Phillips, Hal: - Hal Phillips is an author, journalist and media executive based in southern Maine. Generation Zero: Founding Fathers, Hidden Histories and the Making of Soccer in America is his first book-length project. Phillips blogs on all matters soccer at www.genzero.halphillips.net. He posts about the world at-large at www.halphillips.net, and tweets (in fits & starts) @mandarinhal.A daily newspaper and magazine editor until 2001, Phillips has since contributed feature content to ESPN FC, Sports Illustrated, Soccer365.com, GOLF Magazine, Travel & Leisure, Golf Digest China, Portland Press Herald, Golf Australia, McKellar, LINKS, Robb Report and dozens of other titles worldwide, some of which still exist. He was founder and host of the Unsightly American Soccer Podcast from 2009 to 2013, pioneering but effectively pre-dating the podcast movement. An all-state striker at Wellesley High School in Massachusetts, Phillips played four years of college soccer at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut, where he double majored in ancient Greek history and modern American literature. He logged three years in the semi-pro, Greater Boston-based Luso-American Soccer Association, before heading north and playing 10 more seasons in the Maine Open League. Since 1997, he has owned and operated Mandarin Media Inc., a media consulting, content- and digital-marketing agency serving golf, travel and property clients across North America, the UK and Asia-Pacific.