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Turf Show Times Has Selected An Official Soccer Team

In the spirit of branching out, TST has selected an official soccer team to support throughout the season.

Jamie McDonald/Getty Images

Turf Show Times is, and always has been, growing. From Van's fledgling one-man operation in 2006 (when open threads consisted of 8 comments...), TST has ballooned into a bigger, stronger site. So sometimes, it's worthwhile to help develop stronger relationships across the sports world for the good of the site.

This is one of those times.

Today, in accordance with a very Rovellian Twitter poll, it has been decided that the official soccer team of Turf Show Times will be...

Derby County FC

So even if you don't follow soccer (though you should), let's look at why Derby is a deserving team of TST's support.

Reason #1: They're Rams.

Exhibit A: The current logo of the team: 

Exhibit B: This former logo of the team: 

Exhibit C: This statue of a Ram in the middle of the damn city: 

The Derby Ram

Exhibit D: Their mascot, Rammie: 

which led to Exhibit E:

That's probably sufficient, but there's more.

Reason #2: They've got history.

Derby County played their first competitive game in November of 1884, before the Washington Monument or Statue of Liberty were completed. The St. Louis Rams weren't formed until 1936, so they've got us beat by a half century there.

They've won the top league twice compared to our one Super Bowl win, though their two championships came in the 1970s so it's been a minute.

In short, they've got plenty behind them to prop up their fan base...

Reason #3: They're on the St. Louis Rams' level of performance.

They've spent the last 10 years below Premier League level (they made the league for the 2007-08 season, but won just one game and promptly got bumped back down a league), but that's not all that bad. Consider that the Premier League is the top 20 teams; the St. Louis Rams have spent plenty of time outside the top 20 in the last decade as well...

But things are looking up! They're currently in first place in the Championship, so it's a young squad with promise. That sounds famliiar...

Reason #4: Their sponsor is a company called Just Eat

We support eating.

Reason #5: They've got the colors right.

That third kit with the yellow and blue is legit: 

Derby County FC Third Kit

Bottom line

I get that it's a stretch, but we had an opening. And Derby County's a perfect match. Now, let's hope they make the Premier League next season and get an SBN blog...