Archive for the ‘Soccer’ Category

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Not the South Africa review


2010
06.24

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Posted in Soccer | 1 Comment »

As many of you know, I was in South Africa last week for the US-England and US-Slovenia matches.  What many of you don’t know is that I caught Ebola while I was there. …ok, so not Ebola, but I was pretty sick.  I was literally sick the entire time.  The day after I got back to the states I got anti-biotics.  Didn’t want to deal with the doctor in ZA.

Anyway, this means there is going to be a delay in getting my pictures up (some are already up) and also in writing my article (there’s already a draft…though after writing this post I potentially need a new title).  I apologize for the delay.  Believe me, I’d have preferred to be writing daily articles.

One brainless notes:

Chicago Fire pics also up.

A Little Sports Psychology and Some Tactics

Being sick (like drugs) does amazing things to the body and mind.  I played yesterday despite not being 100% even today from my respiratory Ebola (though I’m getting pretty close).  I’m probably going to sound like I’m gloating here, but I have a couple points to make, so stay with me.

I scored four goals, all left footed (I’m right-footed) and absolutely should have had at least a fifth.  A potential 6th would have been the only one to make a highlight reel, but I sent it just barely over the bar (not a field goal).  I think people were mostly impressed by the fact that I even struck the ball cleanly on a volley as I was being taken to the ground.  No foul, I was mostly try to jump over the defender for the volley and it didn’t quite work as I’d have liked. My goals were all ones you’d be expected to put away (and one I stole from what was going to be an own goal, to be honest).  Just for the full story (ok, now I’m gloating…) I also should have had at least one assist.  To put this in perspective, I’ve scored two goals in the season up until now.  Granted, I’ve played left back in a couple of the games and in the goal a couple games, but I played up top this game as I have a couple times before.

Ok, this is where I start making my point…

I’m reasonably fast and reasonably strong.  I can beat players for pace and I can muscle people off the ball – not everyone, but enough for those to be effective strategies for me.  Often when one is sick the game slows down. Not only are you more likely to take care of the fundamentals, but you’re also more likely to work on instinct – that’s kinda what our minds and bodies does when incredibly taxed.  Because of not having the energy to do otherwise, I minimized my runs, stayed higher up the pitch and let the game come to me.  Normally, as one of the better players on my team, I track back to receive the ball and help defensively (as a life-long keeper, defense is important to me).  For the rest of the season, I now realize that if I can score two goals, it’s ok if our defense gives up a goal while I’m at midfield watching the last defender.  This is not to say you should not put in the extra effort the team needs.  I got back on corners to cover a post, for example and sometimes circumstances dictate that scoring isn’t the most important thing.  Our game was very open and we’re not playing for very much.  However, if all you need is a point for a championship maybe you should do the football/hockey version of working the shot-clock.  Clock management is important in all major sports except baseball where I think the closest equivalent is pitcher selection based on inning and pitch count. Like much of life, it’s situational.

All of this is emphatically not to say being sick is the best way to play.  I was barely getting up and down the pitch an hour in and really should have come out.  You can set back your recovery (I don’t seem to have), get injured or simply not be capable of producing a result.  For example, there was what was nearly a glorious through ball that I just couldn’t get to.  I’m not entirely sure I’d have gotten to it on a good day but the defense was beat (keeper came out a step before I got there) and I’d like to think I’d gotten it.

I feel as though I had another point to make, but staying true to my free software roots, I’m going to release early and release often.  If I remember the point, I’ll post it in the comments.

These points, broadly, apply to any sport.  Just think of Jordan against the Jazz.  My career-high in basketball (25*) came when I had the flu (though I faded through the game and we ended up losing)

