The Box (2026)

If you are reading this, let me express my extreme gratitude for the time you have committed so far to reading my thoughts and ramblings over the years. If you have been with me since the beginning or met me along the way, you have probably figured out that this isn’t a traditional sports website/blog. At different points in time this site has been (or continues to be) a place to record history, provide analysis, be goofy, complain, or wax poetic about soccer and specifically Racing Louisville Football Club.

If you were with me last season, you likely saw a shift in tone and seriousness. It was definitely more esoteric, purposefully so. I drew a box around how I wanted to talk about the matches and frame them in a certain way. I like having a framework, so that will continue. Having a framework does a few things. It sets readers’ expectations, but it also offers me a challenge to fit my thoughts into a strict-ish structure, thus making sure I don’t meander or ramble. It also forces me to make connections between things that may not seem related, which is a fun writing exercise.

Butchertown Rundown’s “Mint Mix” gives fans the opportunity to pick a song based on a recent performance or activity. Subconsciously (I think), I did somewhat of the opposite last year: by having a set of potential predetermined post-match post titles (Epigraphs from the Wire) and a list of lyrics to close my analysis with (Prefab Sprout song lyrics), I made the match performance fit a reference instead of letting the performance trigger a connection. I liked the challenge of boxing myself in and writing myself out of it, so I decided to continue with a similar framework this season. I think Kaitlyn (Whiteside, the curator of the Butchertown Rundown Mint Mix) and I are good enough friends not to worry about duplicating each other or stepping on each other’s toes. Besides, using music to comment on sports long predates both of us. In fact, one of my first posts was the kind of thing that today would have likely led a Mint Mix suggestion. And I definitely stole that trope from somewhere.

Full disclosure without getting into a debate about free will: this year’s framework has been burrowing into my brain since last season. Here is some background (if you are still with me and interested).

The Second Summer of Love

I don’t pretend to know exactly how to describe “The Second Summer of Love” (SSOL). There have been books written about it if you are interested. In short, from a BBC documentary: “The dawn of acid house in 1988 was dubbed ‘the second summer of love’ but its roots lay in the techno and house clubs of Chicago and Berlin.” I have no real first-hand knowledge of it, other than a love of the byproducts of it. Even then, I only came to them a few years later, and only the peripheral ones. In a nutshell the SSOL was about dance clubs, rave culture, house music, and of course, drugs (particularly ecstasy) over a brief period in 1988 and into 1989 in England. I don’t dance. I have never been to a rave. I don’t really own much (if any) house music but do enjoy enough general dance music. I am a virtual teetotaler and have definitely never tried ecstasy.

Depending on your source, it’s hard to say for sure how much some of the most beloved British albums that came directly after this period actually had to do with the SSOL, other than being a reflection of the times. The Happy Monday’s “Pills ‘n’ Thrills and Bellyaches” probably has the most street cred. New Order’s “Technique” is probably the closest to the “sounds”. The most revered is likely The Stone Roses self-titled debut. All three are great and it’s hard for me to choose between “Technique” and “The Stone Roses” for a favorite. However, for the purposes of this site I am going to choose the latter to help me frame 2026.

Bravado and Optimism

My framing for last season definitely didn’t leave much room for hope and positivity. “The Wire” continues to be my all-time favorite television show, but let’s face it: there isn’t much hope in it. At the time of choosing “The Wire” epigraphs for a framing mechanism it seemed fitting because frankly I didn’t have much, if any hope for the season. My second framing tool was the lyrics of Paddy McAloon from Prefab Sprout’s 1980s(ish) output. Those lyrics were definitely biting and pessimistic in nature, or at least the ones I confined myself to were that way. By the middle of the season, I had boxed myself in to a position where I was scrambling to find light in places that were mostly dark.

Several times last season, especially as the season moved into the home stretch, I kept thinking about “The Stone Roses”. It just kept popping into my head. It is an album full of bravado and optimism. Even if it is debatable how much impact it had on the SSOL, I don’t think any other album better captured the attitude that I associate with it. Again, I was 14 and on a different continent, so I can only imagine vibes. Anyway, for me, it is the album from that time period that I listen to the most.

