The Delusion is strong with this one

Keep telling yourself that:

"When you look at other coaching candidates, they'll jump at the chance to come to Toronto knowing we're a big organization, knowing we've got great fans," [Toronto FC GM Mo] Johnston said. "We've got the grass, we've got a designated player [Julian de Guzman] in, we're looking to strengthen the team and move on. We're gradually getting better and better and hopefully next year will take care of itself."

He also says they don't need to do much to the squad and then says they need a 20-goal forward, a midfielder, and a defender. So, other than that, and a coach that knows what he's doing, it's all good.

The ownership split on the salary cap

Regular readers will remember that in my last post on the salary cap, I referenced a BA Duane article in which he talked about the split in the owners group:

With Portland and Vancouver coming into the league in 2011 and Philly next year the new wave MLS clubs (along with the larger of the original markets) could start gain more power. Now, it's thought that the old guard still has the votes to resist major increases in the cap. But, add those three votes to those thought to want greater flexibility -- Seattle, L.A., Toronto, Houston, New York, DC United and possibly Chicago -- and it's hard to see how the progressives can be held back forever.

I was curious about that alleged split, considering it had also showed up in a thread on BigSoccer regarding the next collective bargaining agreement:

According to [New York Managing Director] Erik Stover, there are two factions amongst the ownership.

Faction one includes the Red Bulls, TFC, LA, SSFC, DC, Houston and maybe Chivas, Chicago and Philly (not sure about those three).

Faction two is everyone else.

Faction one wants a substantial increase to the cap - anywhere from 50% (AEG) to 100% (Red Bull) - as well as the DP exemption.

Faction two wants a 10% cap increase and no DP exemption.

Stover's words were apparently in the context of speaking to a New York supporters group.

Anyway, those numbers felt a little high to me. So I poked around about the ownership split, and couldn't find anything. Until today, that is, when what looks like the original article that discussed the split was reposted to BigSoccer in another CBA thread.

The article discusses an MLS board of governors meeting from late 2007, which ended up setting the salary cap for the next two years. From the fine article:

Sources familiar with the discussion said the Kraft family (owners of the New England Revolution) and Hunt Sports Group (FC Dallas and Columbus Crew) favored a modest increase in the salary cap consistent with previous years' growth of 4 to 5 percent, while New York Red Bulls representatives favored pushing it beyond $2.5 million per team.

The debate reflected a philosophical divide between the two groups as the young league continues to wrestle with when and how to spend on players. Traditionally, the Kraft and Hunt contingents have favored controlling player costs and minimizing expenses to foster steady league growth, while AEG (Los Angeles Galaxy and Houston Dynamo), Chivas (Chivas USA) and Red Bull have favored spending more on players.

It's also important to note at that meeting, the board considered two proposals, a $2.3mm cap and a $2.5mm. As such, New York wanting to go "beyond" $2.5mm seems to be an outlier. How much of an outlier, who knows?

Anyway, this "split" amounts to a debate between a 5% increase and a 15% increase in the salary cap. If the same debate is happening today, the next cap would be somewhere between $2.4 and $2.7 million.

Maybe the goalposts have moved. But between message board exaggeration and Stover's purported audience (incidentally, I never did find a direct quote) right now I'm taking his statement with a major grain of salt. There's no question the league will be better off revenue wise with Giants Stadium out of the picture and Philadelphia in the league. But I have a hard time believing that we'll see a 50-100% increase in the cap this time around. And I think those expecting a radical change will be disappointed.

Meanwhile, over in USWNT Land

USWNT beats Germany in Germany. From Melissa:

The crazy phsychic voodoo communication between Solo and Chalupny can probably be attributed to their season together with the Saint Louis Athletica. It was a bit eerie at times.

I'm Fake Sigi and I approve this message. Also, I can not over state how entertaining the match recap is.

And Melissa on FIFA's player of the year shortlist:

The list gets narrowed down to five sometime in December I think. Last year when that happened, all the US players on the shortlist were eliminated. So for this year’s elimination, I say let’s drop all the Germans!

2009 MLS Attendance

I've also been meaning to put in my own take on the 2009 MLS regular season attendance numbers. Tom over at PI looks at the issue in terms of expansion teams versus older clubs, but I'm not sure that's a complete analysis. This won't be either, but here's a few brief points:

1) Outside Seattle, no team saw more than a 1% increase in attendance - except San Jose because of the Barcelona double header. 6 teams had stable (+-1%) figures. Everyone else dropped like a rock.

2) Success breeds gate resiliency. Of those stable teams, Houston, Columbus, and Chivas have had sustained success over the last two years or more. Of Toronto and San Jose, neither had much room to go up with fan bases that fill their grounds.

3) Rio Tinto was in its first full year. I'd be surprised to not see attendance drop next year.

4) Losing seasons, unattractive soccer, lack of double headers, players people don't want to watch, or all of the above played a role in New England, DC and LA's gutting.

5) Numbers don't tell the whole story, as Toronto had several sellout games this year where there were notable absences in the stands, and free comps appear to be declining overall (although they were used at Rio Tinto this weekend).

6) Obviously, tough economic times had something to do with the fall in attendance elsewhere.

7) The Beckham bump is fading/over, especially in LA. Same with Blanco in Chicago, which appears to have a lot of problems in how it's promoting itself.

8) Seattle just lost the SuperSonics. I don't think we can over estimate the temporal relation of that event when analyzing how the city embraced the Sounders. In other words, I'm not sure it's duplicatable.

9) The Ohio economy has 11-12% unemployment right now (10% officially, but lots of people have stopped looking for jobs). Columbus did ok - not great - in those conditions.

10) New York's new stadium can't come on line fast enough.

11) The weather this year was terrible for walkups all around the league.

12) At some point I'll deal with the "marketing to adults vs. families" issue. Not today.


Overall, I think these number are good. They show stability in a challenging environment, and a lot of excitement about new teams and teams that are good.

Looking ahead to next year, I don't see how MLS isn't primed for one of its best seasons ever. The economy will be better. New York's new stadium will stop the bleeding and give fans a reason to go to games even if the team doesn't. Philadelphia should provide an attendance boost to all the east coast teams and Columbus. Seattle is adding seats. Both LA teams are in the playoffs this year. Dallas will be better. New England and Chicago are tossups, but I'd expect them both to do better next year.

The downsides are we'll likely see a decline in Salt Lake and Colorado, and KC and San Jose don't have anyway to bring their numbers up.

Anyway, there's a lot of good coming down the pike. Stadium problems are fewer and far between, lots of good markets are entering the league, and again, the economy will be better. Put me on record as saying average attendance next year will be the best since the inaugural year. We've got good days ahead.

-FS

As for Kevin Payne

People are surprised and angry he got fined? What was it he said again?

"We don't want to play like Colorado or New England, which most of the season sat with eight or nine guys behind the ball. How many people go to watch Colorado or New England play? That's a problem for our league. We can't play like we're a team desperately trying to remain in 14th place in the Premiership. Our market isn't there yet. They want to see something that is entertaining, and D.C. United has always had a way of playing. Given a choice, we would rather attack than cynically defend. You look at the way Real Salt Lake played when they came here [a 0-0 tie in May] and sat 10 guys behind the ball. You don't have to do that. Sometimes that is the best way to get a result -- if you don't care about the product, if you don't care about advertising your league. Long term, who wants to watch that?"

Right, that. Bitching about teams that made the playoffs and another who was challenging for them days after his team was eliminated. And saying the MLS is going to fail because those teams got in and his didn't.

There's a lot of desperation in DC these days, isn't there?

The core is old or crazy, this year's results were arguably worst than last year's, management is in turmoil, their designated player signing hasn't worked out, they have no stadium, the only thing left for that team is its arrogance. Payne may be a jackass trying to provide cover, but I think his statement says more about the state of DC's business situation than it does about the league's. This:

Our market isn't there yet.

Think about that sentence and let it soak in. The DC market isn't at a place where it can support a soccer team unless it plays pretty and wins. This after a decade of unprecedented success.

