2013 has been quite a year in a number of ways. It’s been full of some high points, some frustrating moments, but a long the way we have tried to keep pushing ahead and doing things our way. The one thing that I can say is that there have been lot of good times. A lot of good people. And a lot to look forward to. This photo of dunny and Taylor Twellman is from last January when we were at the NSCAA Convention. The year started off with seeing old friends and making new ones, and that theme carried right throughout the rest of 2013.
In 2013 we started working closer with EA Sports on some projects that surrounded FIFA 14. Early in the year I was at their HQ for sneak peak of some of what could be expected in the 2014 version of the game. It was at this meeting that ideas were discussed and some early plans were laid in place for what we could potentially do working together.
We talk a lot on this site about music as it’s clearly a big part of each of our lives and something that we believe is a huge part of this soccer lifestyle that we are always discussing. This year we decided to do more than just talk about music, but to get together with one of our dudes who is a DJ here in LA and put together a mixtape. There have been plans to do more, but the OG Bumpy Pitch mixtape will always be the Spring Again mixtape by Waldo Rules.
I personally had never had the chance to go to a Champions League match. All the times I have been in Europe and yet no Champions League action for me. That changed this year as I got to head to London and check out the finals with adidas. There is a lot that will stand out about that experience, but seeing the Dortmund fans congregate in central London and sing and drink beers for hours was pretty memorable. And pretty entertaining. Here is a little video I shot of the Dortmund fans getting it in.
Steve Nash showed some love this year which is always appreciated.
The US played in one of the most memorable and possibly controversial World Cup Qualifiers in their history this year. The snow bowl match in Denver goes down as one of those games that I will forever remember watching. The weather conditions were horrible with pretty much a blizzard making the game an instant classic in many ways. It was also a key moment for the US team as they were struggling a bit and a story had just come out about trouble in the locker room. This game seemed to squash all of that and this was a pivotal moment for the US. We had to celebrate the best we know how and thus, this shirt was born.
Another cool project that we got to be involved with surrounds our good buddy Ethan King. We have featured Ethan and the good work that he is doing a number of times and this year was no different for him. Anytime we get to work on something together, it’s always a highlight for us. His Charity Ball organization went to Africa to set up a camp and tournament with Borussia dortmund defender Neven Subotic. They also build clean water wells and generally just create awesomeness wherever they go. We got to send some product along with them to pass out to some great kids. Look for more from Charity Ball + Bumpy Pitch in 2014.
This year we decided to host a party with some friends for MLS All Star. We had never done something around the All Star Game before so we decided to go for it this year. We found a great venue. Rooftop deck with a pool overlooking the P&E District in KC. We had some weather issues the day before (lightning, thunder, downpours, etc) and the morning of which is definitely not ideal when throwing a party on a roof…surrounded by water. But it went through. Good times were had and more importantly lessons were learned.
Circling back to EA, we did a limited edition shirt with them that was given away at the party in KC and to a handful of contest winners. It is one that has never been for sale (nor will it be), but it is one that we get countless requests to sell. Best thing to do is show up at our next event with EA…
2013 marked the Centennial anniversary for US Soccer. That is a huge birthday for the federation and the sport in America, so we decided to come up with our own Centennial crest. Something vintage to correspond with the 100 year anniversary. The reaction has been overwhelming, so as the weather turned cooler we ended up doing this on a crew neck sweatshirt as well.
One of our favorite projects to work on this year was with Robbie Rogers. Robbie is an old friend of ours as is his agent Shaun. Anyone reading this will know that Robbie came out earlier as a gay athlete and subsequently started a foundation to help get people to move beyond stereotypes, hate, prejudice, etc. As they were working on the Beyond “it” foundation we started having talks to design a shirt to help spread the word and support what both Robbie and the foundation. This was one of those projects that has far greater implications than just coming up with a design and creating apparel. We were very proud to work on this with some very good friends.
