
### _[26 IN 26 STOP 13](/26in26list)_

_\*This trip occurred on May 16, 2026._

The National Premier Soccer League is...a bit hard to explain. It’s the highest level of an amateur system called the United States Adult Soccer Association (or USASA), and features purely amateur players (i.e. non-professionals). There are a fair number of college players in the league (as part of the season is during the summer, and it's essentially the same level as USL2), but the schedule for the NPSL is WEIRD: the league is divided into many divisions based on geography, but the divisions don’t all fully share a leadership group. What you end up with is a league that is “decentralized”: each division has its own schedule, and some divisions start way earlier than others (though I've heard that this is partially weather related).

To illustrate the weirdness of this decentralized scheduling, I’ll use quite possibly the most famous team from the NPSL: El Farolito. El Farolito is a team named after a chain of taquerias in the San Francisco Bay Area who famously beat two teams in divisions above them during a U.S. Open Cup run back in 2024, but after that run ended, they continued to be successful - winning the NPSL’s national championship. That year, my understanding of the NPSL website indicates that their “regular season” began with a game on March 9th, but their opponents for the championship game didn’t play their first regular season game until May 5th. Coincidentally, the team they beat in that championship game is the team I'm discussing today: FC Motown!

Now when you hear the name “Motown”, you’re probably thinking that they’re from somewhere near Detroit, right?

WRONG! They’re from New Jersey!

The club was established in 2012 in Morristown, New Jersey - a place famous for housing George Washington during the Revolutionary War. They started in an amateur league based in New Jersey, then in 2018 joined the National Premier Soccer League by, in essence, taking over another team’s slot (who they had been working with prior to joining the NPSL). While they did lose the 2024 NPSL championship game as mentioned earlier, the team DID win a few years prior in 2022 and also made another national final in 2018; outside of that, there’s not much to say about them on the field - so let’s move on to the field itself.

The club’s (main) home[^1] is Ranger Stadium on the campus of Drew University in Madison, NJ - a short drive from Morristown down the aptly named Madison Avenue, which, for some reason, doesn’t get renamed after it leaves Morristown (and thus has multiple buildings with similar addresses - something a friend of mine learned the hard way). Drew University is a school that is affiliated with the United Methodist Church, though it does not impose any religious requirements on its students (which makes me wonder about other schools that are CURRENTLY Methodist[^2]). Truth be told, it is very much one of those schools where I think most folks would not know of it unless they knew someone who went there; for me, my brother actually graduated from there.

As an aside, a summer baseball team called the Jersey Pilots played at Drew a few years ago. I legitimately cannot tell you ANYTHING about them except that they were in a summer league which is WAY smaller/more obscure than most others, I went to a game one time and there were no concessions or merch, and they seem to have folded. However, this isn’t about the Pilots - it’s about FC Motown.

![An image of soccer being played at Drew University's Ranger Stadium](/images/2026/0516-motown.jpeg)

As you might expect from a D-III school, there’s not much to talk about in terms of the stadium: there’s only one set of bleachers here along one of the sides, and that's pretty much it. There is one other thing at the stadium, but I'll get to that later.

FC Motown is the team that more or less introduced me to the NPSL as a whole (despite hearing about El Farolito during their US Open Cup run). I'll get into _how_ I found out about them soon enough, but the big thing is that this is far and away the closest soccer team to me, so I decided to check them out[^3].

This game - Motown's home opener - saw them DOMINATE visiting Hershey SC even beyond winning 5-0: the game featured almost exclusively "one way traffic" (i.e. Motown had the ball WAY more than Hershey did), and the stadium's scoreboard had the visitors recording ZERO shots on goal.

As a final note, there is a STRONG possibility that I will see FC Motown again in the near future - whether or not I write about it is yet to be seen, but I do want to try other types of postings (plus one other reason...).

### MERCH

Just a heads up: I'm going to be watching a lot of these "smaller" soccer teams in the coming weeks, and one thing with these teams: merchandise is always a crapshoot. Some of them do have a few things at games or online, while others don’t; for example, I’ve been to two USL2 games in the Boston area (one of which featured [Vermont Green](2025-08-21_vgfc) as the visitors); one featured a small merchandise selection (where I had to Zelle the team’s owner for a scarf), and the other had...nothing (also, [RBNY II](2025-09-22_rbnyii) and the [Jersey Bearcats](2026-04-19_jerseybearcats) had nothing when I saw them).

Anyway, when I first learned about FC Motown, I found out that the company that makes their jerseys sells direct to fans! I could not find any other "forms" of merchandise online, but at the match, there's a "snack shack" which has concessions and a few merchandise items (this is the "other thing" at the stadium I mentioned earlier).

There was a list of several things that were , but the only items I saw were a hacky sack, a logo, and one of the aforementioned jerseys - which thankfully they had in my size.

---

[^1]: The team apparently plays some games at [MSU Soccer Park](2025-09-22_rbnyii), but I didn't see any games there this season.

[^2]: Fun fact: Boston University was founded by Methodists, but is currently nonsectarian. They do, however, maintain a school of Theology, and I know someone who went to it.

[^3]: I had plans to watch this game with some of my soccer-loving friends who I saw [Red Bull New York](2026-03-01_rbny) with, but they weren't able to make it.