  • Take one thing at a time (a good life lesson in general). Being one play ahead strategically is great, but there’s a difference in knowing you’re going to 2nd rather than 1st and having your head turned to 2nd before the ball is in the glove.
  • When in doubt, go to goal.  If all you ever do is pass, the shot clock is going to run out, your power play is going to be over, etc
  • Relax.  Part of the reason being sick can help you out on the field is that there’s no pressure.  I, at least, always feel that if I’m able to contribute at all when sick then that’s better than not being on the field.  I have a “I’ll take what I can get attitude” and just play.  This isn’t to suggest that there isn’t “Kobe time,” but part of Kobe-time is blocking out thoughts about the girlfriend in the stands, the media tearing you a new one or simply what your coach and teammates are going to say, and simply getting the job done.
  • Trust your instincts. Doing this will help you relax.  If you’re instinct is to do the same cross-over every time or to try to rainbow the keeper every time, maybe you should disregard this suggestion and spend a little more time on the practice field, but for anyone that knows the game, you’re going to instinctively pick up one when the defense has picked up your best move (or simply that you’re left footed) or when the opposing player is starting to try a new strategy against your stonewall defense.
  • Trust your teammates.  Kobe-time didn’t work in game 7 of the NBA finals, so what did Kobe do?  He trusted his teammates.  You can’t pitch and cover center-field at the same time unless you’re playing against 5′10” 400-pounders, so let your teammates do their job.  If the center-fielder bobbles the ball, at least you’re there to back up the catcher when the throw to the plate is off.
  • Play your position.  Again, I hesitate to put this in, since I stressed this in trusting your teammates, but I want to mention it again because you need to know what your position is.  You need to know this sick or not, but if you aren’t sure of your responsibilities, ask your coach.  If you’re embarrassed to ask just imagine how much more you’ll be embarrassed when you screw it all up during the big game while the cute girls (or guys) are watching in the stands.

Who knows, maybe I learned nothing yesterday to help me going forward and the gods of football were just on my side after trekking 24-hours worth of flight time (one-way) to South Africa.  More on that next time!

*while that’s not a particularly impressive career high, you have to understand that I got best-defense senior year of high school.  Imagine Artest or more appropriately, Rodman, dropping 25 in a 40-minute game (NBA is 48 of course)

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Thoughts on US Chances with ~3 days to go


2010
06.08

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Posted in Soccer | No Comments »

First off, join my World Cup bracket group.

I got the following excerpt from someone that will remain unnamed:

Oh now I understand why you are heading there for the early rounds and not the finals. Sorry to hurt your feelings, but the teams you are supporting aren’t going to get past the first rounds. Except maybe for England – but I don’t expect them to get near the semis.

I second you on the French though. Hate em and want to see them head back asap. Same goes with Brazil – except that I’ll miss their samba chicks on TV.

I’ve been supporting Argentina and Italy since 98. Hoping that Messi will do great this year and I’m also looking forward to seeing Milito repeat his champions league performance (if they let him play). At least he seems to be in the squad.

The following was my response:

Really, you don’t have the US getting out of the group stage?  Who do you think is going to go ahead?  I could see Algeria winning the group or not getting a point.  They are the most inconsistent side I’ve ever seen.

To be clear, I think the US will go out against Germany in the 2nd round, but it’s really a tough call…

The US’ road could be pretty easy *should they win the group*.  They could see a weakened Ghana side in the 2nd round and then potentially Uruguay in the Quarters.  In the semis they’d play Brazil, which they proved last summer they can play with, but ultimately they’ll lose that match I think.  The US proved last summer they can play in the altitude and the cold of South Africa.  Now, I’m not predicting that will happen, but whoever wins Group C might have an easy road to the semis.  Even if the US finishes 2nd in the group, Germany has tons of injury problems and Maradona hasn’t proven himself to be a great manager, so even if the US comes 2nd in the group, they could be looking at semi –finals.

There are three x-factors: 1) how do teams play in the cold (the old MLS players have done that in Chicago, New York and New England in the past) and 2) how do they play at altitude (Salt Lake City and Denver for the former MLS players…which is basically everyone on the US squad). 3) How will being in Africa work for the African nations.  With injuries, the African nations are looking pretty weak at the moment.

England has looked pretty bad in the warmups and the US has looked pretty good.  Now, what to take from friendlies is hard to say but with Buddle and Findley added to the team the US may have found a strike partnership like they’ve never had before.  Gomez has been on fine form as well.  The defense has been shaky, but hopefully they learned some lessons against Turkey.

It’s pretty exciting that there are no teams without questions.  Brazil has no plan B and Spain has injury concerns, despite being the clear favorites.

Please let me know how you feel about this assessment.  I’d love to get some good conversation going in the comments!

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The “Unprofessional Foul”


2010
05.19

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Posted in Coaching, Player Tips, Soccer | No Comments »

I was wholeheartedly going to do an article on travel problems in South Africa…I know, I’ve been trying to plan them.  However, a situation came up today that warrants addressing.  Before I say anything else, I’d like to say this is water under the bridge.  I am just posting this as a cautionary tale to recreational sports enthusiasts out there.

