How to Withstand Orlando City’s Upcoming Home Game Drought

Game of Thrones has ended, the school year has ended, and Orlando City won’t be back in the stadium at home until the July 3 match against the Philadelphia Union. What’s one to do without the weekly trek downtown and a fun few hours out of the house? How will we survive this stretch?

Obviously, we can be obedient fans while we watch and support the team from home. If you haven’t used it already, you can sign up with YouTube TV for free for 14 days. We canceled it right away and you still get the full two weeks. Don’t make the same mistake I did! I forgot I had already used the free trial and signed up again when I was instantly charged $60, which, by the way, is up significantly from when we were paying only $40 at the beginning of the season before deciding one to two away matches weren’t reason enough to continue with it — especially when the 500 TVs around our apartment complex can all tune into My65.

If you need the time out of the house and want to head downtown, Lion’s Pride is a great place for a watch party. You can read all about the fun ways to enjoy away matches from an earlier post this season.

So, what else can we do to pass the time? I present you with my Home Game Drought List:

• Grab FIFA 19 and build your favorite James O’Connor XI. Choose wisely, because there have been so many combinations to choose from it could take you a while. Once your roster is complete, replay this season with yourself at the helm, and see if maybe, just maybe, as the puppeteer you’ll find the back of the net a bit more frequently. Too soon?
• Drink.
• Head to the beach, pool, or water park to distract yourself. You can represent your City fandom with chairs, flip flops, towels, koozies, tumblers, and more! I haven’t found a bathing suit yet, so readers I’ll need you to get on this.
• Design and market OCSC bathing suits.
• Clean out your dressers and closets. If you haven’t already found a streamlined way to organize, sort, and/or display all your Orlando City gear, now is the best time! You can take inventory and see what else you may need to pick up from The Den when we’re finally back home in July.
• Cry.
• Volunteer. Somewhere. Anywhere.
• Read everything The Mane Land shares out to feel connected.
• Stalk, er, follow your favorite players on social media.
• Ladies, get your last-minute tickets to BINGO hosted by the Orlando City Foundation. Tickets are still available for the June 22 event. Have fun, because who doesn’t love BINGO? They’ll have a silent auction and a themed table award — all of that while knowing your money will go to help the foundation build safe places to play soccer, increase access to Orlando’s youth, and build vegetable gardens in under-served areas.
• Take in the glory that is the Women’s World Cup. Represent your country, rally behind underdogs, go crazy when our Orlando Pride players make the XI and dominate.
• Most importantly, head to a Pride match. Their home matches sandwich June with a game on June 1 and June 30 at home. With a lot of the team away for international duties, it’s going to be important to show up ready to support. The mental aspect of the game plays a huge role, and really, they can use all the support in the world this season. Season ticket members can attend up to three matches for free! So there really isn’t an excuse not to start going.

Sure, Mane Landers, there are games we can watch or stream, during this long stretch. Maybe some of you are wondering what the big deal is. For me, the excitement, the noise, the smell, and all the purple sights give me something to which I can look forward. Screaming that the ref belongs on O.B.T. without judgment from others means something when you are riddled with stress and anxiety 90% of your life.

To be honest, home games mean planned date nights that force us out of our routine and give us the opportunity to have fun, let loose, and meet new people. I’ll be at the game on July 3. I’ll be there extra early because I spent my Lion Nation points to go down to the bench for warm-ups. I don’t know, Lion Nation points are like the Eagle Bucks we pass out at school. We’re super excited to earn them and then can’t decide on which leftover or donated prize to waste them on. The mister loves warm-ups and we’re celebrating his birthday and upcoming grad school graduation, so I figured, why not?

What would you add to the Drought List? Let us know what you do during the drought in the comments.