I think it's time to officially worry about what's going to happen to that team. Because if what Payne says is true, and if DC can't get things turned around, then a bad situation is going to get worse. I haven't been following the ins and outs of the owner situation and stadium down there, but everybody has heard the rumblings. For me, this meltdown is public confirmation that things are bad, very bad.

I doubt the league would contract its most decorated club, but a move might not be out of the question. I'd love to hear from DC fans who know more about the intricacies of what's going on out there.

-FS

On the Canadian Dilemma

It's all gone pear shaped north of the border. And I mean, totally. Toronto FC is melting down. Montreal and Vancouver have been kicked out of USL. Bloggers are furiously trying to find the USL teams a home and curb stomp TFC management.

Richard Whittall has coped with the crisis by succumbing to complete, barking madness:

This might put me on the business end of a very detailed flaming post, but why doesn't MLS consider a radical move: a wholesale ideological change in direction away from purchasing "ready-made" talent, either overseas or within the league, and toward investment in superb managerial and coaching staff? The move would be coupled with player development above and beyond the current academy and Generation Adidas college draft scheme, like strengthening administrative ties with USSF development academy clubs, as well as restarting the reserve league (Canada's player development set-up is so outmoded it requires its own post.

Does the league purchase "ready made talent?" Considering where the league has been, namely, that in 1996 "ready made talent" was all there was, whether it was from abroad or the US National "team" (remember that?) I'd say the answer is "Much less than it used to". Yes we have internationals, some teams more than others, but we also have the draft, allocations, etc. I'm too lazy to find Bill's post on the topic, but the consensus is that the reserve teams are coming back sooner rather than later. And academy tie-ins have been growing for a while.

In other words, why not take MLS to the wild extreme of its original mandate? Why not lower the current salary cap across the board while increasing rookie wages, as Ben Knight once suggested, and allow owners to invest not in DPs but top line managerial and coaching talent, at the league and academy levels

Lowering the salary cap and increasing rookie wages won't happen for a number of reasons, chief among them the Collective Bargaining Agreement. The players don't want this sort of arrangement. Seniority rules. When push came to shove in earlier negotiations, the developmental players got thrown under the bus so guys who have been in the league a while have a shot at a decent payday. The union's making noises about changing that, but the proof will be in the pudding.

As for managers, you can already do that. Witness, hey, me. And there's plenty of guys who have been around the league for a while, like Soehn, Warzycha, Mariner. But as we all know, it's harder to bring in international managers than players because it's only after having been a part of MLS for two or three years that it starts to . . . well, not make sense, but you know what you don't know.

Let's transform MLS into a European farm league, hell let's even encourage a European/MLS partnership, investment in player development in return for first rights to players when they reach a certain age.

Wow. Taking MLS to the most extreme conclusion of it's most negative stereotype. It would kill the league. Dead.

My fantasy would be to have a league of up-and-coming eighteen, nineteen, and twenty year-olds, selected from a healthy and interconnected youth academy system, in administrative tandem with both . . .

And I'm going to stop their because fair use, and just because you look at a train wreck doesn't mean you want to see the bodies.

Whittall is essentially taking a few points out of arguments I've made, and by taking them to an extreme conclusion is probing for "Let's see how committed you are to developing homegrown talent, motherfuckers." Although MLS is crucial to developing homegrown talent, it is not a farm system. Yes players get bought by European clubs. No we can't hold on to national team caliber players forever (although Donovan and Chad Marshall seem to significant exceptions). Several of "the best" young players have tried to make the jump to MLS, but that hasn't worked out that well in most cases, and the league also isn't the end all be all for youth development. To be fair that topic is wide ranging enough, and I'm lazy enough that I'm going to stop here.

****

Anyway, I had to get that out. Richard Whittall, your link bait worked. I guess it helps when you're me.

But then he floats another idea, or rather links, to, one that Bill Archer has been talking about for a long time: a genuine Canadian league.

Bloggers are now floating that as an interim solution to the Vancouver Montreal problem (until "both" get into MLS), but I think they should look really hard at it as a permanent solution. A lot of fans up there are really unhappy with MLS and how things are run - this would be the perfect opportunity to implement all the features they think would work - high salary caps, 4 designated players who don't count against the cap, unfettered youth development programs. It would be a nirvana of soccer experimentation. Ben Knight would no longer have to worry about Dallas "going bouncy-castle up". And even better - it would create competition for MLS. Because the level of play would be so much higher, it would draw more viewers, and hell, why not expand to other former USL and disgruntled MLS cities? Bring in Rochester, Charleston, even Puerto Rico and St. Louis.

Surely a genuine, Canadian league with all the features MLS is lacking, plus a few strong US markets, would make the overall soccer universe in North America a better, more diverse place. And who doesn't want that?

Think about it. No seriously. Since TFC is sitting on plenty of unspent gate receipts due to MLS's restrictive salary cap, there should be *plenty* of seed money for this league. And it would go from strength to strength.

The reality is that the Canadian clubs are just too unstable to make a go of something like that. They simply don't have the money to make it on their own. So we're left with a frustrated fan base in Toronto, a supposedly flagship team that's managed almost as bad as New York has been, and two other clubs that get a lot of press north of the border but don't know where they'll be playing.

It's bad up there. And I doubt much positive is going to happen before 2011.

-FS

Edit: Bill's post on the USL disintegration is much better and realistic than anything you'll find in this post.

What more do you want?

Well, we didn't win. Houston took our best shot and is still standing. A couple thoughts on last night's game.

1) Houston is *way* more talented than we are, up and down the field. Brad Evans played out of his mind last night, Ljungberg had a good game, our defense was ok, Keller earned his paycheck, that was for sure. But Houston came in on short rest, lots of travel, and dictated large parts of the first half. They were always dangerous on the counter.

2) That "goal" that was whistled dead? Would never have happened had Houston not stopped playing due to the whistle. So I'm not too angry about that.

3) They still haven't beaten us. Sure, they'll leave fat and happy, but at this point we're used to going into hostile environments and getting a result. And let's not forget, last year Houston went to New York and finished the game 0-0. We all know what happened after that.

4) Damn if Houston isn't the most petulant, bitchy, (dirty?) team in the league. People talk about Kreis and RSL being undisciplined, Houston is riding right on the crest of physicality and insanity. Ching should have gotten a yellow for that challenge from behind. I'm amazed no one from their team got sent off. Onstad is insane.

5) Salazar. WTF. Every game that guy calls is messed up. This one was no exception. Does he drop acid before he comes out on the field? Fucking rave green and orange had to have him totally messed up.

6) Yeah, the turf sucks. I know. I hate it too.

So yeah, we had chance after chance, they cleared one off the line, but I can't say it's not a fair result. If you've been watching Seattle all year, then last night's game would have looked very familiar to you. It's all the same - we go out, create chances, put up a clean sheet, and Kasey Keller bitches about the strikers in his blog.

And God forbid we didn't have 35,000 fans behind us that whole game. Can you imagine how bad we'd be then? Much love Sounders fans. You were impressive.

Deep inside right now, last night's game feels like a loss. It feels like we're going to lose the series. I know I shouldn't say that out loud, but let's face it - we had them right where we wanted them and let them get away. Then again, Houston's lack of discipline is always an issue. Montero *really* pisses those guys off (and why shouldn't he). I'm totally hoping Clark goes all Ruiz on Montero and gets tossed, or Ching or Onstad, or whoever. Houston has a great shot at losing this series. Do not under estimate their petulance.

Anyway, later I'll have some behind the scenes stuff. In the meantime, don't lose hope, Sounders fans. Spend today looking at flickr pictures of yourselves, youtube video of yourselves, and tweets about how great you were last night. Don't worry about the performance of the team. We already got a trophy, remember?

Fake Sigi out.

Maybe Ella Masar is right

Maybe the Bayern Munich U-17s *would* start in MLS since Toronto apparently got beat by a teenage girls side on the weekend. From Monday's Du Nord:

. . . a "correspondent" on from Toronto who was all but bragging about how his team TFC would make the playoffs because their opponent in the final round was a "Kansas City U14 Girls team". . . . In the end his team lost to those young Girls 5-0 . . .

Seriously MLS fans, cover your shame.