If you want to skip the stories, scroll to the end for the take-home points.  There are some tips for coaches, players and just some general life tips at the bottom that hopefully will avoid the story I am about to recount.

People play pick-up sports for fun.  No one wins trophies, makes millions of dollars or gets laid by hot Swedish women when they play a good game.  I play harder than most people.  I think any of my friends would back that up.  They’d also probably say I might be a little bit of a loose cannon. Guys like Dennis Rodman and Wayne Rooney are my heroes (although, the whole wearing a dress thing…not into that.).  That said, I’ve *never* been ejected from a game in which I played.

Let me digress a second to tell a story… I was ejected from a game *as a fan* where the officiating was horrible.  This is how bad officiating was that game…I was wearing a bright green shirt (imagine the brightest green shirt possible or take a look at the Software Freedom Day 2007 shirt – the jpg doesn’t do it justice).  The ref tells my brother’s team’s coach (who was actually my coach 8 years earlier) that the guy in the *maroon* shirt was mouthing off.  I was honestly scared someone’s legs were going to be broken.  Slide-tackles from behind where not only were no cards shown, but no fouls called.  As it turned out, the coach thanked me after the game because he said “rather you than me” and a parent FROM THE OTHER TEAM also got ejected.  This was not a case of getting beat and wanting calls.  In fact, NCSSM won the state championship that year, so they didn’t get beat often. It was really the most unbelievable piece of garbage officiating I’ve ever seen at any level in any sport and thankfully there was someone there who knew enough about the sport to not put up with it.  Everyone else there was either a coward or didn’t realize what was going on.  If they didn’t know what was going on, that’s fine, they are supporting their school and their friends…that’s what they should be doing.  Anyway, I suppose being color-blind does make it hard to tell which team is which…

But, like I said, I’ve never been ejected from a game in which I’ve played.  I’ve been “disqualified” by using up my fouls in basketball, but even when I’m playing in competitive leagues I keep my fouls hard but not stupid.  I won “Best Defense” my senior year in high school, so I must have been doing something right (admittedly, we weren’t very good, but it’s not like we lost every game either).

All of this is to say, when someone is playing so aggressively I can’t respect it, you’re doing something wrong.  Which brings us to the story.  It’s a pretty simple story really.  For the past few weeks I’ve been sending emails to our pickup group hinting to stop the slide-tackling.  I haven’t wanted to ban it completely, but I may need to now.  First off, my former roommate about does a back flip when this guy goes straight at his feet.  Note that my former roommate was not wearing shin guards…most people don’t.  I’m sure most everyone on the field winces at that, but nothing much happens.

I’m playing in the goal, as I’m often conned* into doing.  The ball is way out in front of this guy and as I go out to grab it off the ground he slides and his cleats came about three inches from my face.  I’m not entirely sure I’ve *ever* had someone come that close to my face and I’ve played in the goal for years.  I don’t know what the official call on that is.  I assume that’s a yellow and probably a red if he connects, but I don’t know.  I mean, it’s not exactly like my face is exactly where the ball was.  He didn’t go through the ball to get to my face.  So, I told him how I felt about it.  I don’t exactly remember what I said, but I know it wasn’t family friendly, so I won’t repeat it.  I was probably thinking about my former roommate getting upended, but clearly I wasn’t pleased.  He says, “I didn’t mean to slide,” which is utter crap.  I mean, I don’t know exactly what he meant.  ”I didn’t mean to come so close to your face”, perhaps.  At that point, I wasn’t willing to give him the benefit of the doubt (or able considering the speed with which I reacted).  It seemed like an utter, bold-faced lie.  You don’t not mean to slide.  If you fall, you fall in a more clumsy manner or if you accidentally slide into someone, you don’t wait for the person to get pissed to apologize.  Perhaps had he said “I didn’t mean to slide” before I let him know how I thought about, I’d have kept my calm thinking it was just a slip up of words.  But, he waited.  Presumably, he wasn’t going to apologize, not thinking he had done anything wrong.  While I clearly am *not* apologizing for how I reacted, there’s no beef.  After the game he apologized when I had a cool enough head to give him the benefit of the doubt.  I just want to keep that clear as I recount the heated exchange.  Also, I want to make it clear that I reacted inappropriately.

