Massive Introductions: Who is Drew Niccum?

Editor’s note: As Massive Report expands its staff in the coming week, we will introduce each new member by having them write a little something about themselves to help the MR community get to know them. Who are they? What’s their soccer background? How long have they been a fan of the Crew? Whatever they want to share to introduce themselves to our great and loyal readers. Today we introduce Drew Niccum.

Here’s the thing: I don’t remember my first Columbus Crew SC game (although I’m decently convinced it was against the Chicago Fire). It was when I was pretty young and I only know about it because my family told me we had gone. But I distinctly remember my second and third Crew games.

In October of 2015, I won a raffle at Ohio State for two tickets to the Crew’s last game of the season, against D.C. United. I knew very little about soccer then beyond the World Cup and the European Championships, and D.C. was the only other MLS team I had heard of. None of my friends were free to go to the game, so I ended up taking my brother, who was 12 at the time. What we witnessed still goes down as one of my favorite Black & Gold games. A 5-0 shellacking of United sealed our fandom. My brother particularly loved the atmosphere in the Nordecke (and that I was letting him say some not so nice words while singing with the crowd).

Seeing how much my brother enjoyed the game, my mom and I started plotting out when I could take him to a game again. After watching the Crew advance in the MLS Cup playoffs, we soon realized that Columbus had a pretty decent chance of making the MLS Cup Final. After the Crew defeated the New York Red Bulls, we surprised my brother with tickets to that very game. What followed is something that Crew fans don’t like to remember and for good reason. All I will say is that we had seats right in front of a certain incident that occurred during the game that still enrages fans. Despite the disappointing match, my brother and I were still hooked and we got season tickets for 2016, which presented us with many more disappointing moments. But we were committed and I actually have fond memories of the miserable 2016 season.

After many more great memories and some difficult and disappointing times, my brother and I, now accompanied by our dad, are still going to Crew games, and we love every single minute.

Outside of my Crew fandom and my writing for Massive Report, I’m a grad student studying city and regional planning at Ohio State, where I also did my undergrad in history and political science. I’m originally from Newark, Ohio and I’ve lived in Central Ohio my entire life. And I’m probably best described as a huge nerd. I’m looking forward to a great 2020 season and can’t wait to get writing! (And if you have any questions about municipal code, I’m probably your guy.)

Go Crew!

Twitter: @drewbledrew