FBM Appearance on Winning Ugly Radio

FBM Prez Dan was one of the guest panelists on this week's episode of Winning Ugly Radio, a show on the Champions Soccer Radio Network.

On the show Dan talked about the Free Beer Movement, but mostly it was all fun and games with host Scott Bornstein and other guests Ginge (of Ginge Talks the Footy) and Sandra Franz.

Dan talks the curse of England's over-inflated sense of self-worth (and how that translates to penalty kick woe), a super STD between Paris Hilton and Cristiano Ronaldo, the "Coking, Choaking Argentini", PANCAKES! and other hilarious answers.

Listen Now: Episode 51 of Winning Ugly Radio (click on any of the links in the post).

News Watch: Numbers in the Stands, Numbers on TV, ESPN Ups its WC Coverage, Eastwood a Soccer Fan? and More

The Free Beer Movement is not focused solely on drinking. I know... it surprises us to say that too. In our more sober moments we also reflect on the state of the sport, culture-wise, with one eye on the headlines that pop up across the soccer Inter-blogo-sphere.

Here's a look at a few key stories that are shaping American soccer this week.

* Despite the recession, Major League Soccer is doing pretty OK.

This is great news given the current economic situation in the nation. All of the major sports leagues are suffering due to the down turn, but MLS's modesty seems to have helped it through the worst part of the storm.

The National Football league is struggling to sell tickets and Major League Baseball saw its attendance drop 6.9%, while MLS fell only 2.9%. The bad news is that if you take new franchise Seattle out of the figures (who averaged 30,897 per game) the league attendance suffered a 9% drop. The other bad news is that established clubs on, average, suffered more than the league's newer clubs. Long-struggling clubs like Kansas City, FC Dallas, and New York Red Bulls continue to lose fans not only because of the recession, but because they're just bad.

Back to the upside. The Summer of Soccer put American soccer on the map. Not 1994 World Cup on the map, but between the high profile matches and the USMNT's run the Gold Cup and Confed Cup it drew larg number of people to the sport and in the stands

* Even as attendance numbers are a mixed bag, TV ratings for soccer are pretty straight forward: a big jump for the footy. Fox Soccer Channel saw huge boosts for its English Premier League numbers and modest gains for its MLS broadcasts. Just keep in mind, its not worth it to compare the two.

* More good TV news: ESPN is going all-out for its World Cup coverage in South Africa next year.

* Speaking of the World Cup, the Los Angeles Time reports that the U.S. hosting the 2018 or 2022 tourney could mean an estimated $5 BILLION, with a "B" windfall for the nation's ecomomy.

* And how is that big going?

* A great "shoe on the other foot" perspective of American basketball from the Brits.

* If Dirty Harry is a soccer fan then why not the rest of America? Huh, punks?

* The Americans are Coming! The rest of the world ought to get used to the USMNT participating in its marquee soccer event.

FBM Photo: Free Beer Match Day in New England

MidnightRevs was kind enough to send us this picture from Sunday's Major League Soccer playoff clash between the New England Revolution and the Chicago Fire.

He "tweeted" me earlier in the day to let me know he was hosting a Free Beer Match Day at Foxboro Stadium.

Here's his first pic from the afternoon:

Simple, yet elegant, for sure. For his efforts we're sending MidnightRevs a FREE FBM bumper sticker! You can get one, too!

Photo Essay: The Making of the FBM Bumper Sticker

You've seen the stickers on our fans (maybe a few cars?) and we've handed out a ton at the two Free Beer Match Days we've had since we got them, now you can see the "making of..." our Free Beer Movement Bumper Stickers.

Our "marketing director" Craig was kind enough to lend the services of the print company, Sign Satisfaction, where he works to print the stickers for us. We highly recommend them if you're in the Austin, TX area.

Craig converting the image for print.

It wouldn't be Free Beer Movement work without free beer!

Setting up the beast.

Rolling of the presses.

The cutting room.

Dan making precision-perfect cuts.

This is serious business, folks.

Get used to this shot. You'll be seeing all over the place!

I'm sure now you're left wondering, "How can I get my hands on one of these awesome stickers?" It's simple... just tell us your free beer stories.

We want to know how free beer has bridged the soccer gap for you and your friends. Write to us, send us your pictures, and we'll send you a FREE Free Beer Movement bumper sticker to put where ever you like. Hit us up at freebeermovement@gmail.com and your story could be the next on our site!

Who We're Buying a Beer For...

This Free Beer Movement thingy is all about spreading the love of soccer through free beer so it would be a damn shame if we didn't shower a bit of it on the people who make the sport (and the world around the sport) so great.

Introducing a new feature on the FBM site, "Who we're buying a beer for". Where, if we (or anyone of our "free beer movers" ever run into them, we required (by FBM by-laws) to offer up some brewskis, on the FBM tab, for their contributions to American soccer.

#1 Brad Guzan

Gave USMNT and Aston Villa fans something to look forward to after, respectively, Tim Howard and Brad Friedal hang up the mits. He had a MONSTER performance this week in the Carling Cup saving 1 PK in regulation and 3 in the shootout. The 25-year old America has a bright future and continues to put USA on the map (just in case you had a hard time finding it) for quality goalkeeping.

Hat Tip to The Shin Guardian (we don't think we promo this site enough!) for the clip.

#2 Hope Solo

Another American goalkeeper, but this one of the female variety. The USWNT defeated Germany 1-0 in a battle between Nos. 1 and 2 in the women's soccer world. How did our intrepid netminder celebrate this win? With a beer of course!

From her Twitter account:

"real heffweizen after a hard earned victory. not sure how much better life could be!"

