Month: August 2023

At last, indoor soccer arrives

My wait to have an indoor soccer team to call my own finally ends in 2024.

And it’ll come 46 years after my wait began.

Scott Adamson writes stuff. Follow him on Threads @sladamson1960 and Adamsonmedia on Facebook.

On Thursday, the National Indoor Soccer League announced the addition of Magic City SC for the upcoming season. The team will play at the Pelham Civic Complex & Ice Arena.

“The addition of Magic City SC to the NISL family marks a significant milestone in our league’s growth,” Gary Tufford, Commissioner of the NISL, said in a statement. “We are excited to welcome the team to the league and are confident that their presence will enhance the level of competition and entertainment that our fans have come to expect.”

I’m excited – truly. Indoor soccer is fast and fun, and the arena in Pelham (also home to the SPHL Birmingham Bulls hockey team) is a great venue.

Plus, it opens up a whole new avenue for local soccer enthusiasts.

“We are thrilled that the Magic City Soccer Club has decided to make its home in Pelham,” Pelham City Manager Gretchen DiFante said. “Not only will they provide entertainment and promote soccer in the area, we will also be able to host competitive indoor soccer leagues and tournaments at the Pelham Civic Complex & Ice Arena.  This will provide another sport for both youth and adults in our community.”

I was hyped about the innovative version of the Beautiful Game back in 1978 when the Super Soccer League was supposed to call Birmingham home. 

The SSL franchise in the Magic City was known as the Bandits (predating the Continental Basketball Association Bandits by 13 years) and it was joined by clubs in Atlanta, Los Angeles, New England, New Jersey, New York, San Francisco, Seattle, Shreveport, South Florida, Toronto and Washington D.C.

There would be a 32-game schedule that ran from July to October.

Birmingham was coached by Gordon Fearnley, who started his playing career at Sheffield Wednesday before coming to the United States to play in the late, great North American Soccer League.

Having finished the 1978 season as a player with the Ft. Lauderdale Strikers of the NASL, he had already moved to Birmingham and began assembling a squad ahead of the July launch, working out his players in Ensley.

“Birmingham is perfect,” he told the Birmingham Post-Herald. “The weather is perfect. I think we can all work together to have something perfect.”

But …

League president Jerry Saperstein announced on June 21, 1978, that the Super Soccer League would be delayed until 1979 because, he said, “some teams were ready to play and some weren’t.”

As you might’ve guessed, the SSL never got off the ground.

Woe was me.

I had spent a lot of time cheering on the original Birmingham Bulls at the Birmingham-Jefferson Civic Center, and was fully prepared to the do the same for the guys playing downsized association football.

Luckily, I got over it, moved on with my life, and shoved the memories of the Super Soccer League deep in the back of my mind.

Now, however, I get a second chance to goob out over indoor soccer – and I plan to take full advantage of it.

Unlike the SSL, the NISL has already put balls against walls. It began play in 2021 and features men’s and women’s teams that play doubleheaders across a 16-game regular season. So, while I never got to support the Bandits, I can double my pleasure with Magic City SC.

The NISL team lineup for the upcoming season features the Central Florida (Orlando) Crusaders, Columbus (Georgia) Rapids, Fayetteville (North Carolina) Fury, Magic City SC, Memphis Americans, Tampa Bay Strikers, and a yet-to-be-named club from Albany, Georgia (finalists in the name the team contest are Soul and Aces). 

To be clear, it hasn’t been all lollipops and unicorns on the league’s business side. The 2023 playoffs were abruptly canceled in May with little explanation other than a release that read, in part, “We understand that the decision to cancel the playoffs has been a confusing and disappointing end to an otherwise successful sophomore season for our league and we’re sorry for that.”

In June, the Tampa Bay Times reported there had been complaints of non-payment to some players and coaches, which is never a good look.

Obviously, such problems must be rectified, and I’m hopeful they will be because I’m an optimistic little feller. And I’m already looking forward to the matchups against the Americans; Birmingham vs. Memphis is a great rivalry regardless of the endeavor.

As far as game play, there are five field players and one goalkeeper per side with free substitutions. NISL matches are divided into four, 15-minute quarters with three-minute breaks between the first and second and third and fourth frames, and a 10-minute halftime.

Season tickets start at $120 for all eight regular season doubleheaders and full season tickets are on sale now at https://magiccitysc.com/season-tickets.

Upward and onward for Dr. Anthony Blevins

As part of Watson Brown’s first recruiting class at UAB in 1995, Anthony Blevins helped the Blazers blaze a trail as the program transitioned to what was then known as the Division 1-A level of college football. He had five tackles in a 29-0 loss to Auburn on August 31, 1996 – UAB’s first game as a member of the NCAA’s top division.