I’m going to digress a bit and while I digress it will probably become clear what happened next.  I’m not sure who started this, or if it’s a European thing, but if, as a player, you just did something stupid or fouled someone hard (accidentally or on purpose), don’t go get in their face.  We have this thing in America called “personal space” and if someone is yelling obscenities at you and you’d like not to get punched in the face, it’s probably not a good idea to break into that space.  After a *lot* of research, I finally found a video so those of you that don’t play/watch soccer could see what I was talking about.  Go to 2:19 in the video.  Also, if you want to see more injury and foul videos, I posted some of the good ones on my twitter or identi.ca feeds while I was doing research for the article on 2010-05-19. Aside from the personal space thing, Europeans also seem to have this thing about hands on people’s faces.  Don’t touch my damn face.  It’s that simple.  The video quality on the YouTube video to which I linked is so bad it’s hard to see if there are hands to the face, but hands on face is pretty much what it sounds like.

As you might have guessed, he comes up to me to pat me on the back and I probably turned around at the precise wrong moment as he was trotting back up the field.  So, I punch him.  I startled him more than I hurt him.  Keeper gloves aren’t exactly designed for this sort of thing and I haven’t thrown a punch in a long, long time…like since elementary school I think.  I’ve thought about MMA before but my one punch is an indication I have a long way to go before that becomes anything more than the dumbest idea of my life. :)

Apparently, our villain goes up to one of our mutual friends (which I didn’t know was a mutual friend at the time) and said “I just got punched again!” or something of that nature, which now I can look back and think is funny.  Apparently our mutual friend has had to tackle him while drunk to avoid getting beat down.  He wasn’t drunk this time, but as dumb as what he did was….maybe he was.

*Playing goalkeeper in pickup is like signing up to be at the other end of a firing squad.  People don’t play defense and on our particular field there’s no lines with which to judge where the ball is.  Also, to play goalkeeper properly you have to go out hard to punch balls and take the ball of people’s feet.  It’s a high impact position and it’s just difficult to play properly in pickup if you don’t want to get too physical.  I’m not making an excuse, but on top of the other reasons, I don’t like playing in the goal because I can’t not take it seriously.  Playing in the goal gets my adrenaline going and I’m not short on adrenaline.  Me playing in the field during pickup is the safest place for everyone involved. :)  Also, had I been playing in the field, my face wouldn’t have been on the ground, ya know?

So, I think there are three morals to this story.

1) If you are a captain, a coach, an administrator or even just a team member trying to make a difference, address problems early.  You catch cancer early, it gets fixed.  There’s a reason “locker room cancer” is an oft-mentioned phrase.

2) If someone is clearly riled up, stay out of their face, no matter what the situation; bar, court, work, pitch.

3) Just calm the $(O*% down when you are playing pickup.  Keep it real, ya know?

Again, one last time, I’m no longer angry with this person, this is just a cautionary tale so that *you* don’t get punched in the face.

Also, I want to marry this woman.

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Lazyweb: Truphone in South Africa this summer?


2010
05.07

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Posted in Soccer | No Comments »

So, just a quick post here.  I’ll plan to do a more extensive post in May as well.  I’m trying to decide what I want to do for notifications while in South Africa.  I’m doubting the stadiums will have wifi.  I don’t know how much it’s worth to me to do live updates via identica/twitter, but I’d like to.  Truphone was suggested to me, but I don’t know what their South Africa message/data rates are.  FIFA is also offering pre-paid cards.  I should probably look into that a bit more, but I’ve been swamped.  Thoughts?  Mostly, would you care if I did live updates?  If not, it’s probably not worth looking into.

Also, as I’ve mentioned, I’m moving.  During my move, I plan to purchase a TV.  What do people think about this 32-in TV?  32 in is a little small, but it is 1080p and I’m not really looking to drop a ton of money.  There are larger ones, but it doesn’t get great revues.

Also, we’ve got MLB and NCAA Basketball guys lined up.  Not sure when he’ll get going, but I’m excited about it.  NBA guy just got a new job, so that’s on hold.  NFL guy should be coming soon, or at least that’s the last word I’m getting.

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Making Snow Angels: Very Snowy Soccer – USA vs. Mexico


2010
04.01

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Posted in Soccer | No Comments »

I watched the match between the US and Mexico on the WNT from Rio Tinto Stadium in Sandy, Utah. What really mezmorized me was the fact that it was being played in the snow. The game really changes in those conditions.

