Zach Pfeffer Makes The Front Page Of The Philadelphia Daily News, Ushers In A New Media Era For The Philadelphia Union

How the times have changed.

It was only a couple of months ago that I was angry with the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Daily News' sister paper, for promoting anti-Philadelphia Union sentiment. Now it appears that the city's media has pulled a complete 180-degree turn in regard to the Union and soccer. 

Zach Pfeffer, the Union's first ever home grown player signing, graces today's front cover – not the back page typically reserved for the top sports story of the day – of the Daily News at the young age of 15. The first thing that came to mind to me is that Daily News Union beat reporter Kerith Gabriel is probably the happiest writer in the world right now. The second thought was that the Union are officially important enough to cover as a major team in this city, one that already has four other major sports franchises to cover. 

Today appears to be the beginning of a new era for the Union in the Philadelphia press, one that I'm happy to see come about. Other than Gabriel, Marc Narducci covers the Union for the Inquirer, Chris Vito for the Delaware County Times and Dave Zeitlin for MLSsoccer.com, plus Jonathan Tannenwald for Philly.com, bringing Union fans and supporters a decent amount of voices to read about the Union from. 

The 2011 season should be a special one in terms of media coverage for the Union.