Soccer with Brain: What makes a soccer team?

Within a few minutes and a quick Twitter search, you can find a flood of blogs, websites, accounts dedicated to a number of different teams both in the MLS and NASL as well as abroad. All have their own way of showing support. All care for the same thing. The glory and success of their club.


This is no secret in sports. Basketball, college sports, football, and even swimming have a dedicated base of fans who want nothing more than to see their team or group win whatever is the top level in their respective league.



What makes a supporter base what it is? Is it passion? Is it the desire to see a team win?


Recently, this was all brought into question as a group of Chelsea FC fans shouted, shoved, and chanted racist remarks at a black male attempting to board a train in Paris. This was done by taking classic football-style chants and attaching racist remarks to it.



The question lies with what truly makes up the image of a team. For me, as someone who hasn't been around the sport for a while, I see a team to be mainly around the supporters. When I attended my first Indy Eleven match last year, it had very little to do about what was going on on the field. While I was interested and excited to see the game live. Seeing a match live is a much different experience than seeing a match on TV. 

The reason that's different? It all has to do with the supporters and the people around you. Soccer is a much more interactive sport than any other in the world. You get an experience sitting with your friends, the smell of beer building from your feet, and shouting at the opposing team when they try to score. It's an experience and an event instead of just a normal game each week.  This is the pandora's box of soccer. The idea that a team is less what a team does business wise and more about the supporters and their actions probably unsettles many of the front offices around the world. It's true though. 

So, what makes a team? Fans. The fans control the experience of the game. They control how the game feels, how it looks. When you watch a game on TV, you hear the chants from the home section. You can see the flags. You go on Twitter, you can have endless hours of conversations with those who care about the game. Blogs, Facebook pages, tweets, interactions are all centered around the fans. They ask questions, they question decisions. Some teams, (Like AFC Wimbledon)  even have supporters who financially support the team with partial ownership.  Soccer is growing. Soccer is expanding. With that comes a whole new wave of individuals who believe in a way that you don't. It's a battle that soccer will carry on for years to come. You will always have fans who identify with a team, act out, and thus the headline reads "Chelsea fans..." This isn't ever going to be the fault of the team. Looking at the coverage from the aftermath of the video being leaked, Chelsea responded in a way any brand would. 

Today is our Game for #Equality. Here is a special message from our players and manager... https://t.co/m8erWulrY2
— Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) February 21, 2015

This, along with a number of other events and things that Chelsea did in light of the actions of a few of their supporters, it screamed a little of the wrong message. It was very smart to deny the actions of those supporters, it reached a point that there were portraying a stance instead of "we don't agree with them." It hit a "we don't agree with them... because we have black players on our teams."


Regardless of the right and wrong of this situation, the level it hits is this. Supporters have a LARGE impact on a team and their actions. The moves, the choices, and the success can be centered around sponsorships and the players, but ultimately the overall success of a team is centered around the actions and the environment that supporters create in the stands.


So, to answer the question? What makes a team? Is it the players? Merchandise? Front office or management?

The supporters. Supporter make a team. 

Stop picking on Brian Williams, CNN.

This morning, between sips of coffee, I found myself locked in on CNN. A segment or actual program on their network was dedicated to talking about the issues with the news division at NBC and I was completely confused. Why was a cable news station finding it more appropriate to bash and question the moves of another news station? 

I sat back and began to think about what the most appropriate action for a news division during this time. While many people see the news of Jon Stewart's impending departure, and the credibility of network news, I find the the best thing to do is stay the course. 

For NBC: 

There is no use pretending that this didn't happen. Lester Holt will hold the ship true, and will be able to take the news ship back out to sea. The question lies with what should happen with Brian Williams? 

The answer isn't simple. Brian Williams will now, forever, be tied with this issue. Years from now when people are beginning documentary series on the way news was presented, his name and the NBC brand will be tied with this. 

The solution isn't going to be simple, but it will all be down to choices. Brian Williams has done a ton of beautiful, thought provoking, as well as credible work in the past. The question is whether or not you can properly restore any of his face value. 

1. The first course of action should be a full length apology. Brian Williams, by himself, in front of a camera. He should say things involved with how the journalism process goes and other information. 
2. The second is Brian Williams should accept EVERY interview that is offered on the subject after his suspension. He needs to be as open and candid as possible. People will want every detail, and why he shouldn't spill out every fact of everything he's ever done, being honest with people after this case can only help.

These steps would be a good start to restoring Brian Williams if NBC wouldn't want to buy out his contract.

For other news channels:

You know the old phrase, "Do unto others as you would do have others do unto you." Yeah. That's the best position to place this. Why would you spend hours on a story about another news channel discussing their issues when you'd probably be the first person to protest if they would do it to you? 

The best way to angle this story given the nature of the story is to present the facts of the story. Spending time discussing it looks tacky, trashy, and a step below TMZ's coverage of celebrities lives. It's silly to spend time digging into the past issues of a news station and management decisions you disagree.