A visit to the local soccer club

FC Motown (National Premier Soccer League) @ Ranger Stadium (Madison, NJ)


_\*This trip occurred on May 14, 2026, and if I'm being honest, the "NEW TEAM" badge doesn't really do this justice, but I don't have anything "better"._

Back when I first talked about the [Savannah Bananas](2025-08-23_bananaball_bos), I mentioned that they used to part of a league called the Coastal Plain League. Apparently, said league is a hotbed for alternative forms of baseball, because today we're talking about another "alt baseball craze" started by a team from the CPL: Cosmic Baseball.

I'll get more into what exactly Cosmic Baseball is when I actually discuss the game itself, but the short answer is that it's baseball played under black/ultraviolet lights. To make the game actually playable (though it is still rather difficult apparently), the uniforms and equipment for the game are all in colors that react to the lights, creating a unique viewing experience of "glow in the dark baseball" (similar to how many bowling alleys in the United States have "cosmic bowling" under similar conditions).

Much like the original Banana Ball post, I think the best way to discuss this is by breaking it down into sections. I don't THINK it will be anywhere near the 8,000 words of the original Banana Ball post, but let's start with the organization behind the madness:

### The Tri-City Chili Peppers (Coastal Plain League)

The Tri-City Chili Peppers are a member of the Coastal Plain League (a summer wood bad league) based just south of Richmond in Colonial Heights, Virginia. They were founded in 2020, but didn't play until 2021 due to COVID; I won't talk about how they've done on the field, but let's just say it's a bell curve of results - just don't ask where the baseline is.

They've also been moderately decent attendance wise: not the runaway success the Savannah Bananas were mind you, but they've consistently climbed up the CPL's attendance rankings each year they've been in the league, and ranked fifth last season (despite finishing near the bottom of the league).

### Let there be black lights

On June 1, 2024, the team debuted a new form of baseball: Cosmic Baseball. The idea apparently came when the team's owner saw a glow in the dark toy and thought about playing "glow in the dark baseball", but it took a while for the team's stadium to be set up for it (as installing enough safe black lights for the game isn't easy). The Chili Peppers played (at least) five more cosmic games that year against another summer league team (from a smaller league)[^1], and a year later, the team announced a "Cosmic Takeover Tour" - bringing Cosmic Baseball to seven Minor League baseball stadiums as well as introducing a second team: the Glowmojis (i.e. Cosmic Baseball's version of the [Party Animals](2026-04-25_bananaball_ny)). The team was able to develop a solution to allow for portable black lights, but no one knew how popular the games would end up being.

That question was quickly answered when the tour stops all sold out. In order to meet the still hot demand, the team instituted a lottery system (not unlike Banana Ball's) at some point; I only know this information because of <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bfz7qmZpMHU" target="blank">this YouTube video</a> from a guy who lives in Richmond and has been following Cosmic Baseball since the beginning. I did end up seeing a page for the lottery last year, but opted not to try and enter as I felt the game I would've chosen to go to was too close (i.e. I didn't think they were still pulling names).

In 2026, the Cosmic Takeover Tour expanded to more MiLB stadiums, and the lottery system was still in place (but there's no K Club equivalent to let you skip the lottery). I don't have any idea how said lottery works, but I was able to enter sometime last fall (IIRC) for dates in the stadium nearest me: Coca-Cola Park in Allentown, PA (which was one of Cosmic Baseball's 2025 stops, and the one I thought about trying to go to last year). Sometime around mid-March, I was notified that lottery winners would be drawn for "limited seats", and then a few days later...

### YOU'RE WINNER

I'll be honest: the initial writing session for this post was difficult because after I started it while on a high from WINNING THE LOTTERY - though you probably knew that I had won by this point (otherwise this post wouldn't exist).

Three dates were available to me, but due to a commitment I made the day before the lottery, I opted to choose the Thursday date as that was the one with the least conflict. I decided to buy two tickets (which were around 40 bucks each) just in case I wanted to bring someone along, but due to the game being about an hour away from home on a Thursday night, no one was really available.

Before I continue, I should mention that I'm not going to discuss Coca-Cola Park at length since [I already did that last year](2025-08-11_lhvironpigs), and there haven't exactly been any major changes since then. The big thing think I think you should know is that the stadium is getting a new name in a few years, as it was announced this year that Coca-Cola decided not to renew their naming rights deal (and also the IronPigs led MiLB in attendance again in 2025). However, I do want to discuss something I didn't see last time:

### The Upper Deck

I mentioned in my last visit to Coca-Cola Park that there were upper level seats that I didn't get to explore. However, I was able to get one of these upper level seats for this game, and I REALLY liked it (especially in the context of the "cosmic" part of the game - I'll get to that soon). It seems that these seats are NOT easy to get for whatever reason: when I was trying to figure out where exactly my seat was (within its section), these seats were not available for any of the IronPigs games I checked save for a morning game, and many of them have names (indicating that they're held by season ticket holders).

![A view of Coca-Cola Park from the upper deck](/images/2026/0514-light.jpeg)

One of the reasons it's hard to get seats up here (as well as said seats being a bit more than the "lower bowl"): there’s a club area up here complete with its own bar area, concession stand, and even a merch booth (or at least they had one for this game)! Also, I was in the first row, and there was a ton of legroom between the seats and the balcony fence. Sure, you’re a bit further behind than your typical row, but you don’t have to ask people to awkwardly stand up if you’re in the middle of the row!

