July 15, 2016
NPSL Regular Season
Keyworth Stadium, Hamtramck, MI

Detroit City FC 1, Michigan Stars 2
DCFC  Javi Bautista 26′
STARS  Eric McWoods 79′
STARS   Eric McWoods 85′

Attendance:  6,384

Final match of the regular season, and it was a family affair.  My son, Colin, and his son (my grandson), Chad, attended their first DCFC match.  The eleven-year-old had played some youth soccer in the past, and is into sports, currently playing basketball.  After dinner, we walked to the Fowling Warehouse.  Chad was very interested in fowling, with plans of talking Colin and other family members to bring him back and give it a try.  It was cool that we arrived early, ahead of everyone, because when we stepped out of the Fowling Warehouse, Colin and Chad were engulfed into the large crowd of Northern Guard Supporters.  After Drew’s pre-march speech, Chad looked up at me and said, “This is awesome!”

We followed the crowd into the street, Sarge did his thing, and we marched.

We sat on the family-friendly side for the first half, then made our way to the Supporters Section for the second.  When it was over, we stopped by the souvenir stand to get Chad a scarf and t-shirt, then onto the pitch where some of the players were signing autographs.

Colin, who is not a sports fan, was sending texts and video back to other family members.  In one text, he listed his seven reasons for liking Detroit City FC and the Northern Guard Supporters.

One, the vast majority of the players are from local universities.  At least 3 from U of D.
Two, the fan support for such a minor league team is overwhelming and intensely personal and admirable.
Three, beer.
Four, you can personally interact with the players, sorely missing from pro sports, and much of my frustration with them.
Five, beer.
Six, them fans are some weird fuckers, but they own that shit.
Seven, community involvement and support building that kind of shit is a soft spot for me.

I think we’ll see them back at Keyworth in 2017.

JAVI SCORES!

 

This ended our 2016 NPSL regular season.  To summarize:

Overall Record:  4-4-4 = 16 points.  Goals For – 24, Goals Against – 21.
Home Record:  2-1-3 = 9 points.  Goals For – 10, Goals Against – 5.
Road Record:  2-3-1 = 7 points.  Goals For – 14, Goals Against – 16.

DCFC Record vs
AFC Ann Arbor       1-0-1 = 4 points.  Goals For 4, Goals Against 2.
Dayton Dynamo     2-0-0 = 6 points.  Goals For 9, Goals Against 2.
Grand Rapids FC   0-1-1 = 1 point.  Goals For 2, Goals Against 5.
Kalamazoo FC        1-1-0 = 3 points.  Goals For 3, Goals Against 3.
Lansing United      0-1-1 = 1 point.  Goals For 3, Goals Against 5.
Michigan Stars       0-1-1 = 1 point.  Goals For 3, Goals Against 4.