A good win, another great boost for the USWNT, and a great ending!

#3 Nick Sindt

Our buddy who runs the blog, Snorting the Endline, was inducted into the Jimmy Conrad Wing of the Comment Hall of Fame over at The Shin Guardian (there they are again!) for his hilarious insights into ESPN programming.

"Want even further proof of ESPN’s hatred of the beautiful game. Back in 2006 (I think) Arsenal and AC Milan were squaring off in the Champion’s League Semi-Finals, second leg. ESPN2 had shown the Barcelona match the day before, but on Wednesday what did my Comcast tell me was going to be shown on ESPN2 instead of the match? Jump Roping. That is correct, a competition where people jump over ropes swung by others. So, I set my VCR anyway, praying that Comcast was just not updated and the match would be televised. What did my wondering eyes behold when I rewound the tape? Jump Roping!!! Effing Jump Roping!!!!! I almost went completely mental. Later that day I called and dished out an extra $5 a month for ESPN Deportes."

Keep up the good work, Nick.

#4 Jozy Altidore

The kid needs a beer (he's old enough if its bought in England, right?) after getting shelved by Hull City manager Phil Brown. The 19-year old future-of-American-soccer/man child overslept and missed warm ups for last weekend's English Premier League game.

To add insult to injury he Tweeted about missing it and was fined an undisclosed amount of money for talking about team business.

Have a beer on us, Jozy. Just as long as its not the night before a game.

#5 Bill Archer

Love him or hate him, his diatribes on Big Soccer are interesting and he served up a nice tongue-and-cheek slap to the EPL vs MLS/ promo/releg vs. playoffs battle that goes on in the American soccer discussion word with his latest column.

"Boy, I can't wait until Major League Soccer Soccer News Topics, the United States of Americas' First Division Professional Soccer League, comes to it's senses and dumps this stupid playoff format and finally creates a slavish copy of the vastly superior European (read: English Premier League) single table, winner take all, regular-season-is-all-that-matters setup so that we can have a little excitement at the end of the year.

All these boring, nothing-at-stake, drama-free MLS matches over the last few weeks are really putting us all to sleep. Boooooooore-ing. Wake me when it's over.

Because there's just nothing better than the last month or two of the EPL season when all those middle-of-the-table teams play all those breathlessly exciting games dripping with consequences as the fans are unable to sleep at night wondering whether their local club will finish 11th or 12th.

Meanwhile, the teams who somehow managed to get promoted at the end of the previous season and who haven't won a match since January add to the edge-of-your-seat drama as the punters furiously debate whether Wolves or QPR or EastMiltonFromminghamptonshire will finish 15 points south of the relegation line or only 12.

Because, as we're constantly reminded, that is where the real end-of-season excitement that we're all missing over here in the colonies is located: seeing which really crappy team can manage to somehow gain the right to remain for one more year in a league they cannot possibly hope to be competitive in.

Really grippping stuff."

The point being that the Major League Soccer playoffs are hopelessly American and we're totally fine with that notion. As one commenter said on Archer's post:

"isn't that why the pilgrims came over, to escape the promotion/relegation system? i thought that was what thanksgiving was about...."

While MLS fans (us included) will acknowledge that the playoff system is not perfect, it certainly is apart of American (and many other soccer league around the world) sports. Love it or leave we say.

Grab a beer and put it on our tab.

Free Beer Match Day Four: The Movement in DC Edition

You've seen our fan and game photos from DC, now check out our efforts on the FBM front as well! The whole day was a great success as passed out a ton of our Free Beer Movement bumper stickers to soccer fans old and new. Just in the days after the match we've had bunches of visitors, new Twitter followers, and fans on Facebook so our idea is catching on!

The FBM rendezvoused with their four guests at the pre-game tailgate and the party was on!

Leadership Summit: FBM Prez Dan and American Outlaws President and Founder Korey Donahoo.

The ever-popular "Hand of Justice".

FBM guest Michael helping himself to the beer. EIGHT (count 'em!) different beers!

This group was DEFINITELY following the Free Beer Movement. Not only we're they taking down the suds, they brought a soccer newbie to the game. I ran into her later at the game in the FRONT ROW. That's a great first soccer memory.

Hey, where ever you want to sport it! (Now we're just running into the stickers everywhere!)

Although I wouldn't recommend it straight to the skin.

The FBM stickers were popping up everywhere at the post-game party at Molly Malone's.

We FINALLY got Frankie!!!!! We'll at least a fan of Frankie.

Guy with a sticker, Michael with (yet another) beer. Cheers to both!

Photo Essay: USA v. Costa Rica in DC

We decided to separate our trip photos into two essay because they're just so many great pics from DC. The first one is all about the game and the fans and our next essay will be more FBM-centric. I was sitting right in the trenches of the American Outlaws and Sam's Army at midfield. I even made it all they way up to the front row after half time. What a night!

As Borat would say, "Great success"!

LD banner on RFK. Wondering if I can get that to put on my house when their done with it?

"When the American Outlaws go marching in!"

More general AO chaos.

Costa Rican fans taunt us with tongs and grill covers. Scary. We respond with "America? Fuck yeah! Costa Rica? Fuck you!"

Face of a soccer warrior.

I'm not going to ask how he got all those beads.

Estadio RFK.

" Oh, say can you see...."

Michael Bradley controlling possession.

9th minute tribute to Charlie Davies.

Leading the cheering charge.

Down 0-2 at half. The situation looks dire.

GOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAL #1.

LD waiting to make a difference.

Show 'em how you REALLY feel!

GOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAL #2!!!!!

Timmy! Tossing the jersey into the stands.

National pride.