With that out of the way, let's start actually talking about the event itself - starting with

### Pregame

Much like Banana Ball, the experience begins with a pregame plaza experience. I do not know how Banana Ball sets up here (as they've been here before and have more games planned for this year), but for this game, the experience was mostly INSIDE the stadium (in the right field plaza area). There were still a few parts of the stadium blocked off, but a fair number of concession stands were available (including the all important Chickie's and Pete's). There was also a "VIP Pass" available which would allow you to enter early (among other things), but I didn't think it was super worth it (especially when you consider the unused ticket I bought).

The central focus of the entertainment for the pregame show was a group known as the "Cosmic Flight Crew": four trained circus performers who did various circus stunts. If I'm being honest, their pregame show gave me "Quincy Market Street Performer" vibes - not necessarily a bad thing mind you[^2].

Also, there's appaprently no set "home team" heading into the game; the "home team" is determined by the fans before the game, and this time, the Chili Peppers ended up as the home team. I'm not sure how much of an advantage batting second confers in Cosmic Baseball (I'll explain why later), but I'm fairly certain it's not as significant as Banana Ball where every inning can end with a walk-off.

### In the beginning

The game starts with an "Unceremonial First Pitch", where a lucky fan gets to throw the first pitch of the game - to the first batter of the game[^3]. I'm not sure how "staged" it is, but the poor fan hit the first batter, which sparked a "benches clearing brawl".

The first half of the game is basically "normal" baseball, but similar to Banana Ball's ruleset, bunting, mound visits, and batters stepping out of the box are not allowed. One major difference between the two is that in Cosmic Baseball, if a batter is thrown four balls, they get to take the ball and then throw it in front of them and hit it (what's known as a "fungo" swing - and yes, this CAN turn into an out). 

There are also two "gimmick innings" - one reverses the order of bases (i.e. starting at third then going down to first), and the other features a "chaos period" where foul territory basically does not exist - and this includes balls going into the stands. I do not know if these are set to be in a specific order, but one fan determines which by selecting an UNO card before the second inning.

After those two innings happen, I THINK there's supposed to be a fourth inning of "normal baseball", but at this particular game the fourth inning was "skipped" (partialy as the score was 0-0 at the time). After that, there's something that's almost unheard of in baseball: 

### Intermission

I'll be honest: I missed a lot of the intermission activities as I was in line for ice cream.

I know that the Flight Crew comes back out and does stuff with various fans, but near the end, once it's dark enough, they pull a large "light switch" out and a countdown begins. Once that countdown hits zero...

![An image of Coca-Cola Park lit in UV Black Lights](/images/2026/0514-darkness.jpeg)

### Genesis

Once the lights switch, then the whole thing goes from "normal" to "a total rave"...and I must admit: the atmosphere was ELECTRIC. Players are standing along the field throwing baseballs into the stands the entire time, music is playing almost consistently, and there's actually party lights in the outfield.

One thing I found interesting was that the glow in the dark effect is more pronounced when seen from a distance: if you're looking at your own clothes in the black light, it honestly just looks like they're shining in normal light. However, if you look at someone a few feet away, you can see the "glow" in what they're wearing (assuming they're wearing the right colors for the effect to work - which a lot of people were because MERCH).

The game goes back to "more traditional" baseball for this second half (without the gimmick innings), but one thing unique to this second half: home run derbies after every inning. Each team sends one batter up, and that batter gets 45 seconds to hit as many home runs as they can - with each home run scoring a run for their team. This is part of why I think that batting second is less important (since most of the runs come from this HRD), and it also means that a Cosmic Baseball game will almost certainly be MUCH closer to a football score than a baseball one. This game didn't see as many runs scored as other Cosmic Baseball games I perused on the team's YouTube, but it did end with a 26-20 score in favor of the Glowmojis.

### Cosmic Glow-Merch-ji

There are TONS of different Cosmic Baseball hats and jerseys on the Chili Peppers' online store for both teams (along with shirts and stuff, but I'm mostly focused on hats and jerseys). When I checked their store shortly after winning the tickets, I found that each team had no less than three hats that appeared to be for games, as well as FOUR jerseys each (and since then, more hats have been released). Notably, a few items were available at the game that were listed as "sold out" online (though I assume the team has more on the way).

A few days after getting my tickets I ordered hats marked "game hats" for the two teams (one hat per team); notably, all hats (including the game hats) are snapbacks - probably because the manufacturer doesn't want to waste materials on fitteds/flexfits that may or may not sell.

At the game, there was a merch area in the plaza (which was SUPER busy before the game), but also one in the outfield (which I beelined for when that part of the park opened), plus the aforementioned booth in the second floor club area. I did also check out the IronPigs store to see if there was anything interesting as I saw they had non-sublimated jerseys, but since said jerseys didn't have the scripts on them "fully" stitched on, I decided to pass on all of them (and the one I was most interested in had FAUX STITCHES - WHY?????).

