Feel free to indulge yourself in DK's delightfully round calves @ 0:20. We did. Cheers SM!
Chivas goalkeeper Dan Kennedy is a multi-tasker. Not only can he deliver genuine lines about how
the American Youth Soccer Organisation (AYSO) helped him earlier in his career whilst smiling
widely, he also knows how to plant naughty subliminal images in our minds with a simple shake of
his hips.
David Beckham's reent ejection from a youth soccer game has been receiving a lot of attention in
the press. To hear Becks describe it, he quite rightly protested a referee ejecting a 7-year old
from a youth soccer game and the ref kicked him out of the park as a result.
If Beckham's telling is accurate, it seems the ref overreacted twice and this is all much ado
about nothing.
Revolution right back Kevin Alston keeps a close eye on Galaxy midfielder Miguel Lopez (Photo:
Chris Aduama/aduama.com).
Heads down. Hands on hips. That was the unofficial pose of the Revolution defense in 2011.
After giving away goals at a philanthropic rate (58, the second-most in MLS last season) it's
not a stretch to say that the biggest task head coach Jay Heaps faces this offseason is improving
his team's porous D.
Another season of AYSO is in the books. Once again I coached a U-14 boys team. That means the
team consisted of 12 and 13 year-olds. We were the Honey Badgers.
This year was tough. We played 10 league matches. Our record was 0-9-1. Our goal difference was
minus 26. We didn't score a goal until our 6th match, which coincided with out first lead of the
season.
*With 12 days top go until MLS Cup 2011 in Carson, the trophy arrives in Southern California at
11 a.m. today at Pacific Park on the Santa Monica Pier with a police escort accompanied by former
Galaxy players Alexi Lalas and Mauricio Cienfuegos in a VW convertible.
*Meanwhile, Dynamo fans have gobbled up their allotment of tickets for a game the club insists
it can win without star player Brad Davis - just as it has won big games without big names in the
past.
And by hold the line I mean "keep raising prices." Neil deMause of Field of Schemes writing in
Slate on the dip in demand for sporting event tickets in America:
Where we look to be headed, then, is a two-tiered system. A handful of top teams and
events will be able to charge whatever they want, while most everyone else is forced to give away
tickets.
Yrsa Roca Fannberg, from the male bonding series (2009)David Lynch might have scripted some of the
scenes in our experiment with the American Youth Soccer Organization. Some days, things would be
that baroque, that strange. This was especially true when it came to the security guard hired by
AYSO to monitor the field.
Yrsa Roca Fannberg, from the male bonding series (2009)David Lynch might have scripted some of the
scenes in our experiment with the American Youth Soccer Organization. Some days, things would be
that baroque, that strange. This was especially true when it came to the security guard hired by
AYSO to monitor the field.
Watching Gold Cup matches that do not involve the U.S. or Mexico can often be a tough thing to
endure. Exhibit A: Watching Grenada can resemble a local AYSO rec league match that ran out of
Capri Suns. However, the late night matchup between Guatemala and Honduras had me rather intrigued.
It was a chance to watch Carlos Ruiz and Marco Pappa take their MLS talents and represent
Guatemala.
One of Pico Union's many murals (intersection of 7th and Westlake) A couple years ago, I helped
establish an adult men's soccer league in a neighborhood just east of downtown Los Angeles. Our
league was affiliated with the American Youth Soccer Organization (AYSO) and only lasted two years.
It has taken me a little time to gain some distance on what was both an incredible and depressing
experience.
It's at 7 p.m. Saturday at Home Depot Center (live on ESPN2).
In other local soccer news:
*Remember when the Galaxy foolishly shot their collective mouths off about being a so-called
"Super Club," a hollow boast that roughly coincided with the worst period in the club's history
thanks to Ruud Gullit, Alexi Lalas et al.