Welcome Portland Hearts of Pine fans! You have come to the right place. Today I am launching an independent outlet covering the Hearts.
Why am I the right person to bring you meaningful stories about your beloved club, whether that’s game recaps, player features, deep delves into the Hearts’ impact on local culture, updates on the new women’s team starting in 2027, or answers to complicated questions about the team’s new stadium?
I am a sports nut. I have been since I fell in love with basketball in 6th grade, hooping on the hardcourts outside of Reiche Elementary. Soccer was a game I also played but I didn’t have the same connection with it. That began to change in my senior year at Waynflete when the soccer team needed a goalkeeper. The pressure of the position matched my personality, and I was never someone who minded throwing his body around.
As a freshman at Hobart College, I walked on and made the JV squad before eventually being called up to varsity. In my 20s, my back kept seizing from basketball and I stopped playing. A year or two later, a colleague at the Hartford Courant, where I was a municipal reporter, asked if I’d play keeper for his indoor soccer team.
I said yes, and everything changed. For some reason, my back kept holding up and I discovered a new love for the Beautiful Game. I played for the next 20 years, first for the Barnstonworth Rovers in New York City’s Cosmopolitan Soccer League and later in Southern California with a traveling amateur men’s team and in the Inland Empire Soccer League.
So one can imagine how happy this native Mainer was to move home two years ago to see the fervent excitement for the Hearts. My wife and I went to a game at Fitzpatrick Stadium and we were hooked. We joined the Dirigo Union, the Hearts’ official supporters club. I even talked to the Hearts about job opportunities but there just wasn’t the right fit at the time. Fast forward a year and my teaching journalism gig at the University of Redlands in California came to an end, leaving me in search of a new challenge.
Last week, I had an epiphany: I should start an independent digital outlet to cover all things Portland Hearts of Pine. And wow, there is a lot to cover. My goal is to inform and intrigue, writing the stories that make the Hearts so special. In time, I’ll delve into other social media opportunities and even podcasts. In this digital age, there are so many different options.
So, welcome to The Hearts’ Beat. Please come along with me on this journey. Never hesitate to reach out with ideas or criticisms. I want to make this the home of all Hearts’ news, and the only way I can do that is by learning and evolving.
Of course, I’ll always lead with my heart.
