June 8, 2018
NPSL Regular Season Match
Grandview High School, Columbus, OH
FC Columbus 1, Detroit City FC 1
Attendance: ?
Record: 3-1-1 = 10pts.
FCC Ezra Armstrong 15′
DCFC Stephen Carroll (Danny Deakin) 86′
A crappy, rainy Friday in Ohio dampened the energy and mood of the evening. It started weird, as the teams came out with no Rouge Rovers in the stands. A tweet by the FC Columbus team stated that a lightning strike would delay the match fifteen minutes, which gave the Rovers time for one more pop at the local pub. However, the officials led the teams onto the pitch promptly at 7:00 PM, and the match started a bit quieter than usual.
An early goal by Ezra Armstrong in the 15th minute gave the home team the lead.
I wish all the folks in the next photo had gathered closer together, so that we could compare the Rouge Rover crowd above, who drove four hours to Ohio’s capital city, to the home team fans. They probably had a handful more than the FC Indiana crowd, thanks to the group in the lower left corner – the supporter group.
In general, the match was frustrating, as City did not have a great performance. Credit FC Columbus defense for some of that. Rouge Rovers’ frustration showed with a chant of “Take a Freakin’ Shot” at one point.
In the 86th minute, Stephen Carroll watched Danny Deakin’s cross from the corner find his forehead to steal a point in Ohio.
A little Michigan-Ohio friction surfaced as the match drew near its conclusion.
May 19, 2018
International Friendly
Keyworth Stadium, Hamtramck, MI
Detroit City FC 2, FC St. Pauli 6
Attendance: 7,264
DCFC Trevor Amann 8′
FCSP Sami Allagui 21′
FCSP Seungwon Lee 28′
FCSP Sami Allagui 32′
FCSP Waldemar Sobota 53′
FCSP Dimitrious Diamantakos 66′
DCFC Rafael Mentzingen 85′
FCSP Seungwon Lee 88′
As a contrast to my rant on the previous match’s page about football supporters in America, our next match was a friendly against FC St. Pauli.
FC St. Pauli. There is so much one could write about this team. On the surface, it looks like a typical European football club, situated in the St. Pauli quarter of Hamburg, with a history of floating in the mid-tables of second-division German soccer and the rare promotion to the Bundesliga, only to be relegated back the next season. Its home grounds – the Millerntor – is most always filled to its 32,000 seat capacity.
However, in the 1980’s the squatting movement was strong, especially in Hamburg. After an important battle by the squatters was won in Hafenstraße – an area around Hamburg’s port – people involved in the protests held together in solidarity within the community and continued to meet through the decade. They began going to FC St. Pauli matches, outnumbering the thousand or so that usually attended, and began to influence the culture. A team supported by fans with mohawk hairstyles, studded leather jackets, and Che Guevara flags drew the attention of like-minded fans and activists. The skull and crossbones became the supporters’ logo, they drew the attention of punk rock bands and its culture which increased the team’s popularity worldwide. FC St. Pauli groups exist all around the globe (including Detroit).
The supporters and team take a strong political stance; anti-racism, anti-fascism, anti-homophobic, anti-sexist, and pro-refugee. Sometimes, this has created conflict with neo-Nazis and hooligans at road games. The team’s strong statement is memorialized in its Guiding Principles.
This lengthy history is better suited to books and such, and I’d recommend Nick Davidson’s Pirates, Punks, & Politcs about FC St. Pauli, and a couple of good pieces in Gabriel Kuhn’s Soccer vs. The State (which also has a good section about a previous international visitor – FC United of Manchester.)
It is a massive honor and thrill to have FC St. Pauli here in Detroit.
The festivities began the day before, with a FC St. Pauli supporters meet-up at 2:30 PM at Third Man Records in Hamtramck. Then, an opening night reception was held at Detroit City Distillery in Detroit’s Eastern Market, with supporters and players from both teams in attendance.
The denim jackets they were selling looked cool, so I bought one for my son, who lived for a few weeks at Occupy Detroit in 2011. Though not a sports fan, he was thrilled with the jacket.
The evening concluded with a concert at St. Andrews Hall featuring the punk band, Rise Against, sponsored by FC St. Pauli.
On Match Day, a panel on The Future of Supporter- Based Football was held at 11AM at Amnesia, within the MotorCity Casino. I missed this event, and am sorry I did.
Then came the match, which was televised on FoxSports Detroit. When I arrived at the Fowling Warehouse, it began to rain. Then it stopped and the sun blazed high and hot. At Keyworth, it rained again with the sun in the sky.
See. I told you he liked the jacket. I gave my rainbow FC St. Pauli-Detroit City FC scarf to my grandson, Dean, after the match, which he loves.
The match was pretty one-sided, as expected, but only for those ninety-minutes did Detroit City FC and the Northern Guard Supporters oppose FC St. Pauli. And vice versa.