So, you think I'm not bitter in real life?

Take a look at this. Notice yours truly in the background.



What you didn't see after Keller's rendition of "All the Single Ladies" was Drew Carey's "I kissed a girl."

Cover Your Shame

So did you enjoy the MLS regular season?

Were you compelled to watch not only your own team's games, but others as well since they all mattered?

Are you looking forward to some exciting playoff games?

If so, Richard Snowden wants you to know that every time New York loses a CONCACAF Champions League qualifier, God kills a kitten. From today's piece at Soccer365, New Season, Same Old Shame:

It is fast becoming a perennial rite of humiliation for Major League Soccer and the American game as a whole.

MLS started off this year's installment of the CONCACAF Champions League with five entrants, nearly one-quarter of the total field of 24 clubs. And just like last year, only one MLS team – that's right, exactly one – managed to survive the tournament's group stage.
. . .
To say the least, it's not exactly the sort of performance that will convince the droves of soccerphilic skeptics out there to give MLS a fair look.

Yes, all of you out there who are happy or sad about how your team ended the season, all of you who are going to tune into the playoffs, all of you waiting for your expansion team to come online, you need to stop. Just stop. Stop for a moment and consider what you are doing. Think about all those times you checked the Houston score even though you were at your mother-in-law's funeral. Think about when you bought tickets and *gasp* went to an MLS game. Think about when you pulled on that tight, hot Ned Grabavoy jersey and just rubbed oil all over yourself before climaxing in a cacophony of pleasure.

Are you not filled with shame? Do you not feel unclean? Does not your very being shrink in humiliation at the knowledge that New York couldn't beat W. Connection? Do you have to turn on an EPL or La Liga game (Bundesliga or Serie A? Pff, they're only for poseurs) just to try and wash off the filth of MLS before you turn in for bed on Sunday nights?

No? Well why not?

When we last saw Snowden, he was peddling the $10mm soft cap, but apparently he's been trolling MLS fans for quite a while. He strikes me as being a Rob Enderle for the American soccer fan. That is, a guy with a lot of bluster who speaks in half truths and sounds good to those who don't critically examine what he has to say.

Snowden's beef with MLS's performance in the CCL goes back at least to March when he suggested that MLS could build its credibility with solid performances in the competition. While it's true that there is a fraction of the population who view MLS as Mickey Mouse, and while they even might have good arguments in a few areas, even Snowden admits that these people probably won't start coming to games even if an MLS side wins the CCL and goes to the Club World Cup.

The Club World Cup? Is that what's supposed to build the league's credibility?

The fact of the matter is, a very, very small contingent of people in this hemisphere think the CCL is important. Snowden complains about MLS teams fielding B-sides, but glosses over the fact that lots the other clubs did too. And a lot of the crowds were MLL-esque.

And yeah, the FMF teams were stomping all opposition. That's what teams from a league with a lot more history and fans can do. One of the reasons why Superliga is in the USA when Mexican teams are in preseason is because that's how much the playing field needs to be leveled for MLS teams to have a shot at winning. Even if you threw $50mm more at the problem annually, still you'd have an uphill battle, plus you'd destroy MLS's wage structure.

And wasn't it a shocking tragedy that TFC and New York, two teams that royally sucked this year in MLS and do even worse in knockout competitions, couldn't cut it in the CCS? The bigger tragedy is that neither of those teams should have been there to begin with. One got lucky the Crew won the double, the other only has to navigate a farcical three team tournament. Sure Houston deserves criticism, but that team has been on self-destruct mode for months. I feel like at their last game they'll murder-suicide each other, or at least have a good punch up in the locker room. Kinnear is among the best coaches in the league? Anyone who's been watching that team creep closer to the edge of sanity over the last two months knows that's a lie.

But I digress. If you want to give MLS fewer spots in the competition a la Luis Bueno or, I don't know, send Chicago next time, I'm down with that.

The bottom line is I'm not losing sleep over the results in the CCL, especially when they involve clubs that shouldn't have been there to begin with and *especially* not now when there are bigger fish to fry. Is MLS Cup a bigger deal to MLS teams than a CCL championship? Hell yes. Maybe it's not fair or right, but wins against Caribbean and Central American competition aren't going to build MLS up any more than the soft cap might. And they're not a path to "priceless credibility". At the moment the CCL is another pointless dick check that has little impact on MLS's bottom line or its perceived value to the majority of its followers.

To conclude: MLS fans, you know who you are. And you're the ones that have to live with yourselves for following such a shitty league. Just make sure that when you watch this weekend's playoff games, you close the blinds, turn out the lights and cover your shame. After all, you wouldn't want your friends, relatives, or even god-forbid your partners to know about the kind of degenerate depravity you get on with on the weekends.

And for God's sake, use protection.

Fake Sigi out.

Ella Masar: Bayern Munich U-17s Would Start in MLS

Ella Masar is in Germany with the USWNT, and she paused to blog about her experience. At the end of her post she had this remark:

I will make sure I check back in with you guys in two or three days. Tomorrow night we somehow snagged tickets to the men’s professional game, FC Bayern Munchen, and then on Sunday we get to play their U17 boys team.

That means for a FACT we will be playing a group of young men that could undoubtedly start in the MLS right NOW……keep us in your prayers

Really? That seems a bit optimistic, even if she *was* talking about Toronto FC.

Let's talk MLS playoffs - and teams watching from home

Arguably the most gripping end to the regular season is over and the playoff matchups are set. Let's take a look:

Columbus vs. Salt Lake City - This matchup pits the teams with the best home records in the league against one another. Coming down the stretch, Salt Lake was 2-3-1 with wins over New York and Colorado, while the Crew was 3-3-1 with wins over Houston, LA, and New England.

Salt Lake plays *much* better at home, and they'll need to blow the Crew out by at least two goals to advance - something they managed to do early in the season when the Crew was riddled with injuries. The Crew returned the favor at Crew Stadium in July with both teams missing several starting players.

It's hard to know what will come out of this matchup. The Crew haven't played their full starting eleven (do they even have one?) much at all this season and still put themselves in a position where the last month didn't mean a whole lot. Salt Lake only made the playoffs by pounding a Colorado side that had polished up the golf clubs long ago while three other teams choked away results on the last weekend.

A lot of people think Salt Lake has a chance, but I'm not so sure. Their potential for advancement lies entirely in getting a big result at home. As good as they are at Rio Tinto, they are just as bad on the road, a propensity that will be magnified in Crew Stadium. Even though the Crew don't traditionally play well in the mountains, with Chad Marshall back and a number of starters rested, if Columbus is patient they should be able to leave Rio Tinto with a draw and finish things off at home. Much has been made about Columbus's inability to score, but I think they'll break through in Utah.

Chicago vs. New England - Here we go again, for the 8th straight year. Is anyone looking forward to a series between maybe the most unimaginative teams in the post season? Chicago ended the season with its first win since August against a terrible Chivas side, to go 1-1-4 over the last two months. New England got more points, but was actually worse, at 2-4-3 with bizzaro wins over Seattle and the Crew.

If Chicago's players get healthy in a week they should blow New England off the field like they did last year. And yet the Revs have tightened things up at the back in the last month and are back again playing the sort of soccer that could see them through on a bad call by the ref or lucky bounce.

On the face of it, Chicago has too much talent, but if I had to pick an upset for the first round, this would be it. I've always thought New England had the evil voo-doo working coming down the stretch, and while they drew things out longer than I thought they would, they've still snapped up a spot against what looks like one of the more vulnerable teams. To a lessor extent than RSL, New England needs a result at home, but the x-factor will be injuries. Given the age of its starting lineup and impact players in particular, Chicago can not be amused at starting the playoffs on turf.

Los Angeles vs. Chivas USA - Chivas is done. It's over. No way they beat LA. And if they do, they go to Houston or here and get ended.

Even though Chivas has gone 3-2-2 down the stretch, they beat Kansas City, DC, and New England, and finished up with bad losses to Houston and Chicago. The midfield has major problems, and they haven't managed better than a draw this year against the Galaxy, losing twice home and away.

