Merciless Tigers FTW!

Merciless Tigers FCAfter several seasons in multiple leagues (summer, winter, indoor, outdoor, mens, co-ed, over-40m etc.) and sometimes several games a week, our beloved Cincinnati Merciless Tigers have finally won the highest honor of the Soccer City Men’s Open Blue Division, top of the table after a 7-1-0 season. They’re also holding steady at .500 (1-1-3) in their current outdoor league. Congratulations to our men in black, Soccer City Men’s Open Blue Division Champions!

TEAM W L D G PF (AVG) PA (AVG) DIFF
Merciless Tigers 7 1 0 8 3(6.63) 27(3.38) +26

Adolf and Benito, EU-capitalist version

The Scooter Scoop reports Vespa and Adidas have teamed up for some co-branded apparel and shoes.
The last time Adidas teamed up (unofficially) with Vespa, we got the greatest commercial of all time:

The gear looks pretty sweet, though not too “outside the box.” What we need now is for Piaggio and Adidas to sponsor a Serie-A team, anyone, THAT would be the greatest soccer jersey since PGO sponsored Akademisk Boldklub of Denmark. (And of course, these.)

Merciless Tigers on Myspace

Look, friends, we can stand here and argue about Man Utd. all day, but there is one team, ONE TEAM, that unites us all under the banner of mediocre soccer… a team as drunk as we are… a team that doesn’t mind if you don’t drive six hours through god-forsaken Indiana to see them play every Sunday, let alone drag your hungover ass out of bed when you ARE in town… That a team is called the Merciless Tigers. And now they’re on MySpace. En-friend-ify those motherfuckers, or whatever you internet people call it, they’re out there chain-smoking cigarettes at halftime so you don’t have to. Zivio!

WKRP 2008, and a MT victory!

Cincinnati Merciless Tigers March 2008
As usual, 2SB spent most of the WKRP rally with our family, aside from some rapid consumption of rather large bottles of Red Stripe in the basement of the Comet, and a quick stop at the C&D (cheese grits!) to save 2SBmom the trouble of making breakfast on Sunday. Luckily Jordan took some photos of the actual rally. Sunday brought good news for Merciless Tigers fans, the boys dominated their first outdoor-league game (with the help of the league office, who mistakenly placed them in an over-40 league, but that’s hardly their fault, right?) Final score was 5-nil or 6-nil or something like that, and we finally got some photos of the Tigers in action and a new team photo (above.) MT jerseys are now SOLD OUT, sorry!

WKRP, and merciless demolition with 2SB

This weekend, of course, is the WKRP Rally in Cincinnati, and 2SB will be there, as always, probably with stomach flu. Here are two non-sanctioned events that 2SB fans might want to check out (we’ll be at both):

  • Saturday evening, early enough that you can still make it to the Comet in plenty of time for the raffle, there’s a Demolition Derby out in Hamilton, OH. We went last year, too, and it was great.
  • Sunday at 1:00, the 2SB-sponsored Merciless Tigers FC are playing their first outdoor-league match somewhere in the vicinity of Winton Woods. They accidentally got put in an over-40 league (they have only one player over 40) and their center-back “Number 2” tells us “‘Over 40’ means we’ll be playing guys that have probably been playing together for 20 years and can pass circles around us.” It’ll be a bigger bloodbath than the Demolition Derby. The Tigers need a good cheering section, and if you’re headed back to Chicago or Indy, it’s sort of on your way home. I’ll try to get the exact address ASAP, or ask me about it at the rally. Bring a mug of “coffee” and your MT replica jersey.

The rally itself has become the official kickoff to the Midwest rally season, it’s always huge and always great, see you there.

Josh Rogers Silent Auction

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Modern Vespa (just after I make fun of them) have had the great idea to hold a Silent Auction to benefit Scoot! Magazine publisher Josh Rogers. I’ve thrown in the very last 2strokebuzz/Merciless Tigers jersey (they’re no longer available after this one!), and other items include books, clothing, scooter parts, and my favorite; “Vintage Street Cred”. Get well soon, Josh!

Vespa Attack 3

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Speaking of the PI, our friend Jordan Cinco has just returned from the Philippines where he helped organize the third annual Vespa Attack rally. Congratulations to 2sb jersey winner Clifford Certeza (above), president of the Euroscoot SC, who is now also the president and sole member of the the Merciless Tigers’ Pacific Rim supporters club. As always, the stories and rally photos are incredible, and 2sb was proud to be a sponsor, but we would have much rather been a participant. Maybe next year.

Check out photos from the 2sb Gallery, Who Rides a Vespa, Jordan’s Flickr, Vexel9’s flickr, kap42no’s flickr, Vespinoy, and the Sexy Times Crew.

2SB/MT jerseys: free shipping for Christmas

Merciless Tigers FC

JERSEYS ARE NOW SOLD OUT, thanks for your support!

Haven’t heard much from the team lately, though Scooter Dave caught Jim M. wearing his out on the town one night. Last I heard, they’d finished 4th in their indoor league and started a new season, in the spring they plan to hook up with an outdoor league (and hopefully I can catch a match during the WKRP rally.)