Let the late night hosts take care of poking at the comical parts of the situation. Sure, Brian Williams didn't actually kill Hitler, but it's more entertaining (and proper) to hear Kimmel, Letterman, and Stewart refer to this story than an anchor leading a roundtable on CNN about it. 

In 6 months, we will see where Brian Williams will fall. Either back in the 6:30 pm EST slot anchoring the news doing a deep apology like what is rumored, or he will be taking over for Jon Stewart at Comedy Central...

Who knows? 

My letter to the Men in Blazers

Attached is an email I recently sent in to the Men in Blazer's podcast. I talk about how I found my MLS home and how I slowly because a MLS fan. 

Greetings gentlemen,

I was recently at my apartment during the day after having a class canceled and I was able to watch your appearance on the Dan Patrick show. I was poured myself another cup of coffee and turned up the volume. Among all the usual sub optimal talk that you guys were having, the topic of what club Dan should support came up.

This hit like a ton of bricks because while I credit myself as a SOCCAHH fan, and like many Americans my love for the sport was sparked during a World Cup (World Cup 2010, the day the Landon died) I didn't know what club I supported.

I began to investigate all of the leagues and teams. I knew the Premier League is an easy choice, and looking even farther in would be interesting, and while I found that I can support a club like Everton for its ties to the USA.  I was instantly drawn to the world of the MLS.

Now, for Christmas I was given a Team USA scarf and an "American Hero" Clint Dempsey shirt. Both I value dearly and the scarf I wear whenever the weather is cold enough. I look at the Seattle Sounders as a team I can support because of Clint and the baby boy DeAndre Yedlin. Sigi is definitely a strong manager and someone I enjoy seeing out.

I then look at the one team I do support. A part of the NASL, Indy Eleven have been my first foray into world of SOCCAHH outside of just watching on my TV. I attended a game where Indy was playing FC Edmonton last year in which during the Canadian National Anthem the supporter section (called the Brickyard Battalion) boo'd during the national anthem for Canada because a flock of Canadian geese flew over the field.

From then, I was hooked. I knew that not only was I a member of the Brickyard Battalion, but I knew that I needed to find a club to support.

Looking across the league to find a team that fit something of what I feel I felt in attending my first SOCCAHH match. I knew each club have their faithful, but I wanted an experience that I felt would be not only unique, but also something grassroots.

The Chicago Fire and the Columbus Crew are both the closest teams to me based on geography. I looked into the teams, and I felt I needed a club that was also starting something new.

After posting on Twitter that I would be a Fire supporter, the supporters tweeted back to me with suggestions on where to go to learn more about the club and what not.

I wanted to share this with you because while I may not get to listen to every week, you two have contributed a ton to what I know about this sport and what I love about the people involved. Thank you for helping me find my SOCCAHH home and I can't wait to see what time will tell.

#cf97

A message from a Colts fan.

Like many Colts fans, the Sunday after the AFC Championship game I was met with anger about the possibility involved in the Patriots cheating during the game by deflating the balls used in the game. I was angry, not only as a Colts fan, but as a fan of a sport that is slowly losing it's grasp on the term "punishment."

A majority of the Colts fans that you talk to about the subject will probably meet your presentation of the situation with a quick "burn them in fire" rebuttal. Many felt the team needed to be thrown out of the Super Bowl and cast into the fiery circle of cheaters.

That would be fun, but that's not realistic. The score proved that no matter what side of the argument you are on, New England was the better team.

With all this in mind, the punishment debate for deflate gate has pushed past the realistic. With fans of any team but New England (which should probably just be a team itself) declaring that the Patriots "should be removed from the Super Bowl." And while many around the NFL are probably thankful that a bad PR story doesn't start with "How the NFL supports domestic violence." This story is probably a gift from the news gods.

Regardless of your stance, we have to look at a number of variables. Most punishments placed on a team or players in sports are minimum on their severity or incorrect in their length. Ray Rice faced only a two game suspension for alleged domestic violence and it was later appealed and the NFL had to deal with the downfall.

This isn’t anything new to sports.

But when we look at the Patriots situation we see a team that has been accused of other cheating-like actions before. The NFL is currently investigating as of this post, but here is what SHOULD be set down as a punishment if the possible Super Bowl winners are to be found guilty:

1. The employee responsible should be fired.
2. The team will be fined $500,000.
3.  The team should lose two draft picks.
4. All transactions and other administrative actions shall be cleared by the NFL for one season.

When a team in college is found cheating, punishments that are placed can be loss of scholarships, wins, loss of national championships, and other things that often cripple programs for years. We often overlook that when we see the pro game as teams have higher amounts of money, higher quality, thus the image of a punishment befitting the crime.

As a Colts fan, I’d love to say the appropriate punishment for New England is for them to lose their spot in the Super Bowl, and the Colts to get to either replay the AFC Championship game or for the team to outright assume a place in the Super Bowl.

That just isn’t realistic. Nor is it fair. What I do hope is an action from the NFL that if they deem the organization to be responsible is befitting of the crime against the game. While I know that not everyone can be happy about a decision, it’s not unrealistic to expect the league to take the proper action for an organization that has been in this situation before.