So there’s me, venturing down the snowy slopes from my mountain lair for a family outing to watch the Harrisburg Heat host the Ohio Vortex (PASL indoor, for those keeping score at home) and perking up when the Vortex introduced the “special” uniform used to denote a keeper playing in the field during a power play[1]…
“Hey, that’s an Akron Summit Assault shirt.”
Blank stares from the relations.
“That shirt. Akron. Summit Assault. They play in the PDL.”
Strained half-smiles.
“Premier Development League? Mostly amateur with some semi-pro teams involved. Lots of college kids. Shares the fourth tier of the American soccer pyramid with the NPSL?”
Placating muttering all around, heads turning back to the game in progress with more eagerness then is strictly necessary with the Heat enjoying a 5 or 6 goal cushion.
Sigh.
Such are the perils of having access to the deep catalog of the bowels of American soccer.
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Yes, yes. Power plays and blue cards and line changes, oh my! ↩
Classic!
ReplyDeleteHow did you possibly know an Akron Summit Assault jersey?
Football Manager. Doing database mods in the editor to make American lower divisions playable and researching to make sure kits were (sort of) accurate.
ReplyDeleteTo be fair, they *are* pretty distinct uniforms with a mountain covering the bottom half of the shirt, making them pretty easy to identify. Voilà!
Of course, how I can see that shirt after doing database research nearly a year ago on literally hundreds of lower division teams and immediately come out with the team's name is pretty spooky.