One VERY interesting thing about merch (and the team in general): the team clearly has a deeply religious identity. Every hat and jersey I saw has the phrase "YOU CAN'T LIMIT GOD"[^4] inside of it, and the game ended with one of the players leading a prayer.

### Final thoughts

Cosmic Baseball was REALLY fun - I could honestly make an argument that it's _better_ than Banana Ball (though that may be due to a few factors - namely how long it's been around and the fact that I've only seen Banana Ball at MLB stadiums)[^5]. However...I can't help but wonder what the Chili Peppers are thinking about for the future.

The day I started writing this post, I found out that they "split" their Cosmic Baseball and CPL team websites with no real interconnection; the Cosmic Baseball site ranked higher on Google's search results. In addition, their YouTube channel was simply named "Cosmic Baseball", but old Chili Peppers videos/broadcasts still exist on the channel indicating that it was once the Chili Peppers YouTube channel. There is also the fact that, as I mentioned earlier, I ordered a few items from the team before the game, and the shipping label had "Cosmic Sports" as the sender.

For me, all of these indicate that the Chili Peppers may pull a Savannah Bananas and leave the CPL to focus on Cosmic Baseball; however, they are playing in the CPL for the 2026 season (as their CPL team and website still exist), so who knows what they'll end up doing (though as I've mentioned before, the summer leagues are sadly facing a downturn due to a decline in player participation, so that may be a factor).

Another thing with Cosmic Baseball's future: I get the sense that MLB and NFL stadiums are going to be MUCH more difficult than Banana Ball due to the black lights. Getting them set up in a minor league stadium is one thing, but MLB stadiums are a different beast altogether: the smallest MLB stadium (that isn't a Minor League stadium hosting a Major League team that REALLY wanted to get out of Oakland but can't go to Vegas quite yet) is still more than twice as big as the largest MiLB stadium (though said stadium is hosting Cosmic Baseball this year).

Anyway, I realize that similar to Banana Ball, this is a hard-to-get-into experience that a lot of folks reading this may not get to see soon (and/or don't like for trying to make baseball more "gimmicky"). However, I do think these types of experiences are a nice way to try and make sporting events more "accessible" to people who find them boring, and I think that if you can find a way to get tickets, it's a fun night out if you're looking for something different to do.

_P.S.: You may have noticed that I have not yet named the person who invented Cosmic Baseball. That's because unlike Jesse Cole, he seems to keep a LOW profile (as in I don't think he does any on-field stuff), but his name is Chris Martin, and I'm guessing he hasn't accidentally exposed any CEOs having affairs recently..._

_Also, I was right about this not being 8,000 words again: According to my highly unscientific word counter, this post is just over 3,000 words including the footnotes AND this little tidbit._

---

[^1]: There are only six Cosmic Baseball streams available on YouTube from 2024, but a league stats page indicates the two teams played seven games (with three other games listed without results).

[^2]: Though one of the Flight Crew did have the (character) name "Private Falcon Parts" - and was often referred to without the "Falcon". In fairness, the Savannah Bananas did have a game where they identified fictional characters by their butts before one of the Yankee Stadium games...

[^3]: Banana Ball also "First Pitch that Counts"...sometimes; the game I saw at [Fenway Park](bananaball_bospt3) had it, but neither Yankee Stadium game did.

[^4]: Every time I see/hear this phrase, I can't help but think of <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ovoBi3pXD_A" target="blank">this old Motown hit</a>...

[^5]: Another part of this is likely due to the fact that if I'm being honest...the atmosphere at both Yankee Stadium games felt much, MUCH more muted compared to last year at Fenway Park.

Dancing in the Dark Light

Cosmic Baseball (Cosmic Chili Peppers vs. The Glowmojis) @ Coca-Cola Park (Allentown, PA)


_I was planning on going to a soccer game today, but it got rained out. In light of that cancellation, I've decided to share this. This was originally posted on <a href="https://overclocked-overthoughts.netlify.app/blog/2025-11-09_shirts_and_the_city" target="blank">another blog</a>, but since that blog is more or less dormant, I've decided to repost it here (with some edits). It was originally published on November 9, 2025, and the trip it details was prior to a [Brooklyn FC women's match](2025-11-09_bkfc_womens)._

If you’re of a certain age, you may be a fan of vintage or thrift store shopping. It’s become a massive trend amongst the younger generations for various reasons (at least I think it has), and thrift/vintage stores are quite popular on social media.

Personally, I’ve had my fair share of thrift store trips for one simple reason: it’s one of the more interesting ways of sourcing jerseys (which is one of the main things I collect [as I've detailed before](2026-02-22_jerseyrules)). Y’see, modern jerseys are often highly overpriced; for example, hockey and baseball (i.e. the two I’ve collected the most) usually START around $200, but the super nice ones (i.e. the only ones worth getting for me) are typically >$400. However, at thrift stores, you can find jerseys for a much lower price; sure, most of the jerseys you find at thrift stores are random schools, very clearly fake, or those old NFL/NBA jerseys with ironed on lettering that is peeling like crazy, but every once in a while, you’ll come across an absolute GEM (for example: I've found jerseys made for use in game for less than what most retail jerseys cost nowadays).

