Gus "Rise and fire" Johnson has made his name announcing American sports like college basketball, hockey and NFL, but now the king of the catchphrase has entered a new phase in his career announcing soccer games. Johnson has five games ......
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Are salary caps and contract trades in football the way of the future?
By Cameron Wolfe
I read an article years ago which compared football transfers with transfers in North American
sports ( NFL, NHL, baseball etc) and in which the question was posed: Would an alternative transfer
approach work here in football?
BBC co-commentator Martin Keown found himself trending on Twitter last night and not for a good
reason. The ex-Arsenal centre-back became a figure of fun after getting his American sports muddled
during his commentary on Czech Republic vs Portugal. Keown said Portugal star Cristiano Ronaldo was
"like an NFL basketball player" with the height [.
New Tottenham Hotspur Home Kit 2012-13 is a post from: Just Football
Under Armour, the clothing giant, famed principally for their moisture-wicking running apparel and sports accessories have broken their football duck by producing the new Tottenham Hotspur home kit for the 2012-2013 season.
And by that read younger viewers, those most prized by advertisers since they represent the future.
It's always interesting to put TV ratings for soccer in a broader context with other more
established American sports. So why don't American newspaper editors and producers of sports
television shows devote more attention
Martin Jol released alleged miracle worker Tim Tebow after it became apparent that his charade
of being a quarterback in the National Football League looks to continue another season, sources
are reporting.
After performing a miracle in the NFL playoffs for the Denver Broncos in January, Tebow was
traded to the New York Jets in March.
Martin Jol released alleged miracle worker Tim Tebow after it became apparent that his charade
of being a quarterback in the National Football League looks to continue another season, sources
are reporting.
After performing a miracle in the NFL playoffs for the Denver Broncos in January, Tebow was
traded to the New York Jets in March.
Watching those two MLS derby games on Sunday showed exactly how far the league has come, with two
packed stadiums and 4 teams going all out. What a great end to a huge Round 16 for MLS.
That may have been the single best week of play in league history.
But unfortunately most of the media is so enamored with Europe that they have all but missed this
amazing round of soccer.
They were the underdog going into Sunday's afternoon affair versus the Seattle Sounders, but
hometown fans would never had known it after the Portland Timbers won 2-1.
With a national television audience tuned in on ESPN, Portland Soccer fans showed how much they
care about their MLS team.
In preparing for the Cascadia Cup match this weekend and browsing the MLS Standings page there
was a stark reminder of last week's announced change to the tiebreaker rules. Around these parts
the change went nearly unmentioned due to a focus on the US Open Cup Final. That's gone and their
is a new focus on playoff seeding.
As Real Madrid takes on the Los Angeles Galaxy in a friendly that means nothing, it is appropriate
to reflect on how to get these teams together for a match that means everything.
Even though, this exhibition is played for pride and practice, it is a noteworthy event. It pits
two of the most recognizable franchises in present-day international club Soccer against each
other.
One of Soccer's toughest challenges in becoming more mainstream and surpassing other spectator
sports in popularity is breaking through on the statistics front.
Americans are so wrapped up in stats that often they seem more important than the games themselves.
Over the past month 11 MLS players switched teams through trades (we'll ignore the waived
players for now because almost zero of those would make a difference this year). The players dealt
fill nearly every role on a squad, and a few would be probable starters is the Seattle Sounders had
acquired them.
It is a rivalry in that top tier of American sports. Even the non-soccer fans know of it. While
the history is only a mere 37 years old with a few pauses scattered in there, today's Cascadia Cup
match between the Portland Timbers and Seattle Sounders on ESPN at 2 PM will be a resumption of a
contest that goes beyond just soccer.
It's been depressing few weeks for Portland Timbers fans, no doubt about it. The recent loss to
the LA Galaxy was just the latest of a series of ordeals that has been bringing us all down for
quite a while now. But the good thing about soccer is that there are multiple ways to bring about a
revival of performance and spirits.
You play professional in one of the big three sports. Your real estate footprint is large and
your fancy car is marvelous. Valet park every time. Your plate is the most expensive on the menu.
When you get old and tottery it is unlikely you'll be wandering around penniless on city streets.
Investments will soften your end.
Chelsea take on an MLS All-Stars side in Philadelphia on Wednesday. As is customary in American
sports, a rag-tag bunch of representatives from the league will come together for one night only.
And on this occasion they'll be facing the reigning European champions. OTP doesn't profess to be
expert on all matters MLS we [.
Newly crowned European champions Chelsea will return to the United States for their preseason
tour this summer and to promote it, the club put together the above video of various players trying
out American sports. And it's fantastic.
You've got David Luiz jamming his Sideshow Bob hair into a Yankees cap, Petr Cech trading his
scrum cap for a Seattle Seahawks helmet and Branislav Ivanovic trying to murder a baseball to
promote the four-match tour that will include the 2012 MLS All-Star game in Philadelphia.
Liverpool FC departed for their North American pre-season tour today, but not before challenging
Glen Johnson to name as many US and Canadian sports teams as he could in 60 seconds. The Liverpool
official site says the right back is a "big fan of American sports", but his failure to name some
of the more famous franchises suggests otherwise.