The first thing I noticed was how the ball could stop and spin from a pass. Timing and accuracy really play into a game like that. Not to mention your player could slip trying to catch up to the ball, which happened a few times – Even with the shoe-cleats.

The snow on the field was conditioned just like with Football – The lines were swept clean and the rest of the field is left to the elements. There were some parts of the field that had snow at least 3″ high. United States were dominating the game, so the opposite end would accumulate more since nobody was trampling over the fresh layers.

The first and only score came in the 60 minute mark by Abby Wambach, who tied for 3rd of an all time record 105 goals (Mia Hamm is in 1st place with 158). Interestingly enough, there was only one injury on field in the first 30 minutes of the game.

After the goal was made, the girls proceeded to fall into the snow and make snow-angels. That made for a pretty interesting post-celebration party.

More on the Snowy Game

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World Cup Bracket


2010
03.26

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Posted in Soccer | No Comments »

With all the talk about brackets for the NCAA tourney, and seeing this article on dynamic duos, I was inspired to do a World Cup bracket.  There still could be a lot happen.  There could be so crazy Togo-esque shooting or just simple injuries.  I got the layout of the below from Wikipedia, so please respect their Creative Commons license.  I’m not going to do game scores, but I’m leaving the matches here just so people can have that info available here.

Here are some of my thoughts. First, despite in the past home field advantage playing a huge role in the World Cup, with Brazil being the only team to not win on their continent, I really can’t see the African teams doing any better.  South Africa may be the weakest team in the competition.  The big African countries seem also destined to disappoint.  Algeria, Nigeria and Ghana could all get out of their group stage, but I don’t see them going too much further.  Nigeria’s new coach could prove not to be a perfect fit immediately and Algeria is so inconsistent I could also see the finishing last in their group.

It will be cold, but European players are used to playing in the cold European winters.  It may slow down Spain, but Torres plays in England and the rest of the team certainly plays elsewhere in Champions League action.  The European teams are also going to be on their own time zone or close to it.

Group A is the toughest call.  South Africa, though weak, could surprise in the first round.  France has the talent to win it all, but is so dysfunctional you wonder if they will even make it out of the group.  Mexico is probably sending one of their best squads ever, but who knows if they can survive the previous coaching debacle.  Uruguay’s chance rest on Forlán as far as I’m concerned.  I don’t know if anything short of winning it will save Domenech’s job and I could see a USA-98-like performance coming from them.  Ultimately, despite their talent, I don’t see them getting out of the group.

Things get tough to call in the semifinals with Germany vs. Spain.  Will Spain show up like they did in the Confed Cup?  If so, the Swiss or Honduras could play spoiler.  You have to like the Swiss and Chile, conditions-wise.  Ultimately, I guess I see the curse of winning off European soil to continue.  Dunga seems to have good control of his team.  It’s hard to argue with the team that wins the top qualification out of South America, the top team in ELO rankings and the second team in FIFA rankings.

Matches

See also: 2010 FIFA World Cup schedule

All times are South African Standard Time (UTC+2)

Group stage

(more…)

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FIFA Shoots They Score!! …Or Did They?


2010
03.08

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Posted in Baseball, Soccer, The Olympics | No Comments »

Well, it’s hard to have breaking news on a weekly blog entry, no? NY Times beat me to it, but it’s still relevant (hey, they just posted this morning!).  Times Online (UK) did too, and to no surprise, I find their commentary better informed.  Before this becomes a link fest to organizations that have covered the topic before me, I just want to say what I think and why.

I’m frustrated with the power of FIFA (there are only 8 votes counted on these things??).  No sporting organization is nearly as powerful as FIFA.  I hate that FIBA rules are different that NBA (and to a lesser degree IIHF/NHL), but without that tension there’s a monopoly. US sports don’t have monopoly status in the same way because college sports are separate and very important.  Also, whatever you think about it, the US Congress isn’t afraid to step in.  I have a hard time believing the UN is going to pose sanctions on FIFA-nation though.

Of course, as I mentioned, FIFA isn’t the only global organization, but the only one that can even claim to be in the same ballpark is the International Olympic Committee (IOC).  Yes, the Olympics are huge, but  the Olympics only happen once every four years (let’s not kid ourselves, much as I personally love the Winter Olympics, they are a side show).  FIFA’s once-every-four-years event, the World Cup, is bigger in some respects than the Olympics.

