This and That

The Free Beer Movement

Any time I see the words "free" and "beer" in close proximity, my attention is piqued. This particular occurrence just happens to have a soccer angle. The Free Beer Movement is a movement to help create support for soccer. How? Simple:

"Invite your friends to see a soccer match and buy them a beer."

It's a real grassroots movement. They even have a blog. More info on how to help can be found here.


Today's History Lesson: The Baltimore Orioles

As you may know, I'm originally from Maryland. I grew up spending my summer evenings eating crabs and watching the Os play baseball on the tube. On top of that, I'm a bit of a history buff. So, when I stumbled over this nugget the other day, I was astounded.
The Baltimore Orioles won baseball's National League pennant in 1894. Shortly thereafter, as a way to keep drawing income from their venues, several baseball owners founded the American League of Professional Football. America's first professional soccer league kicked off in the fall of 1894. The teams had the same names as the baseball clubs and actually included some of the baseballers and coaches, predating Cal Ripken's appearance on Baltimore's baseball and soccer fields by 80 or so years (Ripken was soccer player in his youth). After going undefeated in the first and only season in 1894, the Baltimore Orioles were declared champions of the ALPF, giving the Orioles their second championship of the year.

You can read more here.