone’s first choice for right back when healthy, might have lost his job to Jonathan Spector but is still a classy player, and with over 50 caps he has the most out of this group by a substantial amount. Heath Pearce certainly seems to have the best claim to left back but his recent drop in form may give Jay Heaps more minutes than many expect for the surprise call up.

US Forwards
Brian Ching will log the most minutes out of this group. He may not have the best scoring record out of the US forwards but he does all of little things very well. Charlie Davies fresh off of his breakthrough Confederations Cup performance will be expected to show up in this tournament as well and continue to score goals. If he keeps this up the European clubs from the more soccer hungry nations will show up to save him from his Hammarby Hell.

Like Freddy Adu, Kenny Cooper’s lack of caps with the Nats has been a big issue with many fans. Like Adu, Cooper should get his chances here in this tournament. If he can show he can be productive in front of goal and work within the system like Ching, it could go a long way to his making the 2010 WC roster.

My expected line up from Bob Bradley:
———————–Perkins————————-
–Cherundolo—-Marshall—-Conrad———Pearce—–
—————-Pause——–Beckerman—————
—-Holden———————————-Adu——-
—————–Ching——-Davies——————–

AO Boston
If you want to show your support for the United States in person, AO Boston has you covered for the Nats return to Foxboro. AO Boston is working with the Riders and Sam’s Army to sell discounted tickets to the USA v. Haiti match on July 11th. Tickets for the supporters section will be $23 and can be purchased by sending money via Paypal to Monty Rodrigues at patfan1@yahoo.com.

Once you have your ticket you’re going want to get in the proper mood to support the team. That is why AO Boston is throwing a Night Before Pre-game Party on the 10th. Get to the Banshee Pub in Dorchester, Ma for free dinner, cold beer, and plenty of wild partying. It will be a great time.

The next day, if you’re from out of town or if you’re from Boston and are sick of driving all the way down to Gillette Stadium, AO Boston is running a bus from the same Banshee Pub, day of game, for $11. We’re going to meet at the Banshee Pub in the morning and depart for the stadium at 1pm. We encourage everyone to go to the Banshee for breakfast and brews in the morning.

This trip will include beer and food at the tailgate, although you are always encouraged to bring your own reinforcements. We should return back at the Banshee Pub by 11pm. There is plenty of free on-street parking around the Banshee and it is accessible by the Red Line, too. Please send $11 to garrett.quinn.3000@gmail.com via paypal to reserve your spot on the bus.

So no rest for the weary, or depressed, let get behind the Nats and before we know it the SuperLiga will be over.

I have been incredibly busy playing soccer 4 days a week, working, volunteering to help make the Breakers cool and going to the Revs games. Now that my excuses are out of the way let me explain what’s going on here. I started this entry a long time ago (2 weeks or so) and never got around to finishing it until now.

I wanted this to be a full recap of my time in Chicago but I hardly feel that it holds much relevance in these modern news times where information moves at the speed of light or whatever. Most of the trip was spent in an alcohol-induced haze, which certainly doesn’t help my memory much. And really, the quicker you read this (I hope you at least read this) the quicker you get to post comments. So I’ve taken great artistic liberty and decided to share just two stories from that great weekend. I’m sure I’ll be littering my future posts with other fanciful quips from the trip as well.

By now you’ve probably heard about the great march from the bar and all the wild antics of the sore-losing Hondurans but what I am about to share was not covered by any of the other professional writers in attendance. The first story involves a certain female on our trip who had made a promise to “make-out” with some dudes at some point during the trip. Well she made good on that promise and made sure everyone in the supporters section was fully aware of it as well. “Hey Camille!” she yelled, garnering my attention with a wave. Her next move was to immediately explore the inside of a young man’s mouth with her tongue. It was an impressive display that preceded an impressive display by the United States Men’s National Team; though I’m not too sure the two events had much to do with each other.