It’s a little off-topic, but I think it’s worth going down this FIFA vs. Olympics debate briefly.   There were 715.1 million viewers for the 2006 final and total viewership was 26.29 BILLION (down from just under 26.4 billion in 2002…different time zones and such).  Before the soccer-hating Americans rush in to claim that USA Today reports 40 Billion viewers, let’s think about this a bit more.  How many countries compete in the Olympics?  Let’s guessimate…all of them.  The UN says 192, so let’s go with that (even though that’s low due to multiple examples like Puerto Rico).  There are 32 countries competing in the World Cup.  192/32.  That’s exactly 6 times more.  Not all countries are the same size of course, and some of the big ones aren’t even in the World Cup: Russia and China are notable.  India, with it’s billion people, has never qualified for the World Cup.  They are too busy playing cricket.  China has only qualified once for the World Cup.   I think it’s safe to say on time slot saturation, the World Cup is doing a better job.

I think that little tangent was important, but it’s not really the point. FIFA operates all the time (not saying the IOC doesn’t plan for the summer games for four years, but that’s not what I mean).  Every year there are EPL games.  Every year there is a UEFA Champions League.  Every year is a Copa Libertadores.  These, and every other top teir league and tournament around the world, is governed by FIFA.  When the MLS tried to do things the ‘American’ way (read: ridiculous), FIFA stepped in and was going to withhold cash.  I think it’s really hard to impress upon someone who doesn’t follow the game just how powerful FIFA is.  Any analogy is going to be ridiculous, but let me try.  Let’s image that the European leagues in basketball were dominant powers in the world.  The NBA is a powerful league, often thought to be the best, but the NBA teams aren’t the best teams in the world.  The Lakers, Celtics, Bulls, Pistons and Cavs all have worldwide popularity due to their past and present stars, but Uppsala Basket had an unstoppable center in the 70s and were a best team in the world for a while.  The Munich, Milan, Rome, Paris, London and Barcelona teams could any year be the best team, even if top-to-bottom the NBA is still the greatest league.  This is more-or-less, the way the EPL is now.  Let’s say the top 2 teams from the NBA enter a NorthAmerican/European tournament akin to UEFA Champions League.  The Celtics and Lakers dominate these spots (domination in the NBA doesn’t happen like domination in European football, but that’s another story) and teams like the Bucks are less interested in winning the league and more interested in knocking off either the Lakers or Celtics (let’s for get the conferences here) to get that NATO League spot.  Now, let’s say that the NBA really didn’t like the trapezoid lane, but to cash in on the millions of dollars of the NATO League, they had to follow FIBA rules.  If you can imagine this, you can imagine the power of FIFA.

We’ve established that I don’t like FIFA’s power (even if I do adamantly believe in standards), that the World Cup is ridiculously huge and that that power I don’t like FIFA actually possesses.  What we have not established is that video replay is a good or bad thing.

I do *not* think video replay should be the start of things.  I do, however, think a chip in the ball to determine if it crosses a goal line would help the game.  How many goals are scored in a game?  I don’t have stats, but let’s say 2-1 is a common score.  Just as common as 2-2 and 1-1 so it balances out to three times a game.  Thus, technology is going to come into play, let’s be generous, six or so times a game (ok, that’s not being generous to current officials, but you know what I mean).  If I’ve got Americans reading this, I’m probably preaching to the choir.  We love video replay in American football, basketball, hockey and baseball.  There was a fight in baseball because of it’s “tradition” and that’s the same fight FIFA is putting up.  Up until World War II, the norm was for countries to have protectionist economic policies.  Up until the invention of the printing press, the tradition was for people to be illiterate.  The world changes and while I do think it’s important for people and organizations to stick to their roots, those roots weren’t established in stone.  They were established in a changing world.  One that is changing faster now than it ever has before.  Perhaps that’s why there is a backlash of traditionalism from FIFA and from the MLB.  With technology and communication changing on a daily basis, we want to be able to sit on our couch and watch the same game we’ve always loved.  Well FIFA, I’ve got news for you, I didn’t have an high definition TV a couple years ago.  It made the games better, not worse.

