A Check in with Maryland Bobcats

With the UPSL playoffs wrapping up, the Maryland Bobcats are proving yet again to be the class of another league. Lately the club has been all aces, matching their play on the field with a slick rebrand and new kit designs. Set to face Soda City in the UPSL semi-finals, they have continued their run league success. I sat down with Evan Raimist, communications director for the club, to fire off a quick set of questions headed into this weekend.

2019/20 has been a great season, can you talk about what has contributed to your success in the UPSL?

There has been a lot involved in the success we've had the last year in the UPSL. I think a lot has to do with the combination of planning on the team's part as well as the dedication to continue to work and get better by all the guys we have on our roster. With our coaching staff, there's no time to switch off and players know that if they do, there is someone chomping at the bit behind them to take their spot. It sounds cutthroat, but there's healthy competition in the team and guys really do want to see other guys do better. We've used a lot of different lineups, used guys in positions that maybe they weren't used to, but if it could help the team, they were willing to give it a go. The guys are fighting hard for each other and the team, and we also have a lot of really smart, dedicated people involved in the club as well. From Head Coach Phil Nana and Assistant Coach Ben Aryeetey who are as invested and smart as they come to our athletic trainer, our equipment manager, and new Technical Director and Assistant Technical Director, everyone is invested in the same goal. As the saying goes, it takes a village, but in our cause I think the key is that our village all has tunnel vision for the same goal.

Thoughts on your playoff run so far?

I think the only thought from everyone at our club is that we're not done yet. We want to finish this thing off as champions and we feel like anything short of that won't do. We've had success this season, but we came in with the goal of a National Championship and that's what we've been working towards all year.

Your opponent is Soda City, what do you know about your opponent and what's the plan for the semis?

We know they're a strong team and have only gotten stronger. We watched their Quarterfinal game against OFC Barca and were impressed with how hard they worked. To get to the National Finals they are obviously a good team, but we feel like we just have to play our game. The coaching staff has been working with a certain plan in mind, but with the quality of the guys on our roster and how we can switch players in and out (and their positions and formations too) we feel like if we play our game and how we are supposed to play, we can play with and against anyone.

What's the magic sauce? Strong runs in MMSL, UPSL, expansion into NPSL - How are you doing it?

There is no secret sauce and I think that's the secret. It just comes down to a group of highly invested people wanting to make a difference on the field and in our community. From the top down, from our President and ownership group down to each and every player, everyone knows that they are just a piece in a bigger vision and that it is going to take each person doing their job to be successful. On the field it's the guys continuing to work, train, and learn the game even if we don't have a game for 4 or 5 weeks in a row. It's going from work or school to train at 9pm and putting in the work, listening to the coaches, and then taking that and performing on the weekends to be successful. From the staff perspective, it's making sure that we do everything we can to make the guys on the field jobs as easy as possible. From having balls for training to gear so they don't have to think about what to wear to letting everyone know plans and travel details as soon as we can, our goal is promote our guys, make sure they are set up to be successful, and let them do the playing on the field. All of this was not built overnight and neither was our decision to join the UPSL and now the NPSL. Everything is very calculated and the NPSL was the next step. It's another step up, both in play and professionalism, and is another platform to showcase the amazing talent we have in the DMV area and beyond. Our goal is to have our club run as professionally as possible to give our guys the best platform to display their talents. 

What players should we be looking to contribute in the semis?

I may be biased but I think you should be on the lookout for every player on our roster because they can all ball out. If we really wanted to give you some players to be on the lookout for, the three players would be midfielder Alex Kao, forward Elton Joe, and midfielder Levi Houapeu. Alex can dictate the pace of play and find the killer pass that leads to a goal. Elton has an eye for goal as he's shown this season so far and can make chances out of nothing. Levi is as smart a player as they come and can read the game amazingly well. 

Old Man Yells at Sky: War is Hell Edition

Been a couple weeks off away from the gripe desk, but I’m back, so let’s do this thing.

