July 19, 2015
Detroit City FC 2, Michigan Stars 0
Wisner Memorial Stadium
DCFC Javi Bautista (Bobby Budlong) 51′
DCFC Seb Harris (Cyrus Saydee) 56′
Attendance: More Le Rouge fans than Stars fans.
Final match of the regular season in Pontiac against the Michigan Stars. I arrived early, garbed in my photographer’s vest peppered with City After Dark/NGS buttons, Rouge Rover scarf draped over my shoulders, and black DCFC cap. Bought my ticket then went through the gate where I was met by two security guards. One of them asked me if I was with the other team.
Really?
I acknowledged the obvious, to which he then pointed to the opposite side of the field. “You go over there.”
Always interesting visiting this opponent.
The game meant nothing to the Stars, and to us it only determined where we would be seeded in the playoffs to be held in Madison, Wisconsin. Still, it was the Stars, and after scaring them to the other side of the field during warm-ups, defeating them on the score sheet was the goal. Two goals within five minutes in the second half by Javi Bautista and Seb Harris ended the regular season on a winning note.
July 17, 2015
Detroit City FC 2, Erie Commodores 3
Cass Tech Stadium
ERIE Jimmy Barrios 13′
DCFC Will Mellors-Blair (Cyrus Saydee) 21′
DCFC Will Mellors-Blair (Cyrus Saydee) 42′
ERIE Eric Campbell 68′
ERIE Austin Solomon 75′
Attendance: 3,793
Another sellout at Cass Stadium tonight as Erie came to town. Demoted from “Admirals” to “Commodores,” it was the same old Erie (#HateErie).
Final home matches tend to mean something in securing our place in the playoffs. In 2012, we lost to Erie at home, costing us the opportunity to host the playoffs. In 2013, it was against an undefeated FC Buffalo, and though we still had three road matches remaining, beating Buffalo was an important three points in securing a spot in the playoffs and hosting them. In 2014, it was a must-win against Fort Pitt which led to the division-title-deciding match in Lansing two days later.
This season, the stakes were high once again. A win here and in two days against the Michigan Stars on their field put us in the position of hosting the playoffs. Unfortunately, this loss, coupled with a Madison 56ers win against the Minnesota Twinstars the next day, meant travel to Wisconsin for the division playoffs.
Another exciting match, with Will Mellors-Blair’s brace taking us into halftime with a 2-1 lead. However, Erie was Erie, and Danny Mudd came up big for the seamen, keeping them in the game until they notched goals by Campbell and Solomon for the victory.
July 11, 2015
Detroit City FC 3, Michigan Stars 1
Cass Tech Stadium
DCFC Will Mellors-Blair 4′
DCFC Josh Rogers 41′ (PK)
MICH Alex Sertwatka (Alexander Adelabu) 62′
DCFC Will Mellors-Blair (Alex Isaevski) 78′
Attendance: 3,884
Another record-breaking crowd as Le Rouge trounce the Michigan Stars in this excellent game. Will Mellors-Blair gave City an early lead in the fourth minute. Four minutes before the end of the first half Le Rouge was awarded a penalty kick which captain Josh Rogers converted.
The Stars carried the play between the two DCFC goals, but went into the halftime locker room down 2-0. In the second half, the Stars cut the lead in half with a goal in the 62nd minute by Alex Sertwatka. Le Rouge sealed the deal in the 78th minute when Alex Isaevski delivered a beautiful outlet ball which Will Mellors-Blair ran onto and buried into the Stars’ goal.
June 28, 2015
Detroit City FC 1, Lansing United 0
Cass Tech Stadium
DCFC Will Mellors-Blair 39′
Attendance: 3,701
Lansing United came into Detroit undefeated and on top of the league. They went home defeated and in third place. A record crowd of 3,701 witnessed the beautiful goal by Will Mellors-Blair…
…a crucial save by Alexandre Bouillennec, and 90 minutes of a competitive soccer match.
It also saw the return of Friendly the Polar Bear!
-Outsider in the House
-The Speech: A Historic Filibuster on Corporate Greed and the Decline of Our Middle Class
-Bernie
-Bernie Sanders In His Own Words
-The Essential Bernie Sanders and his Vision for America
-Outsider in the White House
They say that one should not discuss sex, politics, and religion in polite company. Well, I already broke the rule by reviewing Buddhist books and books by Buddhist writers earlier. So, yes, I’m going to occasionally review books of a political nature, starting with this Bernie Sanders collection.
The videos and photos were taken at a Bernie Sanders presidential campaign rally at Eastern Michigan University in Ypsilanti, MI on February 15, 2016, and at the Macomb County Community College in Warren, MI on March 5, 2016. The EMU Convocation Center seats 9,000, and Bernie spoke to a capacity 9,394 crowd on this Monday afternoon, and between 3,000-4,000 (by my estimates) in Warren.
And, in full disclosure, I am supporting Bernie Sanders’ campaign for United States President. All that said, on to the books.
Starting with Ted Rall’s book, Bernie (Seven Stories Press, 2016) because it is the most recent book I’ve read. Rall not only reveals Bernie’s personal story, but how the Democratic Party moved to the right since the 1972 landslide victory of Richard Nixon over George McGovern. This move away from the progressives, coupled with Reagan’s trickle-down economics, resulted in policies which grew the military industrial complex, shipped manufacturing jobs overseas, depressed middle class wages, increased incarceration and prison-building, and removed restrictions on Wall Street and banks. The Democrats kept progressives at bay, providing a lesser-of-two-evils choice for their vote. Then Rall gets into Sanders’ personal history, wrapping up with how Sanders offers the progressive wing of the party a legitimate voice during this year’s campaign. This well-researched and reasoned book comes in a condensed form at a time when many who may not know about Bernie Sanders can quickly understand his origins and how so many, like myself, have come to rally for the Independent Senator from Vermont to create a country for We, the People, instead of for the corporations and wealthy.
