WHO: Swope Park Rangers, 6W-8D-18L, 26 points, 18th place Eastern Conference
WHAT: the last ever regular season USL Championship match at Slugger Field
WHEN: Saturday, October 12, 2019, 7:00 p.m.
WHERE: Louisville Slugger Field, 401 E. Main Street, Louisville, KY 40202. I just told you that.
WATCH: Again, it’s the last-ever match at Slugger Field. Probably. There’s a small chance Morados could host a playoff game this season, but it’s not particularly likely, so this is probably it for the ol’ baseball diamond.
Point being, you should be there because it’s a historic and somewhat nostalgic event. More importantly, there are three points on the line, and LouCity needs every one of them if they want to get out of 6th place by season’s end.
The weather will be there. You will be beautiful. Buy a ticket if you haven’t already, go to the game, wear something purple and possibly something also pink for breast cancer awareness, and support our Boys in Purple (and also Pink) at Slugger one more time.
If you can’t make it because you’re secretly a big fan of breast cancer, or some other, more justifiable reason, it’ll be on WBKITV-58, streamed on ESPN+, and radioed over one of the iHeart AM stations here in town.
MARCH:
PRE-MATCH TAILGATE
Join us and the Lou City Tailgaters for all your pre-match festivity needs! Tailgating typically starts around four (4) hours prior to kickoff but you may find a few die-hards out there earlier. The tailgate is supporter run and supporter funded. We recommend BYOB and food contributions. If you do partake we ask that you contribute to the general fund. The main tailgate is located at the corner of N Preston St and E Witherspoon St in the Riverside Parking Cobalt Lot. The Coopers are joined here by several other SGs, so come say hello to everyone!PRE-MATCH MARCH
About 30-40 minutes prior to kickoff we’ll start the March to the Match. Join us as we march around the tailgate lot, up Preston St, and into the east entrance. Flags will be waving, smoke will be popping, and we’ll be chanting and singing the whole way!
POST-MATCH CELEBRATION
After the match concludes, we have beers at Against the Grain which is conveniently located right outside the Slugger Field gate. Make sure you ask for a pint of the Coopers rotating charity tap! $0.50 from every pour (on home match days) goes to Shirley’s Way, a most excellent local charity helping families of those afflicted with cancer.
WHO, AGAIN? Swope Park Rangers. They’re terrible. They’ve been terrible all season. They’ve lost more than half of their games. They were mathematically eliminated from the playoffs more than a month ago. The thing that really sticks in my personal craw, a real part of the human anatomy, is that one of their measly six wins this season was against US. Still furious about that one.
What’s more, this is the last season they’ll be called Swope Park Rangers. That’s a shame, in a way, because it’s a good name, and they have a really cool badge. But since they’ll probably never play at Swope Park ever again, they’re doing like President/Lord Business and revealing their true form, Sporting Kansas City II. No word on whether Hat Trick Harry will retain his job after the season.
Sporting KC and Swope Park have both already been eliminated from their respective postseasons. I have no idea what that means in terms of which players SPR will be sending to Louisville. Will they be running out some of their MLS benchers to get looks before doing a roster overhaul? Have they already cut those guys and just don’t care about this season anymore? There’s truly no way to know.
What we do know, or at least hope, is that LouCity is out for blood. The loss in Kansas City this season can only be described in some German word that I can’t spell or pronounce but is akin to “disemboweling.” The loss against Nashville wasn’t quite as crushing but it definitely stung. City is a better team now, and more importantly, has something to play for.
They’ll be without some guys, unfortunately. Paco Craig is done for the regular season after getting his 93rd yellow card on Tuesday in Nashville. Speedy Williams and Shaun Francis got called up to Jamaica. Paolo DelPiccolo played a full 90 on Tuesday, which is a little concerning, but if there’s one guy that I trust to go play CDM on four days’ rest, it’s PDP.
We don’t know about Oscar’s status, but he’s literally the only other left back on the roster, so assume he’s playing. I’m hoping Pat McMahon is back to fitness, but wouldn’t hate to see Akil Watts on the right side of the defense, either. Everyone else appears to be available except maybe Geoffrey Dee, who may have been abducted by aliens.
It’s nice to have a game like this close out the season. The weather will be great. There’s something on the line. The opponent should be eminently beatable. Emphasis on “should be.” Let’s go get three points.
VAMOS MORADOS.