In the not-so-impressive-display department is my other memorable story of the trip. Alerted to the fat, bald man atop the U-Haul fan by the encouraging cheers, I was intrigued. His presence appeared to be greatly appreciated by the throngs of American Outlaws and when he was handed a funnel full of beer I could certainly see why. He was taking on the Hand of Justice in a very public trial. In the interest of brevity, the Hand of Justice is a funnel that pretty much decides if you can party or not. Finish the funnel and you pass the test. If not, prepare for the scourge of drunken soccer fans to be brought upon you.

After lifting the funnel to his lips you could tell this man wasn’t up for the challenge of taking a cold beer down in a few chugs. He proceeded to spill about half of it on the top of the van. This angered the crowd and our challenger quickly turned from face to heal. In an attempt to win back his short-lived spot as most loved guy at the tailgate the fat and bald guy poured the rest of the beer in the funnel over his head. This just drove his popularity level down even further as the tailgate was suffering a severe beer drought thanks to several hours of heavy drinking. Beer was not to be wasted!

Realizing that his moment of glory was now over, fat and bald guy went to step down from the van. Unfortunately for him, the combination of cold beer and smooth fiberglass van roof rendered the surface as slick as an ice rink. He quickly went flailing through the air and down to ground, but instead of a nice piece of pavement awaiting his impact there was a fiery grill with the aforementioned hot coals. Needless to say the crowd gasped in horror fearing the worse. Fat and bald man was in fact burned–probably quite badly–but he jumped up, said he was fine, and ran off into the crowd, most likely in search of his friends and a first aid kit. It is a moment that I will always remember; it is not every day that you get to see a man suffer a severe injury in front of a crowd because of his own stupidity.

I would also like to take this chance to point out some more of New England soccer’s finest amateur soccer players and congratulate them on the Open League West Co-ed Session 4 title. Stallions FC defeated some team full of cry-babies (especially that little girl who cherry picks all the time) in the finals to claim their first piece of silverware this season. They also claimed two free pitchers of beer and t-shirts.

Hilltop FC has also begun EMMSA action for the fourth consecutive summer.

SuperLiga Preview

If you thought that they tanked the US Open Cup last year to rest players, just wait until you see this year’s display in the SuperLiga. Sure they turned in a gutsy performance last Sunday against Santos Laguna, but I really can’t see them risking any of their top-notch talent in this tournament. Shalrie and Twellman were already ruled out for the whole tournament before it started and after Sunday’s match don’t expect to see Kevin Alston or Steve Ralston either. Luckily, the Revs have some tested depth that should keep them in most matches. But without Ralston, Shalrie and Twellman there just aren’t enough goals in the squad to win silverware. Let’s just hope that the Revs can use this time to get healthy enough to make a playoff run and maybe take the US Open Cup half-serious.

MLS debuted in 1996 as a result of the 1994 World Cup hosting stipulation that there would be a first divsion league establish in the United States.  In between the Baggio field goal and Wynalda’s score, there was a resurgance in American soccer riding the coattails of the summer of ‘94.  Many investors, wishing to cash in on “that soccer thing”, funded the creation and proliferation of many minor league teams (compared to the forthcoming MLS).

I personally found out about one of them when I was rudely awakened from my Sunday slumber at 5 pm during my college days at Hofstra University (no coincidence I joined the Navy a few months later).  From my dorm room I could hear a cornacopia of drums, chants, and noise makers so I decided to hop the fence and walk down to Mitchell Field to see what all the hubbub.  As it turned out it, it was the Long Island Rough Riders in a playoff match.  I recognized the keeper who was none other than Tony Meola, star of the 1990 and 1994 US National Teams.  Little did I know, Chris Armas and Giovanni Savarese were also in the lineup that night.  The crowd was decent and the fans were really into the game.  Not having seen American organized support for a pro team in my life, I thought it was pretty cool.  Granted, it was a subculture I would have never found out about unless I went to that game.  Many other teams sprang up around that time with similar success.  However, with MLS about to take up most of the market share and the soccer novelty to start to ware off a few years later, most of those teams went bust.  Over time, minor league soccer lost a lot of it’s funding, but it would survive.

