FiftyFive.One
• Voices From Soccer's North •
Author: Wes Burdine
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A League of Their Own: the Cosmos, the NASL, and TV Deals
Categories: NewsContinue Reading: A League of Their Own: the Cosmos, the NASL, and TV DealsJust before the 2016 NASL season, the league announced several landmark broadcasting deals. They snagged four separate national broadcast deals with BeIn Sports and CBS Sports Network joining the existing ESPN3 and ONE World Sports (OWS) deals. Notably absent from these new broadcasts schedules, however, was the league’s flagship team, the New York Cosmos. On…
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It’s No David and Goliath: a Minnesota perspective on MLS in Detroit
Categories: NewsContinue Reading: It’s No David and Goliath: a Minnesota perspective on MLS in DetroitYesterday, MLS held a press conference announcing talks with a potential Detroit ownership group. Just like that, a new expansion drama starts, but this time it’s David versus Goliath. More specifically grassroots soccer David versus single-entity Goliath. Where David crowd-funded his stadium and Goliath is an aging European Designated Player. Detroit City FC, for those…
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Chalktalk United: Loons 1, Cosmos 0
Categories: NewsContinue Reading: Chalktalk United: Loons 1, Cosmos 0Just scrawl it on the chalkboard: the Loons beat the Cosmos. That’s all we need right? Carl Craig managed to pull off what Manny Lagos hadn’t been able to muster: a win against the New York Cosmos and he did it with 10 men. So let’s take a look at just what the OPTA stats…
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Surviving Midway
Categories: The AngleContinue Reading: Surviving MidwayWhen I moved my family from suburban Northeast Minneapolis to the neighborhood around the new Minnesota United FC stadium (in the inner city of St. Paul), I thought it would put me closer to the things I loved: soccer, community, and French Vietnamese bakeries. Never did I ever consider that I was moving them into…
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A Nonexhaustive List of Ben Speas Puns
Categories: NewsContinue Reading: A Nonexhaustive List of Ben Speas PunsBen Speas is both the hero we asked for and the hero we need. Scoring two goals this past weekend, including one that could be called a backward sombrero, we thought it best to celebrate by compiling a preliminary list of all the potential puns on his name. The following list is not meant to…
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Miami FC’s Marketing Goes Full Spring Break
Categories: NewsContinue Reading: Miami FC’s Marketing Goes Full Spring BreakMiami FC have their debut home opener coming up this weekend at FIU Stadium on Florida International University’s campus. And by the looks of it, they have opted for a marketing campaign that is essentially: “Look, hot college girls!” In the week leading up to their home opener, Miami FC have unabashedly used young women,…
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Dark Clouds Unveil a New Cloud
Categories: NewsContinue Reading: Dark Clouds Unveil a New CloudThe Dark Clouds emerged over a decade ago on a lark. The supporters group founded by handing out pins with a goofy-looking black-silhouetted cloud on them. It was like a secret society. This was 2004 and twelve years later, the Dark Clouds are getting a face, er, cloud-lift. The product of working with Moonboots branding…
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Self-Help; Or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Soccer
Categories: The AngleContinue Reading: Self-Help; Or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the SoccerI need you to sit down before you read this, but MLS is just OK. NASL, well it’s a little less OK, USL? Yeah. I say this because we need to (I’m including myself in this) stop caring so much about what other people say about the teams, leagues, and sport we love. Prompting these…
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Loons Launch “From the North” Series
Categories: NewsContinue Reading: Loons Launch “From the North” SeriesA staple of every Minnesota United home game is a patchwork flag, hung from the main stands. Stitched together are the flags of England, Ethiopia, the United States, and Minnesota United FC. That patchwork is the Lilly family, the product of immigration, adoption, and a love of soccer. Minnesota United FC released a 22-minute feature…
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The North London Derby in the North
Categories: NewsContinue Reading: The North London Derby in the NorthAt 6:30 AM on Saturday, while the Midwest sleeps, two Minneapolis bars (The Nomad & The Local) will be filling up with the Spurs white and Gunnersaurus red. It’s the biannual North London Derby between Tottenham Hotspur and Arsenal and this season matters for more than just who will finish third and fifth (though, let’s…
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Major League Facepalm: MNUFC Might Have Its Name Forcibly Changed
Categories: NewsContinue Reading: Major League Facepalm: MNUFC Might Have Its Name Forcibly ChangedOn March 25, 2015, Commissioner Don Garber and his MLS posse rolled into the Twin Cities to welcome the 23rd franchise to the league. Fans crowded into the Target Field Legends Club to watch hype videos, learn of Dr. Bill McGuire & the ownership team’s plans, and celebrate this milestone in Minnesota sports history. The…
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An Elegy for a Scorpion
Categories: NewsContinue Reading: An Elegy for a ScorpionAn elegy begins with a lament and I am here, dear friends–garments rended, hair pulled, weeping, gnashing teeth–I am hear to bury a friend, the San Antonio Scorpions. It was a team too young, too laughably silly to be boxed up and shipped off to Las Vegas (if the rumors are to be believed). So…
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Shakeup Atop Minnesota United
Categories: NewsContinue Reading: Shakeup Atop Minnesota UnitedWith a distinct eye toward a 2017 MLS entrance, Minnesota United FC are poised to announce a shakeup in their front office. Northern Pitch has learned that Manny Lagos, who has spent five years at the reins of Minnesota’s professional soccer team, will relinquish his role as head coach to take on the sporting director…