Why I’m a Fan of the Houston Dynamo

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Before I dig into my history with the Houston Dynamo I want to provide a little background about how I fell into writing for Dynamo Theory. When I was in college a few years back I felt compelled to read all things I could about the team. MLSSoccer.com was one resource that I frequented, but it never gave me enough. The Houston Chronicle’s coverage was extremely limited and read like the AP (often because it was a copy/paste from the Associated Press). I also found Glenn Davis, a former trainer of mine, and his website Soccer Matters. Still, I felt a need to find a community to share with and since the college I went to was in the Pacific Northwest, there were few other Dynamo fans to cheer on the team with…none…there were no other fans that I could find. That’s how I found Dynamo Theory and I began commenting on game day threads, on other posts, and that eventually led to Stephen Eastepp – our Ordinary Orange Fan, asking me if I’d like to contribute. I didn’t really know how I could help, but I accepted and began doing Player Ratings pieces after games. My coverage expanded as the DT grew and changed, but this is how I see this website – as a community because that’s what it means to me and was what I needed.

I grew up playing soccer and it has been a big part of my life since I was 4 or 5 years old. I used to go see our indoor team, the Houston Hotshots, before the Dynamo were around, but I’ll be the first to admit it that I wasn’t a die-hard fan when they finally did arrive in Houston back in 2005. I was in high school then and when I thought about soccer I wanted to play it and did so with my club teams, my high school team, and during the summer my indoor team. It’s not that I wasn’t a fan, but I was definitely more of a casual fan than someone that bled orange. I think I was more of a country over club type person because international tournaments are much easier for casual fans to embrace. The amount of energy I put into following this team would change when I went to college in Washington State.

Seattle Sounders FC became a club in 2007, my freshman year of college, and many of the friends that I made that were from the state became overnight super fans. The level of buzz about them was, to me, absolutely deafening. I threw around how good the Dynamo were and how they were 2-time MLS Cup champs and how they were a power house, but it was never enough for them. I had to educate myself on all aspects of the league, other teams, and all players in order to be able to say with confidence that Sounder fans are wrong all of the time.

Having gone to the occasional Sounder game, I love the energy they bring. Even in the nose bleed seats fans don’t sit down. But, I still enjoyed creating a rivalry with my friends which helped increase my passion for my team. I do bleed orange now and am admittedly too optimistic at times – usually in order to play devil’s advocate when people bash the club. I owe it to my rave green wearing super fans to mold me into an even bigger super fan.

Writing for the club now I’ve seen plenty of ups and downs, both ups and downs seem to be happening this season depending where we play, and it’s helped me mature as a writer and a fan. Also as a writer for a Dynamo website, I know at least one of my PNW buddies might be reading this so I get one final dig at the Sounders: rave green is a terrible name for a color, Houston still has more MLS Cups, and nobody wants to hear about how many Open Cups you’ve won.

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