This post, however, is going to focus on one specific sport: soccer. I’m here to talk about soccer jerseys (or, as I will be calling them going forward, “football shirts”), as I’ve been using them as workout shirts for when I go for walks or to play pickleball with friends since I’ve found that they’re good for these purposes (plus they turn heads).

Inasmuch as I could just stick to the easy to find clubs at American stores (and I kinda have at times)...it’s not always the most interesting thing to me. Yes, I do have some of the bigger clubs like Chelsea, Tottenham Hotspur, and Newcastle United (I have somewhat of an affinity for them because they play at a place named St James’ Park[^1]), and there are some shirts that I’m interested in (like that green Liverpool shirt they just came out with), but I’d absolutely love to rock teams like AFC Bournemouth, Crystal Palace, or Fulham - teams whose shirts I have NEVER seen sold in the United States (before this trip). At vintage stores...you're going to find a lot of the same big teams sadly. HOWEVER...you can occasionally find a gem, and there are certain stores in New York City that specialize in vintage football shirts, so that's what I'd like to discuss in this post[^2]. I visited them both on November 8, 2025 (which, as mentioned in the intro, was the same day I saw [Brookyn FC Women](2025-11-09)), but decided to head into New York City early so I could check these stores out.

The first store I went to, aptly enough, is named "Classic Football Shirts". They're an "import" from the United Kingdom, and have been featured somewhat extensively on YouTube via a video series in which soccer/football content creators search for shirts in their stores. They have locations in Los Angeles, Miami, and obviously New York (plus a few in the UK - internet "weirdness" prevents me from seeing their UK website, but their Instagram implies they have two).

The other one is a place called "Saturdays Football" (which is kinda sorta also fitting as this trip occurred on a Saturday). From what I can tell, it's an American operation with two locations: one in Los Angeles, and the other in New York[^3].

My original intention was to discuss each of these stores separately; however, they ended up being rather similar: both have some "store brand" items and of course...a TON of vintage shirts. One BIG difference, however: Classic Football Shirts had sizes on the hangars, which IMO gives it a slight edge in customer experience. Also, I felt that some of the shirts both stores had were quite pricey, so I tried to limit myself to avoid spending too much - both in terms of number of shirts and "average shirt price".

I was hoping to have more time than I did for each store - my original plan was to arrive at 11 AM when Classic Football Shirts opened, browse that store for a while, and then go to Saturdays when it opened at noon (conveniently, it's only a few blocks away); I likely would have had a good 30-45 minutes at each store, which I felt would be plenty of time to peruse and make decisions. However, my train into New York got delayed for almost an hour, so I ended up arriving at like 11:45 and had much less time than I wanted. This ended up being kinda important, as the MASSIVE selection of teams ended up being kinda overwhelming, and I didn't have the time to go through all the shirts.

On this occasion: I ended up getting one shirt from each store - both of them being teams from England:

- **From Classic Football Shirts: <a href="https://www.footballkitarchive.com/sunderland-afc-2007-08-home-kit/11219/" target="blank">This Sunderland shirt from 2007</a>**<br>
  The feel good story of the Premier League when this was originally published, Sunderland have been punching well above their supposed weight in their first Premier League season since 2017 (and having been in the third division as recently as 2022)[^4]. In fact, the day I bought this, Sunderland played a big game against league leading Arsenal and pulled out an exciting 2-2 draw. It's also apt that the link above includes a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dwight_Yorke" target="blank">Dwight Yorke</a> shirt as its example, as his name and number are on the shirt I got too!

  I also considered coming BACK here later in the day to check one thing out, but ultimately decided against doing that as well.

- **From Saturdays Football: <a href="https://www.footballkitarchive.com/blackburn-rovers-2006-07-home-kit/12261/" target="blank">This Blackburn Rovers shirt from 2006</a>**<br>
  With how things have been going for Blackburn recently (having last been in the Premier League in 2012), it can be easy to forget that they're one of two non-Big Six teams to have won the Premier League (back in 1995)[^5]. They ended up languishing near the bottom of England's second division this past season, though they JUST missed out on the chance to return to the Premier League (that Sunderland ended up getting) the year before. While the contrasting half-and-half design is cool, the front of this one has "pits" which are the same colors as the sleeves, and it makes this one look a bit awkward...

  Also, I got a free Brooklyn FC sticker since I was wearing their shirt (remember, I went to one of their games after this).

Since this visit back in November 2025, I've been to both stores several times and gotten more shirts. Ironically, most of the shirts I got from "Classic" Football Shirts were actually from the current season (i.e. 2025-26), but there's a few vintage pickups in there as well, and most importantly: they're all shirts for teams you'd almost never find in most of the United States (Atalanta, Bournemouth, Real Betis, Espanyol, and Brighton & Hove Albion from CFS; Leeds, Huddersfield, and Werder Bremen from Saturdays).

There are, of course, A TON MORE vintage stores - and that’s just if you’re talking about New York City! Of course, these stores can be HIGHLY hit or miss, but I have found some interesting things from time to time (including me getting a fitted Toronto Blue Jays hat one time).

Also, thank goodness I realized I (almost) forgot my shirts at the pizza place I ate lunch at almost immediately after leaving it...

(One final note for those who don't understand the divisions mentioned in the shirt descriptions: most countries have all of their soccer/football clubs in a singular "pyramid" which is divided into several divisions, and teams can go up and down the divisions depending on if they play well/poorly season by season.)