1. War is bullshit. I don’t care where you are on the political spectrum, wars haven’t been a winner for either side since the first Gulf War. The amount of money we’ve burned in the Middle East is staggering, in the multi-trillions of dollars. I don’t give a fuck what they said on state run tv, no one other than Osama bin Laden ever hit us in a real way. And he was a non-state entity. So what the hell are we doing kicking the hornet’s nest in Iran? Aside from the obvious, trying to distract the public logic, which is so cynical it makes me cringe, I just can’t understand why we keep going back to this well. Stick to sports, got it.

2. MLS kits are boring. I understand that MLS is single entity, but does that mean all creativity has to be sucked out of the kit game? It’s depressing as hell, especially when you head down the tiers into USL and further down. So many great kits! By the way, I know a lot of our readers don’t watch USL, so look at this kit from El Paso. Nothing in MLS is even close.

3. eMLS is ridiculous. Phil writes about gaming on the site, so I’m not going to go crazy here, but I do have thoughts. If your league was #1 in your country, trending on social media, attracting the best talent, etc (in other words, had your game entirely together), then I would understand. But you have to run before you walk. It’s like a doughnut shop who has mediocre doughnuts but wants to expand to breakfast burritos. Get your house together before you expand. And I know MLS has been around 25 years, but even fans of the league have to admit it isn’t really connecting outside the most diehard domestic fans. Making announcements about your “e league” is the stupidest reach in logic from a struggling league propped up by expansion fees. GTFO.

4. Coffee is a hellofa drug. I’m not saying that like the mormons mean it, but that the feeling you get from a great cup of coffee is very similar to when a drug hits. Not that I’m getting crazy high all the time, but I’ve dabbled in my lifetime. But I’m halfway through this iced coffee and I can feel the controlled euphoria rising inside. Just a tiny bit of crazy being activated. And that’s a lot like a drug. Inject it into my veins, friend.

5. Holiday season is officially over and I couldn’t be happier. It’s a wonderful thing. People can get back to being normal assholes, instead of the hyped up crap that we have to deal with for a month and a half. Good riddance to the holiday season which will kick off mid October this year, I’m sure.

6. Anyone else seeing what Maryland Bobcats are doing on social media? We’ve retweeted them, but you should really take a look at the content the club is putting out. Slick graphics and polished videos, all while staying connected to the local soccer that made them so successful in Maryland Majors as WCP. The rest of the NPSL should be taking notes, because they are doing things the right way. I cannot understand why the league continues to flounder in this area. Go to a local college/university and hire a couple of interns to craft a digital strategy. Of course pay them if you can, but at least you get a bunch of sharp minds who are getting the chance to put classroom teaching into real world context. It’s a win win! Just do it!

7. Purity tests have to go. Last week my wife and I picked up season tickets for El Paso Locomotive, our local USL side. There are some that follow us that will shit on me for buying into the Don Garber machine, but I couldn’t disagree more. Of course, I worry about authenticity and connection to grassroots soccer, so I’m sensitive to the shot. Locomotive has been a model of how to connect to the local fan base - smart promotions, success on the field, signing local talent, tapping into the city’s culture. They’ve done things the right way because they are owned by locals. Maybe that makes them different from some of the boogiemen in the league, maybe it doesn’t for you. I was skeptical when they set up shop, but they won me over. I didn’t sell out, I bought in. But don’t expect me to post about USL here, this isn’t that sort of site.

8. Travel is amazing. On another personal note, in 29 days (yeah, we’re counting), my wife and I are headed to Europe for 14 days. Paris, London, Amsterdam on the docket. Pretty pumped. But before you ask, no, I’m not doing any soccer matches on the trip. We had discussed it, but I could tell the wife was not interested. So I let it fade off the itinerary. I will be in London when Chelsea hosts Manchester United, but I love my wife too much to drag her there. She puts up with enough of this stuff already.

