Wake up you footy fans!!!

mood swung · Post by **mood swung** » Mon Jul 16, 2007 10:32 am

I may not want to barbecue with polar bears, but I shall defend to the death their inalienable right to barbecue!

Sheesh, Sam, you should put a disclaimer on that post: Rabies shot needed before reading. This dude has drunk the Haterade, stayed up past his bedtime watching the mania on CNN (and rated it better than the OJ chase), and probably has what has been scientifically described as a 'micro-penis.'

I do not understand the venom.

Boy With A Problem · Post by **Boy With A Problem** » Mon Jul 16, 2007 1:32 pm

FFC - enough to keep them up?

Sanchez has spent Â£17.5million on Aaron Hughes, Steven Davis, David Healy, Diomansy Kamara, Chris Baird and Paul Konchesky already this summer, but has promised more movement at Craven Cottage before the window closes.

Who Shot Sam? · Post by **Who Shot Sam?** » Mon Jul 16, 2007 1:36 pm

Fulham looks like a Coca-Cola Championship club to me, but there is going to be enough crap coming up (or, in the case of Wigan, staying up) that it might be enough to survive.

Is one of Konchesky's goals to play for every London club before he retires?

so lacklustre · Post by **so lacklustre** » Mon Jul 16, 2007 3:47 pm

Baird will almost certainly be a good purchase
Kamara & Healy both could do well
Davis will be pretty reliable
Not sure on Hughes but he is versatile
Konchesky looked like he was going to be really good a couple of seasons back but seems to have lost his way, so it's a bit of gamble.

Looks like Brown & Quedrue will be leaving

Otis Westinghouse · Post by **Otis Westinghouse** » Mon Jul 16, 2007 5:55 pm

Who Shot Sam? wrote:More ill-informed xenophobic idiocy from England...

Hard to decide which is funnier, the witty piece or your fabulous reaction to it.

What about the footb, sorry soccer journo man on the Cosmos programme (which I fell asleep in front of after an exhausting weekend) who said Americans just don't have the attention span to watch 90 mins of a free flowing sport like soccerball?

Who Shot Sam? · Post by **Who Shot Sam?** » Mon Jul 16, 2007 8:44 pm

There are certainly people who feel that way. Some people will never warm to it, and that's fine by me. I won't claim that soccer will rival football, baseball or even basketball in the US, but I could see it displacing ice hockey as the fourth most popular team sport. Still, it's never going to mean to people here what it means to people in England, Argentina or Brazil.

I guess what annoys me most about some of the UK commentary on Beckham/MLS is that it is uninformed by any first-hand knowledge. I'd wager that Robbo has never watched a minute of an MLS match, yet he feels entitled to pas judgment on it. Interestingly that puts him in the same boat as most of the frat boy meathead soccer haters here in the States, who rip the sport without bothering to actually give it a chance.

One thing that is lacking at your average MLS game - and it's something that will probably only work itself out over time - is the crowd intensity and passion that you see in the rest of the world. At the Red Bulls game on Saturday I was surrounded mostly by kids and soccer newbies (the woman behind me asked her husband how "Beckman" would stack up against what was on display and I had to stifle a laugh). I tried to make a little noise and had a go at the ref and the people around me looked at me like I was from Mars. There are more passionate, hardcore elements of the crowd like the Empire Supporters Club and Kearny Army, but they are sort of penned off to either side, away from the rest of the fans. It's the same situation for other clubs. The atmosphere is almost too family friendly. I would welcome more f-bombs and nasty songs, but the powers that be in MLS don't seem to agree.

mood swung · Post by **mood swung** » Tue Jul 17, 2007 8:21 am

the woman behind me asked her husband how "Beckman" would stack up

Clearly, she was referring to rasta-wannabe Kyle BeckERman, suddenly of RSL. A lot of people miss the "er".

Who Shot Sam? · Post by **Who Shot Sam?** » Tue Jul 17, 2007 8:26 am

White man rasta hair is not a good thing.

mood swung · Post by **mood swung** » Wed Jul 18, 2007 7:36 am

Quakes are back.
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2007/w ... es.return/

Who Shot Sam? · Post by **Who Shot Sam?** » Wed Jul 18, 2007 9:25 am

Let the soccer haters hate. When is the last time you saw an MLS player involved in this kind of thing?...

http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/ye ... vick1.html

What a scumbag!

PS: See, here's Joe Cole with his puppies. Awwwww!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_cXbqTAGJJQ

mood swung · Post by **mood swung** » Wed Jul 18, 2007 11:53 am

Well, that's not how you train them to fight. At least, that's what I've been told.

MLS probably has plenty of freaks, they just don't get the headlines those quarterbacks do. Or defensive linesmen, tight ends, forwards, pitchers, right fielders, race horses or pro wrestlers.

Seriously, I have never heard of a performance enhancement drug scandal in MLS - spare me the obvious joke, please. Steroids won't do them much good, but I'd think whatever it is bicycle racers get tested for would. EPO? Something like that. I don't know what league policy is.

Jackson Monk · Post by **Jackson Monk** » Wed Jul 18, 2007 3:55 pm

so lacklustre wrote:Baird will almost certainly be a good purchase
Kamara & Healy both could do well
Davis will be pretty reliable
Not sure on Hughes but he is versatile
Konchesky looked like he was going to be really good a couple of seasons back but seems to have lost his way, so it's a bit of gamble.

Looks like Brown & Quedrue will be leaving

Pretty much agree with this assessment.

Jackson Monk · Post by **Jackson Monk** » Wed Jul 18, 2007 3:58 pm

Who Shot Sam? wrote:There are certainly people who feel that way. Some people will never warm to it, and that's fine by me. I won't claim that soccer will rival football, baseball or even basketball in the US, but I could see it displacing ice hockey as the fourth most popular team sport. Still, it's never going to mean to people here what it means to people in England, Argentina or Brazil.