Twenty-seven years later, the former cornerback – now Dr. Anthony Blevins – continues to forge new paths.

Scott Adamson writes stuff. Follow him on Threads @sladamson1960 and Adamsonmedia on Facebook.

On July 7 Blevins was named head coach of the XFL Vegas Vipers, becoming the first former UAB player to take the reins of a professional football team. His most recent role was assistant special teams coordinator for the NFL’s New York Giants, and his coaching experience ranges from prep to pro.

 “Our players will have an incredible opportunity to learn from a coach with NFL and NCAA experience, and we look forward to seeing his impact on the field and in the locker room,” XFL President Russ Brandon said.

Thing is, stalking sidelines was hardly Blevins’ passion after he graduated from UAB with a sociology degree in 1998.

“I started coaching at Alabama State University in Montgomery right after I was done playing college ball,” said Blevins, a Pleasant Grove High School product. “I got a taste of coaching, but didn’t really think I wanted to do that. So, I decided to get into corporate America and took a couple different jobs.

“I also tried to make another run at playing in the (original) XFL in 2001 (with the Birmingham Thunderbolts), but after a knee injury, I knew that was done.”

And while he was planning on getting away from coaching, coaching kept seeming to find its way back to him.

“I ran into one of my former college coaches and we talked about different guys who were bouncing around,” he explained. “The name of one of my former coaches at UAB (George Pugh) came up, and he was coaching in Atlanta. I ended up taking a job with UPS in their corporate office, which was based in Atlanta, and we ended up catching up. He offered me an assistant coaching job to help out with his high school team (Meadowbrook High School) but I wasn’t interested.

“He talked me into meeting up for lunch and we went up to the high school just to check it out. He only had one other coach helping with 45 kids, so I decided to help them out while he was looking for assistants. After a few weeks I asked him if the offer as an assistant coach still stood because I was really having a lot of fun with the kids and enjoyed what we were building.”

Then, it hit.

“When I coached right after school, I was young and going through the process,” he said. “It was when I was in Atlanta coaching high school when I fell in love with it.”

Blevins was at Meadowbrook from 2003-04, and moved to the college ranks from 2005-07, working with wide receivers, defensive backs and special teams at Mississippi State. It was during his time with the Bulldogs when he earned a Master’s degree in instructional technology.

That was a springboard for three other college jobs (including a one-year stint at UAB in 2012) and assistant coaching gigs with the Arizona Cardinals (2013-17) and Giants, where he started in 2018 as a special teams coach.

He was part of the Bill Walsh Diversity Coaching Fellowship Program with the Chicago Bears (2008), Cardinals (2010) and Indianapolis Colts (2011).

Oh, and he also managed to get a PhD in instructional systems and workforce development at Mississippi State in 2015.

“The PhD ranks right there at the top of the board, and it’s not even close,” Blevins said. “Education is something no one can take away from you. You can lose certain jobs in coaching, you can have different titles, but no one can take away all the hard work and dedication I put into my degree, and I’m proud of that.”

When the Vipers came calling, they quickly knew they’d found the right man for the job.

“Anthony’s talent and potential were evident throughout the interview process and in speaking with some coaches, staff and former players from the New York Giants, it was clear that he knows how to connect with players and staff,” XFL Executive Vice President of Football Operations Marc Ross said. “He is a very bright coach who has made stops at every level of football from coaching high school in Atlanta to the Giants with collegiate and NFL stops in between. On top of his coaching experience, he knows what opportunity our league can provide to players and staff.”

Although injuries prevented him from competing in XFL 1.0, Blevins was a member of the Regional Football League’s Mobile Admirals in 1999 and played for the af2 Birmingham Steeldogs a year later.

So, how did suiting up in alternative leagues help prepare him to coach in one?

“To me, that’s simple – you have to be able to adapt, adjust and be flexible,” Blevins said. “If someone was in the NFL or major Division 1 program, they have certain resources. In different leagues, you have to be flexible with a bunch of different things, whether that’s on practice time or sharing certain facilities.

“Those attributes off the field will certainly help our guys when they take the field if something doesn’t go as planned in a game.” 

Remembering the lessons learned from his college days doesn’t hurt, either.

“Being a former player helps give me an insight into the players, but the coaching game is so different from being a player,” he said. “There certainly have been certain instances where I think like a player as a coach, but mainly from a teaching perspective. I want to make sure that players understand what we are teaching them, so from time to time I’ll put on my former player hat and say, ‘Would this make sense to me as a player?’”

