With the end of the Premier League season close at hand and the World Cup still a couple of months out, I decided that I need something else for my soccer fix: so, I've decided that this will be the year where I finally, at long last, start watching and paying attention to Major League Soccer.
Problem is, I need a club to support.
I remember, vaguely, the early days of MLS, where intermittent games would pop on your television- or on the scratchy, straight out of 1975 looking special preview of the Fox Soccer Channel your buddy had for a week or so. They were all played in gigantic, empty looking NFL stadiums. The crowds looked tiny, the quality of the game was, well, lacking and in general, it was pretty grim to watch. So, in general, for the first decade or so of it's existence, I ignored MLS.
But this past Sunday, I actually put my feet up at work (it was Easter, so surprisingly, Campus was quiet) and watched most of a game between the Chicago Fire and the New England Revolution. And you know what? It was actually fairly watchable and enjoyable. It ended in a draw (so not as enjoyable as it could have been) but each team got a PK- New England used their to tie it up and Chicago had a change to go ahead late but their PK was saved, so it was an exciting finish at least. All of which convinced me that I needed to sit down, do my research, watch some teams so that, by season's end, I can pick a team from the homegrown league to support along with my choice from the Motherland, Arsenal.
And really, this seems to be an intriguing time to jump into MLS. They're launching another wave of expansion with franchises set to land in Orlando (Orlando City FC), New York City (New York City FC) and now, somewhat randomly, Atlanta. Beckham is working on bringing one to Miami and it's raised some concerns in some quarters that MLS is, once again, biting off more than it can chew.
Orlando makes sense. There's been a USL franchise there since 2010 that's attracted and sustained support from the community- support vocal enough that MLS got interested and moved them on up. NYC makes sense- it would make more sense to move the New York Cosmos up from the NASL where they're currently playing (at least to me) but if the Yankees and Man City want an MLS team, that's fine- just another team I can hate!
Atlanta is where it gets somewhat baffling. I mean, I get it from a media market point of view- but they're going to be playing in the new Atlanta Falcons stadium (and the trend in MLS has been, thankfully to insist on their own soccer specific venues) and I would have thought, given the strength of college soccer in the Carolinas that establishing a pro-franchise there would have made more sense. But what do I know? There's already a supporters Club, The Terminus Legion and it's already getting trolled by fans from Columbus.
Miami makes me queasier. They, along with Tampa Bay lost their original MLS franchises to contraction in the late 90s and they're coming off a costly stadium deal with the Marlins and the Dolphins already want more money for their stadium. I'm sure it's a beautiful, exotic city, but if I was Becks, I'd be looking elsewhere.
BUT- getting back to my original point! I have a plethora of teams to choose from and the quality of play is getting better with every passing year. You could argue that the sudden availability of the Premier League on American television might make people more likely to move away from MLS- but I think if the Premier League gets them into soccer, they might be more likely to find a homegrown club they can get behind and see more easily.
So after a consult with the incredibly helpful and informative MLS Reddit page, I've decided that this is what I'm looking for in a club:
1. A history of some winning: I don't need to bandwagon onto whatever club is the flavor of the month or has a history of dominance as of late. Upper half of the league with some years of glory, potential for 'cutlery' works for me.
2. Geographic proximity: somewhat important. I think it'd be nice to be able to go and see whatever club I end up supporting with relative ease but it's not a dealbreaker. (If I ended up in the Pacific Northwest, being a Whitecaps/Timber/Sounders fan would provide an excellent excuse to go for a visit.)
3. Aesthetics: I've got to like the look of the Club's crest and it's colors. For example, The Columbus Crew intrigue me because, obviously, being an Iowa fan I've got plenty of black and gold Hawkeye gear, so why not add some more black and gold to my closet, right? And yet their badge reminds me a little of Run-DMC- so I'm not sure how to feel about them yet.
So far: The Chicago Fire and Sporting Kansas City intrigue me- but this quiz over at SB Nation told me I should be a Philadelphia Union fan, so go figure. If you're an MLS fan reading this and want to make me a pitch as to why your club is better than all the other ones, give it your best shot in the comments.
Let the #MLSQuest... BEGIN!
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