It had been a long year, and a long summer, and we here at the Yanks Are Coming certainly have had a lot on our plates in the past month. With MLS pushing towards an exciting playoff season, Bob Bradley settling in and preparing the U.S. for a crucial 2011 Gold Cup campaign, Jermaine (yes, Jermaine) Jones a couple of moments away from a USMNT debut, Everton battling relegation concerns early in a season (AGAIN!), and Liverpool up in arms over current American owners as rumors swirl about a new, more successful, storied set of American honors sweeping in to save the storied club from ruin— well, we’ve been on vacation. We needed a break. A brief recap of what we’ve been up to:
Senior Writer and Co-Founder Jon Levy is working hard, writing a great deal for the site, taking over Knoxville, Tennessee with his girlfriend and The Yanks Are Coming fan and firefighting hero Brian Suggs, and generally enjoying the start of his Chicago Bears.
Editor-in-Chief Dan Seco is molding young minds in New Orleans. We’ve missed Dan as he gets settled in to his new life with Teach For America, but we know he’s doing a great job down there and we’re really happy for him and all the good he is doing. Dan is a tremendous editor and asset to us: more important, he’s a tremendous human being.
Puck has been in the lab with a pen and a pad trying to get his damn flux capacitor off. Okay, he’s not really building a DeLorean. But he is working hard in graduate school, doing a great deal of writing for the site and installing video cameras in his apartment for the inevitable moment his go-lucky cowboy of a roomate Trevor (that’s T-Bone to Happy Hour readers) falls down the stairs to his upper-level loft/treehouse of a bedroom. You also might find him at Shaboom’s when the time is right, playing Golden Tee 2011. Puck is also recently the Grand High Exalted Fantasy Baseball Mystic Ruler- no small feat given the competition in the league he’s in. That stuff is cutthroat.
Raf Crowley, co-founder and senior editor, has authored a new piece for The Yanks Are Coming and he did so just hours after completing his dissertation in Newtonian Physics and Engineering. He’s smart. He’s also Dr. Raf Crowley. Congratulations to Raf on this incredibly accomplishment.
Neil W. Blackmon, co-founder and associate editor, has been working extraordinarily hard and is emerging from a series of trips, work, interviews and debate coaching excited about the autumn weather and the future. He’s less excited about a birthday this weekend that signals the beginning of the end of youth and its attendant glory. Cue the Jay-Z/Rod Stewart/Bobby Dylan/Whatever “Forever Young” rendition you like the most.
Senior writer Guy Bailey has been finishing his book in Atlanta, and alongside the usual cheering for Middlesbrough to emerge from the Championship, Guy made it out to Turner Field this past weekend for some of the Bobby Cox celebration (Go Braves). We’re excited to have Guy writing again this fall.
Finally, our Yanks Abroad guy Dru Boyer is gearing up for Reds playoff baseball tomorrow (I know, say that out loud– it sounds funny), and after his beloved Kentucky followed up a beating to Florida with a shocking loss to Ole Miss– he, like the rest of Big Blue Nation, are gearing up for another season of Kentucky basketball. With the sterling super frosh Brandon Knight running the point– they’re doubtlessly again ready to be the Best Team Money can buy.
So we’re done with vacation. The battery is recharged and we’ll be in Philadelphia next week covering the team after we celebrate together in Gainesville, Florida this weekend. We’ve got a great deal of new content for you, a look at the MLS Playoff Push, a look at young USMNT defenders to watch, answers to your questions about the Gold Cup campaign and how we expect the US to begin answering questions about its future this weekend in Chicago, and much, much more. Dan Seco is returning to us too, with changes to the site that will make us better, stronger, and more fun for you. Thanks for sticking by us. We love our readers and you’re the only reason we do this.