A lot can happen in a year. Having written a couple of long-form stories on Reddit and Sounder at Heart, I decided to start up this site to have a forum to write about legal issues impacting soccer in the United States (and abroad). At the time, it was more from a “fans” perspective; while I’d talked to a few people “inside” soccer, I didn’t have any real sources or methods to my particular brand of madness.
Fast forward a year and I guess I’m a fully fledged “media” guy. Which feels kind of weird, actually. Granted I do have a journalism degree on top of my J.D., but the whole thing feels like coming back full circle from where I started my adult life–staying up late editing stories in college and taking pictures at Richmond sports events.
So this journey has allowed me to do some fun stuff: Fly out to Columbus to watch first-hand part of the (successful) effort to SaveTheCrew, and more recently head to Arizona to get an up-close look at the inner workings of the US Soccer Federation. I’ve started a podcast and occasionally pop up on Periscope and YouTube to talk soccer. Granted I still have my “day” job as a lawyer, but it feels so far from where I was. Which is cool, and still scary.
Anyway, I want to thank everyone for following along through the bumps and bruises and site (re) designs. Special thanks for those who have supported on Patreon, which provides a bit of an additional resource for me to do things like head to practice to cover the Sounders.
Thanks to The Athletic for paying me to write about really cool topics. I have a cool new project starting up here in the next couple of weeks, so be on the lookout for that. Beyond that, I hope to continue to provide more interesting content here and at The Athletic and (maybe) elsewhere.
A few fun statistics about the site (not including this story):
Total posts in the last year: 239
Total posts about cigars: 5
Total words: 159,325
Most viewed live-blog (by a long shot): Save The Crew (Motion to Dismiss)
Most viewed feature story (wow, 1 & 2 are super close): What Exactly is Preventing US Soccer and MLS from Participating in the FIFA Solidarity/Training Compensation System?
Most viewed news story (again, by a long shot): SavedTheCrew: Deal to Keep Team in Columbus “Largely Done”
Old story which seems to get 2-5 views almost every day for no reason in particular: Rocco Holds Court, and then Burns the House Down
My favorite story: Attorney Pettiness Scale for Filing & Serving Documents
Favorite story honorable mention (also second most-viewed feature): Stadium Lease Snapshot: Bridgeview and the Chicago Fire, and the Best/Worst Stadium Lease in the U.S.
socceresq.com 