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"Join, or Die!" What Philadelphia fan wouldn't love that? |
We know what some of you are thinking, wait what are these
guys talking about? Is the city really looking forward to an MLS playoff game?
Our answer to you few is, “Shut up.” Although we have not written anything
about this team all season, it’s not because we don’t follow them closely. It
is more of a… how do we say this? We know absolutely zilch about the game of
soccer. We know the rules and things like that, but as far as tactical or
strategic moves in the game… Our most profound thought is try to put the ball
in the net and we enjoy good crosses into the box. We learned this from our
many, many hours and late nights playing FIFA World Cup 2010 for Xbox (Hint:
Didier Drogba and the Ivory Coast or Cote d’Ivoire are disgusting in this game.
Just send one into the box in the air and soccers’ version of Wilt “The Stilt” Chamberlain, better known as Didier Drogba, will put it in the back of the net
every time.) . Needless to say, with this being our extensive knowledge of the
game, we have been hesitant to write about soccer, but we do watch almost every
game and go to many of them as well. Here a couple things to get excited about
with the upcoming MLS playoffs.
1.
This team is only a second year expansion team
and they are already in the playoffs. Think about how hard it is in any
professional sport to accomplish something like this. Ask the Bob McNair and
the Houston Texans how good they are doing with the playoffs 10 years later.
Pretty well actually, they are undefeated BECAUSE THEY’VE NEVER BEEN TO THE
PLAYOFFS. This is a pretty big task for a young expansion team. The team has
done well with Peter Nowak as the manager and drafted well to get to this
point. They have done a good job of mixing young talent (Danny Mwanga) with
solid veterans (Faryd Mondragon, Sebastien Le Toux) which has created solid
chemistry with this team.
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"Oooooooh... you suck @$$HOLE!" |
2.
The Sons of Ben will be rocking. If you are
unfamiliar with the Sons of Ben, it is the supporter section for the Union at
the Rivers’ end of the stadium. On any normal regular season game, the side is
loaded (not only are there a lot of people but the people in the section are
loaded also), the SOB are always rowdy and loud, and they are everything a
Philadelphia fan should be. They are loud and abusive to the opponent, they
never sit down during any point of the game and most of them dress up in
ridiculous attire to support the squad. The SOB will be loud and proud on
Sunday night and we can’t wait to see their excitement after the first Union
playoff goal.
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You the fans... you're what drives me. I am a man of the people |
3.
There is one man that encompasses all of
Philadelphia Sports: Sebastien Le Toux. Yes, yes, yes you read correctly, we
did say that all that encompasses Philadelphia sports is a French guy. He does
not put up the white flag as many of his kind do, instead he continues to fight
on. Sebastien has been with the team since its inception and he is everything
that a Philadelphia fan enjoys seeing on a daily basis. Both of his years with
the team he has been in MVP talks (which is important because if you’re not a
winner here then go to Chicago, they’ll accept a loser). These talks were
mostly spurned by a second half onslaught that saw him record 10 goals in the
last 12 games including 2 goal performances versus DC United, New England, and
Dallas. He does nothing but hustle up and down the field on offense and
defense. As a striker it is easy to get lazy on defense and focus all of your
energy on the offensive side of the ball, but true to form, Sebastien does play
both ways (haha) very well. He realizes that defense generates an offensive
counter-attack and he wants to be involved. The last thing you can say about
this guy is that he loves the fans. After every home game he will walk around
the stadium signing as many autographs as his fingers can bear. He wants every
kid to leave with an autograph or a picture of their hero so that they can go
home happy. Mind you, this is after he just gets done playing a full 90+ minute
game of soccer in which he is sprinting up and down the field. Not even a lot
of baseball players do this after they stand in the outfield on and off for 3
hours. He is loyal to his team, this city, and most importantly the fans that
pretty much help pay his salary. Le Toux really does not get enough credit in
this city for his all around great play and respect for this city so be excited
for him to do big things for the Union in their first ever playoff run.
4.
DOOP. There are a lot of neat traditions with a
lot of Philadelphia sports. All of Philadelphia and the sports world in general
loves the Phillie Phanatic and he has become a staple of fan spirit at Phillies
games. With the Eagles, we have our Eagles fight song which we sing after every
touchdown. The Flyers have their amazing goal songs, and now there is something
else… The stadium gets transformed by the Union’s goal song: DOOP. It is a song
that brings about passion and excitement when there is a goal scored at PPL
stadium. The manager, one of the architects of this young team, Peter Nowak,
picked this song because he thought it was something the city could get behind.
The stadium loves it and it is something that has taken on a life of its own.
There are bumper stickers and tshirts with just DOOP on it and you may have
even heard it somewhere else. It has found its way into the Flyers goal song at
home as well. It gives the city of Philadelphia its own celebration and is
something that, with backing, will continue to be known as one of the better
sports traditions in the city.
This team is good enough to win an MLS cup for the city and
for the franchise. We love a winner in Philadelphia and trust us this is a
winning team. We don’t guarantee a championship this year, but this young team
is going to be winning for years to come with all the talent we have so jump on
the bandwagon now and get excited for the playoffs.
If you have never gone to a Union game before now is the
perfect time to do it. Get in on the action and strike while the iron is still
hot. The stadium is beautiful and the atmosphere is going to be electric. Even
if you can’t go, support our boys by watching on ESPN2. If you don’t understand
a lot that is going on, don’t worry, just do what we do and get extremely loud
when the ball goes in the net behind their goalie.
DOOP DOOP DOOP
DOOP DOOP DOOP DOOP DOOP DOOP DOOP DOOP DOOP DOOP