Since going on hiatus from my own podcast the hole in my life for a soccer podcast to replace it grew. The three or four hockey podcasts I listen to are all amazing but I missed soccer. I tried a few but they came across as either too polished or not polished enough. I didn’t want a podcast talking about what they felt I wanted to hear but rather what I should hear. I also didn’t want a podcast where I was listening to burps. They also had to have some inkling about the game or at least be trying to learn. It took a while but finally I found the Mostly Soccer Podcast on iTunes. They were already a number of episodes in when I found them April of last year, but decided to give the latest episode at the time a try and was instantly hooked.
Neither Mike nor Jimmy, the two Rhode Island natives behind the podcast, try too hard to impress and admit when they haven’t a clue, something a lot of other podcasts don’t do to their own detriment. They were also very easy to listen too. Their love of the sport came across more than anything and slowly through Twitter we started a back and forth. Jimmy calls me a ball buster, while Mike can’t really call me anything since he’s an Arsenal supporter… but we know it’s all in good fun. It got me thinking though as I starting preparing for life without hockey and football, how did Mostly Soccer come to be.
“Well, I blogged about soccer for a short while,” Mike says, “but no one read anything. We have a mutual friend who we would play Sports and Xbox with and from there we became friends. We also live five minutes away from one another.”
But why Soccer?
“We are both loudmouths from Johnston who are very passionate and give dumb opinions” Mike continues. “We needed to voice about our love for the beautiful game”
Mike admits during our interview that it was mostly Jimmy’s idea to start the podcast and it was also his counterpart who was the driving force behind early episodes as he has a hard time committing to anything (good news for his girlfriend Brooke who has joined them on a few episodes). But as the podcast has grown Mike’s become more involved and if you interact with the Mostly Soccer account on Twitter 90% of the time it’s Mike who is responding.
Speaking of Twitter, the guys aren’t afraid to let their feelings known on the social media account and have annoyed quite a few Liverpool fans with their opinions. “My opinion on Liverpool fans is the same as any other fan base” Mike informs me. “A lot of them are great friendly people and then there are a lot of them that are idiots.” It’s hard to disagree with him especially when he adds, “The Liverpool fan base is a particularly angry one, especially for a team doing so well. You can’t say anything about them without having an angry mob come for you.” For Mike, the podcasts resident shit talker about any team not named Arsenal, this is apparently “what makes talking shit about them so great”
They also aren’t afraid to voice their opinion on the controversial VAR system introduced into the Premier League this season. “I don’t know if I can make my feelings on VAR any clearer than I have on the podcast” Mike tells me. “Its a scourge to the game. I thought it would be helpful, at least for offsides, but it’s used so terribly and incorrectly. VAR needs to go immediately or they need to dramatically change the way it’s used.” Despite his dislike for the Virtual Assistant Referee Mike also admits he doesn’t foresee it going anywhere anytime soon.
And hopefully the same can be said for the podcast which has continued to produce quality episodes during this COVID-19 lockdown including one with Providence City FC founder Jason Rego that is a must-listen for any fan of grassroots football. Let’s just hope Mike doesn’t lose any more episodes going forward so we can enjoy at least an hour every two weeks of normalcy.
The guys are back this week with a Bundesliga preview and hopefully some of Jimmy’s latest Bot Meets World recaps. Hey it’s not completely Soccer… just mostly. You can follow the guys on Twitter @SoccerMostly and catch their latest episode here
