American Outlaws show off their love of country and soccer

Just before halftime of the U.S. Men’s National Soccer Team’s Gold Cup game against Panama on July 8, two hands wrapped a scarf around my neck.

The scarf, red, white, dark blue and light blue, was emblazoned with patriotic clown imagery on one side. On the other, it read “Circus City Outlaws.”

“There,” the voice connected to the hands said. “Now you look like you belong.”

I was at Shamrock Pub, 2257 Ringling Blvd., and the voice belonged to Ian Linn, president of AO Sarasota, the local chapter of the U.S. Soccer fan group American Outlaws. The pub, owned by AO Sarasota treasurer Derek Anderson, is where AO Sarasota gathers for U.S. soccer games, men’s and women’s.

Linn, 43, became president in January. He grew up in Indianapolis and played the sport for a decade. He and his family traveled across the country to watch the best matches. He remembers watching the North American Soccer League’s “Soccer Bowl” back in the era of Pele. He’s patriotic, too, and the combination led to U.S. soccer becoming his No. 1 obsession.

“It’s the world’s league,” he said, “and it’s really the world’s sport.”

The are 82 paid members of AO Sarasota, with a core of 25-30 who come to every event. I don’t think any of them were happy with the U.S. starting lineup, particularly Graham Zusi at right back. The crowd was happy with University of South Florida product Dom Dwyer getting the start at forward. He’d reward their fandom later. By the game’s start, the pub was fuller than the glasses of beer being consumed by all in attendance.

This was nothing, member J.C. McKitterick told me. In the past, he’s had to hoist people onto his shoulders to fit everyone in the pub. It gets so crowded, he said, that the bar had to re-do its air conditioning system to accommodate the crowd.

The American Outlaws have many chants, and they sing all of them on this day, including, to the tune of “Yankee Doodle,” “Come on, U.S., score a goal, it’s really very simple; Put the ball into the net and we’ll go freaking mental.” The score is 0-0 when they break out that one.

Halftime hits. There’s a raffle to be decided. Linn had previously handed out a ticket. Prizes included AO sunglasses, free beer for the second half, and a tailgate-sized soccer net.

As soon as that’s complete, Linn and a few friends scurry out the back door and make the short jaunt to Sarasota Lanes for halftime shots. Some get a Pickleback, others get Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Fire. Linn doesn’t remember how this particular AO Sarasota tradition got started, but the group now partakes in it whenever a U.S. team is tied or trailing at the half. The group splits in half on the way back to the pub, with some going an extra step and taking a shot of Rumple Minze.

On the ceiling of the pub hang scarves. They’re from other AO chapters. When AO Sarasota takes a road trip to another chapter, they bring scarves to trade. Recently, members of the Birmingham, Ala., and Detroit chapters have watched a game at Shamrock Pub. Linn has taken numerous road trips with members of the group, including Nov. 11 to Columbus, Ohio, for the U.S. men’s team’s World Cup-qualifying match against Mexico (the U.S. lost, 2-1) and Feb. 3 to Chattanooga, Tenn., for the team’s game against Jamaica (the U.S. won, 2-0).

Linn is enhancing the group’s community outreach game by starting the Cleats for the City program. Bring a pair of (gently) used youth cleats to the pub, and you get a free beer.

A few minutes into the second half, I glanced up in time to see Dwyer put one past Panama’s keeper. The Outlaws go insane. Yelling, slapping hands, busting out machine gun-esque rattlers. The pub might as well be a mosh pit at a punk rock show.

It got quieter when Miguel Camargo answered for Panama.

The score remained tied as the final whistle blew. It’s not the result the Outlaws wanted, but it’s not the worst.

I began packing up my things, but the Outlaws still had one more song to sing:

“We love you, we love you, we love you, and where you go we’ll follow, we’ll follow, we’ll follow; ‘Cause we support the U.S., the U.S., the U.S., and that’s the way we like it, we like it, we like it.”