9. Is there anything more terrifying than dementia? There was a time when our ancestors were just trying to survive, dying by 45 after incredible cruel and horrible lives. But now we get to live so much longer due to advances in medicine, cultural stability, developments in technology. Little did we know what that would mean. Now we have a host of diseases our ancestors never had to face (because of all the sabertooth tiger related killing). Losing your mind is easily the scariest thing I can imagine. The pain it inflicts on those around you. I don’t know what I’d do, but maybe I’d follow the path of Hemingway. On that note, I love this quote from a friend of Hemingway after he killed himself - “I know that 'Papa' [Mr. Hemingway's nickname] wouldn't give a damn how it came out in the papers.” I hope all of you know I’d feel the same way.

10. Music for the Day. Proud of You - EARTHGANG

    EARTHGANG is one of the best hip hop groups on the rise. Happened to catch them opening for JID two years ago and wow. I had always been reluctant to show up at hip hop shows because I’m a middle aged white man. Doesn’t mean I don’t listen to a bunch of great artists in the genre, but in person I feel like an imposter, or even worse, an interloper. But at that show, I took a chance, it was in a small club in El Paso and my wife, who has none of my fears, encouraged me to come along. So glad. This group is so much fun and reminds me of Outkast in all the right ways. Not saying they are as great as Outkast (because maybe no one is?), just remind me. Anyway, this song is great and you should listen to it. nuff said.

World Class Premier No More

It's been a while since I wrote something substantive on a club. But when I saw that World Class Premier was rebranding to Maryland Bobcats FC, I knew this was the perfect opportunity to get back in the swing of things. I got in contact with the club and was able to get a quick interview done with Communications Director Evan Raimist. Without further ado, here is your Maryland Bobcats.

What exactly led to the rebrand?

The name change comes at a time when there are some big changes in the club, including joining the NPSL, and the ownership wanted to complete this before fans got too entrenched. This helps our future project and helps us start to achieve our goal of representing the whole state and maybe one day bringing a pro team to Maryland. We don't want to be seen as one location, but representatives of the whole state to come together and get behind one project.

How long had this been in the process?

This process has been about a year in the making with it really heating up the last 4-6 months. It isn't a quick process and we wanted to make sure that the transition went as smoothly as possible and that we had everything we needed in place before we announced it.

Why did you choose Bobcats as the mascot?

The new team colors are a tribute to the school where most of the owners met (University of Maryland, Baltimore County or UMBC). By giving the team the gold and black color scheme is their way of paying respect to the school that made them where they are now. The ownership group goes by "The Bobcat Group" so incorporating that into the team identify is important. They had a dream together and have started this project together, so it’s only fitting that the team name incorporate the group that had a dream together and wanted to build something bigger than one individual person.

As a fan, I’m always on the lookout for unique kits and team gear, so this will be a two parter. First, what kit supplier are you guys going with? And will there be gear that fans can potentially buy?

We are working on finishing up designs, but we will have new kits for both our NPSL and UPSL teams next season. Again, we are working through the final details, but it looks like we will be going with Icarus for our kits. We love the work they've been doing and they have been great to work through the designs with. The jerseys will obviously include the new team colors and will be available for purchase. We also are working on getting new scarves that will be available for purchase. As we get closer to the seasons in 2020, we will be adding more gear to our online shop at our new website.

Are there future aspirations of possibly jumping to a pro league?

I think that that is ultimately the goal, yes. We all know the state of professional soccer in the US right now and that it's a bit segregated and disjointed. For now, we are focusing on where we are at. Joining the NPSL is the next big step for us and we are focused on building a competitive squad to kick off in 2020. We always have high aspirating for ourselves, so years down the line becoming a fully professional club is not out of the questions.

Lastly, what can we expect from the team after the rebrand?

You can expect the same high standards that we hold ourselves to as well as continued work in our community. We hope to unite the state of Maryland behind one team and be a club, team, and organization that the community can be proud of. We have already taken a big step with a new website that will be a one-stop shop for all things Maryland Bobcats FC. We are still the same team, same players, and same people behind the scenes with big ambitions, we just have a new name. We're looking forward to finishing this Fall season strong and hoping to have a successful 2020.

---

I have to thank Evan for the opportunity to cover the rebrand and I look forward to seeing what the club can do in the upcoming NPSL and UPSL seasons.

- Shawn Laird