Years ago, at a Colorado Rapids media day, coach Glenn “Mooch” Myernick assembled all the media participants in a room and read us the riot act. He was very stern, almost angry, in telling us that for the Rapids to succeed, he would need the cooperation of the local media to keep Denver residents informed about the team. His harsh words made me a bit defensive. Wasn’t he preaching to the choir in this setting? Weren’t the folks who were attending Rapids media day already sold on the idea of Major League Soccer? Despite Mooch’s delivery, the message was spot-on: The local media need to support the Rapids and cover the team. I went back to the Rocky Mountain News with a determination to push the buttons of the sports editors regarding the newspaper’s coverage of soccer. I pushed and pushed whenever possible. Then, in 2006, Editor/Publisher/President John Temple offered me the opportunity to write a soccer blog about the 2006 World Cup in Germany. The experience was a success, and after the tournament concluded, Angel Hernandez and I continued the blog, called FC Rocky. In two years, the blog produced 877 posts and 810 comments. I was looking forward to the day where the number of comments exceeded the number of posts, but that day never came. Scripps-Howard newspapers closed the Rocky Mountain News on Feb. 27, 2009; FC Rocky died with it. But from that ending came a new beginning. With ColoradoSoccerNow.com, our goal has been to continue and expand upon the work started by FC Rocky. We strive to cover soccer in this state better than anyone, from the colleges to the Rapids, from the W-League to the U.S. men’s and women’s national teams.

In the short history of the Web site, we’ve attracted readers from across the United States and around the world: Albania, Algeria, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belarus, Belgium, Bermuda, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Egypt, El Salvador, Fiji, Finland, France, French Polynesia, Gambia, Georgia, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Guam, Guernsey, Guyana, Honduras, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Ivory Coast, Jamaica, Japan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Libya, Luxembourg, Macau, Macedonia, Malaysia, Malta, Mauritius, Mexico, Mongolia, Morocco, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, Norway, Pakistan, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Qatar, Réunion, Romania, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Serbia, Singapore, Slovenia, South Africa, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, Tunisia, Turkey, Uganda, United Kingdom, Uruguay, Uzbekistan, Venezuela, Vietnam and the Virgin Islands, Zambia.

In the U.S., our biggest readership is in Colorado (of course), Texas, Kansas, Nebraska and California.

About George: George Tanner fell in love with the Tampa Bay Rowdies and the North American Soccer League while living in the Tampa, Fla., area in the mid-1970s. He got his first taste of newspapering while following the Rowdies every day in the Tampa Tribune, and from there grew the seeds of a journalism career in which he has worked at the Colorado Springs Sun; the Daily Camera in Boulder; the Durango Herald; The Daily Independent in Ridgecrest, Calif.; the Greeley Tribune; and the Rocky Mountain News.
E-mail George here.

About Shaun: Shaun Schafer continues to relish his DVD copy of the Tulsa Roughnecks 1982 Soccer Bowl triumph. Living in southwest Missouri, he had convinced his father to drive down to Tulsa for games when NASL came to Oklahoma in 1979. The championship a few years later was a highpoint of Shaun’s life as a sports fan. His newspaper career has taken him to Fort Smith, Ark., Chicago, Kansas City, San Francisco, back to Tulsa, Brisbane and Sydney Australia. Currently, he teaches journalism at Metropolitan State University of Denver. He took over the site from George in March 2010.
E-mail Shaun here.

About Jonathan: Jonathan Ingraham is a Colorado native, sports hound, outdoors enthusiast and Metropolitan State College student, working on a journalism degree. Outside of school, he works as a freelance photographer and is available for photographing places, people, events, games or artistic shoots for businesses or personal collections. E-mail Jonathan here.

All original content on this Web site is copyright 2009-2012 ColoradoSoccerNow.com.