I would like to spend this first post telling you what SportAZine is and what it will be. However, now working on the fifth draft of this post (which is actually a modified reprint from Music Manumit Lawcast), I am not sure I can do that with any more clarity that is on the “About” page. I do want to say that while I am mostly discussing Nick and me in this post, Jeff over at Geekazine.com is still important player in the project. Hell, he owns the domain name and is the admin of the WordPress site! I’m sure he will continue to contribute material as he sees fit.

Nick Clark and Doug Whitfield have started a project based on legal issues in the entertainment industry. That includes sports! Most of the content will go up at OpenSourcePlayground.Org, where we’ll discuss things like SOPA and other tech-related issues in the entertainment world, and on the Music Manumit Lawcast, where we’ll discuss issues specific to the music industry.

So, don’t expect a lot of content, but I wanted to let everyone know the site isn’t dead! Check out the other sites if you want info on other legal issues and don’t forget the other sites in the *AZine network for Geeky, Dorky and TV-related content!

Brief break from hiatus to point you to a great Radio Lab podcast on games.  Franco Harris, Baltimore Orioles, checkers, chess and more make appearances.

I also want to point out that I’m 2nd in my fantasy football league.  I won by a comfortable margin last year.  I don’t think the guy in front is my top competition, but we shall see if I have time to keep up as law school progresses.

Assuming everyone is fit, what would be your starting 11 (and any significant bench players) for United against Barcelona? Here’s mine:

G: Edwin vdS

LB: Evra

CB: Vidic

CB: Ferdinand

RB: Valencia? (I like the da Silva twins in the midfield, but not convinced they play smart enough yet on D and no room for them in the midfield for the final.  O’Shea is the other obvious choice, but as Barcelona don’t have any bruising strikers I see no reason to have the 6’3” O’Shea in there…except for corners, but I just don’t see that being a huge issue.  Sure, there’s Pique and Puyol, but…really?  Valencia offers pace to keep up with the Barcelona midfielders and to add to the counter.  Hernandez and Rooney can both score with their head, as can Vidic)

LM: Giggs

CM: Fletcher

CM: Park

CAM: Rooney

RM: Nani

ST: Hernandez

Bench:

Berbatov

Owen

Scholes

O’Shea

Rafeal

Tzuchak (don’t feel like looking it up)

Smalling

Sure, it’s a little bizarre lineup, but Barcelona isn’t like any other team.

I wrote to a friend my thoughts on Chad Ochocinco’s tryout with Sporting KC.  Read the article I link to in the previous sentence first, or you won’t know what I’m talking about.

Here’s what I wrote back to my friend, unedited:

The other thing about it is just that the lockout in general could be huge for the MLS.  Even if a an eighth of NFL fans decide to tune into the MLS (and not just 85) it’ll be fantastic for the MLS.  One of the problems MLS has is name recognition.  Messi vs. Jeff Cunningham.  Ronaldo vs. Josh Saunders.  If some of the guys that like soccer but don’t watch MLS give it the time to learn some names and become fans we’re talking about years of good the lockout could do for the MLS.  Once those eighth watch, ESPN gives it more coverage and thus more fans.I think the NFL is probably going to work it out though.  There’s too much money to be lost.  Maybe the thought of it will get people to start the MLS season so they know what’s going on in the fall.  I think that number is going to be very small, but with the MLS’ TV numbers right now even ~40,000 would be significant.

First off, I want to apologize for missing the one-year anniversary of the site.  I’ve been working on other projects for most of the year, but I feel like it’s worth mentioning.  Feel free to take a look at the first post.

I’ve had this United article in my head for months, but never had time to put pen to paper (er, yeah).

I’m not going to spend a lot of time on it.  I may flesh it out in a later post, but I think it can be traced back to three things:

1) The 2008 Champions League final and Liverpool/Chelsea semi-final.  I learned a lot about Chelsea from my friends during the Liverpool/Chelsea final.  It made me hate Chelsea.  When United played them in the final I had a clear favorite.