---

### ON DECK

Let there be (black) light.

---

[^1]: Though the whole PIF thing does make things complicated...

[^2]: I was originally thinking of visiting a third soccer specific store in Times Square that I remembered having vintage shirts (though they specialize more in modern stuff), but nixed it for multiple reasons. One of them being Times Square.

[^3]: The original version of this post mentioned a third location in Chicago, but their website doesn't seem to mention it (which probably means it's closed).

[^4]: Most experts had Sunderland finishing at or near the bottom this season, but they're well above that. Also, I realize that saying I had an affinity for Newcastle United and then buying a Sunderland shirt would likely get me in trouble should I ever visit North East England...

[^5]: The other one was the famous Leicester City squad of 2016 - y'know, that team that is now in the THIRD division in England.


or "I am FORCED to learn some modicum of self-control"

Shirts and the City


_\*This trip occurred on May 8, 2026._

Skylands Stadium in Augusta, NJ was built in 1994 for a New York-Penn League team that eventually left in 2005[^1]. An independent team started up the following year in the Can-Am League and then spent a few years there until folding in 2011. In 2015, the Sussex County Miners (i.e. the current team) were founded as a member of the Can-Am League and have been there since; they won a Can-Am League title in 2018 before moving to the Frontier League with the other surviving Can-Am teams when that league folded in 2020. Again, there's not much else in their history (thanks to the dominance of the Québec Capitales), but they were introduced at this game as division champions of their division for 2025.

I’ll be honest: I kinda like the charm of this place. Sure, it’s a bit of a hike and in a SUPER rural area (which lends itself to seeing certain...things), but the external parts of the stadium are largely "red wood" which gives it this “barn” like feel that is cool.

Most of the main concourse does not have views to/from the field due to the fact that, similar to [Heritage Financial Park](2025-08-12_hvrenegades), seats are built over top of it. In fact, a lot of what I've said about that place applies, which makes sense given that the two stadiums were opened in the same year in the same league (both even feature bleacher seats high down the third base side). However, some of the more "luxury" features in the Hudson Valley (such as its premium area down the left field line) are more or less absent here - though that might be due to the park not having an affiliated team since 2005 (i.e. less reason to make renovations to keep an MLB team happy in 2020).

The left field line does feature a kids area, however, which had a carnival game, a "bouncy cow-stle", and one other feature I'll talk about later. Down the right field line, there's a picnic area plus tables from a restaurant (aptly named "The Barnyard") which is attached to the stadium (and open year round); I found out that the restaurant has tables INSIDE the stadium where you can get their full menu/service, but didn't inquire about sitting at one. The scoreboard here (I think) is the same make/model as the one in [Wilmington](2026-05-03_wilbluerocks) but has a larger video board above it - though said video board was a bit glitchy for most of the night.

![An image of the electronic scoreboard and video board at Skylands Stadium. The video board is displaying a player named Lyle Miller-Green, but several panels of the video board are not working properly.](/images/2026/0508-skylands-scoreboard.jpg)

<figcaption>Fun fact: this guy played for the <a href="2025-08-17_chaanglers">Chatham Anglers</a> back in the day!</figcaption>

Much like the other Frontier League stops on this blog, I’d already been here LONG before this site existed - once in 2022, and again in 2024. However, I did NOT make a visit in 2025; there was one date that I almost came here, but something came up that prevented me from leaving[^2]. This year, I was originally thinking of going to a game in June, but due to other games I want to see the same weekend of that game, it became unlikely. However, with the rest of the Miners' schedule looking "unfriendly" based on my calendar for this summer, I ended up deciding to move my visit up and check out a Frontier League home opener for the [second day in a row](2026-05-08_rocboulders). Once again, I decided to get a front row seat - and this one actually ended up being a bit less than the front row seat I got for the Boulders game (and that's BEFORE factoring in parking - which is FREE at Skylands Stadium)!

![An image of game action at Skylands Stadium from the front row](/images/2026/0508-skylands-frontrow.jpeg)

<figcaption>I think the field here is farther from the front row than Clover Stadium's field was...</figcaption>

Alas, I've been learning that Frontier League games are a bit on the slow side - I had to leave early for the second night in a row, as I didn't want to get home super late (and the game ended after 10 PM again). This one stings a LOT more than last night, however, as the Miners were down 3-0 when I left but ended up walk-off winners[^3] (I also missed a post game drone show). While a repeat visit is definitely a possibility (assuming Interstate 80 doesn't break open again and/or they don't have to repair a bridge on Route 15), I doubt it'll be another walk-off...

As a side note, the [New Jersey Jackals](2025-08-12_njjackals) also had their home opener tonight (which they lost FWIW), but I was never planning on going to that because...well...

P.S: I don't anticipate visiting any more new independent baseball teams anytime soon, as most of them are REALLY far (this does not include future Banana Ball games, as the jury is out on whether or not that counts as "independent baseball"). There is _one_ team that I'm thinking of visiting later this year, however, but even they are quite a hike...