LA went 3-2-1 down the stretch with good results where it needed to get them other than Crew Stadium and that 3-6 loss to Dallas. These guy have got to be the favorites out of the west, especially since they won't have to play us here.

Not much to say other then it would be a major surprise for Chivas to travel to another stadium in a couple weeks.

Houston vs. Seattle - It's on like Donkey Kong. Have you noticed how we have Houston's number? And Kinnear is already pissed that he has to travel to Seattle for a Thursday game? If I had to bet, I'll bet we'll get a win here on Thursday considering how well we played against Dallas. Which means all the pressure will be on Houston to win by two clear goals at home. And I've got to say, I like those odds.

Like I said earlier, if we lose this matchup we'll be done in by our own incompetence. Houston's had a ton of discipline problems coming down the stretch as it as, and I think their self-importance will get the best of them. As opposed to our self-importance, which will carry us to victory.

MLS Cup predictions? On paper its Crew vs. LA. If Columbus gets upset, then it will be one of RSL's other opponents, probably Chicago. In the west, I'd like to think we have a chance, but if I'm being totally honest, Houston is the only other team with a chance out of the bracket. Yes, even considering that fluky win in LA. Consider we played with a man advantage for almost the whole game and Donovan had swine flu. No such luck if we go down there again.


And for those who won't be joining us in the post season . . .

Non-playoff teams

Dallas - As much as I loved surpassing Bob Bradley for wins in MLS, it totally sucks that FC Dallas has to watch the playoffs from their couches. Best team of the second half. Highest scoring team in MLS. Loads of fun to watch. If Hyndman can continue to cut the deadwood, retain the good parts, and bring in more good players, Dallas should be pretty good next year. Out of all the playoff teams, I'd say they are in the best shape, and it would have been great to see them play the Crew or Chicago in the first round.

Colorado - Seriously, where does this team go from here? Its uniforms suck, its had its season ended three years in a row by RSL, and it went the last two months of the season without a win despite a schedule that included Toronto, San Jose twice, Kansas City, and New England. When a team collapses like that game in and game out, you've got to look at the coaching staff and wonder what's going on. I could seem them bringing back Gary Smith, but if it was me, his audition would be over and we'd try and find someone else.

Toronto - Admit it. You *loved* watching TFC get splattered all over the pavement by bizzaro New York. it was one of the most amazing collapses of a professional sports team with their future on the line I have ever seen - ever. You just don't get score lines like that. Anyway, Ben Knight describes the whole affair as "sloppy" when shockingly appalling would be better. He also hints that the whole club is in turmoil, and is stating the obvious when he says regime change is likely in order. TFC's got some talent, but not enough and not in the right places. Will they make the playoffs next year? They'll need a hell of a coach and GM, because it's still going to be tough.

DC United - Another team in disarray. I'd be shocked if they didn't pull the trigger on Soehn as early as this week. He's lost the fans, so much so that some are even saying Kevin Payne should go. All I see for this team is another rebuilding year or two.

Kansas City - The Wizards lost 8 straight games in July and August before getting it together and finishing the last two months at a respectable 3-3-3. However, the Wizards showed a complete inability to win against the upper tier of MLS, and only beat Seattle, RSL and New England among the playoff teams. You can't make it into the playoffs by just beating up on New York, San Jose and Dallas, and Jimmy Conrad's not going to play forever, so upgrades are needed. Peter Vermes has been totally in control of this mess, but it looks like he'll get at least another year as technical director, if not coach, to keep trying to sort it all out.

San Jose Earthquakes - The new Quakes are the new Browns of MLS, except they don't have a decent place to play. It's pretty amazing then that Yallop thinks he'll be back next year, and progress is being made. The Quakes only beat DC and New York down the stretch, with Kansas City and us as the other victories since August. Still, the team did beat Houston and LA, so maybe there's something gelling there. If Yallop gets one more year, we'll find out.

New York - After Osorio resigned the team went 3-3-2, and there was a pretty good indication his players had just stopped playing for him. Even so, there are too many variables to make an accurate guess as to whether New York will have a good team next year. Who will be coach? What players will he bring in? What will the atmosphere be like in the new ground? Peter Wilt was rumored to be talking to New York about a front office job, but apparently ran away screaming and took a job with the Milwaukee Wave. I'm all for living close to home and circle of life and all that, but Wilt's decision isn't exactly a ringing endorsement of the way things are managed in New York. If Kandji and Angel return, the team could be a midlevel club with a few of the right pieces (say, a midfield, and a defense). We'll jut have to wait and see.


Fake Sigi out.

Fake Sigi Unmasked 2

Well, it looks like I made a mistake on my other blog. It's true. I'm Richard Whittall.

Although it sure was nice for the little kids to beat up on the big kids for once, even though those big kids will come back later with semi-automatic rifles and Teflon vests.

Fake Sigi ou—I mean, have a nice day.

Sometimes I get my various internet personas confused, and damn, that just slipped out.

Sponsor threatened to dump Crew over Nordecke

Many of you will remember the letter Mark McCullers sent to the Nordecke last month asking them to be on their best behavior. In today's Columbus Dispatch Sean Michelle explores how that happened:

But not everyone is happy with the bastion of drums, songs, flags, banners and, occasionally, profane chants. McCullers said some fans sitting in other parts of the stadium have complained to the front office, including at least one who wrote a letter to a team sponsor.
. . .
When the sponsor, whom McCullers would not identify, told the Crew that it was reconsidering its support of the team, the Crew decided to beef up security in the section and issue a plea to fans via the team blog to stop the organized chanting of profanity.

Apparently that sponsor is not Glidden, who seem to have an altogether more positive view of the situation.

"We aren't really concerned with any types of individual things that happen within the stands," Hembree said. "We don't find them to be a direct reflection on the quality of the Crew organization. We get e-mails on a regular basis from all of our consumers, including Crew fans. We have yet to see one complaint."

It will be nice when MLS is at a point where the Crew can respond to queasy sponsors by cutting and pasting that quote into an e-mail instead of having to spend more money on security in a section that is largely self-policing.

Not again: Monthly BA Duane Strange & the Salary Cap

This is why I don't subscribe to 24th Minute. Every time I go over there I see something that makes me want to stab my eyes out. Most of the Canadian blogs, actually. Which is kind of sad. I mean, most of them can write. It's just what's going on up their heads that's the problem.

Anyway, BA Duane with a rumination on the follies of the New York franchise, with commentary by yours truly:

Just as Canadians hate that everything here is Toronto focused (and, say, that USL-1 championship final is overshadowed by TFC's attempt to sneak into the playoffs), Americans don't much like to have it pointed out that it's important to have a presence in the New York market. That doesn't make it any less true though.

What? I mean, I'm sure there's that *one guy*, maybe this guy, who thinks that, but who in their right mind has ever been opposed to having a team in New York? I would wager that American baseball fans in general are upset about the New York Yankees having a huge unfair advantage over other teams. But I don't think anyone's opposed to an actual soccer team or two in the city.

Since much of the sports media in the U.S. is focused on NYC, it is not helpful at all that the Red Bulls are a punch line.

Honestly, that team will continue to be a punch line so long as they are named after a punch mixer. Although not having won anything in their history doesn't help either.

If the league is going to do everything in its power to force parity you can't make New York be good. Maybe a loosening up of the academy rules would give N.Y. a slight advantage over less populated areas of the U.S. but that would not likely be enough on its own.

Yeah, that happened. And MLS letting New York sign players for outrageous sums of money even before the designated player rule. And giving Alexi Lalas the resources to make it a "superclub". Nevermind 14 years of outrageous rent at Giants Stadium. Ok, so tipping the scales hasn't worked out.

Obviously, Bill, the league will survive just fine without a major presence in the N.Y. market, but can it thrive?

What the hell does a Bill Archer strawman have to do with this?

Although the NASL eventually collapsed under its own weight, the existence of the Cosmos is what gave it a few glory years. Finding a way to create sustainable Cosmos is vital to MLS if it ever wants to break through to the next level.

Oh, I see. We're back to the salary cap/superclub thing you got destroyed on. Or something.

