Schools Out …

Finals are over (finally…well, I have to turn a paper in by tomorrow night, but it just needs to be proofed and it’s done) and I now have a little time before summer session starts to actually watch a little soccer. Man, has a bunch happened since I entered study hell.

Heck, where do I start? Ok, NY got themselves another Designated Player. I’ve always been a JPA fan so I can’t see how this won’t pay off for them. Heck, they already have the best record in the league-there’s a first. JPA should only help them on the pitch (which, as I always say, is what will eventually help things in the stands)

Ipswich is safe in the Championship for another season despite all the money problems at Portman Road. I have to laugh at the possibility of Leeds going down. I’ve always hated Leeds and this is…well, funny. Their fans didn’t help matters on Saturday. They should be docked points for their fans actions on Saturday. (See video…the quality isn’t the best, but you can see what the event looked like to traveling Town fans)

So, I actually got to see the SuperDuperClassico on Saturday night. Wow, Landon showed up to play. Nice one. Actually, I probably would have enjoyed the match as a neutral. One thing though, can someone please explain to me why LA (the home team) was wearing their road colors?

I commented on this before, but the Galaxy schedule is a joke. They’ve played 3 matches so far this season. It’ll be a couple weeks before they play another match. Then, they have all their matches jammed into the second half of the season (along with matches against Chelsea, Vancouver, and probably just about anyone willing to fork out a few bucks to have Beckham play. The good news is that they have 4 points from the 3 matches so far. I’m not going to hold my breath about the chances of making things happen this season. Heck, Yallop thinks the Open Cup is a cause of the team missing the playoffs last season…of course, I’ve always contended that if LA hadn’t won the Open Cup in ’06, they wouldn’t have won the MLS Cup…but what do I know?

Whose bright idea was it to have only last names on jerseys? Thankfully, it seems that matter has been resolved already.

Even one of my favorite writers isn’t he same. I never saw that one coming. All the best to Mike/Christine.

Well, that’s all I can think of now. Hopefully I’ll have more time this week to post.

What’s most important?

The other day I asked…

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?

It’s nice to see I’m not the only person asking that question…

Apparently, protecting the integrity of the MLS regular season is beneath the notice of decision makers at AEG and the league office. Unbalancing the league schedule of one of its clubs, the putative “Jewel of MLS“, in fact, appears to be a small price to pay to secure a couple of ticket-window windfalls. One can only wonder whether the possibility of a split-season schedule was ever seriously considered in the league office, because the Galaxy’s schedule would fit almost perfectly into such a format: league, Open Cup, and CONCACAF Cup matches in April-June, July off, then league matches from August until November. Thirteen teams, 12 matches per season, home and away, less fixture congestion, MLS Cup at the end of November between the two champions of each split-season, or playoffs, if you must, between the top four sides.

Urban goes on to ask…

Should the Galaxy fail to make the playoffs, will the blame be laid at coach Frank Yallop’s feet? Will Alexi Lalas be the fall guy for galactic failure?

Or will blame be properly laid at the door of those who placed commercial interests ahead of more mundane considerations like a fair and balanced league schedule?

Great question. LA fans should be demanding more. I thought something was up when the schedule finally came out and every MLS side was going to have a chance to see Beckham. It mean that roughly 2/3rds of their road games would be played in the second half of the season.

I really want the sport in this country and MLS to succeed. However, how are we the fans supposed to take the league seriously when those bringing us the league don’t? More time has been spent promoting individual players than promoting any individual team. Outside of Cobi Jones, no team has any player they had in ‘96. Attendance hasn’t changed much since then. All these games against money-spinning teams and the signing of big names (except Beckham) hasn’t exactly brought in more than single match ticket sales.

I’ve been saying it for going on 12 years now, until the league and the teams focus on putting the best possible team on the pitch that has a sole focus on winning championships both domestically (MLS Cup, Open Cup and maybe Supporters Shield) and internationally (I’m still waiting for an MLS side to knock a Mexican side out of the Champions Cup) they aren’t providing the fans with the best possible product. Give the fans of each MLS town something to be proud of and to want to support rather than providing two hours of entertainment and hoping they’ll come back.

On a related note, I’ve said for some time that I don’t care when the season is played, as long as no matches conflict with International Dates–AKA MLS matches where the big name stars won’t be present. Brucio over at the always great du Nord has what I think is an interesting idea. Move the season up a few weeks. There’s a lot of positives to this idea. MLS teams playing in the Champions Cup will be better prepared. The season would end before the North American Championship of Baseball (not to be confused with the famous “World Series”) Also, any team sharing their stadium with a football team won’t have as many date conflicts. It’s not like all the teams haven’t been in LA or Texas or Florida or something the last few weeks. Open the season at southern locations for a few weeks before teams in the cooler climates have their openers. But I’m sure there’s some explanation why this wouldn’t work.

OK, enough rant. We all know the most important thing is financial survival (profit?) for the teams/league etc. But I’m still entitled to my opinion.

Good luck to Houston and DC tonight.

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.