Over the past 6 years, I have lived in 4 different cities across 3 different states. This means I’ve never had a hometown team to really get behind. Even growing up as a kid in Columbus [F*** the Crew!], immersed in the a rich (even if predominantly collegiate) sports culture, I was always a Minnesota sports fan first and foremost, and I never allowed myself to get swept up in much else. It was seldom easy, but I enjoyed my role as a counterculture sports fan.

Of all the cities I’ve been in, Cincinnati had something special. It is the 4th city mentioned above, and I’ve been here for the past 3 of those 6 years. From the moment I pulled off I-71S I found what I had been looking for - a place to call home. Discovering the city was creating second division soccer team was the icing on the cake. I was ecstatic. I’d finally have a team to root for that I can go and watch week in and out. More importantly, this was the opportunity for camaraderie that comes with sharing experiences with a real fan base, not just virtually through the internet and the odd away matches when my teams played closer to me.

So here I am sitting at my table, approaching the 13th hour since the conclusion of last night’s Lamar Hunt Open Cup matchup against MLS opposition Chicago Fire, and I’m still watching video highlights over and over again because I don’t want to come down off this high. I’ve been to a lot of sporting events over the years, but nothing has ever come close to the overall experience and excitement of last night.

Early on, the cards seemed to be stacked against us (obviously we were always the underdog). But aside from that, the pre-match announcements that Chicago’s starting XI would consist of their usual crop aside from Dax McCarty (US) and David Accam (Ghana) (who were both away from the club due to international team duties), and then getting word that neither Jimmy McLaughlin or Djiby were starting for FC Cincy (the latter having sustained an apparent ankle injury during a training session)... I’ll be honest, they left my expectations pretty shaky. Even so, I knew that if the crowd showed the club we were up for it, they’d leave it all on the pitch, and did they ever!

32,287 in attendance watched on as our backline defended as though their very lives depended on it. They executed the game plan perfectly; weather the storm and find opportunity on the counter. I can’t stress enough that Dacres was an unsung hero throughout – hard on the ball time and time again, fighting tooth and nail to give us an edge – to give the defense a break and a moment to regroup.

There were times around the 60’ mark when I’d stop singing long enough to take in how truly loud Nippert was. I was quite literally shaking with chills. And if, like me, you started finding it hard to speak let alone sing, the FC Cincy substitution in the 70th minute changed everything. We dug deep because little Jimmy stood stoic off the bench, waiting for Stevenson to exit the pitch. All of Nippert erupted as Jimmy paced the touchline finding position. Chicago should have known then they didn’t have a chance because the Fire fell short by underestimating how we had just survived Hell. They were starting to get heavy legged, and the boys in Blue and Orange were hungry. Even though they felt the same, they knew they could lean on every one of us, and trust that our songs would lift them up. We got louder and stayed so.