a cross-over into the personal sphere, why @SorareUSA is a thing, and what’s ahead.

In less than 72 hours I’ll be back on American soil for the first time since January. In that time I’ve visited Argentina, Brazil, Peru, and Guatemala. I’ve met at least one Sorare manager in all one of those places, which was absolutely incredible and the highlight of the trip. As I’m almost boarding a flight back to the US, I wanted to use this space to share why I do this and what’s ahead for the future.

As a lot of you know, I’ve been playing MLS Fantasy for a long time, even going as deep as a manually scored draft league ran on Google sheets and Facebook groups. Over the course of the pandemic MLS had some pauses and even briefly lost interest, until Sorare re-ignited the fire and then some.

Back in February 2021, I felt like we’d hit the low-point in the pandemic – let me explain. We had gotten over the initial uncertainty of early 2020 and finally had some light at the end of the tunnel with the vaccines. However, that light was still months away; I think at the time the estimated eligibility in the US for younger people was May/June. There was just a general lull for everything going on.

Enter Sorare. Massive shoutout and credit to @andrewmlaird here since his tweets were what initially drew my attention towards the platform. Sadly I didn’t use any referral link when I did sign up. My bad. But you bet there’s a beer waiting for you when we cross paths at a future meetup!

The whole idea of playing a lineup with players from MLS, J League, or Bundesliga together was incredibly captivating. So into the rabbit-hole I went: I started browsing Yahoo Sports Japan, bought an electronic sportsmag (?) subscription in Japanese and tried to learn as much about Japanese and Korean soccer as possible since those leagues were about to start right before MLS.

There wasn’t much, if any, sorare-specific/contextualized information available yet for those leagues, which I chalked up to the language barrier (@SorareJapan was the big exception of course).

However, once I got around to adding MLS cards, for that summer synergy™, I noticed the exact same problem, except this time there wasn’t a language barrier excuse. So after discussing that with my roommate on a random Tuesday night and a bet along the lines of “odds you can get a thousand people to care about MLS in a year?”, @SorareUSA was created:

https://twitter.com/SorareUsa/status/1369440401841655809

And so it began.

The goal was, and still is, to make it easier for folks to keep up with MLS and enjoy the league with all its quirks and craziness. I love all the connections made with people across the world and this South America trip has really underlined that for me. I’m also just trying to soak up and learn as much as possible about Web3 along the way.

This something I do on the side while traveling and that means there will be weeks where I won’t be able to provide an update in time or even miss small things like this one:

https://twitter.com/SorareUsa/status/1525277559952375808

Apologies to all who played lineups with a suspended Pablo Ruiz this week. Things like this will happen from time to time. Every week I get DMs asking if I have a paid service or if I’m considering one. Never say never, however, the answer for now and the foreseeable future is:

This is 100% a passion-project and something that I genuinely enjoy without any monetary incentives.

With that being said, I am actively trying to improve the quality and format of how I share information with you all. This blog-style post is a primary example of trying to improve the content and change up how things are done. I can’t wait to see what lies ahead this summer and stuff like the MLB deal has me even more excited:

The deal with M.L.B. is part of a broader strategy for Sorare to expand into the United States by courting fans of other popular sports leagues, Mr. Julia said.

Good times ahead! Hopefully we’ll be able to throw in some summer meetups in the US before the European season starts. Big thank you to everybody who’s provided feedback and whose interactions make this so fun every week.

a cross-over into the personal sphere, why @SorareUSA is a thing, and what’s ahead.

In less than 72 hours I’ll be back on American soil for the first time since January. In that time I’ve visited Argentina, Brazil, Peru, and Guatemala. I’ve met at least one Sorare manager in all one of those places, which was absolutely incredible and the highlight of the trip. As I’m almost boarding a flight back to the US, I wanted to use this space to share why I do this and what’s ahead for the future.

As a lot of you know, I’ve been playing MLS Fantasy for a long time, even going as deep as a manually scored draft league ran on Google sheets and Facebook groups. Over the course of the pandemic MLS had some pauses and even briefly lost interest, until Sorare re-ignited the fire and then some.

Back in February 2021, I felt like we’d hit the low-point in the pandemic – let me explain. We had gotten over the initial uncertainty of early 2020 and finally had some light at the end of the tunnel with the vaccines. However, that light was still months away; I think at the time the estimated eligibility in the US for younger people was May/June. There was just a general lull for everything going on.

Enter Sorare. Massive shoutout and credit to @andrewmlaird here since his tweets were what initially drew my attention towards the platform. Sadly I didn’t use any referral link when I did sign up. My bad. But you bet there’s a beer waiting for you when we cross paths at a future meetup!

The whole idea of playing a lineup with players from MLS, J League, or Bundesliga together was incredibly captivating. So into the rabbit-hole I went: I started browsing Yahoo Sports Japan, bought an electronic sportsmag (?) subscription in Japanese and tried to learn as much about Japanese and Korean soccer as possible since those leagues were about to start right before MLS.

There wasn’t much, if any, sorare-specific/contextualized information available yet for those leagues, which I chalked up to the language barrier (@SorareJapan was the big exception of course).

However, once I got around to adding MLS cards, for that summer synergy™, I noticed the exact same problem, except this time there wasn’t a language barrier excuse. So after discussing that with my roommate on a random Tuesday night and a bet along the lines of “odds you can get a thousand people to care about MLS in a year?”, @SorareUSA was created:

https://twitter.com/SorareUsa/status/1369440401841655809

And so it began.

The goal was, and still is, to make it easier for folks to keep up with MLS and enjoy the league with all its quirks and craziness. I love all the connections made with people across the world and this South America trip has really underlined that for me. I’m also just trying to soak up and learn as much as possible about Web3 along the way.

This something I do on the side while traveling and that means there will be weeks where I won’t be able to provide an update in time or even miss small things like this one:

https://twitter.com/SorareUsa/status/1525277559952375808

Apologies to all who played lineups with a suspended Pablo Ruiz this week. Things like this will happen from time to time. Every week I get DMs asking if I have a paid service or if I’m considering one. Never say never, however, the answer for now and the foreseeable future is:

This is 100% a passion-project and something that I genuinely enjoy without any monetary incentives.

With that being said, I am actively trying to improve the quality and format of how I share information with you all. This blog-style post is a primary example of trying to improve the content and change up how things are done. I can’t wait to see what lies ahead this summer and stuff like the MLB deal has me even more excited:

The deal with M.L.B. is part of a broader strategy for Sorare to expand into the United States by courting fans of other popular sports leagues, Mr. Julia said.

Good times ahead! Hopefully we’ll be able to throw in some summer meetups in the US before the European season starts. Big thank you to everybody who’s provided feedback and whose interactions make this so fun every week.