As an aside, I find it interesting from a trivial perspective that Toronto will be playing in the last ever game at Giants Stadium, which was once, undeniably, the Mecca of northern, North American soccer. Combine that with the fact that the Toronto Blizzard were one of two teams involved in the last ever NASL game played and you see just how ingrained Toronto and Canada is to the history of U.S. soccer.

1) Yes, your perspective is trivial.
2) Giants Stadium is a building absolutely *no one* (except, apparently, Ives, because it reminds him of getting paid) will be sad to see finally excluded from the league for a number of reasons.
3) Northern, North American Soccer? You've been reading too much Richard Whittall.
4) The Toronto/NY 2009 Finale in a nasty, expensive, empty bowl is hardly comparable to an NASL championship game.
5) That NASL game was the one where Toronto Blizzard fans broke through barriers and invaded the field when their team didn't win:



5 i) Some things never change, do they?
5 ii) So glad stuff like that is ingrained in the history of US Soccer. Quite frankly, I could do without it.

Not that the isolationists will ever see it that way, but they are a dying breed anyway, so...

We’re in this together whether we like it or not. Call it a soccer thing.

Isolationists? Dying breed? In this together? That last bit makes more sense in the light of Duane's post from the beginning of October revisiting the salary cap issue we so thoroughly debated:

Unfortunately, the debate has often become as much about flinging insults at those that disagree with you than it has been about actually talking about the issue. Whether it's my buddy Bill or his sock puppet friend FakeSigi it seems to be easier to just call someone an idiot than it is to articulate why the league's fans should be happy with the status quo.

Since BA calls me Bill's sock-puppet, I suppose I should link to it in the first Fake Sigi Unmasked post, but whatever. Clearly, I've referred to Duane as an idiot on a number of occasions, but never in the context of the salary cap debate, unless you consider a cold, methodically constructed argument to be such a thing.

Anyway, Duane's post is filled with straw man arguments (I'll leave it as an exercise to the reader to find them all), and his ultimate vision is that fans of the original MLS teams are against raising the salary cap, fans of new teams are for it, therefore, as more teams enter the league, the new owners will out vote the old and raise the salary cap to the point where the the parity band is increased sufficiently so that a few teams can dominate the league every year.

I hope my readers can already see the problems with Duane's vision.

To start with, I've never been against raising the salary cap. And when Duane calls for a salary cap of about $3 million a team:

The $10 million figure that's out there is likely about $7 million to high.

That's shockingly close to what I think is appropriate, even if it's higher than what we're likely to see from the next collective bargaining agreement. In other words, we have almost full capitulation from Duane on how much the salary cap should be raised.

What I have been against is a salary cap that blows a massive hole in MLS's cost structure (the first proposals were a $50mm-$100mm league-wide increase in salaries) without bringing in any more revenue, or that introduces a significantly wider parity band. If you double or triple the MLS wage structure right now, yeah, the league has a real chance at folding, and that's what people like Ben were advocating with complete disregard as to the impact such a cap might have on other teams or the league as a whole.

I'm also against giving financial advantage to certain teams over others anymore than that already exists. It's not about being a fan of a small market team, it's about keeping the league interesting, financially stable, and on a consistent path of growth. Besides, the parity band will increase by default as more teams enter the league. As more teams are left out of the playoffs, there will be a greater distinction between teams that are bad and teams that are good.

Since Duane asks for a reason why fans should be happy with the status quo, I'm going to point right at this year's playoff race: going into the last weekend, 6 teams are competing for the last two playoff spots. Only two seeds have been decided. There's not one game on the docket that doesn't matter. And it's been that way for almost the last two months. Honestly, you'd rather have the same three teams at the top of the table every year over this? Not to mention the fact that questions about the league surviving have all but gone away, and now it's how fast can the league grow?

I'd say a gripping season endgame and an expanding, stable league are two very good reasons that the status quo is working well.

Another problem is BA's conflation of the fans of expansion teams with their owners when talking about who supports a higher salary cap. In my piece on parity, I point out how the owners of Toronto and Philly are in favor of a low, hard cap. Dave Checketts hasn't exactly been an advocate of more flexible spending beyond saying in the long term the salary cap will go up (duh). Who knows where Vancouver's owners or Merritt Paulson stand, but the fact that their wage structures are going septuple or octuple off the bat ( that's about $300,000 versus $2.4 million for the lazy) probably means they'll want to keep things in check for a while.

As for the fans, their views on the issues are influenced by more than what team they root for, but that doesn't mean they are all that relevant as to how a few billionaires decide to spend their money in this year's meetings.

Finally, when I write that a massive increase in the salary cap is a bad idea and/or won't happen, I'm not writing from a position of fear. I think MLS has a bright future and is doing really well compared to the dark days just after contraction. But there are ways to grow the league, and then there's wanting to raise the salary cap because your team doesn't make the playoffs. And no matter what imprecise rhetoric you couch it in, the latter is as progressive as Republican tax cut.

Fake Sigi out.

Fake Sigi Unmasked

BA Duane stopped staring into the pool long enough to unmask me as Bill Archer. Well done, Duane. Your creepy conflation of both of our pseudonymous internet personas into one nightmarish "other" that comes to inflict misery in the darkest night was more accurate than you know.

Now that my true identity is out in the open, I hope we can all move past it.

Sounders Board has returned

The purveyors of poor decision making over at Sounders Board are back and posting with a vengeance. The awesome seems to come in fits and starts over there, but it's worth the wait.

Columbus Crew win Supporters' Shield

So that was never in doubt right? At least not after the Crew started thugging in July. But the Crew now owns two out of the three fewest point totals required to win the shield. If they become the first team to win back-to-back doubles (Shield and MLS Cup), all will be forgiven.

How amazing is it that it took the Chicago Fire until last night to clinch a playoff spot, much less the number 2 seed in the east? It was their first win since August 23, a period of time when they've gone 1-2-4. I've got to say, with competition like that, I don't see how the Crew doesn't go to MLS Cup, barring a bizarre meltdown. Yes, even considering how they've been struggling to score goals lately. I think they're due to beat some people (read: the MLS 8th seed) down.

Meanwhile, the only teams that have looked really good recently are Dallas and . . . us! That's right, we've shaken off the malaise and are now primed for . . . something. If I have time, I'll get into all the self congratulatory stuff later.

But as for the weekend, admit it, you want us to lose. You want to see Dallas in the playoffs. Hell, so do I. You know what I want? I want Dallas vs. Columbus in the first round. That's exactly what I want. The team with the best record versus the best team in the second half. Tell me that wouldn't be compelling as hell. Plus we'd get to see Clark Hunt hanging a cardboard sign out his loge that reads "Cheap enough for you, fuckers?"

Yeah, that would be all kinds of win. Not like say if Colorado got in and inflicted a bunch of 1-0 games on us all until they were eliminated.

Back to last night's game, Chivas's midfield looked terrible. They couldn't hold possession all night, and Jesus Padilla looks to have serious depth perception issues. I hate to say it, but there's really not a better year for us to be in the playoffs if Dallas gets in and goes east. We've got both Houston and LA's number, and even though we struggle against Chivas, their form is not great. So you know what that means, don't you? Yep. We'll be done in by our own incompetence.

Anyway, research is coming to an end, so I should have something semi-special for you all in the next week or so.

Steve Sirk's first book

Long-time Columbus notebook author Steve Sirk has just published his first book. A Massive Season: Sirk's Notebook Chronicles the 2008 Columbus Crew is now available at Crew Stadium and at Amazon.

Check out Sirk's web site here. I'll have a review up on this site as soon as I can.

Research

Is where I've been. Regular posting will resume, but when I'm in this state, I never know when.

Actually, you should probably just read Field of Schemes today

If you want soccer news.

Protesters angry that two schools were displaced for a new stadium — and that a new school they were promised in return has not appeared — have blockaded the stadium construction site, forcing work to stop.

Yeah, it's a World Cup stadium.

NSR: Stay Classy, Toronto

Edgy Canadian Breast Cancer PSAs:

LOS ANGELES -- A woman in a skimpy bikini sashays next to a swimming pool. Tongues roll, onlookers gawk, and music blares.
The camera zooms slowly toward her jiggling chest as a message spreads across the screen: "You know / you like them / Now it's time / to save the boobs."

