The Republic of Sport

AM

AM's Comments

Posted Thursday July 24, 2008, About: Ottawa owner seeks MLS team

No more expansion until there is a modicum of improvement in the player pool in the U.S. and Canada. Most teams can't survive the injury to 2 or more players right now.. All expansion does now is fill the coffers of the hegemony running this League. With all the young Americans fleeing to Europe or Mexico instead of MLS right now, I don't think there are enough warm bodies for 2 more teams after Seattle and Philadelphia.

Posted Wednesday March 05, 2008, About: Harvard commit recruiting violations?

There's a formula for how low an Ivy can go academically to 'recruit' an athlete to play there. If you think all the athletes at Ivy League schools are rocket scientists, you're mistaken. Penn dipped below this line in the late 80's and forced a football coach to resign over it. The Ivies usually police themselves.

Posted Wednesday November 14, 2007, About: Grand MLS expansion plans

I think 'we' soccer purists will have to 'table' the issue of single table for quite a while. Just for scheduling and travel purposes, I can't imagine they would have everyone home and away. It's merely an argument for distance - it's unfair to Seattle (I liked typing that), San Jose (Vancouver?) to have them go back and forth to DC, NY, NE (PHL?) so many times in a year. You can't play single table with LA and Chivas playing 4 times a year while LA and DC play once or twice a year. None of the other American team sports do that - soccer should not try to break the mold.

Posted Thursday November 08, 2007, About: Two coaches on Galaxy short list

Clearly this is all about marketing to the ex-pat Dutch population in Southern California. If they really want to bring out the Oranje to the games at the HDC, they would have hired Eddie Van Halen to coach the team.

Posted Thursday November 08, 2007, About: Two coaches on Galaxy short list

What's the over-under on how badly his name is pronounced by soccer and non-soccer fans in the U.S. Not GULL-itt. Not HOO-litt. It's the guttural ch sound of the beginning syllable. chU-litt.

Oh well, at least he is coming...

Posted Thursday November 01, 2007, About: Why FIFA caved on Cup rotation

The US has a better chance to sub as an emergency host in 2014 when everything goes pear-shaped in Brazil over the next few years. Their stadia are crumbling, their infrastructure is in shambles, and the worst is the safety of their in-country airports. FIFA should not force a WC on a country that can't handle moving fans from city to city without a healthy chance of a plane crash.

Posted Tuesday October 30, 2007, About: EPL matches on U.S. soil?

As long as MLS or SUM have a hand in it, they would do anything during MLS season as long as it turned a buck for them. Their own league does not care about the regular season. Why would you keep the English teams out during the MLS regular season and let the Mexican clubs play half of their schedule here plus the Stupidliga in the summer?

Personally, I have Setanta and FSC and get 8 EPL games a weekend. Who needs to see it in person in the US?

Posted Tuesday October 30, 2007, About: Wynalda explains Fire comment

Waldo's funny and provocative - if anyone could get away with the comment, it's someone who grew up in San Diego and lives in SoCal like he does. Would you really want overly-repetitive Marcelo, not-understandable Ray Hudson or overly technical Chris Sullivan doing the game? ESPN records the ratings point whether you watch it in silence or not.

Posted Monday October 22, 2007, About: U.S. women's coach finished?

He was never their first choice as coach in the first place so later days to him. The problem is the players get no competition except themselves in these residency camps. They all need to be in England Sweden and Germany playing club ball so they can develop their skills on a week to week basis until WUSA2 starts.

Posted Friday September 28, 2007, About: Beckham rushes to father's side

Not to make light, but how do they figure the Belfast Telegraph was the first to report this exactly? Someone is getting lazy on their googling...

Posted Wednesday September 26, 2007, About: Extra games hurting MLS teams?

There is a bigger issue here in that MLS (SUM) scheduling these weird South American hybrid tournaments are not concerned with the product on the field - they just want Argentine and Mexican ex-pats to fill their stadiums. If the MLS teams win, that's gravy. Nothing matters more than the bottom line. Then again, the League Cup in England was started just to sell tickets too and that's fading in interest because of the lack of good players on the field. The question is are MLS markets over-saturated with a mediocre product, and does the season tix holder care to see all of Latin teams. Chivas may have played more games in the US than Guadalajara this year.

Posted Wednesday September 05, 2007, About: Women's league targets '09 launch

This could work if they play in MLS controlled buildings so they aren't hemmorhaging rent money to cities. What's going to hurt them is the travel budget - flying LA to NY for a game is just not conducive to profit for a league that will draw 5,000 people. This league should be regional with an East Coast and West Coast divisions that don't play until the final. Minor league baseball players take the bus - no reason this league shouldn't.

Posted Tuesday August 28, 2007, About: Sevilla winger dead of heart attack

How is this a truth or rumor? This is news, and it already has a place on the web site. Don't disrespect his memory like this.

Posted Friday August 24, 2007, About: FC Dallas adds Brazilian superstar

Seriously... why was this guy available? He's a designated player, not a marquee one so he is not even making top dollar in this league. Hope he lasts longer than Alain Sutter in Dallas.

Posted Wednesday July 18, 2007, About: MLS Earthquakes to rumble again

Yeah, because Shrimpers, Glovers, Lilywhites and Wednesday are such intimidating nicknames. Ooooooo, we're being attacked by a day of the week - flee in terror!!!

Nicknames rally the local populace, someone in the 415 area code perhaps, not someone in EastSouthNorth Umbridgechestershiresex.

Welcome back, Quakes!

Posted Friday June 08, 2007, About: Galaxy wants Brazilian forward

Xavier is not a DP - he's a senior international - he's only making 150k according to the Washington Post. And yes, MLS who will bend any rule they make to make sure this Beckham sideshow goes ahead will get him some 'friends' to play with. You really think Becks is going to be hitting In and Out Burger with Harmse and Martino after practice?

Posted Tuesday May 08, 2007, About: Why Dempsey's goal was huge

Damarcus Beasley had the winning goal AGAINST Fulham at Craven Cottage on April 9, the last game Man City has/will win this season to keep them out of the relegation muck this weekend as well. That meant just as much as CD's.

Do we count Claudio Reyna's injury-filled season with Sunderland helping them to go down two years ago as the least valuable American contribution?

Posted Wednesday April 25, 2007, About: Mayor spares hardcore Fire fans

Seriously... would you bring a smoke bomb to an NBA or NFL game? I am not sure what the need to copy all of the elements of Euro-soccer for this country, especially the bad ones. You are not some proto-fascist rooting for Lazio or some Feyenoord fan texting opposing fans to set up brawls. You are watching 22 people, most of whom make less than $30k a year, kick around an inflated ****'s bladder, not practicing civil disobedience. Grow up.