The Rowdies Observer

TWITTER: @RowdiesObserver (play) and @BrianMacWriter (work/play)

Dec. 25, 2018

Thanks for stopping by! Pardon the spartan beginnings from a TBU (Tampa Bay United) coach/dad up in Palm Harbor/Pinellas County. More is coming …
I’m Brian McLaughlin, and thanks to a great talk with Tampa Bay Rowdies sales/ticket account executive Joe Grossman, as well as several visits to Al Lang Stadium to absorb the atmosphere that is Tampa Bay Rowdies professional soccer — I’m hooked.

We’re blessed to have this level of soccer in our backyard, and I’m going to blog about it in 2019.

I’m a 25-year sports writing veteran — from newspapers (Leesburg while in JUCO, Gainesville while attending UofF, Tallahassee, Daytona Beach) to national beats at The Sporting News and handling the PARADE Magazine All-America franchise from 2010-17, to working in the digital world — currently as the FCS National College Football Coordinator for HERO Sports. My work account on Twitter is @BrianMacWriter.

But soccer is a true love, both from playing it for three years on varsity in high school, to winning a state title in it back in 8th grade in South Carolina, to coaching my twins in it from 2014 to present in the TBU Club System (excellent club, affiliated with the Rowdies!).

One of my Sports Writing career highlights was covering the US Mens National Team training camp up in Cary, NC in the 2006 World Cup leadup. Dealing with Bruce Arena’s sarcasm one-on-one for 15 mins was up there with Steve Spurrier’s during the college years.

This is going to be fun, too.

So I’m really looking forward to chiming in on the experience in 2019.

On Jan. 11, we’ll say more! Thanks for stopping by.