No, the video isn't a beer commercial. It's a public-service announcement for the annual Boobyball party in Toronto to benefit the charity Rethink Breast Cancer.

And it has gone viral, with 350,000-plus hits on YouTube.

The approach marks just one of the edgier promotions aimed at younger women during National Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

Are not targeted at young women. No, I don't care if it's for an event that was originally intended to make a breast cancer victim "feel better." No, it doesn't matter that you're selling t-shirts to women. It's pretty clear the message's intended target is not, in fact, women.

Portland stadium deal still a fiasco

From Field of Schemes:

"If I don't get a baseball deal done, I'm not going to finalize the deal with Portland," Paulson told the Beaverton city council Tuesday night. "So MLS will not come to Portland unless I do a deal for a new baseball park."

This is some great goodwill Paulson is building up in Portland. Both it and Vancouver are the biggest expansion jokes since . . . well, since Toronto almost didn't get its stadium built.

As for Paulson's baseball stadium, there's an effort being organized to put the deal on the ballot, and presumably defeat it. Anyone want odds on Portland actually getting into MLS after all this?

Edit: And now Portland's calling the bluff. Via BigSoccer.

Jill Oakes on being a female athlete

Chicago Red Stars defender Jill Oakes has written an interesting post about what it means to be a female athlete over at Pretty Tough (via Melissa):

So what DOES it mean to be girl? At one time, we were only cheerleaders, while boys were told not to play “like a girl.” Nowadays, girls are tackling, competing, and enduring physical and emotional pain for success in their sport. ‘Female’ is an evolving phenomenon. And I believe we, as girls, control our own definition. To me, there’s no right or wrong way to be. There’s no “supposed to.” You are born female, and from that moment on, everything you do for the rest of your life will contribute to what being a girl means. You represent all girls.

It's nice to read something so authentic and open written on the topic by one of the WPS players. Oh, and WPS even managed to link to it and summarize it. There, that wasn't so bad, was it?

Use soccer to get yourself out of debt

For those that don't find personal finance interesting on its own, VISA has released Financial Soccer. It's a web game that uses shiny colors, flashy graphics, and the lure of electronic soccer to trick you into learning how to balance your budget:

Part game and part educational tool, Financial Soccer teaches the fundamentals of money management, such as saving, budgeting, responsible spending, and the wise use of credit and debit cards.

The above link is to an article on the game by Steve Rosen. You can find the game here.

The player moves the ball up and down the field by answering questions related to personal finance. There are multiple difficulty levels and game lengths to chose from no matter your age. The questions aren't hard in and of themselves, but when coupled with an evil timer, putting a bulge in the onion bag was harder than I thought it would be.

It's pretty interesting for what it is, but I wish there were a collective bargaining mode.

Gino Padula is awesome

One goal and all of a sudden journalists find out he's a great interview. Sean Michelle:

"(Conor) Casey should be worried," [Padula] said jokingly. "We have two games left. I can score eight (in one) and eight (in the other)."

Casey, a striker for Colorado, leads MLS with 17 goals. Padula is an ardent student of the league, always on top of the standings, the schedule and the players.

"He is one of the smartest, if not the smartest, player on the team," Crew defender Danny O'Rourke said. "He was a great addition last year, and he's only been better this year."

Craig Merz:

"I bet Danny before the start of the season who would score first. I bet a dinner. I'm still waiting," said Padula.

"I owe him dinner," O'Rourke acknowledged. "As much as this guy eats, it's a $300 bet right there."

Maybe more, joked Padula. "I would try to go to the most expensive restaurant in Columbus," he said. "I take my family. I try to call my parents to come from Argentina to join me. I take the menu and if I see the most expensive dish, I will order. If I don't eat it I will take it home. But I know he's going to take me to McDonald's or Taco Bell. He's a very cheap guy."

I could have told you guys this ages ago. Him and Danny O'Rourke are like Laurel and Hardy.

Innocent Victims

From Dan:

The nature of sports being what it is, the greater outpouring of sympathy was for the one who survived ... but fan tributes aren't really equipped for innocent victims. A simple jersey number was enough for a very moving tribute for a recovering player, but a soccer game is an impossible context to show adequate respect for Ashley Roberta and her family's loss.

Ashley Roberta's death getting lost yesterday amid the sympathy for Davies was something that was on my mind as well. There was a reason why I lead with her in my post on the crash.

On the Car Accident

By now just about anyone who reads this blog knows that 22 year old Ashley J. Roberta died at the scene of a horrible car accident early Tuesday morning. Roberta was a Maryland resident and was apparently known in soccer circles. She was riding in the same car as US Men's National Team striker Charlie Davies, who sustained serious injuries. A lot about the circumstances is still unknown, but after Davies spent much of the day in surgery, US Soccer was finally able to issue a press release late in the night:

Davies suffered a lacerated bladder and fractures to the tibia and femur bones in his right leg. He also suffered facial fractures and a left elbow fracture. Davies was air-lifted to the hospital where a team of doctors first repaired a ruptured bladder and then inserted titanium rods in both the tibia, the bone in the lower leg, and the femur, which is the thigh bone, with no complications. Davies will be hospitalized for at least a week and additional surgeries will be required to stabilize his left elbow fracture and possibly the facial fractures.

The only information that has currently been released about the third passenger in the car is that she was female, the driver, and also sustained serious injuries.

According to police, the SUV the three were riding in was almost sheered in half by metal guardrails on a bridge. Going by the information in this Washington Post article, it looks like the accident took place at this location. On Google street view you can see what the bridge guard rails look like:



The road curves to the left as it goes over the channel. The unsettling pictures in the first link of this post seem to show the result of the car being turned to the left to compensate for some unknown variable, and presenting the passenger side to the guard rail. That being said, at least one half of the SUV is so mangled that it's unclear what hit what.

***

Information on where to send notes and well wishes is being at least partly posted on BigSoccer. Others are providing news updates as they happen.

As to what this means for US Soccer, this car accident is not a Munich or Superga, but it has clearly shaken a community that had yet to come down from qualifying for the World Cup in Honduras on the weekend. The closest comparison might be the death of Gigi Meroni. Even though it appears Davies will survive, the injuries he's suffered are quite serious and will almost certainly rule him out of next year's World Cup. A full recovery that sees him on the field in South Africa would be nothing short of amazing.

While it may seem crass to speak about soccer at a time like this, it is the institution that binds us. For each and every one of us, there will be the game that we will not attend after we pass. It's what keeps us going, reminding us that there is life after death, giving us a way to talk about what happened, and providing a framework for us to keep alive the memories of those we love. And so it is the community that we've built around a never-ending cascade of games that will come together to help and support those who have suffered loss.

Our thoughts and prayers go out to the survivors, families, friends, and loved ones of those in the accident.

-Fake Sigi

And by the way, I hate stuff like this

While surfing over to the Arsenal site to find out how ridiculous their ticket prices are, I was confronted by this lightbox-y (wow, that's a daring design choice) pop-up:



The text reads:

Hi, you appear to be visiting our site from the USA.

Arsenal Football Club has just launched a new website especially for fans Stateside - USA.Arsenal.com. Edited from America by an American Arsenal fan, it will give all the latest news, views and interviews from your club. In addition, there will specific reports and features just for US fans. Please choose now the site you want to visit.

Hi, you appear to be a condescending prick for putting that damn banner in front of me every time I go to your site, just so you can send me to a page that looks exactly the same as your home page, except with a dumbed down navigation bar having replaced "Fixtures" with "Schedule" and "First Team" with "Players," and "Betting and Gaming" with rules of the game, and a lot less sublinks than the regular site.

And oh yeah, not one, but TWO links to the fucking Colorado Rapids, who I could give a fuck about except for the fact that, hey, wasn't that where Robert exiled Pat Noonan?



Seriously Arsenal, fuck off. If you're going to have a page with USA specific content, don't beat a user over the head with it (maybe tiny links with flags, hmm?), and you better sure as hell make it more distinctive and relevant than what you've done here: a cheap copy with no distinctive, relevant content that assumes its viewers are the noobest of the nube. It's training wheels minus the British-isms and an advertisement for Kroenke's other business interests.