We dropped some stadium tees celebrating the champions of some of Europe’s biggest leagues (2012-13 seasons). Barcelona was one of them. The beautiful Sonny Reichert just so happened to gravitate towards the Camp Nou t-shirt and do a little modeling session in it.
We launched a new initiative (quietly – but you will be hearing more about in in 2014) that will be focusing on growing the sport domestically in even more ways than what we have been doing so far. Our first project on this was with EA Sports and it was all about celebrating the first 20 years of the FIFA video game franchise. We commissioned artists from around the world to re-imagine the first 20 covers of the game and we presented them at an art exhibit. This was the first time we had done anything like this and it was a ton of fun to work on. There was a tremendous crowd that showed up to support soccer and art which speaks volumes about this culture that is being built.
We heded to Columbus for the US v Mexico game which turned out to be an incredible trip. We met new friends. caught up with some old ones. We watched the US beat Mexico (2-0 again) and then stayed in the stadium post game to see the US clinch qualification to the World Cup.
We launched a new initiative that we had been planning for awhile called the Bumpy Pitch Social Club. It’s in it’s infancy but check for much more from this in 2014.
Mac from it’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia returned wearing our Fall River Marksmen. Big ups to him for that.
It was around this time though that we started having some problems with The Original Winger. Somehow we started getting messages about Malware on the site which meant that the site was on and offline for awhile as we tried to figure things out. This was one of the more frustrating things about the year that we were faced with. It took us a while to figure things out. Get all new security features in place and start getting after things again. We thank all of you who stuck by us and continue to check back with TOW on a regular basis. The site will only get better going forward.
We did a photo shoot looking back at the days of summer with our good friend Lorry and Kurt from Kaloopy.
This years Hexagonal ended in dramatic fashion. With Panama leading the US late in the game, it looked like Mexico would be knocked out of the World Cup. Instead, the US scores two late game goals to beat the Panamanians. thus eliminating Panama and giving Mexico a World Cup lifeline. We decided to have a little fun with this and immediately released the de nada t-shirt. This ended up being one of the fastest selling shirts we have ever released.
Throughout the year I had been thinking about the 1994 US jersey that looked like it was made of denim with the all over stars print. Next year marks 20 years since the 94′ World cup and that infamous jersey. So we decided to make a t-shirt commemorating that jersey. Truth be told, we were nervous about this one. We figure it would either be loved or loathed. We felt pretty confident it would react well with US fans, but we had no idea just how well.
Kansas city has been an incredible hotbed for soccer in America and in addition to hosting the ASG and World Cup Qualifiers, they found themselves hosting MLS Cup as well. We got together with EA Sports and KickTV to throw our fifth annual MLS Cup party. This time we found a very cool venue called The Jones, a DJ named Vinyl Richie and invited out the soccer community to celebrate with us. And the community came out heavy for this one. I believe close to 900 people stopped by throughout the night. We raised some money for Robbie Rogers and his Beyond “it” foundation. We got to hang with some great people and have a really memorable night. Once again everyone that came thought showed just how much the idea of culture, lifestyle and post go together (free drinks always helps too). A very big thank you to all those that made it out.
Our last big initiative for the year was a collaboration that we had been working on for a while. It was with a local brand / retail store called Port LBC. We envisioned it as an essentials pack for soccer folks, albeit re-imagining the items. A vintage ball and vintage track suit, a french terry lined hoodie and sweats and a canvas duffel to carry all your gear in.
As I mentioned, it’s been a pretty memorable year. We did some things right. Some things not so much. But we always strived to stay true to who we are, stay true to the sport, support the game as much as we can and do it all with our own point of view and perspective on things.
We want to give an enormous thanks to all of you who have supported what we do. You all make the community rich and strong and exciting. We promise to keep pushing in 2014 and look forward to meeting more of you in the coming year. Happy New year from your friends and family at Bumpy Pitch and The Original Winger.