Get Your Poster of the Dispatch Front Page

From Shawn Mitchell's blog at the Dispatch:

Poster prints of The Dispatch

from Covering the Crew by Shawn Mitchell

I've gotten a couple of emails from readers wanting to know how to get extra copies or PDF images of today's A1 and sports sections (Crew coverage on C1 and C9).

You can purchase poster-quality reprints of any page published in the paper from the Dispatch's online page store.

Crew Celebration at State House Tonight!

From the Columbus Crew (updated at 11:20 am):

Governor to Welcome Columbus Crew to Ohio Statehouse for Victory Celebration Today

Columbus, Ohio - Governor Ted Strickland will welcome the 2008 Major League Soccer champions – the Columbus Crew – to the Ohio Statehouse for a community celebration of the team’s succesful season and victory against the New York Red Bulls on Sunday.

"The Columbus Crew’s MLS Cup victory marks a significant moment in Ohio sports history," Strickland said. "On behalf of all Ohioans, I congratulate the players, coaches and fans of the Crew on a dynamic season."

All Columbus Crew fans and community members are invited to attend the celebration at 5 p.m. today at the Ohio Statehouse.

WHO: Ohio Governor Ted Strickland
Columbus Crew team members and fans

WHAT: Columbus Crew MLS Cup Championship Celebration

WHEN: 5:00 PM

WHERE: Ohio Statehouse, West Plaza, Columbus, OH 43215

Welcome Our Champions Home!

Everyone who can is invited to meet the Crew as they return home from Los Angeles after their decisive MLS Cup win over the New York Red Bulls!

Meet at the Port Columbus baggage claim between 10:30 and 11:00 PM and greet our heroes!

Crew 3, New York 1: The Culmination of All Our Soccer Dreams

Yesterday, the Columbus Crew beat the New York Red Bulls 3-1 and took home their first MLS Cup.

I've been following the Crew since 1997, the year after I moved to Columbus. I have to fully admit I wasn't aware of the Crew until I moved down here in 1996, just after the MLS Cup of that year. My first game was a shootout win against the San Jose Clash in April of '97. I was confused as hell by the shootout (which I didn't realize even existed), but enjoyed the game. The next year, I bought season tickets. I've been a season ticket possessor since then (not always having paid for them, as I was on the Crew's website staff for several years and got free tickets for that).

I think it's safe to say I've seen this team through thick and thin since then. I was in the stadium for all the losses to DC United in the conference finals (including the deciding game in DC in '99) and have travelled to a few other games as well, in Chicago, New York, and a couple of friendlies against A-League teams in Pittsburgh and Cincinnati. I've exulted in Open Cup wins and Supporters' Shield victories, and despaired to watch us give it up in the playoffs. I've bemoaned our coaching situation as we went from league-leaders to the laughing stock of the league before the term of our current coach, Sigi Schmidt. I've put up with the fans who can only see the negative with the team, and exulted with the fans who love them no matter what.

I was there for the rise of the North End fan section with uber-fan Matt Bernhardt and made lifelong friends there. I witnessed the fall of it with the rise of V-Army. I've watched from afar as the North End was reborn in the Nordecke and smiled with appreciation for this fantastic group of fans.

I've played recreational soccer with my friends from the North End and met my wife on that team. I've interviewed players and coaches, made some friends among those folks, and gotten an appreciation of the down-to-earth nature of US soccer players, players who are genuinely happy to meet their fans and appreciative of the effort that the fans make in a country where their sport is considered second-level.

This past season I probably attended fewer games than I ever have before, due to family commitments and some unforseen circumstances. But the Crew was always in my sights. I hesitantly got excited as this team excelled, did things that in the past would seem impossible for a Crew team (like regularly come back from being down a goal and hold on to a lead in the last 5 minutes), and then watched in awe as the team rolled through the playoffs and took the league in a way that couldn't have been better.

1. We kept DC United out of the playoffs in the last game of the season, getting revenge for years of them keeping us out of MLS Cup.

2. We beat the hated Chicago Fire in the conference finals.

3. And we won the whole darned thing! After a shaky start in the game, the team took over in the second half and showed the form that had led them to victory after victory all season long.

This post would be absolutely remiss without the mention of Guillermo Barros Schelotto, the midfield wizard from Argentina, who came here last year and transformed the team with his incredible vision and creative passing. I can't say anything about him that hasn't already been said, but he absolutely deserves to be remembered with the great athletes of Columbus history.

We don't know what the future holds. Coach Sigi Schmidt's contract is up this year and apparently hasn't been renewed yet (RENEW IT NOW!). Schelotto is a bit older and may not be around with us much longer. And an expansion draft for the new team from Seattle may take key personnel away. You never know .