So in case you were wondering about the exact audience Arsenal are looking to exploit in the USA, now you know - the most plastic of casual fan, no prior soccer knowledge required. Frankly, I find it all insulting, no matter the prior knowledge an American fan brings to the site.

-FS

How high can MLS ticket prices go?

There have been a few stories rattling around the blogosphere lately about how the cratered economy has decimated fans' ability to pay ever-spiraling ticket prices for professional sporting events.

Yesterday the always biting Field of Schemes linked to Wright Thompson's experience in the absurd seats at Yankee Stadium, and highlighted an interesting statistic from the piece:

A recent poll discovered an unsettling trend emerging for the first time. American families whose household income is $75,000 or less now have zero dollars of discretionary income. According to Luker, that means about 75 percent of the country can never responsibly afford to go to a live professional sporting event.

It's true that about 75% of households earn 75k or less, but determining discretionary income is much more dicey. Even so, quibbling over it might not matter because

. . . [spectator sporting events] are designed to be affordable only to those making $150,000 or more a year.

Which is a disturbing proposition.

Along the same lines, today the Cleveland Plain Dealer linked to a Rasmussen Report poll that said:

Among Americans "who follow sports at least somewhat closely," 64 percent say ticket prices for professional sporting events have kept them from going this year . . .

I do wonder what the percentage of American who follow sports somewhat closely is, and how often those people attend games.

MLS tickets have a reputation for being affordable, particularly when compared to certain soccer clubs abroad. And if you look at the MLS tickets aimed at the proverbial family cheapskates, packages with food range from $13-15 a person at a Chivas or Houston game respectively, to $19-25 a person for a hotdog, ticket, and soda at most venues. Of course, add in parking, travel, and even more food when that hot dog doesn't cut it.

Teams will always have promotions like this, but for the league to "maximize its revenue growth potential," and yes, raise the salary cap, ticket prices will need to go up. And in this environment I'm not sure how that can happen.

The danger for MLS is that it raises ticket prices to the point where too many fans get priced out of the market before the league has a critical mass of high-paying fans to sustain itself. As for high ticket prices killing a league with high demand for seats, it hasn't happened in recent memory, but stay tuned.

I suspect I will revisit this topic in the near future.

An Audience of Rounding Errors

In fiddling with the syncing abilities of NetNewsWire, I started looking at Google Reader's recommendations and noted that it provided a bit of data on how many people follow certain blogs.

So, being the pedantic nerd I am, I decided to check out the numbers for some of my "favorite" blogs. For what it's worth, that number after Fake Sigi is off by an order of magnitude when compared to my Feedburner stats, so I'd hesitate to draw too much from the raw RSS subscriber numbers:

BBC Football UK - 1,381, 653
uefa.com - 52,281
ESPN SoccerNet - 17,993
MLSNet - 2,808
Soccer by Ives - 2,015
du Nord - 1,729
The Offside Rules 397
Major League Soccer Talk - 199
Pitch Invasion -184
Dan Loney - 174
Bill Archer - 174
No Short Corners - 174
SoccerBlogs - 154
Climbing the Ladder - 153
The 24th Minute - 57
A More Splendid Life - 38

Fake Sigi - 5

If we assume that Google Reader is accurate or inaccurate by roughly the same proportion for all blogs, we could say there are 2,000-10,000 Americans who care enough about MLS and the national teams to follow the mainstream results with regularity, 500-4,000 who care enough to read the mainstream blogs like Bill, Dan, Offside Rules, and Pitch Invasion, and 200-400 who are so obsessed they'll trickle down to sites like this one or Climbing the Ladder.

If most people who follow soccer blogs don't use RSS readers, then those numbers could be doubled. Maybe. And besides, all the numbers pale in comparison to the BBC. Granted, we're comparing hard news and results with blogs, but it's an audience of rounding errors.

Worst Headline of the Day

MLS explores playing indoors to shift schedule:

"Perhaps we have to start thinking about roofed stadiums at some point. But do we have to have a fan base that is developed enough to be immune to the weather, like they do for American football where they will come out to watch a game regardless of the climate? We are not at that point yet, but we hope to achieve that at some point."

Yeah, I'd be real surprised if that "indoors" thing comes about.

Let's get back to it with the strange

Like Rio Ferdinand interviewing Lebron James:



Go here for the full interview.

A crime of soccer, huh?

Wow, Warzycha came unglued around Sean Michelle again. Damn, this guy has better quotes than me.

“It’s just ridiculous," an agitated Warzycha said today. "It’s a crime of soccer. Something like this, it’s cheating. To dig a hole and destroy the penalty spot, it’s something I don’t have words to describe.

A crime of soccer, huh? What're you going to do, sick the International Criminal Court on Tyrone Marshall? I suppose the one good thing is that with photos like this:



Is that Marshall's taking most of the blame. Of course Bill Archer went off about shouldn't something be done about these terrible people.

Hell no. Marshall? Yeah, that dude's crazy. Me? Not guilty.

So what if we cheated?

Lies and slander this morning from Steve Sirk, who has ungratefully forgotten who delivered him from the championship-free existence of a Clevelander, and who claims, in Guillermo Barros Schelotto's words, we "broke the floor" before his penalty attempt Saturday night:

After referee Ricardo Salazar whistled Jhon Kennedy Hurtado for bodyblocking Eddie Gaven in the box, Hurtado and James Riley undertook a lengthy appeal. Hurtado and Riley remained in Salazar’s face for nearly a minute, keeping the referee occupied. It was the perfect diversion for Sounders defender Tyrone Marshall, who went to the penalty spot and got to work with his cleats. Marshall earnestly dug into the spot as if he were a slugger prepping for a crucial at-bat. He raked his cleats and back and forth, back and forth, over and over again. He jammed his heel into the ground when more force was needed. By the time he was finished, there was barely any evidence left of the white dot. There was a crater in its place.

With obviously doctored photos to make the point:



Where'd you get that picture Steve, some crappy co-ed field on the edge of town yesterday? And just how old is that cell phone? As for Greg Bartram who took the pictures, I'm curious as to the sort of dilapidated half-way house where you would find such a desperate, dirty, traitorous cameraman, and what you would have to offer to have him help fuel your desperate lies?

That picture doesn't look like anything to me, and even you say there's no video evidence of it happening. Screaming ball boys? Please. They probably wanted Keller's autograph. And even if Marshall did do that, there's no evidence that it actually caused Schelotto to miss the penalty shot.

Besides, I certainly never would have told Marshall to do something like that. None of my assistants would have either. So what if Marshall's played for me long enough to know that you do what you have to do in a game where we desperately need three points to make the playoffs? So what if the spaces between words are where I condone or ignore what Marshall did? There's simply no way something like this comes close to getting back to me.

And ignore the fact that I had some very friendly conversations with a lot of players and coaches on the opposing team before Saturday night. Ignore that the Crew just about have Supporter's Shield locked up while we were desperate for points. Ignore just how uncharacteristically bad the Crew looked on Saturday night. Ok? This was a highly competitive game, and while the best team didn't win, there's absolutely no evidence of cheating or fixing of any kind on our parts.

And even if we did cheat or repeatedly beg for three points from people who revere me as a father figure and who had much less to gain from a win, which we didn't, so what? Who cares? The game's over. We need to move on and not focus on the past. The league won't even look our direction, and don't even worry about how MLS HQ wants Seattle in the playoffs so bad they can taste it.

We won't stand for such attacks, and Roth's already got Creepy Jose gathering quotes that flat out deny and contradict these doctored photos and lies.

Oh, and Sirk? You might want to think twice about coming to Seattle. Drew Carey's got some new material he's been *dying* to try out.

-FS

So much win!!!!!

That's EXACTLY what I needed. Damn. Damn it felt good to come back and win in my house. You hear that Columbus? My house. Mwa haha. And Guille is mine too. Poor, trusting fools.

Anyway, thanks for the three points! Was it deserved? I don't know, probably not, but you know what? I don't care, this totally gets us back on track.