### MERCH

Before I continue, I should mention the fact that the Miners are owned by the group that owned the New Jersey Jackals until this year (the two teams shared ownership for a while). If you recall what I said about the Jackals' old online store, the same applies here - it’s a spiritwear store that doesn’t sell a lot of the standard baseball fare and/or “official” team stuff (and I've recently learned that there are A LOT of smaller teams that seemingly go this route nowadays[^4]).

Anyway, the team store here has the amazing name of “The Company Store” as a reference to the mining industry (though I'm a bit fuzzy on the exact details). Each time I've been here, there's been a change to how it's accessed:

- In 2022, the door to the store was OUTSIDE of the gates, and you could (seemingly) get in without a ticket
- In 2024, the outside door was locked, and you could only get in via a small path/door accessible only from the main concourse
- This time, the gates were moved forward so that the outside door was now inside the gates

I mentioned how a few fans at the Boulders game yesterday had stitched jerseys despite the team not selling them in their team store. Well, here's the thing: \*I\* have a stitched Miners jersey that I got from their store in 2022! Most of the other jerseys I've seen here are fully sublimated (including some player worn specialty night jerseys), but this game did feature a few stitched (and signed) "shirseys" (i.e. baseball jerseys that do not fully open) plus one stitched button down jersey that was a bit on the small side for me (despite being a size large).

Outside of the standard hats and jerseys (and other things), the team sells a lot of other things which are rather interesting: I bought a replica championship ring from their 2018 Can-Am League championship[^5] back in 2022, and starting in 2024, they were selling Harry Potter wands (I think they were leftovers from a “Harry Potter Night”). Also, the kids' area in left had an activity where you could bring home a bag of gemstones for five dollars: you'd get a bag of gems and dirt, then had to "panhandle" to clear the dirt and discover the gems inside.

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[^1]: The team moved to State College, PA (home of Penn State), joined the MLB Draft League when the 2020 Minor League shuffle occurred, and are currently embroiled in a legal dispute with Penn State (who owns their stadium) which could end with the team getting evicted.

[^2]: There was also an issue with the highway that leads to the stadium, but that was resolved (as I wouldn't have been able to go to [Scranton/Wilkes-Barre](2025-08-18_swbrailriders) if it wasn't).

[^3]: For those who don't understand that term, a walk-off win is when the home team in a baseball game (i.e. the team that bats second every inning) is tied or trailing in the ninth inning (or later) but ends up scoring the winning run during their half of the inning.

[^4]: This mainly applies to summer league baseball teams.

[^5]: I did not see championship ring replicas at my 2022 visit to the New Jersey Jackals despite the two teams sharing owners...though that may be because of different front office staffs and/or the fact that said Jackals championship came in 2019 (i.e. any potential ring giveaway was ruined by COVID).


Independent baseball at the barnyard

Sussex County Miners (Frontier League) @ Skylands Stadium (Augusta, NJ)


_\*This trip occurred on May 7, 2026._

The Rockland Boulders were founded in 2011 as an expansion to the Can-Am League. In 2014, they won a league championship, and in 2020, they moved with the rest of the surviving Can-Am teams to the Frontier League.

...There's really not much else to their history[^1]. Somewhere along the way, they changed their location from "Rockland" to "New York", but I can't seem to figure out when that happened (one source claims that the rename coincided with the move to the Frontier League, which makes sense, but I can't confirm that).

Before we get to the stadium, there is one thing I feel like I should mention since this marks the first Frontier League game on this blog in 2026, and that is the fact that this is kinda sorta the last year of the Frontier League. Next year, the league plans to rebrand itself as the National Association of Professional Baseball, and while the rationale behind the move is unknown (or what it could mean going forward for other independent leagues/teams), it does come as a bit of an...interesting move to say the least.

With that said, back to the Boulders: in case you couldn’t tell from me using the "NEW TO BLOG" badge for this post, I’ve seen them before - quite a few times in fact. My first game was in 2022, and then I came here for two games in 2024 (plus a third that got rained out). In fact, I had thoughts about visiting last year a few times, but various factors led to me not coming to a game (I only come here during even years I guess).

This year, there was an exhibition game against members of the New York Police Department that I was super interested in (largely due to five dollar tickets), but I was unavailable for it due to the [Wilmington Blue Rocks and their soccer jersey giveaway](2026-05-03_wilbluerocks), so I had to "settle" on "only" going to the home opener against the [Brockton Rox](2025-08-22_brorox). For a shade over 20 dollars, I was able to get THIS view:

![An image of game action at Clover Stadium from the front row](/images/2026/0507-clover-frontrow.jpeg)

<figcaption>There are ways to get this view for less, but I'm not super sure I want to do those sorts of things (as it can get AWKWARD if you choose the wrong seat).</figcaption>

The Boulders play their home games in a stadium now called Clover Stadium, which opened with the team's debut in 2011[^2]. Nestled in a town with a fun name to say (Pomona, NY), it's a short drive from the Palisades Interstate Parkway - but a bit of a ways north of the Thruway and Route 59 (Rockland County's main shopping road). Because of this, it's a bit isolated from any real "action", so to speak, and with only one spotty bus route that doesn't stop on weekends, the five dollar parking fee is essentially a requirement when coming here.

