About the Author

About The Author

Isn’t Soccer Freakin’ Dope?

I was a little late getting into soccer. It wasn’t until I was 14 that the passion was stoked. Two events in 2006 branded the beautiful game on my brain.

The first was the 2006 UEFA Champions League Final between Arsenal and Barcelona. That is the match that showed me how the game is not just for kids to play on Sundays because they did not feel like playing little league.

He did not have the greatest game in that final, but it was Barcelona’s long-haired, buck-toothed winger Ronaldinho that showed me how beautiful soccer can be. The way he moved on the pitch, so effortlessly and fluidly. After that game I looked up all the Ronaldinho highlights that my parents’ dial-up internet could handle.

Inspired by watching the UEFA Champions League Final a few months earlier, my summer was spent fixated on the 2006 World Cup. Its what I watched all day. I attended a roller skating birthday party for one of my friends at the local skating rink, although I used the word “attended” loosely, because I spent most of it at the rink’s restaurant watching a game on the small TV in the corner.

The second impactful event that influenced my interest in soccer showed me how astoundingly bonkers soccer can be: The 2006 World Cup, specifically the final between France and Italy. If you follow soccer, you know where I’m going…

That moment. The headbutt. Why would someone do that? Surely he had to have known he would get a red card! Was Materazzi hurt? Did that hurt Zidane’s head? What Materazzi say?

I had never seen anything like it. I was shocked. And interested.

From there my love of soccer just steamrolled. Several years and far too many soccer jersey’s later… here I am.

On the more professional side, I’ve worked in news media for the past five years. After graduating SUNY Oswego with a degree in broadcasting, I worked at the CBS affiliate in Binghamton, New York as a reporter, producer, and content manager. I’m currently the digital managing editor for Townsquare Media in Binghamton.