I mean, let's be honest, the Crew looked tired. Terrible, even. Burns? How was he in the lineup? Rogers was terrible. Gaven tried hard, but Moreno had no service.

Did we do much to disrupt the Crew? Eh, I don't know. It wasn't like we were overly physical or anything. And to tell the truth, if not for Schelotto's brain freeze we might have walked out of here with nothing.

Still, it was nice. More tomorrow. For now, I enjoy taking a big step toward the playoffs.

When did the BBC start running ads?

Maybe I haven't been paying attention, but when I logged onto the BBC this morning to check scores/highlights, I saw this:

Pretty shameful when the same site looked like this a year ago (via archive.org):

I've been working on a post on advertising, so consider this a nice teaser for more thoughts later in the week.

A blow to the claims of MLS parity

I haven't checked the numbers myself, but some other pedantic nerds over at BigSoccer used the maths and the latest list of player salaries to figure out how much teams were spending. I give you the list in order of ascending wage bill by team:

Salt Lake $1,861,029
Kansas City $1,907,213
New York $1,981,937
San Jose $2,035,803
Dallas $2,192,327
Colorado $2,208,967
Seattle $2,289,712
Chicago $2,308,326
New England $2,317,903
Chivas $2,369,294
Columbus $2,435,820
Houston $2,455,840
DC $2,770,707
Los Angeles $2,837,439
Toronto $3,241,416

So the guys in Toronto are complaining about having their hands tied why? When their wage bill is 174% of RSL's, and significantly higher than every other team?

What I find particularly interesting is that the bottom five spenders wouldn't make the playoffs if it started today (although most of them have been playing better lately). About 7 teams are within 100k of what we would consider the salary cap, and most of them will be playoff bound. One could make a great argument that each of the top 3 spenders has mismanaged their funds and are underachieving.

These numbers back up what Loney said in regards to the salary cap being flexible, and back up my contention that there's already quite a bit of economic disparity between the teams. More evidence that there's no need for any more.

EVen so, I'm certain these numbers don't tell the whole story. If anyone wants to pick them apart, let's take it to the comments.

Edit: Anonymous commenter #1 provides the list with Designated Player salaries added:

I realize the first list capped the DPs at their $400k cap hit, so it was useful at looking at the payroll disparity within the rules, but for anyone curious what the list would look like with the remainder of the DP portions added in...

1. LA $9.4
2. CHI $4.9
3. TOR $3.8
4. NY $3.4
5. SEA $3.2
6. DC $3.1
7. CLB $2.8
8. HOU $2.5
9. CHV $2.4
10. NE $2.3
11. COL $2.21
12. DAL $2.19
13. SJ $2.0
14. KC $1.91
15. RSL $1.86

New York jumps from 13 to 4, Toronto falls from 1 to 3, and the disparity between top and bottom gets exponentially bigger. DC suddenly isn't overpaying as much, and Columbus and Houston can lay claim to being the best run clubs in MLS in regards to on the field success this year.

It's so weird being back here

Just a short post tonight. Man is it weird being back. The reporters are going nuts. Both Sean Michelle and Creepy Jose did retrospectives and interviews with me on the topic of coming back. From Sean Michelle's:

Schmid on the continued success of the Crew:
“I’m really happy for Robert (Warzycha). I think some people thought we were a one-year wonder, that we didn’t have staying power. The work Robert has done with essentially the same team shows it was built with more than one year in mind. It makes me proud of what Robert has done. The Champions League, that’s something I look at and say ‘damn, I wish I could be a part of that. As a coach you always strive to measure yourself at that level. I’m excited that we won the Open Cup and qualified. I’m looking forward to next year.”

That's right bitches. Even when Robert's been successful it's because I built the damn team for him. Don't forget it.

As for the Champion's League, hell yeah I'd want into that. And I'd probably have clinched that game on Wednesday (ooh - too soon?). Not being there is the downside of coaching a crappy expansion team and earning tons of money. Oh well. FML, I guess.

Schmid on if he roots for the Crew:
“Yeah, I do root for them. When they weren’t winning at the start, it hurt me as well. I was happy when they started to get points. I want to see the Crew do well against everybody except us. I’d like nothing more than to be able to play them in the championship game.”

Do I want them to win on their own accord? Hell no. I would *love* to kill those bitches in the MLS Cup Final. That is all.

Meanwhile, Creepy Jose thinks I'm Oliver Twist:

For Sigi Schmid, life has been a series of challenges.

The Sounders FC coach faced each hurdle like a soccer opponent to be studied, dissected and conquered. Learning English in a new country. Overcoming a stuttering problem. Finding his way from a dreary job as an accountant to follow his passion for soccer.

And, finally, becoming one of U.S. soccer's most successful coaches and trying to take an expansion team to the Major League Soccer playoffs.

"Challenges, yeah, have always been a big part of my life," Schmid says.

How's that for a gripping quote? Anyway, it's all about how great I am, driven, abandon my wife and whatnot, and how I follow challenges, but am in a comfort zone (what?). So read it and weep that you are not me.

I know you're all dying to know how the meeting with Robert went last night, but it'll have to wait until Sunday. Tonight Ljungberg and I are hitting the OSU party scene. Later.

-FS

So about that two stick

Yeah, I knew it would go mainstream eventually. Damn Joe Roth:



So what most people don't know is this two stick is actually based on a painting that's hanging in Joe Roth's living room. Why? If I had any idea I'd tell you. People asked what I was doing when I first got to Seattle - well, the answer is, posing for this thing.

The real painting is done in a romantic style, definitely not cheesy like the three-wolf-moon shirt. Think more Greece Expiring on the Ruins of Missolonghi by Delacroix.

Anyway, we're all half naked, on the bottom of the painting I'm stepping up on Bob Bradley's severed head, and off to the right, Drew Carey's got Wayne Brady's head on a pole. Meanwhile, the background is showing the glory of Quest Field up in the sky, with Joe Roth looking down benevolently, and on earth there's a hellscape of what used to be the Home Depot Center.

I mean, it's tasteful, but whatever. This picture is just a knockoff of a sketch or something of the real thing, which is in fact called "Man Boobs FC".

But what was weird was we had to pose together for the painter. I was like, can't you take a picture and do it from memory or something? Can't you do it one at a time? Do we all have to stand together? But that's the only way they would do it. So for three days, you've got three sweaty fat guys stripped from the waist up, looking like gladiators from the waste down, under hot lamps while Jacques Pierre or whatever his name was creating this "masterpiece."

Paul Allen was cool, he really didn't say much, but Drew Carey kept making awkward jokes. We'd be standing there, and all of a sudden he'd say, "Boobs." And then an hour or a few minutes would go by, and he'd be like, "Nothin' like a good breast, huh?" I'm not sure if he was affirming his heterosexuality or questioning it.

Anyway, some San Jose guys got a hold of it and made this like it was an insult. The only thing insulting is your drawing ability, bub. So enjoy this great art that Joe Roth conceptualized, and that has now been immortalized in the folk tradition. Who says soccer's not about high culture?

For now, time for me to get out of the hotel and meet at the rendezvous point. There's a reason I came to Columbus today. Can't be late.

Fake Sigi out.

If it's Thursday, it must be Columbus

Yep. From Mark McCullers:

Nordecke Supporters:

I have received several emails regarding the increased security presence in the Nordecke for the Saprissa match. We have respectfully requested that the chants including profanity, most importantly GTFO, cease. Unfortunately that chant has continued, specifically during the Cruz Azul match and then several times during the LA match. During our highest attended game of the year, with the opportunity to impress people that might attend more Crew games at Crew stadium, we instead left a negative impression with unnecessary chanting of unacceptable profanity.We have received numerous complaints from fans, and now have indications from sponsors that they are reconsidering their financial support because they cannot be associated with an environment that includes this behavior. My pride in the Nordecke and what it brings to the club is deep and well documented. But this behavior, again, compromises our repuation and cannot be tolerated. We must identify and deal with those who insist on perpetuating this behavior, which explains the increased security measures.

Seriously, did anything change while I was gone? Nothing? Really?