The day wrapped up with a post-match party at the Magic Stick in Detroit. This was just another fantastic international friendly on so many levels. So much so, I entered the eBay auction for FC St. Pauli jerseys and won defender Christopher Avevor’s.
In November 2018, I learned through Richard Polt (author of The Typewriter Revolution) that an anthology of typewritten works was being contemplated for publication. First, he and the editorial panel sent out the feelers to see if there was anyone interested in contributing to it. This wasn’t going to be a random collection of typewritten stories, essays, and poems. Instead, it would have a central organizing theme. The title of the anthology is Cold Hard Type. From the call for submissions….
Imagine that digital civilization collapses, and that some people adopt typewriters as their
tools of choice. What will their adventures be? These are the tales of their struggles, defeats, and
triumphs as they try to bring back typewriters from the grave of “obsolete” technology and
restore them to their rightful place in the sun. All contributions to COLD HARD TYPE will be
set in the future and will involve typewriters as an essential part of their content. The final
versions of the texts will also actually be typed on typewriters.
The basic premise allows for many possibilities: there are different scenarios for the
partial or complete breakdown of digital technology and culture, various reasons for the collapse
in different parts of the world, different stages of the process, and many possible results. Stories
can be set early in the process or centuries later. They may be funny, dark, violent, light, ironic,
or profound. They can be suitable for an adult audience, but should not be out-and-out
pornographic or sadistic. They can range from short-shorts (1 page) to around 20 pages.
Genre-writing is not my forte, however I conceived a story around two central characters – clandestine lovers – faced with the sudden obstacle of consummating their affair without the convenience of cell phones and the internet. After a couple drafts and working through the details, I cobbled together the short-story I submitted, titled Immunity. I was thrilled to learn that it was accepted on January 22, 2019.
Next was the hard part – typing it out. It has been a long time since I’ve had to type something requiring such precision. No spell correction. No simple backspace and retype. After typing the first page partially through four times (pulling it from the machine after stupid mistakes), I realized what a task I set for myself. Not only to type the story, but to do so using three different typewriters, which is what the story called for. I had to set the margins to meet the needs of the publication, for each machine. Then, there were the pages where a section on one typewriter ended and a new section on one of the other typewriters began. The challenge of lining them up and not making an error in the second part, so I didn’t have to go back and type the first part on the first typewriter again, didn’t make my life easy.
I recorded a little video to show the process.
Sixteen pages and many hours later, I’ve got a typed manuscript, ready to mail. A couple typos slipped in, I’m sure.
Back in the day, this is how writers would submit manuscripts, and lawyers would write and file motions and briefs to the court. Technology has made such tasks easier, but to our benefit? Once the typebar is sent to the page, there’s no returning it. And correction tape may correct an error, but doesn’t make clean copy. Time and patience was required, something our short attentions would have struggled with.
From what I understand, there was such a popular response and collection of material submitted that there will be two different volumes of the Cold Hard Type anthology. When I get word on the books’ availability, I’ll let you know which of the two anthologies my story will be in. I’m sure both volumes will have very interesting and exciting material to read.
My 100th Detroit City FC match.
I’m going to do a little ranting in this one.
FC Cincinnati.
-A USL franchise coveting a move into the MLS through expansion, in competition with the Gilbert-Gores MLS bid in Detroit.
-A collection of 25,000+ people who show up, bowing before billionaire owner, Carl Linder III, when the team made their first appearance in the USL in 2016.
Detroit City FC visited Cincinnati twice (2014 and 2015) against the Cincinnati Saints NPSL team, where these “fans” could have begun building their club.
Last year (2017), FC Cincinnati had a remarkable run in the U.S. Open Cup, making it all the way to the semi-final round, and came 70 minutes away from making it to the finals. They took a 2-0 lead into the locker room against the New York Red Bulls, however they lost the match in extra-time, 3-2. You’d think the ‘sports professional’ minds at FC Cincinnati would anticipate that their fans would be eager for the 2018 version of the competition. Instead of hosting us at their stadium, like they did against AFC Cleveland before a crowd of 12,790 in the second round of 2017, they downsized our match to a field smaller than Detroit Cass Tech High School (where we played from 2012-2015, pushing the 3,000+ high school field to its limits) and awarded Detroit City FC only 50 tickets to disperse among family and supporters. The remaining seats were sold out the week prior to the match. The team needed 22 tickets, leaving 28 for traveling Northern Guard Supporters.
I was fortunate. I contacted the team for a media pass. The email I received in response read as follows:
Normally we only allow accredited media on to the field with game day credentials, but given the situation at Gettler Stadium, we’ll make the exception for you and one other. I’ll shoot a note out on Monday with the parking and credential pick-up information.