The United Soccer Leagues emerged as the American soccer lower league system out of the unstable ashes of the USISL and the A-League.  It’s a lot more complex than that, just check out the wiki page.  Basically, investors came into those leagues and, with few exceptions, bled money until they could sell it off or fold.  Their top league (now USL-1) is a national league, while USL-2 and the Professional Development League (PDL) are regional to limit travel costs in order to make ownership and operation more affordable.  They set their first division up against MLS as a competitor (with little success), but USL’s major contribution to soccer in this country is their infrastructure.  USL encourages a “total club” approach.  Most of their PDL and USL-2 clubs, as well as some in USL-1, have many youth teams to compliment their senior side.  They also try to establish themselves as part of the community they are in.  The goal is to have these clubs draw from the immediate vicinity of their home ground and represent them in the American soccer ladder mush like lower league teams around the world draw their meager (but sustaining) fanbases.

Has this worked?  You can’t say it’s taken the USL to astronomical hights.  The amount of A-League teams (USL-1’s name through 2004, taking it’s name from a league it absorbed) shrunk from 28 to 12 teams between 1998 and 2006.  However, the amount of participation in top level youth soccer under the various “Y-Leagues” has flourished and teams with a sound structure and a senior team feed off of one another, making them more stable.  By going this route, USL is trying to emulate the success of the J-League in that it encourages clubs to build up their club’s financial, grounds, and participation structure as a way to qualify for a higher tier.

“Lower division soccer” definitely has a different connotation than “minor league soccer”.  In most countries, there is upward mobility through promotion.  Fans of a second or third tier team can support them for the long haul in hopes they will be champions of their country someday.  Minor league sports in the US implies the players you are watching are basically trying out for a spot on a pro team elsewhere, the outcome treated as secondary by their parent franchise.  Now, there is no promotion in US soccer.  If it ever happens, that’s quite a ways off.  There is the US Open Cup, but even with the chance to play an MLS team for a shot at bragging rights and pride, that annual cup competition hasn’t been a boon to many USL teams.  Another problem with shaking off the minor league tag is that unless you plan on going right into USL-1 and playing teams from the west coast to Puerto Rico, your next best option is USL-2, a league concentrated in the Northeast, ruling out most areas of the country for a start up professional soccer club.  Below that is the PDL, which covers nearly all of the United States and branches off into Canada.  The issue with that league is even though it’s the best place for owners to get their feet wet in team management, it’s a minor league in the American sense.  Players are often on their college breaks and play alongside amateurs, so there are few teams with well-established players or roots in their respective communities.  The prospects for organic growth in the US soccer ladder from the bottom up seems like a scant probability.

That all could be changing.  This year, the PDL offered it’s teams a “PDL-Pro” status.  From what I’ve gathered from the small amount of information available, is that PDL teams could opt to pay some or all of their players.  The big issue is you can’t use NCAA players on a team with professional players.  It also made it tricky for a non-college PDL player to go from a pro team to another team (involves filing paperwork).  As many as fifteen teams applied for that classification in January, but some teams like the expansion New Orleans Jesters pulled their application after they tightened the restrictions.  However, a few PDL teams have gone pro and that’s what makes this situation exciting from an American soccer ladder perspective.  Namely the Victoria Highlander, Kitsap Pumas SC (yes, a team had the balls to attach “soccer club” to their name), and the Hollywood United Hitmen.  There are likely others, but through my research I could only come up with the Rio Grand Valley Bravos referring to themselves as a pro team and with no college players are on the roster, so it’s likely they are also PDL-Pro.  That being said, the first three teams are where it’s at in regards to upward mobility.  Hollywood United are a rather famous club given the actors on their over 30/40 teams and Anthony LaPaglia on the board.  The other two teams are poised to move upward given Kitsap purchased the Sounders USL franchise and Victoria is ready to get Vancouver’s when they move to MLS.  Both teams have had decent early successs by PDL standards.  Another Northwestern PDL team, Seattle Wolves, has stated it’s desire to join a ULS-2 Western Conference.  Throw in two or more teams that are willing to make the jump to pro status, and you would have a league on the West Coast able to take in any other cities in the region where investors want to get in on on the pro soccer ground floor.  That just didn’t exist before.

