Letter from the Editor

Happy New Year everyone. It is that time of year again; the Eagles are finished, the Flyers are midseason and no matter which direction you face when you give it up to the big man (or woman, or seven armed elephant headed rajaluffageous or whatever your preference is), your festivities are finished. Now it's time to look back to soccer to fill all that time that you are pretending that you are going to use going to the gym. This is the time that American soccer returns to the roost.

So now that everyone is back, we never did get properly introduced. My name is Murph and I was too slow stepping backwards when someone asked us who runs this show, so I am stuck being the "boss". We took over the Brotherly Game several months back and never said a word because, that's kind of how we do things and also we didn't want to detract from the excellent work that the previous Managing Editor, Scott Kessler did and his wonderful goodbye piece. We tried to bring you continuity and stability and think we hit the nail pretty square.

What can you expect from us going forward? A whole lot actually. You can expect more articles on more varied subject matter. A sports blog's bread and butter are the match previews and reviews, and we are no different. We will be not only be unveiling a fresh new format and fun things for both, but this year will also see the comeback of the away match contest for those of you who are familiar with that from our previous endeavors. The new version will have some sweet prizes for the winners as well.

We have expanded our staff to bring you more and the regular features you can look forward to seeing include:

Behind the Crest - A series looking at all the things that happen off the field

Opposite View - the opponents perspective on their own team and the Union

Paid Their Dues - We follow former Chestarians and report back on how their lives and careers have gone after they left.

College and Academy Updates - Matt and Frank know the young-ins better than anyone else and will give you insight into the developmental facet of the game.

News - you know those things that happen sometimes that people talk about? We might as well do a bit of that as well.

and that's just a random sampling, there are more regular features and special series planned for this coming year as well.

We are also very proud to announce our exclusive partnership with DoopCast. You will be able to download and listen to every DoopCast episode right here on the Brotherly Game as well as read articles written by the fellows.

Now that we just put the product in the front window, let me take a second to share our overall philosophy. You may not have been able to tell from the first few months of our tenure but many of us here have very strong opinions on the beautiful game and that spills into some strong opinions on the team as well. You will be seeing more of our insight and analysis creeping into our regular pieces as well as new features wholly based on a staff members opinion. The wonderful thing about this staff, is that we can never agree on almost anything so the analysis and opinion will be varied as well. If you feel your opinion is unrepresented, feel free to write a fan post or call out the writer or even me. We are not writing from an ivory tower or with any secret knowledge. This is ultimately your site and we are just the stewards. We very purposely put our pictures in (almost) all of our profiles, because we aren't hiding from our readers. We welcome being stopped pre-match for a chat, at the half in the concourse, or post match while we are waiting out the rush. We simply can not get enough of the game and love to interact with other people who feel the same whether it's in the comments section or in person at PPL or a BFBFCoW match.

Perhaps you noticed the lack of the words "rumor, conjecture and hearsay"? That is because it's not what we have ever done and we don't really plan on starting now. We want our readers to know that when we say something in a headline, that their click will be rewarded with substance and something that ADDS to the subject. There are other places online that you can go if the rumor mongering is your thing. It's unapologeticlly not ours. That doesn't mean we will shy away from picking up a story and commenting on it, or bringing all the info we can find together so our readers can make up their own minds about goings on surrounding the club.

Now I know that you guys are simply salivating for any morsel of information, and we sympathize with you. Now that the Vatican is more forthcoming with information and friendly to deal with than the Union's front office. There simply isn't anything we can responsibly report right now. My gut feeling is that will change very soon (in fact it changed a bit yesterday). It's better by far to wait for the real information than to gorge on conjecture.

The combine starts this week and the 2014 MLS Super Draft is just around the corner. The news will come fast and furious and we have you covered. @tBG LIVE will be live tweeting the HKH and SoB documentary event. If you are going please bid heavily on our donated prize, we think its nifty and want to see it produce many times its worth for a great charity. We will also have LIVE coverage of the 2014 Super Draft complete with pictures and video so make sure you are following our Twitter and Like our Facebook page so you don't miss any of the action.

I will attempt to do this semi-regularly but I would expect perhaps some Twitter Q&A's or even a Reddit AMA session before another "letter" comes out. Regardless, feel free to email, Facebook,tweet,carrier pigeon,or send me a message in a (recyclable) bottle anytime or about anything at all. We always want to know what you guys think.

Thanks for a great 2013 and stick around for 2014, it's going to be fun.