You hear the phrase “Time flies when you’re having fun” so often that at times … it becomes meaningless.  It’s like a random “Hello” to a stranger, just something to say as you’re going about your day.  And then you work in a position for 11 years, and realize … “Holy Crap, it’s been 11 years?”

As most of you know, at the Midnight Riders General Meeting in February of 2010, I gave my notice that the 2010 season would be my final year as President of the Midnight Riders.  On February 19th, I finally was able to pass on the position to Fran Harrington, who I know will do a wonderful job.

As I was preparing for the General Meeting this year, I hadn’t really thought ahead to the emotions of the day, or even the past 11 years, till I started getting “Thank you’s” from the membership of the Midnight Riders, other Revs supporters groups, fans of RBNY, KC, Columbus, LA, Dallas and a couple of other teams.  It was an astounding feeling, one I couldn’t quite understand.  And when I actually got a standing ovation … I had no idea how to react.  Let’s just say it might have gotten a bit dusty at Doyle’s.

Honestly, I had volunteered to take over the position 11 years ago because the Board at that time had hit their limits in their dealings with the Revs, and I was being selfish.  Whether it was the complete and utter lack of sensibility used by the rent-a-cops at Foxboro Stadium, or the frustration at year after year of watching bad football, or losing POCM or whatever (priorities changing), people were just done.   In my opinion, the greatest supporter’s group in MLS was dying out, and I hated the thought.  I’d been on the board for a couple of years prior to the 2001 season, mostly due to wanting to help an organization that had taken a pretty quiet kid who loved the sport and turned him into a loud and ardent (some would say obnoxious) supporter of the group, the team and the league.  At the 2001 Riders General Meeting, only about 10-15 people showed up as the frustration level had hit it’s pinnacle.  There had been talk about disbanding, and I stepped up that day for one selfish reason.  I hated the thought of losing the group that had helped introduce to me to people that have become part of my family.

There are many people from back then that I’m still proud to call friends, even if not all of them show up at games anymore, or even live in the area.  I’ve been honored to be invited to almost 30 Midnight Riders weddings, and have made it to about 2 dozen of them.  I wish I could have made it to them all, but unfortunately other factors come into play during life.  I’ve gotten to see kids grow up from little tykes to college aged adults, which has been a lot of fun and also reminded me that I’m old.  And I’ve gotten to see the opposite extreme, losing friends that passed away … and each and everyone that did has hurt me as if it was someone in my immediate family.  See, I know it might seem like just words, but that’s how I really feel … the people that make up the Midnight Riders, old or young, male or female, have really become that important to me.  I have had the pleasure of travelling with you around the States to watch Revs games, or around the world to support the US, of getting to know so many of you, of experiencing the lowest feelings there are as a sports fan (4 MLS Cup losses) with you and the highest (winning the US Open Cup in Dallas with 12 other Revs fans) feelings, also with you.

Due to those reasons, wanting to support and grow the group then became not only a job (unpaid of course) but a fun break from reality.  It came with the headaches that can come from leading a group of this size, the stress of making the group a non-profit entity, the feeling of hitting the wall repeatedly at times when dealing with the Revolution, but it was all worth it.  No matter how bad this team has been at times, the fact that the Riders still show up en masse to the games, still sing loudly at the games, and still go out of their way to make our charitable endeavors profitable … that’s what makes us who we are.  This isn’t about seeing people only at the games, but getting to know them outside of that, on a more personal basis … like I said, more like family.

One final thing I’d like to add … there are many people who have been kind enough to say some very nice things about me and what I did for the Riders.  But it wasn’t me.  It was the hard work of people like Dave Crowley, Joe LaValley, Jon Strauss, Evan Whitney, Karen Tompert, Krista Taylor, Ed Mulrenan, Fran Harrington, Julie Kumor, Peter Kearns, Kaela Porter, Eric Spurlock, Guy Keeley, Dan Clark, Bill Manganiello, the current board members and the past ones … (I can’t even begin to name them all).  This wasn’t ever about one person, it was about the work that every single person did (did I mention, unpaid!) to help make the Midnight Riders what they are today.  We grew from around 40 members the first year that I was President to over 400, and I think because I’ve been the presented face of the organization, the credit was unfairly given to me.  I’ll never ever be able to thank all of those that helped get this organization to where it is, and continue to make it grow.  There’s one other person I’d like to thank finally, probably the person that helped me the most, whether it was to calm me when I was frustrated, or to help bring the Board back to topic when needed, or just to do the wonderful work she did as Secretary and then Treasurer (her last two Board positions) … Amy Ross, thank you.  So very much.

So to make a long story short … to the Midnight Riders reading this, thank you for allowing me to lead this group.  It’s been an honor and a privilege.  I honestly can’t wait to see this group grow bigger and better.