Moving further west, the PDL situation is less rosy.  On the positive side, the PDL Mid South Division is actually an all Texas league.  However, even though they have the aforementioned RGV Bravos, Laredo Heat, El Paso Patriots, as well as the mildly successful Austin Aztex U-23’s, they nearly all play in Texas high school football stadiums.  The good news is they have sufficiently-sized stands for further growth.  The bad news is there is a large movement to install Sprint Turf at Texas high schools to save money on maintenance, which is less soccer friendly than Field Turf and can yield some very funky fields (check out the pics on the RGV Bravos site).  Moving into the midwest, there are mainstays in the PDL in Iowa and Michigan.  The Des Moines Menace actually had an unsuccessful stadium drive about five years back, but they still draw and play well.  The Michigan Bucks have expressed the desire to build a small stadium on land they own and field a USL-1 team.  USL-2 would seem more logical, but are they too far west?  There’s also the expansion FC London (the “FC” stands for “Forrest City”) in Ontario who are doing well at the gate and could also move up.  The major problem with the aforementioned teams would be the increase in travel costs a promotion would incur.

PDL is quite the mixed bag.  I’ve mentioned the spotlight teams, but there’s also the Cascade Surge south of Portland, OR and the Mississippi Brilli who are actually missionary teams.  Go figure.  The US youth team residency has a team in the Southeast Division, but the vast majority are teams designed off of the model to get college players on their summer break.  Which leads us to the situation in the Northeast:

The vast majority of lower division growth in the Northeast has been in the Mid Atlantic area.  Stable USL-2 clubs like Harrisburg City, Wilmington, and Richmond have been augmented by DC area teams Real Maryland and Crystal Palace Baltimore.  That’s where the new investment seems to be in our neck of the woods.  There were a scant three USL teams in New England this year: the USL-2 Western Mass Pioneers, Rhode Island Stingrays, and New Hampshire Phantoms.  New Hampshire used to be in USL-2, but they went through economic demotion (much like the Long Island Rough Riders I spoke of earlier) into the PDL.  Of the three teams, neither can speak of much success.  Western Mass is surviving as a pro/semi pro team, but I haven’t seen anyone posting/blogging/speaking of them as a fan online ever.  I wish that weren’t the case.  I know very little about the Phantoms.  Again, I wish I knew more.

The most successful PDL club in New England history were the Cape Cod Crusaders.  They folded this year.  However, they were the senior men’s team for Mass Premier Soccer, who claim they will field a PDL team next year, somewhere else in Massachusetts.  Speaking of MPS, they formed Maine Pro Soccer ahead of this season and have several youth teams up to the Super-20 league.  Their senior team will be called the Portland Phoenix and will join the Vermont Voltage, who are playing an unofficial schedule in 2009 due to stadium concerns, in the PDL next season.

By the way, Portland will be playing a series of exhibitions matches starting tomorrow night.  If you are in Maine, I highly recommend supporting this team when it debuts.

