(Part 2) Best products from r/MLS

Just to respond to your points since you called me out.

1. I agree its a joke. I was just trying to explain the mindset of the fans so you could maybe understand why we aren't upset with/criticizing our players. This loss could spell disaster for our chances at home games in the playoffs. It is a big deal. Despite that fact, we want to cut them some slack and could not currently say "Philly is better than you. It's time to step it up and figure it out." We can say, "Philly played better and harder than you, get some rest over the break and come back strong." We've been upset with our coach and players all season, but not anymore. Justin Meram puts our current mood clearly. Random aside: ATL beat the team, twice this month, that called Meram a terrorist. One of many feathers in the cap for August. Actually, now that I think about it, your right, fuck Philly and your toxic chemical stadium in the middle of nowhere. We should beat you guys even when our players are totally gassed.
   
2. Let that "Union's Real" goalpost move. Although your fans should know by now, considering just how big(3.) that game was for you guys. Underdog mentality didn't hurt the Eagles/Foles. I'd go ahead and bask in underdog status as well. Speaking of the Eagles, I'll tell one thing that convinces me Union is more legit this year. When I was at the game screaming from the supporter's section, they didn't do the Eagles chant. First time I have been in Talen Stadium and didn't hear an "E-A-G-L-E-S Eagles!" chant as some sort of awkward response to ATL chants. Another big deal for the "Delaware Toxic River Snakes" is that you guys finally got a bar/brewery near the stadium. Chester man.
   
3. You guys are bound to have even bigger games this season. Any win in the playoffs or against NYFC at the end of the season could easily top this one. It was a big(est?) one though, otherwise, you wouldn't be so worked up.
   
4. Ok so being tired and salary are both excuses. I'll just fully agree with you here.
   
5. We started the season playing two homegrown talents. Bello is a very young kid and we put him out in CCL and would probably start him every game, but he has been injured. We also have another homegrown that we would use a lot if he would stop drinking underage and doing generally dumb shit. Homegrown talent is already in our culture. We depended on these two guys enough that we had to make midseason acquisitions to make up for their failings this year. Next year will be different, I hope.Also, our coach's biggest strength is youth development. He was huge for that at AJAX. So it should be our culture from the top down.
   
   THREE CUPS ARE BETTER THAN NONE. CONTINENTAL CHAMPIONS! CCL IS NEXT BABY!
   
   ​
   
   PS: You guys should do a yearly cup with Miami called the TOXIC STADIUM CUP. The losers have to drink a glass of unfiltered tap water from the local area. What do you think? Could be a good chance at some silverware.
   
   PSS: Benjamin Franklin's son was a British loyalist traitor. Don't tread on his legacy fam. ;-)
   
   PSSSSSSSSS: I hope you guys stay good for years and help bring more attention to MLS. We can both hate the New Jersey Energy Drinks together. Philly is a great sports city and could do a lot to support the team/league. Y'all need a game at the LINC once a year or something. That stadium, with the bridge, is fucking sexy tho.

Bloody Confused!: A Clueless American Sportswriter Seeks Solace in English Soccer -- The book for the novice soccer fan. It explains how one can get caught up in the sport even if they deride it or have no history with it. Amazon: After covering the American sports scene for fifteen years, Chuck Culpepper suffered from a profound case of Common Sportswriter Malaise. He was fed up with self-righteous proclamations, steroid scandals, and the deluge of in-your-face PR that saturated the NFL, the NBA, and MLB. Then in 2006, he moved to London and discovered a new and baffling world—the renowned Premiership soccer league. Culpepper pledged his loyalty to Portsmouth, a gutsy, small-market team at the bottom of the standings. As he puts it, “It was like childhood, with beer.”

The Ball is Round: A Global History of Soccer -- Be warned this book can be mistaken as a blunt object. One of the most global histories I've ever read. If you like information about how world soccer got to where it is now, I highly recommend this book. Amazon: In this extraordinary tour de force, David Goldblatt tells the full story of soccer's rise from chaotic folk ritual to the world's most popular sport-now poised to fully establish itself in the USA. Already celebrated internationally, The Ball Is Round illuminates soccer's role in the political and social histories of modern societies, but never loses sight of the beauty, joy, and excitement of the game itself.

Long-Range Goals: The Success Story of Major League Soccer -- Amazon: From the league’s formation in 1993 to the David Beckham era, this book reveals all the action on and off the pitch: the politics, the lawsuits, the management of its teams, and the savvy business deals that helped MLS rebound. It also revels in the big personalities of its stars, the grace of its utility players, and the obstacles the league faces in meeting its long-range goals.

Corner Offices & Corner Kicks -- Amazon: The Bethlehem Steel soccer team of 1907-30 and the New York Cosmos of 1971-85 were very much alike in a number of ways beyond their status as the two greatest soccer teams the United States has ever produced. The most important way that they are alike is that both were owned by major corporations, which is the exception in professional sports, and both experienced the benefits and the pitfalls of corporate ownership. Here are the stories of these two teams, and in particular the roller-coaster rides that their ownership situations sent them on.

i've ordered Herr Pep and Boquita. really pumped to read those. on the internet, Marti Perarnau has interesting guides to various European leagues.

the best soccer book of ALL time though is by Eduardo Galeano, El futbol a sol y sombra, also known as Soccer in Sun and Shadow.