The other media pass went to Miko (check out his YouTube page for awesome vids of DCFC matches) I’m glad I didn’t have to use a ticket so that another Rouge Rover could. But what is ‘accredited media’ these days? I know , back in the late 1990’s, when I shot for Great Lakes Hockey Alliance, ‘accredited media’ meant a hard-copy media source, like a newspaper or sports publication. Today’s media is broader than that isn’t it?
Or is this just another barrier created by ‘professional’ sports teams.
I’ve digressed. Onward.
After checking into the hotel, I went to find the tavern the Rouge Rovers laid claim to, guiding my sister and her family (northern Kentucky residents) to meet pre-game. They arrived before me and took a table as far away from the Rouge Rovers as possible. That’s okay. I noticed a digital jukebox, dropped a few quarters, and a selected “500 Miles” and “I Just Can’t Get Enough,” which treated my family and other natives to a loud chorus of the fine voices of the Rouge Rovers when they heard the tunes.
Heh heh heh.
Below, you’ll see the fine accommodations FC Cincinnati provided their fans for a U.S. Open Cup match after last season’s huge success. Does this mean they’re clueless? Does this mean they don’t know ‘their fans?’ Does this mean that this is the percentage of ‘die hard’ fans that FC Cincinnati know they have? Or were they simply afraid of the Northern Guard Supporters?
Fans sit. Supporters stand.
In the 31st minute, City takes the lead on a beautiful bit of precision passing along the left side, with Danny Deakin delivering the ball to Shawn Lawson who puts it into the net. There’s a good video of the goal at Detroit City FC’s Facebook Page HERE.
Unfortunately, the lead was short-lived as the USL team scored in the 35th minute.
At the end of 90 minutes, the score remained even.
Let me repeat that. On their home turf, the professional, MLS-wannabes played 90 minutes against a fourth-tier group of unpaid, mostly college players, and could not beat them.
In the thirty-minutes of added time, the USL team scored three goals to win the match. Would it have been nice to beat this team? Of course it would have. But we’re Detroit City FC. We didn’t roll over, and we gave them a game.
Thirteen days after our visit, MLS granted them what they wanted. Another American city whose citizens and supporters are deserving of the screwing they will receive by MLS and its billionaire share-holders.
Some people find sports to be a form of entertainment, like attending a movie, a concert, or a play. These folks tend to be labeled bandwagon or fair-weather fans because they only show interest when the team is winning (just like they only show up at the theater, the concert hall, or the stage for the performances they want to see). They also tend to see that sports is a business and nothing more than that.
Some people find more meaning in sports. They go to many home games, watch many road games on television, and wear the colors of their team or the jerseys of their favorite players. They may even build a network of friends to talk about and be with during these games. With them, there is the acceptance of a barrier between them and the team itself. The team provides and the fan consumes, and never the twain shall connect beyond that. They don’t mind if the team imposes heavy tax breaks on the city which burdens its citizens and fattens the wallets of the owners because they tend live outside the city and care more about the existence of their professional team.
But then some people are supporters. These are the folks who not only attend the matches, but create the experience. It’s a blending between team and fan which create a club. A family. Not only rooted to each other, but to the community as well.
I grew up watching hockey and being a hockey fan (and unconsciously tried to create a supporter culture with an OHL team which failed because the team general manager shunned booster clubs). I have defined my relationship to sports teams in each of these definitions during different stages of my life. I believe that the supporter culture, which is more people-oriented versus profit-oriented; more inclusive than exclusive, produces the right environment for me, and a better approach for the community. Everyone has a place (bandwagon fan, team fan, supporter) and anyone can find their place and contribute the skills and passion they have and want to provide to the club and supporter group, as a whole. And the barrier between club and supporter is very thin.
Detroit City FC and the Northern Guard Supporters are creating a new paradigm. Seven years of success. $750,000 to repair Keyworth Stadium raised from supporters, not extorted from taxpayers.
There’s no right or wrong way to be a supporter of Detroit City FC. We welcome all. But if you’ve followed traditional professional American sports, you will find being a Detroit City FC supporter is something very unique and special.
This being my 100th match, I can testify to that.
CITY TIL I DIE!
Bury me in City rouge
Ahh ha, Ahh ha.
Bury me in City gold
Ohh, oh, Ohh oh.
May 13, 2018
NPSL Game One
Skyline High School, Ann Arbor MI
AFC Ann Arbor 1, Detroit City FC 0
Attendance: ?
Record: 0-0-1
AFCAA Martieon Watson 90′
We opened the 2018 NPSL season against that team in Ann Arbor. It was an off-and-on rainy Sunday afternoon.
The match had a sense of a hang-over to it. After riding the high of beating the Bucks, neither team sparked much in the way of offense or intensity. Perhaps it was too early in the season for the animosity to develop.
The Rouge Rovers chanted and sang and added a new tune to the hymnal especially for AFC Ann Arbor – “Rotting Oaks in Ann Arbor.”