2) Tim Howard playing for United. I didn’t have Fox Soccer Channel until mid-2008 when I moved to Madison, so I missed Howard’s career at United, but I knew it was a big deal for an American to play there.  I’m a goalkeeper, so it had particular significance to me.

3) Indoor shoes had United victory on it.  I don’t remember when I got my first pair of indoor shoes, but they were Umbro (I still wear them for futsal).  It was probably in 2001/2002 as that winter was the first time I played indoor.  There was a news clip on them about United being European champions and that piqued my curiosity.

Here are four more I’ve learned that I love…with virtually no explanation due to time constraints:

1) Loyalty to players and Ferguson.  Yes, this loyalty is based on results, but it’s a two-way street with Scholes and Giggs staying put for so long.

2) Never say die attitude

3) Wayne Rooney.  I don’t like him as much as I used to due to probably obvious reasons, but I like his tenacity.  Dennis Rodman is my favorite basketball player, so you can see I like scrappers and not pretty boys.

4) I live very close to Manchester Rd and Manchester Park.  There’s a Chelsea Rd and a Tottenham very close as well, but Manchester is on my side of the tracks, as it were.

It wasn’t until I was getting paid (as a contractor, not full time) to coach at TFC that I paid any attention to European football.  I remember people discussing the Liverpool/Milan European final and people still saying that Arsenal was the best team in the world.  The funny thing is they didn’t win the EPL that year…by a large margin.

I think what was so interesting about their discussion in that conference room was that I had no idea you could even watch European matches in the states.

I’ve got a big futsal tournament coming up in late March, so don’t expect to hear back from me until then…unless practices spark some deep thoughts.

Aaron Rodgers photo by Chad Davis

We are only a few hours away from the biggest football game of the season. Living in Wisconsin, the mood is high and the Facebook comments of “Go Pack” are more than evident. We are all behind our team, but more important, we are all behind our team leader – Aaron Rodgers.

That wasn’t always the case.

Let’s flash back about 5 1/2 years ago. NFL draft. Aaron, who just came out of the University of California, was expected to take the number one spot in the draft. The 49ers had first pick that year and the Packers were 24th.

San Fransisco didn’t want their college brother. They decided to go with Alex Smith. Not a bad choice, but it was really confusing. Later we found out that Smith was picked because then coach Mike Nolan didn’t think Rodgers would fit with the team.

Too bad for the 49ers.

Still, Rodgers was a good pick. Only problem is nobody really needed a quarterback that year. In all reality, the Green Bay Packers didn’t need Rodgers, either. We had Brett Favre. Yet, come the Packers pick – 24th overall pick – Ted Thompson and Mike Sherman picked Aaron Rodgers.

And we all sat there wondering why.

We had a quarterback – A good one, at that. We didn’t really need another one. We needed a defense at the time. We needed a good Running back. Almost every postition but Quarterback was needed.

Still, we sat in puzzlement and watched as the young QB from California was selected. We then picked up Safety Nick Collins and Wide Receivers Jerome Matthis and Terrance Murphy (overlooking Marion Barber, BTW). Finally, Brady Poppinga  was selected and we started to feel a little better on the picks.

Question: What were your thoughts when the Packers picked Aaron Rodgers in the 2005 Draft?

It was a tough season for this kid. Being in the shadow of Brett Favre – the Quarterback who wouldn’t die – had to have been both an honor and a curse. Yet Rodgers continued on and stayed the backup QB to the historic franchise. He did get up to $24 million for doing that, though.

When he did get a chance to play, we saw something different. I remember two instances he got the opportunity to lead the team, it turned bad, as he was hurt in those games. The second time was his foot, which really put the Pack in a questionable position, since we really didn’t have a good 3rd string QB and Brett was experiencing injuries of his own. That was the first time Favre was questioning retirement (which he ended up not taking, but making us wait for months to announce).