Last season the Vipers – under the direction of Rod Woodson – struggled to a 2-8 record, last in the North Division of the rebooted XFL.

Blevins hopes to flip the script when a new season kicks off next February.

“We’re going to come out and work every day,” Blevins promised. “We are going to play a style of football that’s tough and physical. We want to dictate to the other teams that they have to play us a certain way.

“There’s no film on me as a head coach, so I can’t give away too many secrets, but we’ll be a fun team to watch.”

Talking with the animals

Anyone who knows me knows I love my animals.

They’re not like family, they are family – and that being the case, I converse with them as I would a human member of my tribe.

Scott Adamson writes stuff. Follow him on Threads @sladamson1960 and Adamsonmedia on Facebook.

“Steve, are you ready for breakfast?” I’ll ask our Chihuahua each morning.

When I do, he jumps from the bed, hits the floor running at full stride, and does a couple of twirls in front of his food bowl.

“Here you go, buddy,” I’ll say as I pour his dry food. “Now, let me go the fridge and get some wet food to mix in. You’d like that, wouldn’t you?”

By anthropomorphizing my critters, I feel as though we’re the same species and on the same wavelength.

But I wonder … do they do the same to us? They’d have to, right?

Bane, our gray cat, chatters incessantly. Unless he’s asleep, he’s “talking,” and many times he’s talking to me.

On my end, I’m hearing a series of chitters and chirps that make little sense, prompting me to say things like, “What’s the matter, Mr. B?” or, “Do you want daddy to pick you up and hold you?”

I’ll assume he does, and after he’s picked up and held, he’ll purr enthusiastically.

But … was that truly his request? Perhaps he was jabbering on about something else entirely.

“What bugs me,” he might’ve been saying in his native, sandpaper tongue, “is that Bruce Wayne faked his death in The Dark Knight Rises. Honestly, it just ruined the whole movie for me and really tarnished Batman’s legacy. And do you think after Alfred saw him and Selena at that café and realized he was still alive, Alfred reported the fraud to Jim Gordon? Hell, no. He just walked away smirking, like it was no big deal.”

And when I responded, all Bane heard was, “Blardy, blardy, blar, blar, blar.”

Still, I’m guessing he assumes I was agreeing with him (which I kinda do; Batman is a lot of things, but he ain’t no quitter).

Mr. B has also developed a habit of rousting me in the middle of the night with frantic warbling.

At first, I’d get up to check his food or water bowls, but usually they were mostly full. After several rude awakenings I discovered – much to my horror – that he was alerting me to the fact that he’d just left a prize in the litter box.

So, while originally I thought he was saying, “Dad, I need help” most likely his words were, “Better scoop, bag and take it to the dumpster, my man … I don’t want my fuzzy butt going anywhere near that evil.”

Thor, the ginger cat, is usually quiet but every now and then he’ll let loose with a series of thunderous meows.

No clue what he’s trying to communicate but I figure it’s along the lines of, “Duuuuude! Duuuuude! Duuuuude!”

Then again, it could be a simple case of Cat Tourette Syndrome.

Steve – as is the wont of all small dogs – loves to bark. And he barks a lot.

Squirrels, birds, outdoor cats, outdoor dogs, delivery drivers, feral children … he can unleash some of the most bloodcurdling sounds you can imagine. To me, it’s ear-piercing noise.

What he might be trying to convey, however, is “ASSHOLES! ASSHOLES! DAMN YOU ALL TO HELL!!!!”

But to his credit, he does have some barks that I think he knows I understand.

When he needs to go outside to pee and/or poop, he’ll trot to the door and release a quick, sharp bark.

I translate it to, “Dad, please take me out.”

In his dog dialect the direct quote is closer to, “Grab the leash, bitch, before I bite your butt.”

And at night if he, the female human and his kitty bros are already in the bedroom and I’m still on the futon in the den, he’ll stare at me with a pitiful look and yip twice.

I hear, “Please come to bed, dad.”

He’s saying, “Hit the sheets, assface, before I bite your butt.” (I just assume Steve curses and likes to bust my chops … he seems like the type).

Once in bed, he’ll look straight at his mom and make a series of grunts and growls as if trying to say, “I often think about biting the fleshiest part of the male human’s buttocks … I’m not sure why, I’m just compelled to do it.”

Obviously, my Beastie Boys don’t speak English, and I don’t speak Doglish or Catlish. It’d be kinda messed up if we did.

We communicate quite well, though, and have been able to build a pretty sweet world together. That makes me very, very happy.

Even if Steve wants to bite my butt.