Just one week until the big announcement! But first, the great event this weekend…and a happy Mothers Day to all of our matronly SoBs between the two.

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Pennsylvania Derby: Pittsburgh @ Harrisburg, Saturday

Now that the horse racing is over it’s time for a soccer derby (pronounced “darby,” a match between two teams from the same city or area). It’s a clash between USL-2 rivals Pittsburgh and Harrisburg on City Island in the capitol. Pittsburgh fans think they’re the best supporters in the state, we’re planning on proving them wrong.

We’re meeting at Molly Brannigan’s at 2nd and Walnut at 4 (park on the island, cross the pedestrian bridge and walk a block), marching over at 5:45, having a pre-game party in our section starting at 6 and cheering for Harrisburg at 7.

At the pre-game party, and during the game while supplies last, we’ll have a keg of Harrisburg’s own Tröegs beer for those of age in our section. Total price, including ticket and beer: $10!

These games are a lot of fun and are a great way to meet your fellow SoBs as well as warm up your very own internal supporters’ section for 2010. If you want to join us, please fill out the form on this page by Wednesday:

http://www.sonsofben.net/2009/04/592009-sob-trip-to-pa-derby-harrisburg-v-pittsburgh/

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Name/colors/logo announcement day Monday! (shirt deadline today!)

Monday is the big day, 11:30 at City Hall in Philadelphia. We’ll be meeting at 9 at McGillin’s and marching over at 11. We’ll be wearing SoB light blue. If you need a shirt (or just want a cool new SoB shirt), you’ll need to order it by 5:00 today (Monday). They have “Sons of Ben Philadelphia” on the front and a Philadelphia skyline with a rising 4-leaf clover on the back.

Whether or not you want a shirt, if you’re planning on going for the pre-party, the march over or just the announcement, please fill out the form here, so we know how many people to expect and when:

http://www.sonsofben.net/2009/04/join-us-announcement-day/

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The SoB membership push

For the hundreds and hundreds that have already done so, thank you for filling out the membership form again. It’s really been helpful being able to update and expand our records as our events get bigger and bigger and we get closer to 2010.

If you haven’t yet, please fill out the form here:

http://www.sonsofben.net/join-sob/

Also feel free to forward it to all the soccer fans in your life. And, for future reference, if your address or email address changes you can just fill out that form again and put in the notes section that you’re updating your records. It’s always accessible at the very top of sonsofben.com, just follow the “Join SoB” link.

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That’ll do it for this edition. We know it can be tedious filling out so many forms (we know because we fill them out, too), but it’s really helpful on our end having that information. Those that really know the league and know the supporters’ culture already point to us as one of the most organized and strong supporters’ clubs, and it’s things like this that really help.

As always, reply if you need anything.

Ad Finem Fidelis