Last year when Kartik asked me to cover the Florida teams for this site little did I know the rabbit hole I was going to end up going down.
My mind is a very odd creature. It has a strange way of hyper reflecting way too much on the past, while trying to figure out how to improve on things moving forward. What that allowed me to do as last season was winding down was experiment with a few things (some worked, some seriously flopped) and try to figure out how I could improve on my coverage for this season.
The last month of the season it hit me pretty hard and the thought I couldn’t keep escaping was “I actually like watching these games and not just the games involving the Florida teams”. That was really cemented when I covered Detroit City/Pittsburgh Riverhounds on the last week of the season. My thoughts then went to expanding on from simply Florida Soccer Saturday Night into a more holistic roundup of the USL Championship, and to a lesser extent USL League 1.
So what do I hope to accomplish with this piece on a weekly basis? For now I’m going to start focusing on two main things:
A comprehensive roundup of all games played that weekend. While we will have a main focus on 3-5 matches per round, all USL Championship will have some form of full time summary to them.
General observations and musings of the league through match observations or league news.
Note: if games midweek are stand alone games we will do our best to get a full time report out within 90 minutes of the game’s conclusion. If there are multiple midweek games, or a full round fixtures, they will be folded into the next week’s report.
Now I’m sure some may wonder why I would be willing to essentially sacrifice my spring, summer and part of my fall doing these reports; and it’s a fairly simple answer. Without the game of soccer, I would not be where I am in my life’s journey. One of the more resounding moments in my life was when Greece won Euro 2004 and my pea brain at the time could not comprehend how it was possible. From there I spent more hours than I care to count watching games, mastering the art of fast forwarding through as much dead time in games as possible, and just studying how things happen and processing the why it either worked or didn’t work. Little did I know that rabbit hole would end up translating to my full time job, and the hard work there led to multiple promotions to where I am today in my 9-5 life.
So yes, doing this allows me to get back to my roots in a way and remember the how and why I got to where I am today. Not only has it allowed me to have a better life, it has allowed me to meet people who have become firm friends.
When I started the Florida Summer League Report last year, I mirrored something I always remembered from my youth, the tiny round ups I’d see weekly in the sports section of the Anchorage Daily News. Yes, that would be Anchorage, Alaska. Don’t ask how I ended up in the absolute opposite corner of the United States. They would have little 50-100 word summaries of the games from the local rec rugby and soccer games. Those have always stuck out with me through the years because it was no fluff, put the necessary information in them and move on to the next game.
One thing I’m hoping to do this year is get to games local to me this year, likely on Friday or midweek when I can get out of work with enough time to travel. With teams in the Jacksonville area, Gainesville and Tallahassee it isn’t an impossible ask for me. My nearly 2 year old car only has 6,000 miles on it, it is high time for me to add some more miles to them.
The only difference from last year to this year is the Florida Summer League report will be worked on for release Sunday night instead of the first opportunity on Sunday. Trends showed that traffic on those pieces picked up later in the evening.
Musings Heading Into the Start of the Season
I am very sad to have seen Rio Grande Valley FC fold. The games I watched from that ground always left me with the same impression that ground was perfect for the USL Championship. At the same time, I’m curious to see how both Rhode Island FC & North Carolina FC do in their first season. Yes, North Carolina FC took advantage of the provision to move back up from League 1 to Championship but still a first year back
I am very fearful Miami FC could be heading to a season worse than we saw out of Las Vegas Lights and Hartford Athletic last year. What makes it worse is at least Las Vegas and Hartford (in the games I saw) would put up a fight. I’m scared there won’t be much fight in the 2024 Miami FC side.
I wonder if the kit sponsorship deals like Pittsburgh and New Mexico have with a home sponsor and away sponsor becomes a trend. Any way to get additional sponsorship money is always a positive thing.
I think Tampa Bay will have an awkward transitional year. The chaos that happened post Neill Collins leaving saw the team lose their identity at a critical juncture of the season, ultimately resulting in their exit in the Conference Quarterfinals. If Robbie Neilson does nothing more than steadies the ship and makes a playoff push it will be a successful season in my eyes.
I expect to see the usual suspects around at the business end of the playoffs this year. If there was a team I watched I thought just needed time, and one I will be curious to see if they break through: Monterey Bay FC. I just think Frank Yallop has one last run in him.
I hope these pieces, knowing how lengthy they will be (and these will be long), will provide value to your early week. Kartik may chime in here from time to time as well. Our goal is to have these scheduled to publish by 8 am Monday morning.
Longform Coverage Next Week:
New Mexico United v Pittsburgh Riverhounds SC
North Carolina FC v Charleston Battery
Sacramento Republic v Orange County SC
Phoenix Rising FC v Birmingham Legion
"You always learn more from your failures than your successes" --a saying that is so true in our lives. Consequently, it would be wonderful if BT90 could cover the reasons for Rio Grande FC folding. What lessons can aspiring or surviving USL Championships clubs learn from Rio Grande's demise?
Looking forward to the season starting. I can understand the fears for the Miami roster, but I think they'll be better than Hartford and LV. I've also seen rankings that show Birmingham predicted to have a worse outcome than last season. After being at 3 of their preseason friendlies, I'm very upbeat for the season.