I guess what annoys me most about some of the UK commentary on Beckham/MLS is that it is uninformed by any first-hand knowledge. I'd wager that Robbo has never watched a minute of an MLS match, yet he feels entitled to pas judgment on it. Interestingly that puts him in the same boat as most of the frat boy meathead soccer haters here in the States, who rip the sport without bothering to actually give it a chance.

One thing that is lacking at your average MLS game - and it's something that will probably only work itself out over time - is the crowd intensity and passion that you see in the rest of the world. At the Red Bulls game on Saturday I was surrounded mostly by kids and soccer newbies (the woman behind me asked her husband how "Beckman" would stack up against what was on display and I had to stifle a laugh). I tried to make a little noise and had a go at the ref and the people around me looked at me like I was from Mars. There are more passionate, hardcore elements of the crowd like the Empire Supporters Club and Kearny Army, but they are sort of penned off to either side, away from the rest of the fans. It's the same situation for other clubs. The atmosphere is almost too family friendly. I would welcome more f-bombs and nasty songs, but the powers that be in MLS don't seem to agree.

I honestly would love to believe in MLS. If the US took to the game it could only mean increased revenue and an evern greater global expansion. I just don't see it happening now. Why would it be different now to how it was back in the 70's? It's just not a North American game. Don't know why....just isn't

It's like back in the late 80s when American Football was massive in the UK for about two years. People tired of it and there were no crowds. Clubs went bust. That's what I expect to happen with footie in the US.

Who Shot Sam? · Post by **Who Shot Sam?** » Wed Jul 18, 2007 4:10 pm

Well, there are five clubs in the league expected to turn a profit this season, which is probably more than you could say for the PL, and they are expected to expand to 16 cities by 2010-2011, including possibly (fingers crossed) a second club in New York. San Jose was announced today.

The league is financially viable and the infrastructure is being built. It's not going bust. The big difference with the NASL was that NASL was not a single-entity system, so some owners could (and did) spend like drunken sailors on shore leave. The MLS has a salary cap, though the designated player slots allow them to bring in one or two relative superstars.

The other thing to consider is that you now have American players good enough to compete in some of the best leagues in the world, and even better talent on the way. You didn't have anything close to that in the seventies. I'm not saying it's going to supplant American football, but MLS will still be here in 10-15 years time and relatively stable IMO.

Jackson Monk · Post by **Jackson Monk** » Wed Jul 18, 2007 4:22 pm

Well, I really hope you are right. For now I shall reamin sceptical. Time will tell.

mood swung · Post by **mood swung** » Thu Jul 19, 2007 7:31 am

reamin septical all you like.

there's a big insurance policy being fiendishly built in - the kids playing today. those crazy IM'ing, internet-addicted, zero-attention spanned kids. Hockey might be the only real competitor in the years to come.

But that's just my theory. It's not FIFA endorsed.

ReadyToHearTheWorst · Post by **ReadyToHearTheWorst** » Thu Jul 19, 2007 6:35 pm

What I've never understood is why Mexican and European immigrants to the US didn't bring their footballs with them?

Is the desire to integrate so strong that they forget how to kick a round ball?

Who Shot Sam? · Post by **Who Shot Sam?** » Thu Jul 19, 2007 8:19 pm

They do. Drive by any major Hispanic community on a Saturday and you'll see football being played. For some reason, it hasn't yet translated to the national team or MLS in a big way.

mood swung · Post by **mood swung** » Thu Jul 19, 2007 9:45 pm

it's coming. as the quality of the league improves (esp. with JPA, Schelotto, Toja) etc.

Anecdotally (or some approximation of that spelling), it gets closer every day - at least here in the sticks. I've been involved in kid soccer for 16 years or so. In that time, a lot of Hispanic people have moved into the area. At first it was just men and they pretty much had their own thing going soccer-wise. Now it's men with families and they are beginning to sign their kids up. And play pick up games, etc. Just all one big pot o'gold under the soccer rainbow. And I'm not just being facetious. It breaks down boundaries - I was giving shit to an Olympia supporter who spoke just about as much English as I speak Spanish, but hey, we agreed on one (won) thing - DC kicked their ass.

And our "all-stars" seem to be doing that to Celtic tonight. At least thru half time. 2-0. I expect us to get our asses kicked in the next 45.

end of sermon.

2-0!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! jello shots!

Who Shot Sam? · Post by **Who Shot Sam?** » Thu Jul 19, 2007 10:38 pm

Pretty entertaining match, as these things go. Nice goals by Angel and Toja, the two Colombians. Doesn't sound like Becks will play in the Chelsea friendly on Saturday.

mood swung · Post by **mood swung** » Fri Jul 20, 2007 7:21 am

honest to god, I'm sick of hearing about his foot, his ankle, his hair. More abs! I wanna see the abs!

My favorite comment from the all-star game is: What MLS clearly needs are more Colombians named Juan.

Who Shot Sam? · Post by **Who Shot Sam?** » Fri Jul 20, 2007 7:28 am

mood swung wrote:My favorite comment from the all-star game is: What MLS clearly needs are more Colombians named Juan.

mood swung · Post by **mood swung** » Fri Jul 20, 2007 7:29 am

second favorite comment: Juan and Juan Make Two!

Gillibeanz · Post by **Gillibeanz** » Fri Jul 20, 2007 8:31 am

Have we got a fantasy league set up yet? Got my team all ready and waiting!

Who Shot Sam? · Post by **Who Shot Sam?** » Fri Jul 20, 2007 8:36 am

See the Fantasy League 2007-2008 thread below.