However, inside the stadium, there's a LOT of features that end up making this one of my favorite indie stadiums. First, there's a concourse that encircles the whole field and has views to said field from almost everywhere (except for dead center, where a giant wall to help batters blocks the view). Second, there's actual outfield seating (no other indie stadium I've been to has this); the outfield seats are all metal bleachers, but the right field bleachers feature tables (which was helpful for eating dinner), plus next to these bleachers is an area with a playground and minigolf called "Boulderberg".

The outfield also features two field level bar areas (one in left, one in right) where you can watch the game at field level. The bar in right field (along with another area on the suite/press box level) are apparently supposed to be premium areas, but with this game having less than 1,000 fans and no one really enforcing things, you could have watched the game from them (though nothing was served in these areas)[^3]. I ended up catching bits of the game from both outfield bars plus the upper deck, and while I do think there are unique quirks to each that might make them worthwhile if you want to "just get in", I must admit that I think I liked being behind home plate the best.

In any case, the Boulders had the lead when I had to head out due to lateness and it being kinda cold, but unfortunately were unable to hold it and ended up losing (I found out when I got home that the game ended after 10 PM, so...). Also, a repeat visit this year may depend on when the Palisades Parkway south to Thruway north/west ramp reopens, because I'm not sure three clover ramps is my idea of a "fun" detour[^4]...

### MERCH

The team store here is actually kinda big by indie league standards IMO (heck, it's bigger than several team stores I've seen for **MiLB AFFILIATED** teams). However, I’m pretty sure that it’s only open during games that actually happen at night based on two times I’ve been to the stadium without being able to access the team store:

1. A game that got canceled due to rain
2. A morning (i.e. field trip) game; while they did have a merchandise table, it was set up right in front of the team store doors as if to block people from going in, and the main store appeared to be closed[^5]

Alas, this is also the only Frontier League team I've visited where I've never seen game worn jerseys being sold (and this does, in a certain sense, include Brockton); the only jerseys in the store were sublimated replicas plus one weird "fake button down" jersey. However, I did see a few fans with what looked like game worn jerseys (i.e. jerseys with stitched on front scripts as well as numbers), so I'm wondering how they got those...

---

[^1]: A large part of that is probably due to the Québec Capitales and their ELEVEN league championships between the Can Am and Frontier leagues.

[^2]: I wasn't sure how to mention this, but the stadium just got a new turf field after opening with a natural grass field.

[^3]: There's also a "train" that fans can ride around the outfield, but again, it was not in operation for this game.

[^4]: Route 59 is fine if you're willing to deal with a few traffic lights however.

[^5]: I've been to two other morning games for independent leagues (one of them being a [Staten Island FerryHawks doubleheader last year](2025-08-14_siferryhawks)), and both times, "regular" merchandise was available.

Independent baseball in ROC Nation

New York Boulders (Frontier League) @ Clover Stadium (Pomona, NY)


There are two things I don't like talking about with strangers: politics and religion. However, this story won't make much sense without dipping at least a little bit into the latter of those subjects, so I'll start by mentioning that I am a practicing Catholic. How well that practice is going is neither here nor there, however, so let's just move on...

A couple of months ago, the church I regularly attend announced a special guest speaker would be coming: former Villanova men's basketball coach Jay Wright. Wright coached the team from 2001-2022 - building the team into one of the nation's top programs, winning a pair of national championships (with the first one being one of the most famous endings to a basketball game EVER,) and seeing a decent number of players become NBA stars[^1] (and was, until last year, probably the most famous person associated with Villanova outside of his players).

I was super interested in it when it was first announced, and it did not disappoint. As you'd probably expect from a top level college coach, Wright was incredibly eloquent - tying elements of his career to leading in local communities. It also provided a very unique perspective on the "behind the scenes" of coaching a college basketball team - case in point: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yTThyQPoXxY" target="blank">the famous buzzer beater to win the National Championship in 2016</a>.

You can't really see it in this video, but Coach Wright talked a bit about what was going on in the moments after the game-tying shot. I don't remember most of what he said (and I'm not sure if I should discuss some of the details I DO remember), but the big one was the players saying "ATTITUDE" to one another - a way of reminding each other of one of the mantras Wright instilled into them as explained by this slide:

![A photo of a slide from Jay Wright's presentation. It says "Attitude is forgetting the last play, focusing on the next play, learning from yesterday, focusing on today"](/images/2026/attitude.jpeg)

<figcaption>"Attitude is forgetting the last play, focusing on the next play, learning from yesterday, focusing on today"</figcaption>

He also talked about his demeanor at the end of the game (because if you notice, he's VERY calm after the winning shot goes in). He said that he felt that he and the players did all they could, and the rest was up to God at that point.

This is probably not something you may have been expecting me to post, and I was on the fence about whether or not I SHOULD post it (especially with how "short" this ended up being), but I cannot stress how cool it was to get to hear someone like Jay Wright speak. He also told me that he liked my hat despite the fact that it was NOT a Villanova hat - it was the Valley Blue Sox of the New England Collegiate Baseball League (who have a cap logo VERY similar to Villanova's logo). 

---

[^1]: Including 60% of the New York Knicks' current starting five

Sportventures

Stark Raving Baseball (5/14/26)

Shirts and the City

Mine Games (5/8/26)

ROC/ROX and Roll (5/7/26)

The Wright Stuff