I guarantee you this might just be the best four minutes and five seconds of your entire day.
This video was shot Tuesday night at the Statoil party at BBVA Compass Stadium, the first "event" to be held there. It was posted by KeeperNotes, on their Facebook page. The KeeperNotes e-newsletter, by the way, was one of THE only ways the Houston soccer community connected in the pre-Orange days. It is run by The Keeper herself, Jen Cooper (along with Raymundo Escamilla), a former No. 1 for Rice University, assistant manger at Soccer-4-All and the former president of the Houston Women's Soccer Association. If you're not signed up fro that e-mail newsletter, you're just not as connected to the Houston soccer community as you should be. Sign up here.
In short, Jen Cooper is a soccer superfan, exactly the sort of dedicated, wonderful person that Simon Borg disrespected and dishonored in his ridiculous rant the other day. Jose de Jesus Ortiz wrote a great piece on the Soccer y Futbol blog that pretty much sums up my reaction. And the only thing I would add is that Borg, who is very lucky to be employed in pro sports right now, may be undergoing sensitivity training on his 7-day vacation, but he should be required to spend time explaining to people just like Cooper (if not Cooper herself) exactly what were the error of his ways. I'm not talking about an apology, which would not be worth the paper it's not written on, but rather a full-on explanation, followed by a question-and-answer session that lasts until the audience says it's over, of exactly what he did wrong and why, to an auditorium full of female superfans like Jen. And they are legion, as the Women's United FC group proves. And he should do this in every single MLS city. Then and only then should he be allowed to do any work for MLS.
And, not to put in too much of a plug, but Cooper leads the Firkin Soccer Show roundtable every Sunday on 1560 AM with Escamilla, Joe Ashmore, Rey Gallegos and Jason Day. It's definitely worth a listen.