May 9, 2018
Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup
Keyworth Stadium, Hamtramck, MI
Detroit City FC 1 (5) v Michigan Bucks 1 (4)
Attendance: 3,416
DCFC Shawn Lawson 58′
Bucks Alfonso Pineirho Neto 85′ (PK)
PK GOALS
Detroit City FC – 5 (Brad Centala, Omar Sinclair, Stephen Carroll, Elliot Bently, Roddy Green)
Michigan Bucks – 4 (David Goldsmith, Giuseppe Barone, Jared Timmer, Mitch Guitar)
Last season’s NPSL Midwest Region Championship earned us another invite to the Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup. It is the oldest professional soccer tournament in America, dating back to 1914. The week-night match started with damp conditions, and a flash of lightning delayed the start, but spirits were high. We’ve played the Bucks twice in this tournament, losing the first one then beating them in 2016, both matches on their home turf. This time, they had to come to Keyworth.
Unlike the previous two meetings, City kept pace with the Bucks. They held the defense tight, like they did in 2016, but also created chances. Going into the locker room at halftime scoreless, there was a feeling that we could take this in regulation. Shawn Lawson made that possible in the 58th minute…
With five minutes left in the match, a penalty kick was awarded to the Bucks. I was behind the Bucks goal and didn’t see anything on the other end of the stadium that merited a penalty. Alfonso Pineirho Neto leveled the match, and we were headed into extra time.
Five minutes in, City was cut down to ten men when Greg Janicki was shown a red card. The team remained defensively tight, and no one scored.
The video below shows City’s goals and saves, creating another legendary night in City history, launching us into the next round of the tournament.
May 5, 2018
Friendly
Detroit City FC 1, Harpos FC 1
Attendance: 5,322
HFC Shane Wheeler 58′
DCFC Jeff Adkins 80′
Fondly known as #bullshitpubteam, Harpos FC from Boulder, Colorado collects their silverware in the United States Specialty Sports Association.
Only thirteen players suited up for our new friends from Colorado, but they brought an A-game that made the game competitive.
After closing the half scoreless, Harpos’ Shane Wheeler gave our guests the lead in the 58th minute. With ten minutes remaining, City veteran Jeff Adkins leveled the score. As the game wound down, City continued to pressure, but couldn’t slot home a winner.
In true friendly style, the players from Harpos FC came over and thanked the Northern Guard Supporters for creating an experience, which was reciprocated. See, moms and dads? Even opposing players are not afraid to bring their kids over to the Northern Guard section.
You know you’ve made new friends when, four days later, they’re watching and cheering you on against the Bucks!
April 28, 2018
Friendly
Keyworth Stadium, Hamtramck, MI
Detroit City FC 1, Chattanooga FC 1
Attendance: 5,361
DCFC Brad Centala (Steven Juncaj, Danny Deakin) 42′
CFC Charlie Clark 79′
In the second half of the home-and-home series, temperatures dipped into the 40’s, so I didn’t need sun-screen under the jacket. We gathered with our Chattahooligan friends at Fowling Warehouse pre-game.
Though Chattanooga controlled a lot of the play in the first half, Detroit looked much better than their opening forty-five minutes in Chattanooga.
Three minutes before halftime, Brad Centala put City on the board.
This match also hosted Special Olympics Michigan, whose athletes played a mini-match during halftime. Northern Guard Supporters stayed, chanted, and ignited smoke while our Skull Sisters distributed t-shirts to the players after their game.
The second half City took control, especially after David Perez earned a straight red card in the 48th minute. Usually, the 10>11 works for us, however Chattanooga made it work for them as Charlie Clarke evened the match in the 79th minute.
I know we say that there’s no such thing as a friendly, but this two-game series brought together two like-minded organizations and supporters groups. Their common approach to ‘club’ football versus the billionaire-owned, tax-payer subsidized organizations in American soccer unite these two in a refreshing approach to professional sports. Competitors on the pitch; brothers & sisters off.
Joe Van Cleave’s first typing assignment of 2019 was a helpful one for me. I’ve had this character bouncing around in my head (along with some of the other characters surrounding him) for a number of years. I just haven’t focused on him that much. I did have a couple short stories published in a local publisher’s anthology collections, but he, and his world, is still a work-in-progress. So for this assignment, which is to write an interior monologue, I decided to spend a little time getting into Trevor Aldabra’s head. Before you is that one-page moment of time.
I typed this piece on my 1938 Smith Corona Silent.
For other Typing Assignments and other typewritten works, you can click on THIS WEBPAGE to find them all.
In conjunction with all this typing, my short story Immunity will be published this summer in the Cold Hard Type anthology of stories in a world where digital technology collapses. Follow my Twitter or friend me on Facebook if you’d like to keep up with its progress and when the anthology will be available.
DoHaeng Michael Kitchen 