"Poke me again on Facebook and I'll block you, Kenneth"
Poor old Kenny Dalglish. Not only does he have to deal with the trauma of unemployment in
middle-age, but now he has been forced to endure the ultimate social media humiliation, after
Liverpool overlord John W Henry decided to unfollow him on Twitter soon after giving him the elbow
from Anfield.
1. Rafa Benitez Let's talk about facts: Rafa is still loved by the Liverpool faithful, is settled
on Merseyside and is available. Little wonder that he's gone straight in as the bookies' favourite
for the job. 2. Graeme Souness Woah, woah, woah, Rafa. If the Reds are going to continue this retro
manager vibe then [.
It has to be one of the strangest stories of the year, if not the decade, buried slightly under
the weight of Euro 2012 news but still standing out like a sore thumb. Scottish titans Rangers FC,
crippled by debt and forced to continue life as a "newco" (which meant possibly starting life anew
in the fourth tier of the league) were supposedly considering buying out League One outfit
Bury.
Hey people (dorks) who read IntelligentSoccer.com.
The last time I wrote something for the site was in September 2010 (props to the 22 people who
still like my Facebook page!!!). I'm sure plenty (like four, maybe) of my readers missed me so.
I've been busy doing this, which meant writing 2,500 word soccer columns no longer became a
priority.
Allow us to set a scene. It's a hotel a few miles from the massive National Football League stadium
in northern New Jersey. Later that day, the stadium will host a friendly soccer game between
Argentina and Brazil. Even an average American sports fan who barely follows regular season games
in the major North American sports would likely know the names Argentina and Brazil when it comes
to soccer.
As an American sports fan, my obsession with fútbol is only rivaled by my obsession with
football. Here, another team I have supported for years — decades, actually — that sports
blue and white, also recently said goodbye to a legend. When the...
An excellent write up on how the Germans do it, and I'm sure I'm not the only one who sees this
as compelling a reason as any to pull for Bayern Munich this Saturday
You need to read this if you are any kind of American sports fan. I would imagine our "big
league" franchise owners would rather this sort of information be suppressed from their "customers"
;-)
On March 29, 2009 the WPS kicked off its inaugural season with a nationally televised match-up
at the Home Depot Center. Pitting the Los Angeles Sol against the Washington Freedom, the opening
match featured Brazilian star Marta and U.S. National Team scorer Abby Wambach. At the time, this
site was just over one month old and covering the birth of the league was a natural fit.
Thinking about what to write for tonight it occurred to me that 2012 has lacked some of the big
business stories that have been an MLS trademark over the last few seasons. Obviously, the entry
of Montreal into the league was a big business story as was the start of the NBC/MLS relationship.
Over the next few weeks, two new soccer venues will open, one in Montreal and the other in
Houston.
Pimping the players? Its money to Stan the Man and the Arsenal septuagenarians
Is Arsenal breeding a particular type of player mercenary? Those without any loyalty to the
club, constantly on the lookout for the big payoff from the next big club? It's so easy to trash
them when it appears so black and white.
One of the great things about football is that it doesn't really matter much about your size,
and you don't have to be big like you do for example, in most of the American sports, and indeed
the best footballer in the world at the moment is just 5'7″ tall the great Lionel Messi, and the
Argentine is such a [.
Real Madrid have once against set up their preseason training base at UCLA and while they're in
America, they've decided to try playing baseball. For some reason, they all decided to pitch
underhand, which was apparently just fine for Xabi Alonso, who teed off on one from Higuain.
Jose Callejon ran the wrong way after getting a hit and Iker Casillas held the bat like had no
idea what it was used for while posing for a photo with a couple of visiting professional baseball
players.
Soccer fans in the Pacific Northwest have gathered over the past few weeks in bars and cafes, or
hooked up their ESPN3-streaming computers to their television sets, to watch the impressive quality
of soccer being played in Poland and Ukraine. From Greece's unlikely upset of Russia to squeak into
the knockout stage, to the calm confidence Germany exerted over their "Group of Death," Euro has
not disappointed this year.
Following on from the success of the #GrowTheGame pilot which was held in San Diego on April 14
& 15 and saw over 500 people participate in a weekend of soccer related activities, it was only a
matter of time before #GrowTheGame picked up its organizing kit and headed to a new host city to
act as a catalyst for grassroots change and new conversations between tits local soccer
community.
Just some ramblings tonight. On Monday night I was flipping the remote when I stumbled across
the MLB First Year Player Draft on the MLB Network. I'm certainly not a frequent viewer of the
station, but as a Mets fan (and yes the Santana no-hitter was an enormous moment in my personal
sports history), I happened to catch the portion of the broadcast leading up to the Mets' first
pick and I was struck by the low quality of the telecast.
There is this way in which people go around trying to compare soccer to other, "American" sports.
The comparison is inevitable, maybe -- or at least it was when soccer was still new and strange to
these parts.
Roll up, roll up. This way to see Juan Mata looking like a child extra from 'Field of Dreams',
Frank Lampard weilding his wood in public with careless abandon and David Luiz's copper wire
crimp-perm somehow condensed down into a baseball cap as Chelsea promo their pre-season tour of the
States by trying their hand at a few American sports.
