We press on with our off-season banter by looking at three ways the Hounds dropped the ball this past season. As has been discussed and universally agreed upon, last season was a great year for the team with relationships with the supporters and the community seemingly reaching new heights. However, for all the things the went well, a couple glaring omissions stand out where a lot of us stood scratching our heads and staring in disbelief at what we did or did not see.

1. MISSED GOAL – The Riverhounds just put a little bow on their off-season ‘Goal of the Year’ social media campaign and it was actually quite nice. It gave us a chance to look back at a few gems that may have been lost in the dog days of the season as well as let us relive the “Miracle on the Mon.” The eventual winner was Kerr’s Mon winner from that glorious night. It may have won ‘Goal of the Year’, but it wasn’t even goal of the night. The comeback started in earnest a few minutes earlier when Danny Earls went with a patented Danny Earls one-touch strike from 30 yards out to catch everyone off guard. When we say ‘everyone’ we mean the defenders, Nick Noble (but he misses everything), and everyone there being paid to record the game. Video of the goal doesn’t exist. Before the goal, the ball went out of touch and every camera (or at least all the cameras that were being recorded, not sure how many decks the team can record on at any time) were following the ball that went one, and not the one that was being thrown in. a couple seconds later, it’s in the back of the net, the fans are going a little crazy and that foundation for the miracle has been set. Fast forward to the post-game and the club has something that they can market themselves with and bring some nice attention to the team. Except, they’re missing a goal. Look at the YouTube comments and you’ll see snide comments about a missing goal. We sent the video to the Army’s Guelph chapter, and the first comment back is ‘where’s the other goal?” Now, the team has a real nice moment marred up in a small bit unprofessional-ism, as we have to explain that they missed it. Even when it goes right, it goes wrong.

2. NO PORT-O-POTTIES – The 2014 season wrapped up with one of the biggest complaints, no port-o-potties in the parking lot, fixed. Then toilets stayed there all of that off-season and we had no reason to expect things to change. Then, last season starts with the toilets gone. It took roughly half of the season for the toilets to return, but not before an Army member had to have their day in court for a public urination charge (Not guilty!). While we know that the stadium doesn’t own the parking lots, the fact that this was a resolved issue that came back was very disappointing and sometimes painful on the bladder. Here’s to hoping that this isn’t something to address again in 2016.

3. THE RICHARD NIGHTINGALE QUIT/FIRED FIASCO – This one is inexcusable. The single biggest misstep the team made this year came a few weeks after the season ended and the rumor went out that team president, Richard Nightingale, was gone. A few days later the story was published by the newspapers and other media that follow the team. Some stories had Richard quitting, at least one piece had him fired. There was (hell, still is) confusion as to the circumstances surrounding his departure. If you just followed the team, you’d never know he left. The next word the team publishes about the vacant position will be the first. The only indication about the change in leadership is on the team’s ‘front office’ page that lists Tuffy as ‘Owner and Interim President’ No press release, no attempt to control the story. Even as there were conflicting reports as to what happened, the team sat on their collective hands during the opening days of season ticket sales. It’s lazy at best, deceptive at worst.

There yinz have it; our look at three problems the Riverhounds created for themselves in 2015. With next weekend off for the holiday, we next turn our sights onto ourselves. Three things we feel we did right and three ways we screwed up. Have a suggestion for one of those points? Did we do something so right or wrong that you’d rather write it for us? Send everything to us good or bad to pghsteelarmy@gmail.com.

#UNLEASH