Lion Links: 9/18/17

Merry Monday morning, Mane Landers! Hey, there was some news stuff that happened this weekend and as a news guy I’m going to bring it to you to start your week. We all would have liked to have three points, but ruining Atlanta’s night still feels good. Plus, there wasn’t a hurricane to deal with, so we have that going for us. Let’s get to the Links!

A Lot of People Watched a Game

Turns out that when Orlando City goes to a game in Atlanta, it inspires the locals to come out and set a record for attendance. If you hadn’t noticed, the media, MLS, and everyone other than us has been all about Atlanta United. The frickin’ commentators were wearing AUFC scarves! The truth is, 70,425 people went to the Orlando City match in Atlanta. In other words, in a city of 472,522 people (as of 2016), the teams managed to get over 70,000 to a soccer match. That’s certainly more than when Orlando City had over 60,000 fill the bowl. However, there are only 272,173 people (as of 2016) in Orlando. I’m no math major, but I believe ours is a better percentage than Atlanta’s. Anywho, there was much ado about MLS’s newest darlings, while Orlando City stopped Atlanta’s winning streak. Heck yeah, that’s the real story.

And You Thought You Were Dedicated

University College of Football Business (UCFB) graduate Jay Taylor is putting in the effort to follow and cover our Orlando City Lions. Taylor is officially the media manager for Tadcaster Albion FC in England, but has created his own channel for Orlando City SC coverage in the UK and is often up at 3 a.m. to watch matches and create content. We’re big fans of those around the world following Orlando City and wish Taylor the best. Though, UK OCSC fans should feel free to get even more news from The Mane Land.

Workplace Health Insurance in the MLS

San Jose Earthquakes defender Marvell Wynne underwent surgery to correct a heart anomaly in March. Over the next three months, Wynne went through rehab to be able to get back on the field for San Jose. Despite the specialist that treated him clearing him to play, MLS doctors decided differently, and in July his pay was stopped by the league. He is still covered by the health insurance provided by MLS. Wynne is still trying to get cleared to play, though the Earthquakes have made it clear they will find a place for him within their organization.

Disturbing News From Science

If you ever doubted that women are tougher than men, then let science once again prove you wrong. Though in this case, we’d prefer that the players take a little more time coming back from concussion injuries. Shane Miller is a pediatric sports medicine specialist at Texas Scottish Rite Hospital for Children. After noticing many youth athletes coming through his office with concussion symptoms, he and his team parsed through two years of patient data to look for trends. What they found was that girl soccer players were five times more likely to return to the field following concussion symptoms than other athletes regardless of sport or gender. Obviously, this was just one study, but the implications are impactful and should be further explored. The future of women’s soccer might depend on it.

Free Kicks

• Congratulations to Diego Valeri of the Portland Timbers on setting the MLS record for scoring in consecutive games at eight.
• 30,415 fans showed up to the Cincinnati FC match to break the USL attendance record against the Charleston Battery in the team’s home finale.
• Evidently, there were some winged interruptions during the coverage of the Manchester United match.

• Finally, we say goodbye to one of the greats. Bobby “The Brain” Heenan passed away this weekend. The Brain managed some of the all time greats in the WWF, including Andre the Giant, “Mr. Perfect” Curt Hennig, The Brain Busters (Arn Anderson and Tully Blanchard), Paul Orndorff, and “Ravishing” Rick Rude. Rest in Peace, Mr. Heenan. Our thoughts are with the family and friends.

That will do it for today’s Lion Links. Thanks for stopping by, and I’ll see you all during the PawedCast. Don’t forget to ask questions on Twitter at #asktmlpc.