Print, My Final Frontier

There are many fears I have overcome this summer: A sewgway running me over on the sidewalks of DC, being north of Tennessee for longer than a week, Amos Gelb (Just Kidding). But these are child's play compared to how I have overcome my fear of print journalism. Being mostly a video guy it used to seem to scary with it's research, long sentences, and big words! But throught wriring for NBCWashington.com I've learned that print isn't quite as scary as it's made out to be, check out the work I got published on their website:

Hot National Soccer Team coming to DC
Finally, a team we can all agree on

By JOSH PATTERSON

Getty Images

Nationals or Orioles? Democrats or Republicans? 9:30 Club or Black Cat? This city can't seem to agree on anything. Don't worry, the U.S. soccer team is here to fix that.

After their incredible and improbable run at the Confederations Cup in South Africa, the U.S. is ready to show off their new skills to a home crowd -- in D.C. On July 8, The U.S. will play Honduras in their second game back in the States (the first is in Seattle, so it will probably be rained out) since almost defeating Brazil to win the Confederations Cup Sunday.

In case your TV only picks up Wimbledon and you missed it, the U.S. team had a 2-0 lead at the end of the first half only to give up 3 goals in the second half of their first FIFA tournament final ever. (Did we mention Brazil is now on a 16-game unbeaten streak?) How did the boys in red, white and blue get to the final, you may ask. By beating the No. 1 ranked team in the world, Spain, 2-0 in the semifinal.

It certainly seems the U.S. is finally able to compete in that little-known sport heading into the World Cup, but they are still missing one thing: Fans.

We're not talking "buy a bobblehead of your favorite player" fans, we're talking soccer fans. "Make a cape out of your country's flag" fans. "Don't stop yelling until the team goes into the loccer room" fans. Fans that the world should be scared of. Fans like the Screaming Eagles.

D.C. can set the tone. The U.S. already played Honduras once this year -- a close game that ended with the U.S. winning 2-1 in front of more than 55,000 in Chicago. RFK Stadium only holds 45,600, but that should be more than enough if they cheer like DC United fans.

Tickets are still available in four of the five sections, so if you want to be able to read the names on the jerseys or save some money chilling with the pigeons, RFK's got you covered. Camden or Nats Park? CNN or Fox News? Next Wednesday it doesn't matter, just get out and cheer on a team that deserves your support.