Roots fans, it is game day once again. This long and tortured season draws to a close with the Roots hosting Lexington S.C. at 7:00 p.m. at the iconic Oakland Coliseum on Saturday, October 25. Lexington have everything to play for. Roots have nothing to play for but pride and a chance to get a player in the record books. I’m not sure how to say the handful of things I want to say here, so I’m going to plow forward and see what happens.
Roots Stress
From a Roots perspective, this has been a stressful back-half of the season. I feel that we are a much better team since Feilhaber took over but unfortunately that has resulted in a lot of valiant draws that just don’t give you the points you need to move up the table, even if they’re against quality opponents. I basically gave up on writing preview posts around the time it started to feel like we were cooked. The points were still there for the taking but it got harder to believe the Roots were going to take them. The lone bright spot of this stretch has been Peter Wilson on probably the best form a Roots player has ever been on and charging his way to the top of the goals table. He leads by one for the Golden Boot, with the single game remaining, over Cal Jennings, a player that Roots fans have disliked since 2021. Jennings’ Battery have nothing to play for, as they sit in second, 11 points behind Louisville and 15 points above Hartford. Battery face Birmingham Legion, who have been eliminated.
Roots (and more importantly Wilson) face Lexington, who have everything to play for. Fourth through ninth in the Western Conference are all up for grabs:
Nicholas Murray has laid out some of the tiebreakers here.
San Antonio play El Paso, which is a spicy matchup to close out the season. El Paso could straight up knock their cross-state rivals out of the playoffs while San Antonio could deny El Paso a home playoff match. Phoenix play at Pittsburgh, who are in a jammed-up 3rd-6th group in the Eastern Conference with home playoff berths on the line. Switchbacks play at Tulsa, who have nothing to gain and a lot of incentive to rest players. Orange County host Indy Eleven who are a single point out of a playoff berth in the East. From everyone else’s perspective, its Lexington who have the easiest matchup. Lexington will come to Oakland needing to win, and they play at the same time as Orange County, so the playoff picture will be up in the air during the game.
Political Stress
From an Oakland perspective, this has been a stressful week, as the President has turned his sights on our home for his next wave of state violence. Our local leaders are saying that Trump has decided to withdraw. I don’t really understand why nor do I trust Trump to do what he says. I want to think that they’re just cowards (obviously they are, but whether that’s why they’re purportedly retreating is potentially a seperate question). I don’t want to denigrate the hard work being done by the people of Chicago who have been giving ICE the business and yet continue to be terrorized. I suppose it probably all matters–maybe the repeated humiliation that ICE is suffiering in Chicago and elsewhere is leading them to withdraw here rather than face additional public image and morale catastrophes.
My son was sick on Thursday, so I was even more desk-bound than normal for a Thursday; keeping tabs on the situation at Coast Guard Island by social media and other apps. I was thinking about how two guys I know, one through Roots fandom and the other through a board game group, had both given their Thursday mornings up to be there to give those Nazis an Oakland hello. That’s pretty amazing, right? You could be anywhere in the world, and where you’re choosing to be is standing in the street in chilly weather, at moderate to great personal risk, for no immediate benefit, to tell the worst people in the country that you and everyone else in this city revile them. It’s inspiring. It made me pretty emotional. If you were there, seriously, thank you. If you have not seen the picture of the DHS agent apparently pissing himself while firing some kind of less lethal projector into a pastor’s face point blank, you owe it to yourself to check it out.
Finally, while this doesn’t make things less terrible overall, I think it’s worth acknowleding that our club has been amplifying messages of resistance to ICE. For all the shit that I have talked about this club this season, I really do love it, and this was a good reminder why.
Match Predictions or Whatever
Bloom
I kinda like the Roots as spoilers, but we all know they don’t win games these days. 2-2, and a goal for Peter Wilson locks up the golden boot.
I have been thinking a lot about some stuff I read on the internet about Theda Skocpol and Henry Farrell, the weakness of American political parties as they have drifted from social organizations to marketing firms, and what that means for what an individual can do to try to make their community better. I really don’t know enough about either individual’s writing to speak intelligently on them, so just throw it on the pile of things in the world giving me that sweet embrace of paralysis. If you’re interested in founding a club in the greater Fruitvale area that, I don’t know, does trash pickups, potlucks, a reading group, and pools money for the food bank, let me know. Maybe we can do it.
Jon
Roots 3-2, Peter Wilson hat trick. And I’m with Peter, if you do any of those, let me know as well.
Aaron
No one asked me, but I think the answer re: the admin’s decision not to “surge” forces to the Bay Area is mostly just down to rich people talking to other rich people. This is not healthy: cities/regions shouldn’t be in a position where they need rich people who know other rich people to convey to the president that sending in federal forces is a bad idea. (And, of course, Chicago shows that it isn’t a cure-all anyway.) I expect this detente to hold precisely as long as Stephen Miller wants it to. Fortunately, at the moment, he’s still suffering from AOC saying he had the energy of someone who is upset that they are only 4’10”.
Anyway, I expect the Roots to come out firing, and probably take a lead into the break. Circumstances being what they are, Lexington will come out of the locker room with renewed energy, knowing they essentially need 3 points. The Roots, having nothing to play for, probably don’t match that energy for the full second 45. I’m an optimist, so I’ll say 2-2.