Welcome to Green Line Soccer
Introducing my new outlet covering the Washington Spirit and D.C. United.
Hello! It's Jason Anderson, and I can't stop writing about D.C. soccer.
It's not that I've lacked for reasons to quit. I've covered four Wooden Spoon seasons for D.C. United, and I've seen the Washington Spirit break the NWSL record for consecutive minutes without a goal twice in one single campaign.
Behind the scenes, there have been hostile or indifferent club staffers, long drives, and a never-set personal schedule that has mostly severed my relationship with the concept of time. I've had articles I poured everything into get double-digit page views, and I've been unexpectedly shuttled from an all-soccer beat to areas where I know I have nothing to contribute.
The world has tried very hard to tell me to find something else to do, but a few things have kept me coming back. This sport and this city are as much a part of me as my bones and organs. I don't know how to move forward without my kneecaps or my lungs, and it's the same for D.C. and for soccer.
Secondly, I think I have something to offer that isn't already being done in the space. Particularly in the DMV, we've been spoiled with excellent big-picture narrative coverage, best-in-class storytelling, and in recent years it's become easier than ever to approach the sport from a data perspective.
Where I've always tried to differentiate myself is by connecting those dots. It all matters, and you won't get to where I want this site to go leaning entirely on classic beat reporting, or player data radars, or off-field interviews. However, you just might be able to figure it all out if you can form a nexus for all of those things.
That's what I'm trying to do here. I hope you enjoy it, or at least tolerate it.
Now, an attempt to anticipate some of your questions:
What's with the name?
If you're in the DMV, you've surely taken the green line somewhere: U St., the University of Maryland (go Terps), Gallery Place, Howard, Anacostia...but most of all for the people that will read this site, you've been to Navy Yard and/or Waterfront.
The Metro is part of the fabric of life in the DMV, and I want this site to be part of the fabric of soccer in the District.
Is this going to be a subscription kind of thing?
Yes! Here are the tiers:
- Tolerators (free): You get gameday coverage and (some) features/analysis pieces in your inbox as they come out. Others will be behind a temporary paywall, and there may be some that stay there permanently.
- Nerds (complimentary) ($2): All pieces when they go live, and the ability to comment. Internet comments don't have to be a cesspool, and I think we can create a space where that's the case. The paywall here will keep people who aren't invested in that idea from spoiling the party.
- "Sandstorm" playing at full volume ($5): All of the above, plus the ability to submit questions for Question Time (we'll get to that shortly), and access to my various spreadsheets: roster info, schedule, goals, game-by-game appearances, booking/suspension tracker, and an injury tracker. These aren't quite ready for public consumption, as I'm looking to modify them slightly from their current form, but we're talking a matter of a few days max here. After that, it looks like I'm going to have to share the sheets manually, so please be patient.
Paywall???
I am unfortunately not independently wealthy, so making ends meet is a daily concern. My subscription to Ghost costs money, as will logos and other steps towards making this enterprise more appealing and expansive.
(By the way if you’re an experienced graphic designer with interest in turning a crude mock-up and a description of an idea into a few pro-grade images that would be this site's header, logo, etc, drop me a line at greenlinesoccer@gmail.com so we can discuss what I need, your rate, and so on.)
I've also got plans to take this show on the road a couple of times this year. Not to get too deep into how the journalistic sausage gets made, but teams are generally at their most welcoming when they see you a long way from home. Relationships improve, players/coaches/comms staff respect the effort, and what might have been a rushed chat becomes a more expansive, in-depth interview.
That improved access creates more and better raw material for the work you’re here for, and your paid subscription will make it far more likely that I can afford to get myself on a flight or a train (not to mention covering my costs when I brave our civilized roadways to go out to Leesburg for team training sessions).
What am I getting if I keep coming back here?
By “gameday coverage,” I mean the kind of gamer you’d expect from a beat writer: a to-the-point summary of what happened in the game that places it in the context of the season, the league at large, club history, etc. There will also be a box score featuring the lineups/formations, scorers, bookings, and that sort of thing.
That article will go out as close to full time as I can manage, so if you’re in the stands at Audi, you should have it in your inbox while you wait for your train home, or for a pint at the bar of your choice.
Once the post-game press conferences and mixed zones conclude, I’ll get notable quotes and (likely brief) post-game analysis written ASAP. I’ll note on my Bluesky account when that portion of the article has been added.
As for features and analysis, those are going to be me following my nose, so to speak. If I think it’s a good story that will resonate with you fine folks, I’m going to try to tell it. This could be data-based analysis, or just an interview with an interesting player that doesn’t get all that close to on-field matters. It might be serious, or goofy, or both somehow.
The schedule on that front will be hard to predict, but I already have a couple of ideas brewing that I’m excited about.