Inverting the Pyramid is Great, How Soccer Explains the World is awesome, and Alex Bellos' book, Futebol: The Brazilian Way of Life is also really, really great.

Big Bill of Chicago is basically a companion volume to Lords of the Levee -- by the same authors and covering the period under mayor Big Bill Thompson. Also rollicking good fun.

For more recent history, see Boss by Mike Royko -- an eviscerating portrait of the Richard Daley administration.

All three of these books, you'll note, are the works of journalists rather than academic historians, which means they're captivating and engaging stories by people who write with a joy and a sharpness you don't typically find among more academic works.

Not a history, but Devil in the White City is an excellent novel set in Chicago at the time of the World's Fair.

As for histories, Distant Corners and Soccer in a Football World constitute the definitive history of the sport in North America.

Seems like a lot of effort to show something that should be completely obvious to anyone with half a brain...

>Wikipedia cites this famous logical illusion as the best illustration of what cognitive scientists call "The Conjunction Fallacy."

> Linda is 31 years old, single, outspoken, and very bright. She majored in philosophy. As a student, she was deeply concerned with issues of discrimination and social justice, and also participated in anti-nuclear demonstrations.

> Which is more probable?

> Linda is a bank teller.
> Linda is a bank teller and is active in the feminist movement.

This is from Thinking, Fast and Slow

You may be interested in Star-Spangled Soccer: The Selling, Marketing and Management of Soccer in the USA by Gary Hopkins. Published in 2010, the book tracks the development of the soccer business in the U.S. from 1990 to the 1994 World Cup to the founding of MLS to (roughly) the present, analyzing franchise operations, youth development, and the growth of the American soccer market.

From the inside cover:
> Star-Spangled Soccer charts America's 25-year journey to becoming a soccer nation, the key business, decisions, personalities, and events that shaped its growth, and the developing perfect soccer storm that will propel its unstoppable march forward. The book takes its lead from a single premise that the granting of the 1994 World Cup to the United States set in motion a chain of events that has redefined soccer in America forever, good and bad, up and down, but ultimately positioned to become a major force in the rapidly changing American sports landscape. Drawn from a 20-year career as a senior executive in the American soccer market and supported by first-person interviews and insights with all the key personalities and decision-makers, Star-Spangled Soccer is essential reading for anyone wanting to understand the American soccer market, where it has come from, and why it is positioned for exponential growth.

Soccer Against The Enemy is kind of a similar idea to How Soccer Explains the World, but it talks about some different stuff.

The Miracle of Castel di Sangro - a bizarre, true story about an Italian team that climbs from the basement of Italian soccer to the Serie B. It's about the country and the people as much as it is about soccer, but it was absurd and fascinating and I couldn't put it down.

Very cool that you're doing this. I did a cross-country trip of Canada and the US this past summer with soccer as a secondary reason, and was able to hit up a few Copa America Centenario games (Chicago, Philly, and Foxborough) and MLS games (Montreal, Vancouver, and Columbus.) Happy to provide any help if you want. I would also check out this book (https://www.amazon.com/Dont-Care-Never-Get-Back/dp/0802123767) if you have the time. It's about a man who planned a road trip to see all 30 baseball stadiums in 30 days. Its humor helped me a lot when I was feeling overwhelmed by the road

Help Jeff recover from this setback by buying his children's books centered on sports stories: 1) Tom Brady and Bill Bellichick; 2) Cavaliers win 2016 NBA title; 3) 2016 Chicago Cubs; and 4) Crimson Tide. Bonus book: NASA sending men to the moon.

Jeff Attinella: Husband, father, sports warrior, 2-time MLS Cup runner-up, Timber, and author.

Wow that's pretty ridiculous haha. Heres a link to some of the stuff I'm talking about. Toronto scarf for $3.31. Hopefully its the same price for you on Canadian amazon

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B06XJ3RTSM/

Great post.

Colin Jose is another resources although he's more into the statistics (tables) versus explaining a narrative: http://thisiscosmoscountry.com/?p=1346

http://www.amazon.com/American-Soccer-League-Colin-Jose/dp/0810834294

http://www.amazon.com/Colin-Jose/e/B001K80UCE/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_1/191-5369569-6802463

Wangerin should be read with an open, critical mind. It is a good book, and you should consider his perspective as an American and that the pre NASL work focuses primarily on the east coast.

For example in the Pacific NW historically there may have been more British influence too (Columbia District/Oregon Territory/54-40 or Fight dynamic before the US swallowed it up to the 49th parallel). From the 1800-1900's there was more Scottish influence and leagues around the Puget Sound of rugby and association codes (those regional leagues not worth really discussing other than St Louis because they'd play for the US Open Cup). What other areas, or parts of the conversation were missed in the review of newspaper articles? What biases did/do newspapers (the mainstream/popular media of the time) have? With questions like this in mind, Wangerin is a good starting point.

Remember history is written by the victors, and it is a story.

Amazon.ca version has SKC's for only $72!

https://imgur.com/a/xbzD5

https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B06XJ3RTSM/