Then we go to the Rhode Island Stingrays.  They have been around since 1995 in one form or another, but have been in the PDL since 2002.  As a native Rhode Islander who grew up playing youth soccer (until the football bug bit me and I had to choose sports which wasn’t a choice given my burly, musky frame) knowing how serious the Portuguese community and parts of the Italian communinty are about the sport, it disappoints me to see the state they are in.  They are a typical PDL team in that they seem to rely exclusively on collegiate talent.  And not the best talent at that.  Sure, they groomed Geoff Cameron who has converted from a forward with the Stingrays (and URI) to midfield at Houston to finally breaking the starting XI as a defender.  They also once fielded Rhode Island native Nico Colaluca, but he didn’t play for them heading into what would be his last collegiate season at UVA in order to train with the Revs.  It really saddens me they only draw 200-300 a game.  I would imagine chairman/manager Mario Pereira expects more from an area with such a rich soccer history.  The Providence metro area was home of the famed Fall River Marksmen and the Pawtucket Rangers, both US Open Cup winners prior to World War Two.  The problem is the Stingrays are a generic minor league team that no longer has a website.  Heck, buy aspiring soccer journalist Brian O’Connell some free food at the games and some shout outs at the home games for his blog and he’d be following the team like he was in years past (sorry if I low-balled you, Brian).  What they really lack is investment.  Their business listing claims only two employees.  Would it be better if they partnered with a premier youth club like Black Watch Rhode Island?  Well, duh.  It seems pretty bare bones in Providence.  Also, if they could draw investment and find a way to play at Brown’s Stevenson Field (the investment would suredly need to be from a Brown Alum), that would also be a plus.  From there, I would claim PDL-Pro status and try to make the way to PDL-2.  You just can’t expect people to come out to see no-name college players if you want to grow.  Take players like Fabio Lima de Barros (Fabio Ivan), a few choice players from the RI and MA Portuguese leagues, some post collegiate players trying to keep their careers going, and some Portuguese Super League players too old for MLS and you could get enough buzz to draw a solid USL-2 crowd.  Similar players could be found to create interest, but Rhode Island does have a considerable post WWII Portuguese immigrant population and right across the border is Bristol County, which sports the only Portuguese plurality in the nation.  Just imagine coordinating home games at Stevenson Field with Water Fires in downtown Providence?  Yeah, I’d take the commuter rail back home for that.  One last thing:  Stingrays?  Sure, it has some brand establishment, but that probably needs to go.  The “Red” is the state bird and is the nickname of numerous soccer teams worldwide.  “Providence” seems more youth orientated to me given the oldness of the state’s population, but that’s nitpicking.  Seriously though, anything but Stingrays.

Then there’s the fact the two largest cities in New England do not have pro soccer teams.  The Revs surely represent the area, but there has to be space for more teams, especially in a population center two hours away and in Boston where many residents don’t own automobiles.  Hartford seems like a no-brainer for USL-1 or USL-2 as long as they had the financial backing for a team.  The American Outlaws may have a recognized chapter in Hartford in the near future and that could be the start for a similar movement like the successful Sons Of Ben effort in Philadelphia.  If you live in the area, you buy a decent shirt for normal price and gain a supporter network.  Seriously, what are you waiting for?

Boston may be a bit trickier.  It’s definitely Revs territory, but there are many more fans of the world game who don’t make it down to Gillette.  For those who know me, they will be shocked at what I’m about to recommend.  Celtic FC should set up a “Boston Celtic” team and start in the PDL and maybe go on to USL-2.  For a limited investment, they could work with collegiate talent and scout the region’s talent.  You would have an edge over most PDL teams in that you would get local Celtic FC supporters to show up for games, limiting the losses most owners see.  They could play at JFK UMASS or Harvard Stadium and do just fine.  There are teams named after them the world over, why not in the Irish immigrant capital of North America?

But the last two examples are based on positive speculation.  Minor league soccer was in New England in force back in the 90’s and failed.  There were teams in Boston, Framingham, Worcester, Cape cod, and Hartford.  All of which failed.  So what is different?

The encouraging thing I see is the vast increase in exposure to high level soccer.  The level of knowledge even among your typical MLS/USL fan is exponentially higher than it was just five years ago.  Along with that, supporter groups are widely known thanks to YouTube.  Combine the two and you have a knowledgeable fan who knows how to support his or her local side.  In places like Kitsap and Victoria, this has paid off.  In New England, not so much.  Hopefully, that will change and lower league teams begin garnering strong, loyal support.  The reasons why it wouldn’t happen: 1.) New England is a relatively old region set in it’s ways 2.) other minor league teams already get great market share (i.e. Pawsox) and 3.) a bad economy combined with a small minority of the investor class knowing their ass from their elbow about soccer.  Can’t do anything about the first two, but the last obstacle will fade over time.

So what say you, New England soccer fan?  Do you support lower league soccer?  Would you support a USL team if it was close by?  Would you start a supporters group for one of those teams?  The future may be bright for soccer expansion on the other side of the country.  Will it be the same in New England?

Note: I invite corrections and input to this post.  I’d love to write a follow-up piece.