on the (personally) awesome soccer month of march

This month is shaping up to be an excellent month for me on the soccer front. MLS is (supposed to be, at least) starting up again, and that makes me happy. But it's not just that. Let's start at the beginning.

I got the new USMNT away jersey in the mail last Thursday (along with a free Jabulani mini replica ball!) and honestly, it is a good looking jersey. I know a lot of people think it looks like a ~beauty pageant sash~ or whatever, but I think it looks awesome, especially against the navy. Adding to my jersey collection is always exciting. I have quite a few, and maybe one of these days I'll go through and talk about them individually. Actually, that would be a really good post. So I'll do that eventually.

I spent a decent amount of time the last few months trying to convince my parents that we should go up to Columbus for a Crew game. Unfortunately, that didn't really pan out. But when US Soccer announced the send-off series finale against Turkey in Philadelphia on May 29th, I decided this was the game that I wanted to go to. So as soon as the game was announced, I set out to convince my parents that we should go. 11 hours in the car won't be that bad, we can extend our trip and do some sight-seeing up north since we've never been there, and most importantly, it'll be the last game before the World Cup so the atmosphere should be great. They were iffy at first, but on Saturday my mom caved and bought us all tickets. I'm a bit disappointed we won't be sitting with the American Outlaws, but we're supposedly right along the tunnel where the players come out, so that should be pretty awesome. Regardless of where I'm sitting though, I'm finally getting my first cap!

Finally, I will be going to my first "MLS" games in 10 days! I say "MLS" because it's just preseason, and only one of the games will feature two MLS teams (Toronto FC vs. Real Salt Lake, then DC United vs. Charleston Battery), but it's still just as exciting. Especially since it's the last weekend of preseason and the teams should be pretty much full strength. I can't wait.

The Crew play tonight in CONCACAF Champions League, so I have a couple extra weeks of excitement to get me pumped up for First Kick on the 25th. I'll still be home for Spring Break so I'll have people to watch the games with (my family, but it's better than nothing). Basically, March is shaping up to be exactly the kind of month it needs to be to get me back into soccer after I spent most of February obsessing over the Winter Olympics.

on being a crew fan in georgia

I guess I have to start this off by stating, for those of you who didn't know, that I'm a Columbus Crew fan. Through 2007, I just sorta casually followed MLS, watched whatever game was on, not really cheering for anyone in particular because I didn't have a team within 9 hours of me, so there really wasn't much of a reason to. At the beginning of the 2008 season, however, I decided that I was going to really get into the league and pick a team and stick with them. It was a couple of weeks into the season when I settled on Columbus- they had US National Team players I liked (Frankie Hejduk, and to some extent Robbie Rogers), they had players I knew I would like (a crafty Argentinian midfielder, a Scotsman who scored a rocket of a goal, a keeper who looked like Ricky Bobby, a goofy blonde kid who looked like a Cabbage Patch doll, to name a few), they played a nice passing game which I respected, and, just as importantly as the other reasons, they wore yellow, one of my favorite colors. So I started following the Crew, and either I'm good at picking winners or I was actually their lucky charm; regardless, the Crew won the Supporter's Shield and MLS Cup and I was a content fan. In 2009 I was still a Crew fan. They only won the Supporter's Shield this season, but at least that's something.

I'd become really attached to the team, which I suppose is a good thing, but being a fan of a team nine hours away from you can pose some problems. For one, I've never met another Crew fan. Actually, I can broaden that by saying I've never met a fan of any MLS team outside of my family, who I've pretty much forced it on, but that's a whole different story. So other than a couple people on Twitter and, if I dared, Big Soccer, I don't really have anyone to talk to about anything specifically Crew-related. (My mom will listen to me rant and ramble, but I doubt she takes most of it in.) Another downside is that I can't just decide I want to go to a game and then go. I'd have to get a plane ticket and a rental car and a hotel room and find someone to go with and as much as I'd love to go to games all the time, it's just not feasible.

I had a nice long paragraph here about not being able to find Crew merchandise, but it just sounded really whiny so I scratched it all. I only have one piece of Crew merchandise, and it's the MLS Cup Champions t-shirt. It's also a mens large, since that's all they had in stock, so I can't wear it out anywhere. I plan on getting a jersey when the new ones come out in February, but I have nothing now. Recently, however, I took up knitting, and I bought yellow and black yarn and knitted myself a Crew scarf.

It's my first project, so it's not at all perfect, the stripes are different sizes and the stitches are loose in some places, but it's something at least. Of course, everyone is going to assume it's just a Georgia Tech scarf, but they don't know any better.