It’s good to have some bravado and optimism options going into this season when I write about Racing. I don’t pretend to know how the season will go, but the flexibility to be optimistic is a welcome change.

Melancholy, Desire, and Painful Longing

Then again, let’s not kid ourselves. This is still Racing. Things are bound to go poorly at times, even if it is just the law of averages. I didn’t allow for optimism last season, but I will not make the same mistake this year by avoiding the possibility of being frustrated and disappointed at times. That is the burden of being a fan. Not that I couldn’t find some lyrical options on “The Stone Roses” to express frustration when Racing draws or loses, but having another option is probably wise. Let’s face it, most music contains at least some melancholy, desire or painful longing so I don’t have to pick something too depressing to find a good quote to use now and then. There is another piece to consider as well: “The Stone Roses” kind of belongs to everyone of a certain age and disposition. It is celebratory and meant to be listened to with other people and shared. In contrast, something designed to be listened to as a “covert operation in the bedrooms of the world” might be better when my mood is more reflective. In essence, something more personal might be needed.

My Summer of Love (1997)

As most of us are, I am a creature of habit. My college days from 1993 to 1998 were filled with several routines. Maybe rituals would be a more apt description. One of my favorite rituals was a weekly trip (at least) to ear X-Tacy. Usually this was on Thursday, as this was the usual date that the import CDs from England arrived (having been released on Monday in the UK). I could have sworn that I saved at least one of those stickers, but I couldn’t find one. Regardless, here is an image of the sticker:

If my calculations are right, I would have bought Gene’s “Drawn to the Deep End” on February 20th, 1997. Here is a picture of my well-worn copy.

By most contemporary and retrospective accounts, this album is unremarkable. It performed decently on the UK music charts, hitting number 8 at its peak and had a few Top 30 singles. Its lackluster reception was likely somewhat a symptom of “Britpop fatigue”.

But for me, it was the album I listened to before my first date with my wife Elizabeth on February 21st, 1997. And then, unbeknownst to her (until I told her the other day about this season kick-off post) it became my soundtrack for falling in love with her, but only listening to it alone, in the car, either on my way to her or from her.

A blurry pic of us, circa 1997

Therefore, it is impossible for me to be objective about this album. I doubt she would like it. You probably wouldn’t either. It is “of its time” and not “timeless” and “classic” like “The Stone Roses”. Like I mentioned in my assessment of love of Prefab Sprout in last year’s kick off post, this music is “mine”, selfishly. “Drawn to the Deep End” is full of melancholy, desire and longing, but there is also bravado and optimism in it as well. No decent album is just one mood.

Connecting it to Racing

Those are the two reference points for “the box” from which my post-match articles will be constructed and hemmed in. I will keep what I liked from last year, add in some new stuff and trim the stuff I tired of.

One of the most rewarding things about last season is that I no longer do this alone. Elizabeth helped and we expanded to cover some Lou City things (check her pics out on Instagram @PictureThisFC). Ultimately, that is why I chose the reference points I did. I moved from a solo act to a partnership.

The season Racing is likely to look magnificent and like some perfect machine operating at the peak of its powers, at times. There will be lyrics that fit that. Then, there will also be times where they will look less than perfect, even defeated. There will be lyrics for those moments as well.

For all of the off-season speculation and analysis and previews and ebbs and flows of information, we can go into the season knowing that there will be surprises, good and bad, but nobody knows anything about the future. That is why hope and optimism never die. Neither do fear nor dread. The best we can hope for is to experience it purely and make a connection with the team through our own experiences.

As for this season, the dawn is approaching. I am excited. It’s a feeling of anticipation of good things to come and maybe some biased overly syrupy optimism. It will be new, but the feeling of excitement is not new. It is comforting and fires well-worn synapses in my brain. It’s the same pathways of joy triggered when you hear a favorite song and it gets, if not quite to the chorus, maybe to a favorite line…

“Through the early morning sun, I can see her. Here she comes…”