The Speech: A Historic Filibuster on Corporate Greed and the Decline of Our Middle Class (Nation Books, 2011) is the verbatim, eight-and-a-half hour, 255-page speech Senator Bernie Sanders delivered on the floor of the US Senate on December 10, 2010, to filibuster a tax bill that President Obama and Republicans agreed to which would cut taxes for the rich, once more. It was an epic moment, with President Obama calling a press conference to draw attention away from the marathon recitation by Senator Sanders. This is not a filibuster in which the Senator read the phone book or other time-killing trivial matters, but a full-on rant on how these tax breaks would widen the gap between the wealthy and the rest of us, on corporate greed, and money in politics, and how it all has had a negative impact on the citizens of this country.
Bernie Sanders : In His Own Words (Skyhorse Publishing, 2015) is a collection of Bernie Sanders quotes on a variety of topics such as the Economy, Jobs and Wealth Distribution, the Environment, Equality, Health Care, Criminal Justice, and more, compiled by Chamois Holschuh, with illustrations by Walker Bragman.
For something a little deeper into the political platform and philosophy of governance, then The Essential Bernie Sanders and his Vision for America (Chelsea Green Publishing, 2015) by Jonathan Tasini is what you’re looking for. Again, each chapter is broken down topically based on the issues. Tasini explains, in the Preface that…
(t)he goal of this book is to present to the country, in a succinct way, Bernie’s authenticity and his accomplishments, a vision that he believes is a winning agenda because it exactly reflects, whatever labels one sticks on the messenger, the desires and beliefs of a majority of people.
On the shelves of your local bookstore you should be able to find Outsider in the White House (Verso, 2015) by Bernie Sanders with Huck Gutman. It is an updated edition of the 1997 Verso autobiography of Sanders, Outsider in the House. Here, the Independent Senator from Vermont tells his life story. The new material is an afterword written by John Nichols, Outsider in the Presidential Race.
Avoiding books on religion, politics, and sex is shunning a multitude of thoughts and ideas that inspire and guide us in the practice of life. Choosing to ignore the discussion of them does a disservice to the exchange of ideas. I’m sure there will be more future books on religion and politics on this site. And maybe some sex, too. Why not hit the trifecta, eh?
June 20, 2015
Detroit City FC 3, Cincinnati Saints 1
Winthrow High School – Cincinnati, OH
CINN Scott Shugh (Christian Myton) 4′
DCFC Matt Ybara 76′
DCFC Dan Dragoi (Will Mellors-Blair) 85′
DCFC David Edwardson 90+’
Attendance: ?
There are games in a team’s history fans will never forget. For the fifty or so of us who made the trip to Cincinnati, this match will go down in Detroit City FC lore.
Yes, it was special on a personal level in that I had family in the crowd. However, they were Cincinnatians, and did not get to experience the euphoria. This was the last match in the Kitchen/DCFC vs Bruce/Saints rivalry (the Saints moving north to Dayton for the 2016 season), which DCFC swept with four wins in four games. The way this one played out, though…
We (Northern Guard Supporters) met at O’Bryon’s Irish Pub less than a mile away from the high school stadium. The street lined with cars bearing Michigan license plates, the building was packed with the Northern Guard.
We gathered in the high school parking lot, signed the Rouge Rover flag, then made our presence known, marching to the far corner of the stands.
In the first half, I positioned myself between the two benches, for Le Rouge was attacking opposite the NGS end. This put me directly in front of my family.
Which also made me a target for their camera.
The Saints took an early lead on a goal by Scott Shough, and nursed it to the half time whistle.
There was happiness among the Bruce family with the halftime score. I tried to talk my nephew Alex into joining me on the Northern Guard side of the field for the second half, but he declined.
In the second half, things would get worse for Le Rouge. Cyrus Saydee was shown a red card (which, if you know Cyrus and his sleight build, it must have been a hell of an embellishment by a Saints player), putting us down to ten men.
Still, Le Rouge would not be denied. Especially when the fans who made the five-hour trip were louder than the smattering of locals.
They kept pressing…
and in the end, they put not one,
not two,
but three goals into the Saints net.
Second half action:
Yes, there was much rejoicing, and much smoke…
which prompted some neighbors to call the fire department!
It was too difficult to hide the smugness, my gait catching up to my forlorn family at the game’s conclusion. Last year’s match in Cincinnati was won by Detroit in the final minute. Tonight, up a goal and up a man, the confidence my family must have felt, being so close to finally beating my team, went up in smoke.
The legacy of this match was immortalized in one of City After Dark’s pins. City After Dark is a fundraising extension of the Northern Guard, which raises money for tifos and smoke.
I went to New York in 2014 to see my favorite Premiere League team, Arsenal, and in December, 2015, I found myself at Crew Stadium watching my favorite MLS team host the 2015 MLS Cup. Both were memorable, but this game, by far, currently ranks as the best soccer match I’ve ever been to.
June 17, 2015
Friendly
Detroit City FC 1, Columbus Crew College Program 3
Cass Tech Stadium
DCFC Tyler Channell (Alex Isaevski) 26′
CREW Ahinga Seleman 30′
CREW Ryan James (Nate Kohl) 37′
CREW Willy Bayemi (Hunter Robertson) 72′
Attendance: 2,610
The almost-annual friendly against the Columbus Crew kids. After skipping them in 2014, the mid-week tune-up resulted in another loss to the Major League Soccer wannabes. But that never diminishes the fun at a DCFC match.
DoHaeng Michael Kitchen 