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Inside the Tormenta Manager Search

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It's a sad state of affairs when this is what passes for journalism these days. Ok, that title may be overselling it a lot as we're not doing a deep dive into how Mark McKeever came to be the manager of Tormenta, but I did get some details about the process and wanted to pass them along.  So apparently me and my oldest were on the opening of the Torment/Richmond broadcast where they show scenes from around the stadium. Special thanks to Jackson Popkin who got a screenshot of us as we were talking to Tormenta co-owner and president Darin Van Tassell who, and I swear this is true, came down and the first thing he asked was how my oldest did in America's Favorite Game where he guesses the Tormenta starting eleven. (He got nine right.) But since he was there and it was the first chance I'd had to talk to him since Tormenta announced the hiring of Mark McKeever on a permanent basis, I wanted to ask what went in to that decision and what the process was like to arrive at the...
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Kickin' it with the Kickers

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 In case you missed it, Tormenta removed the interim tag from Mark McKeever , naming him Manager for Tormenta on Wednesday.  At least one person has said McKeever should get consideration for League One Manager of the Year for his turn around of Tormenta. While I see the case and am sympathetic to it to a point, it's hard for me to see giving the award to someone who was head coach for 12 games when someone like Scott MacKenzie has guided Chattanooga to the league's top spot and will have been doing it for 30 games. At some point, just the volume of games has to count for something. However, if Tormenta ends up going 10-1-1 under McKeever, he would have a case. I just happen to think MacKenzie's case would be stronger (assuming the Red Wolves don't collapse between now and the end of the season.) But like Outkast sang, "ya'll don't want to hear me, you just wanna dance," or at least you want me to write about the upcoming game with Richmond and not ab...
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Return of the Mack(Keever)

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Photo Credit: Tormenta FC Tormenta removed the interim tag from Mark McKeever's title Wednesday morning, officially naming him as the next Head Coach for South Georgia in an announcement . "Mark has show not only his ability to win games, but also his commitment to our players, club values and community," said Tormenta FC Owner and President Darin Van Tassell. "Anyone following in the footsteps of Ian Cameron was going to have a tall task, and Mark's vision for the future of Tormenta FC matches our culture and ambitions. We believe he is the right leader to guide us forward, both on and off the pitch. It has been an absolute pleasure to have a front row seat to the work ethic and committment to players displayed by Mark and Associate Coach Jordan Bell. They are a formidable and talented duo." McKeever was initially hired to be an assistant on Cameron's staff and served in that role for just a few weeks before Cameron surprised the club with his resignati...
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Tormenta dominates AV Alta

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So over on TikTok there's apparently a rumor going around that the world is supposed to end today (or maybe tomorrow, it's so hard to keep track and no one ever explains how time zones work with the whole rapture thing) and, as such, I feel it only fitting that I spend what could be my last few hours of early existence recapping a soccer game from Saturday night.  Priorities, man. We'll worry about what happens post-rapture on later this week, assuming we're all still here. For now, we need to talk about what happened out in California in the late hours of Saturday in to Sunday morning, east coast time. After a scoreless first half, Yaniv Bazini scored two second half goals and Handwalla Bwana converted a penalty kick to give Tormenta a 3-0 win and move South Georgia into playoff position with their fourth straight win. It was Bazini's second brace in as many games against Alta and I admire the restraint of all of the Tormenta fans for not updating the A...
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Friday Preview and Tormenta Weekend Cheering Guide

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Remember Week 2 of the season. Back when it was still relatively cool outside and the season was still fresh and my notes during games were all  "#7 passes to #9" because I still hadn't memorized all the players names yet? Ok, that last bit might be particular to me, but the point is that Week 2 was a long, long time ago. I mean, this was AV Alta's first ever game and Tormenta welcomed them to the league with a 2-0 win for the home side.  I still think it's weird that Alta opened their inaugural season not only on the road, but clear across the country. It worked out for the family of Joaquin Acuna who were able to drive up from Florida to see him make his professional debut. As nice as it was for them, unless there are scheduling issues with their stadium, new teams should always open their first season at home.  Well, here we are in Week 29 and it's time for Tormenta and Alta to renew their acquaintances with each other as Tormenta makes a West Coast trip ...
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McKeever making his mark on Tormenta

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It's been a month since Ian Cameron stepped down and Mark McKeever took over as interim manager for Tormenta. (Technically it was a month on Monday but I overlooked that, so we're a couple of days late.) It's been five games, which while not a lot in the grand scheme of things, is 17 percent of the League One season, so it's not nothing to be sure. It's certainly enough time to take stock of where things are going under McKeever as he auditions for the interim tag to be potentially removed from his title going forward. And to be clear, I'm not advocating one way or another. I'm perfectly happy to say I'm not qualified to say if McKeever should be the permanent man in charge. That's a decision for the Van Tassells to make and if they were to consult me on that, I'd question any and every decision they've ever made regarding Tormenta. Also, if they were to consult me, I'd tell them to name my oldest as Manager so he can always go 11 for 11 ...
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One Knox comes calling

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Photo Credit: Tormenta FC So, I'm sorry for the absence lately here. If you missed it, my recap of Tormenta's 4-0 win over Madison was posted at the Statesboro Herald. I'd had plans to write earlier this week, but the covid got me and let me tell you that trying to power your way through that is a bad idea. If and when it hits, just take the nyquil, sleep as much as you can and don't, whatever you do, try to caffeinate your way through the day. But I'm feeling slightly better after spending the better part of three days asleep and I've been symptom free for 24 hours as of this posting, so one more day of rest and I'll be good as new.  Editor: Well that's just not true. Dude, you're 46 years old, you'll never be good as new. The best you can hope for is gently used and that's only if you get two straight nights of good sleep and take a couple of walks on those days to get the blood moving.   Fine, fine, I'll be as good as I can reasonably...
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