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Hockey and Soccer: Separated at Birth? – Part 1


2010
02.28

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Posted in Hockey, Soccer | No Comments »

Once again I’m not writing the article I planned to write, but with a day of giant upsets in college hoops, a canceled flight and an OT Gold Medal Game, you can’t really expect me to sit around researching for articles can you? ;) Well, I did a little…

The ice-cold reality is that hockey in the U.S. is a niche sport.  I’d disagree in general and it’s particularly a hard sell after watching the US’ run to the silver medal, but despite there being teams in LA and Atlanta, I might call it a ‘regional’ sport.  For some reason, that seems less demeaning, though the meaning is probably the same.  If you can’t grow up playing a game, you probably aren’t going to be a big fan.  When I was a kid growing up in Tuscaloosa, it was a lot easier to dream of being Bart Starr or Joe Namath, than it was Wayne Gretzky, even if Gretzky was a member of the Super Friends.  By the time the Hurricanes moved to Raleigh (or Greensboro as the case was at first), I was in high school.  There can still be some backyard dreaming in high school, but the ‘childhood dreams’ are pretty much gone at that point. Even if I had been the Hurricanes fan I am now, I still would have had to have driven to Charlotte to play.  Let me be clear, I am not advocating we throw up all sorts of rinks in the south so kids can play.  I love hockey, but if I’m going to be doing any advocating for more TV time , it’s going to be for soccer…mostly because I’m tired of FSC terrible video quality and tired of getting up at 6:45am to watch the good games (might be more on this later).

Rick Liebling makes an interesting comment on niche sports, ‘Individually they will remain fringe sports in this country, so let’s not pretend otherwise,’ but fails to fully develop the idea.  Rick is undoubtedly discussing sports more niche than hockey or soccer in this country, but I think he’s on to something talking about the European club system.  Hockey and football are undoubtedly more popular in Europe (regionally for hockey again) the the big three of American sports.  I’m not trying to be all Europhile, but particularly in football (since hockey is a North American sport), taking some queues from the other side of the pond would be good.  The NASL went the way that Portsmouth is going to go in part because they Americanized the game.  The problem with the MLS isn’t that there aren’t soccer fans here, it’s that the soccer fans here don’t care.  The MLS formerly had some weird schedule rivaled probably by Scotland’s table split or Australia’s weird sorta-kinda double-elimination tournament, but thankfully that too will be going the way of the NASL due to the addition of the Philadelphia Union.  The MLS having promotion/relegation is a pipe dream, but a single table causes no problems.  Going with a ‘play twice’ format does nothing to save teams money/cut carbon, the greatest advantage of having regionalized divisions.  Odd numbers of games against teams for the NBA, NHL and particularly MLB don’t matter too much because the seasons are so long.  However, the new MLS season (as the old) will be 30 games long, making it closer to the NFL season (both in sheer numbers and by percentage).  I think crowning the champion as the person that finishes first could also be a reality without major hiccups, but one I don’t see happening.  The MLS has the Support’s Shield, but that’s not the true champion.  Have a Carling Cup style tourney if you like (and of course there is the FA Cup-style Open Cup), just make it a separate competition.  I’m with Bob Knight on this.  Single-elimination tournaments are bollocks.

There’s one last point I want to bring back the comparison between the ‘plights’ of the NHL and MLS.  The MLS is also regional, but in a different way.  While there’s nothing stopping a North Dakota native from dreaming of becoming the next Landon Donovan like there is kids from Alabama becoming the next Patrick Kane, the kids in North Dakota simply don’t care.  However, in cities where there is always going to be a larger immigrant population or in the south/southwest where there is Hispanic migration, people do care.  The NHL needs to focus on Canada and the northern US, because that’s where the money is.  I love the Carolina Hurricanes, but they are never going to get the love the Panthers do.  The MLS is already targeting major cities because that’s what professional sports teams do, but they aren’t targeting the right demographics (with perhaps the exception of Toronto, Seattle and Chivas USA)

No prediction on next Sunday’s article.  I’m still doing valuable ‘research’ on the FIFA 2010 review, as well as the indoor/outdoor soccer article.  I’m also going to come out with part two of this article at some point where I take Liebling’s idea of branding niche sports together and give you some thoughts on how this could be done.

I’d also like to get your thoughts on shorter posts.  Jeff suggested I break up my articles.  I’d like to keep a Sunday deadline, just to make sure I churn stuff out regularly.  Do you prefer the RSS feed to be populated at the same time each week?  I know I like that xkcd comes out on a regular schedule, but maybe I’m just anal-retentive.

As always, thanks for reading!