Changing of the Guard

When Rodgers took over the 2008 season, it was shrouded in controversy. Brett tried to come back real late in the game, but was told that the team was centered around their new head QB – Aaron Rodgers. Favre could come back as a back-up, but the fight ensued and he was traded to the New York  Jets.

That had to have been a great boost of confidence for young Rodgers. He basically ousted the King of the hill. Now he had to prove he was the new King.

And that, he did.

We still had our doubts. When he sprained his shoulder, the mood was that Rodgers was going to be one of those injury prone Quarterbacks. But he wasn’t. All of a sudden, things started to change and we really saw the QB in him.

Let’s take a step back for a second to make a clarification: Although as Packer fans we doubted a bit about his longevity, we did know that Rodgers was one hell of a Quarterback. We knew that he had a better arm than Brett Favre and threw smarter, which resulted in less interceptions. He could also run the ball and knew how to scramble – and even get first downs himself – if needed.

Now – Jump to 2009 season. The QB with a $65 million deal to 2014 was really starting to play. He was a Pro Bowler that year, behind Brett Favre and Drew Brees. Yet, Brees was in the Superbowl, so he bowed out and Favre was injured, so he bowed out. That made Rodgers the starting QB for the NFC. Not a great way to do it, but it is what it is.

Then came the 2010 season. An amazing one at that. The Packers were expected to be in the Superbowl this year. Last time that expectation was pronounced, we did go – and won – the Superbowl.

However, the first part of the 2010 season was not promising. Loosing key players and losing games started to dash the hopes of the fans. Come the bye-week, we were pretty much written off.

But something happened. It’s like a spring flower that finds it’s way through the snowbank to bloom. That is what the Packers did. Bloomed.

With Aaron Rodgers at the helm, we were a team that couldn’t be stopped in the second half of the season. The comeback kids.

Then, another setback as Rodgers got a concussion. Out for the game. But in steps another talented QB in Matt Flynn. Although he didn’t win the game, we felt a vote of confidence that didn’t rail us from the idea we could still make it.

By the next week, Rodgers was back and we, as a group of fans, were hoping and praying. Crossing our fingers that we still had a chance…

The Dream approaches

So now we are here after all odds have knocked us out. It’s a long way from 2005 when we were sitting there scratching our heads to a Quarterback choice. Now, hours before the game – 5 years later – we can see clearly why Aaron Rodgers was picked.

So whatever happens at Superbowl XLV, we know many people have really helped us get there. Ted Thompson and Mike Sherman, Alex Smith (who helped in the mathematics for us to play the Seahawks in the Playoffs), to Nick Collins and Brad Poppinga, who are still on this Superbowl team. Thanks even to Brett Favre who tried to keep our new star Quarterback down. When we took the two wins from the Vikings this year, that is when Packer fans knew it was time for the new era.

So with that, I say “Go Pack, Go!” The game is expected to be one of the best Superbowls ever. We will know the answer very soon.

But more important, thank you Aaron Rodgers, for sticking with a team that put you on the back burner for so long. When you had your chance to shine, you became the brightest star out there.

First off, I want to say that my hiatus is coming to an end…but I’m not there just quite yet. Soon I’ll be linking you to my EPL fantasy league and releasing some articles I’ve had in the docket for a while.

However, my real reason for posting today is to link to this incredible article from Open Education about student athletics. Before you cry it’s a bunch of hippies that hate sports over at Open Education, give it a read. It sounds to me like a much better deal for the athletes.  It also highlights some of the problems with graduation rate numbers that people like go on about.

It’s not likely to be implemented, but I’d like to hear your thoughts on how it might affect the NBA and NFL rules about college athletics.

I was just listening to today’s MLS Talk podcast and I had to say something about the relegation topic. This is going to be brief because I don’t have much time at the moment.

If the MLS is going to expand beyond relegation/promotion solves a lot of problems.