Hi Jason, long-time tolerator. Why is this not Plex Weather, in blog form?
Well first, Plex Weather was a Spirit podcast, and I'm covering United as well.
Secondly, here's a complete count of official competitive matches where the Spirit have served as a host, and not a higher seed at a neutral venue:
- Maryland Soccerplex: 78
- Audi Field: 67
- Segra Field: 12
- BBVA Compass Stadium: 1
- Subaru Park: 1
- City Stadium: 1
Barring global catastrophe, Audi Field will have hosted more Spirit home games than any other stadium on the planet by Sept. 13, 2026. Depending on when and where Concacaf stages its play-in process for the 2026-27 W Champions Cup (yes, I’m breaking a tiny bit of news in this intro piece to the site, it’s a gift for the real ones), it might come earlier than that.
In the words of the philosopher Trinity Rodman, u can accept that it's time to embrace a present and future at a more befitting venue. The Plex Weather ethos will still be here for those that know what it looks like, but this site will be accessible for people who haven't made the drive out to Boyds.
Do you want to do a podcast?
On one hand, sure. It's fun to talk soccer! On the other, the DMV soccer scene has more podcasts than it does written outlets:
For now, I'd say listen to these fine programs for your Spirit and United podcasting needs. I'll be accepting podcast invites, but the production hurdle is going to keep this in the "maybe down the road, but not today" category.
What is Question Time?
Basically it’s what I’m calling my mailbag column, which will hopefully run monthly. The timetable, especially in the early weeks of the season, is going to be a work in progress.
I saw you mention freelancing in your Notes app post. What happens if you’re freelancing on matchday?
If there’s an urgent time issue for something an outlet is paying me for, the freelance assignment will be my priority for that game. Most likely, what that means is a slower recap, and quotes/analysis/whatever possibly the next day.
I don’t anticipate doing a ton of freelancing at this point, as the outlets that are paying appropriately are not looking for single-game reports at this stage in the season. I really expect this conflict to come up very rarely, if at all.
My guarantee to you is to always be up front about what will be disrupted and why, and to minimize those problems as best I can.
What are you going to do when the Spirit and United play at the same time?
As of now my plan will be to cover the Spirit first, and come back later with United coverage.
The bottom line here, as I’ve said a bunch of times on various platforms, is that the Spirit have the juice. The Spirit have more nationally and internationally relevant players, and an audience that is more excited and engaged. They play in the best league in the world, even amid said league's flaws and shortcomings.
I strongly suspect the subscription numbers here are going to point me towards this conclusion anyway, but I'm making the call now.
United will still get my best effort, but that might mean watching a replay the next day. Speaking of, here are the current conflicts that I know of:
- Wed. April 29* (potential Spirit/U.S. Open Cup conflict should DCU get to the round of 16)
- Wed. May 13* (I might go to the west coast to cover the Spirit's away games on May 10 and May 15)
- Sat. May 23* (Concacaf please start announcing W Champions Cup details further in advance)
- Sat. September 26
- Sat. October 17
If you’re looking for United only and you feel some kind of way about this, I’m not going to tell you you’re wrong. It’s subjective, feel however you want to feel. I'd rather you come in knowing what the deal is rather than feel like there was a bait-and-switch.
Why aren’t you covering DC Power? Or Loudoun United? Or MLS Next Pro/USL W?
I believe DC Power and Loudoun both deserve more coverage than they get, but I need to do my day job and sleep. Frankly, I don't think I can fit any more teams into my schedule without all of the coverage suffering.
My friends Donald Wine II and Ryan Keefer at The District Press are your go-to sources for coverage of those teams. They're doing great work, and have been since the jump for those clubs.
In the short- and medium-term, I don’t have a solution that results in Green Line Soccer covering more teams. Long-term, I’m not opposed to it, which brings us to an obvious follow-up.
Will you hire someone to help out?
From a long-term perspective, it’s possible, but I don’t know what I’d need to see to change that to a yes. Nothing’s been ruled out, but nothing is being promised either.
From a short-term perspective, no. To be honest, I don’t particularly feel like managing people right now. I also don’t want anyone to work for free, or for the pittance certain large outlets that torpedoed their soccer coverage used to dole out. However, adding staff here will mean bringing in enough money to do so.
That said, as of right now I have one planned submission from someone I trust as a ball-knower, and I might do that from time to time going forward.
Do you want to set up a Discord or something?
A GLS Discord was definitely in my plans, but then Discord began requiring dubious age verification that will surely result in Discord users having their personal information stolen. I don’t want your social security number in the hands of the feckless dolts who control most internet-based platforms, and I don’t trust them with mine either, so Discord is out.
This might be something I'm asking you fine folks about once I settle into more of a rhythm, but for now community building here will be in the comments.
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