In the meantime … See you at the tailgate!

Sorry for the delay, I know you’ve all been waiting with baited breath for this blog to come back to life.

I should have written prior to this, but since that didn’t happen, it’s now fun to go back and see where this team has come so far this season, just past the half way point.

A quick catch-up for this season, the regular season has been pretty much abysmal, 5-9-3 (18 points), and 5^th worst in MLS overall (points per game). The USOC was our normal pathetic experience, with barely any subs available and getting beat easily by RBNY’s B team 2-0 on the road. And as we should now be getting used to, a nice run in the SuperLiga by the Revs (the only MLS team to win out during the first three runs of this tournament). The Revs win in PKs over Puebla on Wed, Aug 4^th puts them into the Finals of the tournament (Wed, Sept 1^st), after having won it in 2008 and lost in the semis (at home) in 2009.

What else has happened? Ralston signed back with the team. Then he got injured. Then he retired. Twellman was finally put on the injury list, opening up his roster spot. Mike Videira was constantly injured, and finally cut. Joseph Niouky, just signed in February from the Senegalese league has now been cut. Edgaras Jankauskas was injured. Then he was injured again. He’s played in all of 1 game this season. Emmanuel Osei was injured and picked up a staph infection. Kheli Dube was recently injured. Darrius Barnes was injured earlier in the season. Matt Reis didn’t come back from his injury till June. Shalrie Joseph barely played in the first 20% of the season due to an injury. Do you see a common word sticking out in this paragraph? Yep, it’s been that kinda year (once again) for the Revs.

And then there was more. Shalrie Joseph wound up leaving the team for “personal reasons.” Took a while to figure out exactly what happened, but eventually we found out that Joseph (easily one of my favorite 5 players ever to wear our Red, White and Blue) liked to … ahem … toke up. Unfortunately though, the team lost him for a while, and got to learn once again, that this team really is nothing without Shalrie playing. And all during this time, the Revs attendance is dropping faster than Wall Street currently is.

Apparently the Revs Front Office finally realized they need help at the forward position, and signed two players in August, 31-year-old Ilija Stolica (last played for Montenegro’s FC Budocnost) and 22-year-old Roberto Linck, aka Betu (Romania’s CSM Râmnicu Vâlcea). Will they help, I have no idea whatsoever. Too early to tell on that part, but nothing against the two, they’re not quite at the name level of Thierry Henry, Nery Castillo, Rafa Marquez (the dirt-bag), etc. Hopefully they can help this team make a season that had been pretty much rubbish till the MLS All-Star break.

So where are we now? The Revs are currently on a 7-game unbeaten streak (5 wins, 2 ties), and 2-0-1 in league play in the same time frame, with two of those games against other dregs of MLS. I’ve honestly believed for a while that this team needs to get to 40 points to make the playoffs, and that leaves them needing about 1.7 points per game for the rest of the season. It’s definitely doable, but it’s not going to be easy. The Revs have given themselves a lifeline in the last 7 games (including SuperLiga), having given up just two goals in that time frame. That’s the mark of a solid defense, which I had expected this team to have this season. On the other hand, they’ve scored just 1 goal in 6 of those 7 games (a total of 8), the mark of a team that has relatively little offense, but again that was expected.

The Revs have an interesting situation for the rest of the season. The defense should stay solid as long as there are no further injuries, and Matt Reis continues his great play. Will there be enough offense though to cover for any mistakes made on the other end? The Revs have seen a very nice improvement from Sainey Nyassi on the wing, and his crosses have gotten better. The other Gambian Kenny Mansally has finally taken himself out of Coach Steve Nicol’s doghouse and seems to have picked up his game a bit as well. Kheli Dube though can’t find the back of the net, no matter how hard he tries (and he’s definitely trying). Zach Schilawski has just 5 goals in league play this year, with 3 of them coming in one game, which is just not enough. There are two bright spot on the offensive end though, the crosses being sent in by Chris Tierney as well as the play of Marko Perovic. It’s pretty easy to say that without those two, a majority of the goals in the last 7 games wouldn’t have been scored. Can Stolica or Betu help pick up the pace on the offensive side?

Finally not to blow off this season, but I’m actually intrigued by the Revolution’s possibilities for 2011. There’s already a good core of young kids that have established themselves (or are currently doing so) for the Revs to build around. With my expectation that there’s no way Twellman is re-signed for the $400+k he’s gotten the last two seasons, and with Jankauskus, Niouky, et al being removed, there’s about $1m worth of cap space the Revs could potentially have to get themselves from a rebuilding team to a contender very soon.

So there’s two things I can promise you … the rest of the season will be an intriguing one for the Revs if they can find their stride offensively and I won’t wait quite this long to post another blog.

Comments are appreciated!