But now, in this year, and on this day, the Crew is the MLS Champion. Finally. The long suffering fans of Columbus can relax a bit now and enjoy the fruits of victory. Let the talk of MLS's conspiracy against Columbus fade for a bit. Let's ignore the awful pro-New York coverage of the game go. We beat them all - the Crew won the whole darned thing. Enjoy.

Michael Arace from the Dispatch captures this season perfectly.

And On the Not-So-Light Side of Things...

ND Football Goes Green... And Not in the Usual Way

There are times when my alma mater gets me down, like when they forget the Catholic legacy of supporting social justice and side with conservatives too much. But there are also times when I absolutely love the place. This is one of those times.

For the first time in history, ND football will be carbon neutral for a game. The school really seems to be taking things seriously in not only greening the function of the university, but in ensuring that the students are going to be learning how to be green in their daily lives as well.

Knowing the ND student body, I'm sure there are many who are bristling over the need for green tech and attitudes as a "liberal issue." But seeing the university taking it seriously will hopefully open some eyes and minds and move things on the right path toward a greener society.

Post-Election Ponderings and Thoughts

Some ruminations on the election of Barack Obama last night. Don't expect too much structure... this is just going to be some bullet points. I'm a little too emotional right now to be very coherent.

• I actually got a little bit misty watching Obama's victory speech today (I can't stay up too late, or else I'm useless at work). Seeing the faces of hope in the audience, and the power of his words as he talked about how hard we all worked to get him into the White House, and most importantly how hard we're all going to HAVE to work to make our country truly great again were so inspiring.
  
  
• I watched Jesse Jackson weeping openly as he heard the good news. Can you imagine having worked on something for basically your whole life, having seen the lowest points of it, and then to have this happen? The culmination of his dreams is here, and like him or not, you can't deny the power of the feeling that this sort of event would have on him. Amazing.
  
  
• McCain's concession speech was elegant, and a return to the McCain of old, the one I used to like before he got caught up in election politics. I especially liked his recall of President Theodore Roosevelt's invitation of Booker T. Washington to the White House, as Roosevelt is one of my personal heroes.
  
  
• Listening to the McCain supporters booing the mention of Obama early on in the speech (and Biden later on) disgusted me. And I got the impression that it disgusted McCain, too. But I was touched by the applause at the mention of how far our country has come in the election of an African-American president.
  
  
• I said over ten years ago that our first African-American president was going to be a conservative. I didn't think Americans were progressive enough at the time to vote for a liberal candidate when race came into it. I'm so glad and proud that I was wrong on this one.
  
  
• But to continue on that last thought, it's interesting to me just how many people I know don't think of Barack Obama as African-American, nor of ANY minority. To me, he's simply an American. And it catches me off-guard when people talk about that issue... as if my brain is saying "oh, yeah... he is African-American." In saying this, I'm trying very hard not to seem to be trying to strip him of his proud heritage, as he should be proud. I guess that what I'm saying is that I don't see his heritage as having played any role in whether or not I supported him. I did, and that's that.
  
  
• Reading reports from around the world about this election, it's clear that the world had almost given up on the American people. I don't get to travel internationally as much as I'd like, but spending a night in a Scottish pub talking to folks who were hesitant to discuss politics with me almost five years ago, I got to see how much those folks appreciated seeing that not all Americans are hateful, insular, greedy, fearful, and cynical, as our national policies for the past eight years have been. And now I get that same feeling from other places that I'm reading about. It's a new day for not only America, but the whole world.
  
  
• My third grade teacher, Mrs. Rhoda Massanari, talked to us a lot about her personal experiences and participation in the American South during the Civil Rights struggle. That passion and optimism about Americans stuck with me over all these years, and has given me a certain impression about how to make change happen in the world. I can credit her with much of my ability to look at what seems like a hopeless task and take it on, as I've done with my bike commuting and other issues. And I see that same passion in the supporters of Barack Obama. You have to do these things in small steps, but not in steps that go backward. You may go off to one side for a while, but eventually your path will lead to its goal. Thanks, Mrs. Massanari.
  
  
• Pundits are picking out the problems that the McCain campaign had and some of the errors it made. But as McCain himself pointed out, this election was not about politics. It was about unity and positive change. And the candidate who was and always has been about unity and positive change won the day. That's really all you need to know.
  
  
• Exactly four years ago, I was chatting with my friend Shane about my first child coming into the world. I looked at the recent Ohio vote to ban gay marriage and was bemoaning the world that Duncan was being brought into. Duncan turns four today, and I think that's he just recieved the greatest birthday present a little boy can imagine: hope. He doesn't understand, naturally, but he will someday. I bought a newspaper on the day he was born, for him to be able to look at when he gets older. I'll buy one for him today, too. Because this is going to be a day that I want him to remember.