Ronaldinho to Chelsea?

So I go to lunch at this restaurant/bar near my office. They have ESPN playing in the background (no volume) and the ticker at the bottom of the screen says Ronaldnho signed a 5-year, $116 deal to join Chelsea at the end of the year. So, I get back to the office and (in between phone calls and emails) I search for more information. I can’t find anything…just stuff about his frequenting nightclubs in Barcelona (can’t blame him…I’ve spent a week there once and the nightclubs were excellent)

Am I missing something?

Enough with the use of this World Series name

Can’t anyone think of anything original? C’mon now, the World Series of Soccer? How pathetic is that? Ok, so it’s a nice little money spinner in the middle of the season to coincide with the arrival of the Spiced One (well, if Gretzky is the Great One…)

What really gets me about this whole thing is that in the rest of the world, do you think teams would make a commitment like this in the middle of the season? Six years ago, I had my flight book, hotel reserved and match tickets bought for a friendly Ipswich was going to play in Charleston against the Battery. Ya see, Ipswich had a two week break towards the end of the season (International Weekend or something) so Sheepshanks and Burley decided to take the team on a quick break to South Carolina and include the match. However, as the dates of the trip grew close, the decision was made to cancel the trip. Of course, fans like me were out the airfare, but Town players didn’t risk the chance of needless injury right before the end-of-season run-in. Sure, I was disappointed but what was more important? Playing a meaningless match or qualifying for Europe. (Ipswich did qualify for the UEFA Cup and even managed a 1-0 vs Milan at Portman Road before getting stuffed at the San Siro)

So, back to my original point, I’ve waited over 11 years so far, how much longer will I need to wait until winning the MLS Cup is more important than making money?

So much going on

I haven’t been able to post for a while. Who knew Grad School would take up so much of my time? Yeah, I knew it would but I’m sure no one reading this cares about my study habits.

A sure sign of the times in MLS is the announcement that Matchnight will be shutting down. Yeah, I’m sad to see the site go. Lee and Shane have done a fantastic job of informing the fans with a professional looking site. I’m certain they ran the site on a shoestring budget (if any budget at all) and devoted a lot of their time to the site. For all of that–and the fact that I’ve even had a couple of things I wrote published there–I thank them. However, the league and the sport is growing in this country. More “traditional” media are covering the league. It remains to be seen if they’ll do as good a job as sites like Matchnight. The only bad news is that it means I’ll need to remove the widgets on the right of this page. Thanks guys.

Another sign of the future is the launch of the new Chelsea YouTube page. Honestly, this is a idea which should have come to life some time ago. At a time when so many media companies are threatening legal action if their content isn’t removed from YouTube or similar services, it’s good to see Chelsea embrace this media. I hope other teams (and MLS) follow suit with something similar. Folks, the Internet isn’t going anywhere and it’s only going to become a bigger part of our lives so you’re better off using it rather than fighting it. Back when Metallica (well, Lars Ulrich) was fighting Napster I thought it was a big mistake to take those actions. After all, Metallica probably never would become as well known as they did in the mid-eighties if it wasn’t for illegal tapes of their early recordings being circulated. I’m sure Radiohead would agree with me. So, to sum up what I’m rambling here, more stuff on the internet means more attention to your product which means more people willing to fork out money on your stuff. What am I missing here. Fingers crossed MLS will be doing the same sort of thing soon.

AEG/MLS/LA Galaxy have spent (are spending?) a lot of money to bring a certain one-footed freekick/corner taker to the HDC. At this point, I’m not sure there’s any chance the deal can go wrong. MLS (and the Galaxy in particular) are getting more publicity than ever both here in the US and worldwide. Has a bunch of has-beens, could-bes and never will-bes got this much attention before? I’m sure everyone involved are happy with the deal. Hey, and Capello is now eating crow. I wonder what odds I could get on an LA Galaxy player wearing an England shirt in the next year or so?

Could Zizou be next? If the worlds media went gaga over Becks to LA, Mr. Headbutt would have the US media (at least the majority who don’t know anything about soccer) waiting in anticipation for his next headbutt. I’m not sure that would be a bad thing…at least Jim Rome and his clones would be tuned in.

A few weeks ago Ipswich made it to the fifth round of the FA Cup for the first time in 11 years. I had started this rambling about the romance of Cup competition. Then went on about how Ipswich could be in for some good money (and a possible TV appearance) with the right draw. Too bad we drew Watford–little money from the match and a trip home without a spot in the sixth round. However, about the same time, US Soccer announced the format for the Open Cup this summer. So, LA, Columbus, NY, RSL, Arse…um Colorado and KC will have “play-in” games against each other. This way, only eight (two of the previously mentioned and the other six teams) will be in the actual Open Cup. Now, while I like the idea of MLS teams playing each other earlier on giving smaller teams more of a chance to move on, I still wish the match-ups were more random. Why can’t there be a random draw? This can be done on a regional basis. Divide the country into 4 regions. Try and align even numbers of teams (regardless of their league) in each region and have random draws for each round. Then with they reach the last eight, or sixteen, make the competition national. On top of that, why hasn’t US Soccer been able to find a naming sponsor for the Cup? They’ve got plenty of sponsorship contacts. Nationwide, there are plenty of people who come out to games, it’s not like the sponsors name wouldn’t be used quite a bit. I’m sure the rights would be enough to sweeten the pot for the winners (and other teams doing well) and also not put smaller teams in financial difficulty…or maybe they just don’t care. At least Naarich lost today.

RIP Mr. Adler. I never knew you but you brought joy to every armchair coach. I know my life (and viewing habits) would be very different if it wasn’t for you. Thank you.

Finally, if you are reading this at work and are missing the big game on FSC, click here.