1) It gives teams at the bottom (and the top of the “2nd division”) something to play for at the end of the season.  Now, I think these should both be “top divisions”.  The NCAA has Division I for all sports except American football.  the MLS could do something similar. MLS Premier could be the top or MLS Championship could be the 2nd or something.  As far as TV rights go, MLS Championship would be under the same Fox Soccer/ESPN/Versus(!??!) contracts.  Did Newcastle lose it’s history when they went to the English Championship last year?  Is Leeds United still a name that carries a lot of weight in English football? YES! If the LA Galaxy gets relegated, they will still be the team of Beckham and Donovan.

2) True cup competition.  The MLS Cup as it stands can go away.  Allow the “minnows” play the big boys every year in a (Carling) League Cup each year.

3) This isn’t such a problem, as a bonus, but it allows the MLS to bump all the way up to 40 teams if they like.  Let Cincinnati and Charlotte both have teams…or Charlotte and Raleigh if it makes more sense.  There are plenty of markets out there that have a major sport (NHL in Raleigh) and then nothing else (NBA in San Antonio).  ”Everyone” can get in on this.  MLS’ market is local at the moment.  Build the league around that.  The national draw teams are going to rise out of that.  Does the local nature of English football keep Chelsea and Manchester United from being hugely interesting teams on a national basis?  No.  Not at all.

4) This solves the scheduling issue.  Everyone gets 38 regular season games.  If there aren’t that many teams, you could go the German route with 18 teams.  16 teams is how the Allsvenskan does it and I quite liked the 30-game MLS season this year.  Now, it’s a World Cup year, so that filled in the schedule a bit more, but keeping the schedule with fewer games would allow the US Open Cup and CONCACAF Champions League to at least maintain the minimal coverage they have now.  I suspect those competitions would become even more irrelevant if the MLS had 8 more games in the season.

The problems and how to resolve them.

1) The main problem with relegation is that “owners will not stand for it.”  First off, make the “minnows” pay the same entrance fee.  Also, allow expansion teams in the top division and relegate 4 instead of 3 (if there is the standard relegation #) and if there is more than one expansion team, up the number of relegated teams.  Perhaps expansion teams get a 3-year grace period of relegation or something.  The MLS CBA would apply to this “2nd division” as would any other MLS rules.  The MLS “2nd division” owners would have the same votes as the MLS Premier division.

2) Americans won’t understand.  Who cares? “Americans” don’t like soccer.  Stop trying to cater to a non-existent market. Maybe people like me would care a little more if I didn’t have to drive 3 hours to a game.  Maybe I’d go to local Madison matches if one day Madison United could get promoted to the USL or to the MLS or something. I am *not* proposing the USL get involved in this, I’d just making a point about local football.

What this doesn’t address is the scheduling.  Personally, I’m fine with the summer games.  The World Cup* is difficult, but until the US consistently gets past the round of 16, playing through the latter changes isn’t that big of a deal.  If it is a bigger deal, start the season earlier every 4 years. It’s not that big of a deal.  I know personally I’d probably end up watching less MLS if it was always competing with Bundesliga, UCL, La Liga, EPL, SPL, NHL, NBA and NCAA hockey/basketball.  Right now it fights those to a certain extent but during the summer it’s main competition for me is the Allsvenskan and for most Americans, it would be MLB (I’d watch more MLB – and MLS for that matter – if there weren’t so many blackouts on DirecTV).

*There’s also the Gold Cup, but my feeling is it could be played every four years the year before the Confederations Cup so that it “means something”.

The two biggest projects I had are both over now.  However, I’ve got some cleanup to do with other projects (at work, with MadLUG, with the Music Manumit Podcast, etc), so Sportazine is still on hiatus as far as the blog goes.

I do have an article on Manchester United in the works and I’d love to get something out shortly into the NHL and NBA seasons.  I’d also like to weigh in on the Liverpool situation, though that one is probably time-sensitive and I wouldn’t expect anything until after Christmas.

Lastly, I’m quite pleased with the start of St. Pauli‘s season and Malmö FF closing in on the Allsvenskan title!