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Well, hello there, SocTakes crowd. Remember me? It’s been a while. Even longer than before. Sorry about that, the pandemic, and life, and the universe, and everything, it all happened. You know the drill by now, it’s January February March April, which means the start of #HipsterManifesto season, and...
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Hello, Soc Takes crowd. It’s been a while, I know. The pandemic hit, sports got cancelled and my day job suddenly kicked into overtime. But now, the world is looking a bit more normal, and my soapbox needed a good dusting. You may remember that last January, I wrote...
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USL soccer will make its triumphant return, hopefully, beginning July 11 with a regionalized group system and a reduced schedule. Each team has been divided among eight groups, four for each conference, and will primarily be playing against teams in its own group. Each team will play up to...
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Since the United States and Canada are still under lockdown for the foreseeable future (and no, these soft reopenings in a few states aren’t a sign of things getting better, and are likely to cause even more problems), it’s been quiet around here. Even my in-progress “updating the pyramid...
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The NPSL is set for one of its biggest, longest and most exciting years yet, with a number of changes coming as discussed in a call with NPSL treasurer and Virginia Beach City FC owner Steven Wagoner. For starters, the league’s grand fall-spring extended season originally announced last November...
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With Chicago’s recent rebrand announcement receiving a, shall we say, openly hostile reception, we’ve gotten to talking about soccer logos in the Soc Takes group chat. It’s a common pastime for us, much like any other members of #SoccerTwitter, and this got me thinking about the various brands and...
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Well hello there, Soc Takes. It’s been a while. You may have noticed my as-of-yet unexplained absence the past few months. To make a long story short, I got dumped, took some vacations, got a promotion at work, met a new girl and went to a lot of soccer...
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The Major Arena Soccer League (MASL) season has concluded. This was a year of change for the MASL, with Syracuse moving to Utica, new teams in Orlando and Mississauga joining, and the return of the Dallas Sidekicks from hiatus. Attendance dropped for a third-consecutive season, which is worrying, but...
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The MASL regular season has concluded and the playoffs are winding down, with the Milwaukee Wave and Monterrey Flash set to duel for the Ron Newman Cup today. As the end of the season draws ever closer, it’s time to take a look at how every team did. This...
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It’s officially Open Cup season once again, my favorite time of year filled with chaos and giant-slayers and more soccer than one can possibly hope to follow simultaneously. Trust me, I’ve tried. The 2019 Open Cup features a whopping 84 teams, and while it’s down slightly from last year,...
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With the announcement that MLS will, as long suspected, be growing to at least 30 teams, now’s the perfect time for rampant speculation, treating rumor as fact and ranking the most likely expansion targets. Based on what we currently know about teams, cities, their stadium plans and their ambitions,...
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We’ve had a few weeks of USL Championship action, and while I was going to wait a bit longer before going all number nerdy, things have been far too chaotic to ignore. Upsets galore, some expansion teams doing unexpectedly well, some doing far worse than I predicted, and generally...
Hello, Soc Takes crowd. It’s been a while, I know. The pandemic hit, sports got cancelled and my day job suddenly kicked into overtime. But now, the world is looking a bit more normal, and my soapbox needed a good dusting. You may remember that last January, I wrote...
USL soccer will make its triumphant return, hopefully, beginning July 11 with a regionalized group system and a reduced schedule. Each team has been divided among eight groups, four for each conference, and will primarily be playing against teams in its own group. Each team will play up to...
Since the United States and Canada are still under lockdown for the foreseeable future (and no, these soft reopenings in a few states aren’t a sign of things getting better, and are likely to cause even more problems), it’s been quiet around here. Even my in-progress “updating the pyramid...
The NPSL is set for one of its biggest, longest and most exciting years yet, with a number of changes coming as discussed in a call with NPSL treasurer and Virginia Beach City FC owner Steven Wagoner. For starters, the league’s grand fall-spring extended season originally announced last November...
With Chicago’s recent rebrand announcement receiving a, shall we say, openly hostile reception, we’ve gotten to talking about soccer logos in the Soc Takes group chat. It’s a common pastime for us, much like any other members of #SoccerTwitter, and this got me thinking about the various brands and...
Well hello there, Soc Takes. It’s been a while. You may have noticed my as-of-yet unexplained absence the past few months. To make a long story short, I got dumped, took some vacations, got a promotion at work, met a new girl and went to a lot of soccer...
The Major Arena Soccer League (MASL) season has concluded. This was a year of change for the MASL, with Syracuse moving to Utica, new teams in Orlando and Mississauga joining, and the return of the Dallas Sidekicks from hiatus. Attendance dropped for a third-consecutive season, which is worrying, but...
The MASL regular season has concluded and the playoffs are winding down, with the Milwaukee Wave and Monterrey Flash set to duel for the Ron Newman Cup today. As the end of the season draws ever closer, it’s time to take a look at how every team did. This...
It’s officially Open Cup season once again, my favorite time of year filled with chaos and giant-slayers and more soccer than one can possibly hope to follow simultaneously. Trust me, I’ve tried. The 2019 Open Cup features a whopping 84 teams, and while it’s down slightly from last year,...
With the announcement that MLS will, as long suspected, be growing to at least 30 teams, now’s the perfect time for rampant speculation, treating rumor as fact and ranking the most likely expansion targets. Based on what we currently know about teams, cities, their stadium plans and their ambitions,...
We’ve had a few weeks of USL Championship action, and while I was going to wait a bit longer before going all number nerdy, things have been far too chaotic to ignore. Upsets galore, some expansion teams doing unexpectedly well, some doing far worse than I predicted, and generally...