Merciless Tigers

Merciless Tigers FC

At last, meet your amateur rec-league soccer team, The Merciless Tigers FC of Cincinnati, OH, pictured above in their “indoor” configuration. Snafus with two outdoor leagues have left them stuck indoors for the time being, though there’s still hope they might lace up their cleats this season. A co-ed indoor team is also in the works. In the meantime, they’re holding down third place (of 9 teams) in the Blue Division of the indoor league, after a 7-5 win Monday night (a double-brace for Pat and a hat trick for Steve H.). Allez les tigres sans pitié!

2SB/MT soccer jerseys: last chance

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As mentioned last week, pre-orders of the Merciless Tigers FC/ 2strokebuzz soccer jerseys were much higher than anticipated. All pre-orders have now shipped, and it turns out we have only four shirts left, size XL only (they run a bit small, but not ridiculously so). We created a numbered limited edition of 50, 22 of which went to the team, and these are the last four available, ever. They’re high-quality high-tech jerseys with a silkscreened 2sb logo on the front, silkscreened number on the back, and an embroidered MTFC patch lovingly sewn on by Vina’s mom (left). Does Arsenal’s grandma sew their patches on? We bet not! All orders include a certificate of authenticity and an extra patch for your shorts or rally jacket. Support 2sb and the Tigers, snatch one up while they last. (JERSEYS ARE NOW SOLD OUT, thanks for your support!) The team received them for this weekend’s match, photos and news coming soon. Thanks very much, Busia and everyone who pre-ordered. Keep an eye out for an all-new 2sb t-shirt, coming soon.

Merciless Tigers: Good and bad news

Merciless Tigers FC Jersey

The good news: after a UPS snafu, we got our Merciless Tigers FC/2strokebuzz jersey patches yesterday, and we’re in the process of sewing them on the jerseys, so jerseys will ship this weekend. And they look really, really, great. The team (and you) will love them.

The bad news: They’re sold out. Our pre-order pricing was so successful, the slackers who waited to pay full price won’t get one. There may be a few left after I sort through the orders again, check back early next week, I’ll post if/when they’re available, which is a good reason as any to subscribe to 2sb RSS. And next time, order quickly! (new 2sb merchandise coming very soon). Thanks again to everyone who ordered, more news about the team soon.

2sb jerseys in!

10787.JPGWe got the Merciless Tigers/2strokebuzz soccer jerseys in, a little earlier than expected, and they’re much nicer than i expected, so preorder for sure, I’m definitely going to jack the price up on Thursday. They’re a little different than I illustrated them, but better, the silver trim on the neck also goes around the edge of the sleeves, and the mesh (the dark grey area in the drawing is mesh) actually crosses under the front and back of the shirt, “mesh” sounds dumb, I know, but trust me, it’s cool. The screenprinting is very nicely done, too, and they’re not cut as small/tight as I’d feared. I’ll post a photo ASAP. The bad news is the Merciless Tigers FC patches (left, click to enlarge) aren’t going to arrive until next Monday, and then we have to sew them on. So the finished shirts should ship on or around the 20th. Thanks for all your support.

UPDATE: I’m keeping them at the presale price until Friday, at which time I’ll post some photos and you’ll realize how cool they are and wish you’d ordered one earlier. And MTFC played their first match last week (naked, I suppose), a 3-nil win over Macedonians after a fight broke out in the second half and the game was forfeited. Oh, yeah.

Merciless Tigers 2sb jersey preorder

Merciless Tigers Jersey

2strokebuzz is proud to announce our sponsorship of the 2007-08 Merciless Tigers Football Club. The Tigers are the 2strokebuzz of Cincinnati rec-league soccer; they’re getting kinda old and they play a little sloppy, but they’re proud, entertaining and fun to drink with. We’ll feature Tigers news, profiles, match reports, and maybe come up with a few terrace chants, and in turn, they’ll advertise 2strokebuzz to the world, or at least anyone in a public park in the Cincinnati suburbs at 9am Saturdays.

What this means for you is that you can finally buy a 2sb soccer jersey and help not only your favorite scooter site, but also your new favorite amateur football team. We’ve ordered only 50 jerseys, the team will have first dibs, leaving the rest up for sale here. The jerseys are black hi-tech synthetic colorfast fabric with silver trim at the neck and a breathable mesh section under the arms and down the sides. They feature an embroidered Merciless Tigers patch (featuring the Tigers’ mascot “Tuff Gnarl”) on the left chest, the 2strokebuzz logo silkscreened in white on the center, and the number printed in white on the back.

The jerseys will be delivered in mid-September, but we’re offering them for presale now at an earlybird price. For a mere $38, you can be among the first (and very few) to own this fashionable piece of scootering, soccer, and drinking history. We can’t promise any specific numbers (and single-digits are traditionally worn by the team) but we’ll try to accommodate your request. The preorder deadline is September 12, two weeks from today, then the price goes up-up-up. Preorders also get an extra “Tuff Gnarl” patch for your shorts, jacket, or sweatshirt. Order 2 or more jerseys and get free shipping. Remember, only 50 are being made, so only 25-30 jerseys are available to 2sb readers.

SHIRTS ARE SOLD OUT, thanks for your support!
Meet the team!

Thanks for your support!