It's time for US Soccer to turn it's back on the Home Depot Center. It's time to stop this nonsense and start playing matches in cities that actually give a damn about American soccer. Alright I admit this isn't going to happen but that won't stop me from making the argument.
Let's begin with the most important black mark on the credibility of the Home Depot Center.

Since we got our butts kicked last month by a team we had no business losing to – a team whose best player was injured, whose GNP per capita ranks 194th in the world behind such worldwide superpowers as Uzbekistan, Bangladesh, and Mauritania, and whose land area is somewhere between the size of Michigan and Minnesota – I have seen a number of arguments about who our next coach should be.

photo credit: Aitor Escauriaza

That is NOT a weakness.

Arsene Wenger seems to think that Barcelona has weaknesses he can exploit when his Gunners matchup with Barca in their second leg of the Champion's League.

Wenger knows that Barca will be missing Ibrahimovic and Puyol AND Pique.

While MLS attendance figures have always been slavishly tracked and overanalyzed on BigEvil, it seems like they're everywhere this season. And no wonder, when you see what happened to the traffic of the MLS Daily blog once it started publishing comprehensive, easily viewable attendance stats.
So now you've got:

-the eminently reasonable Tom Dunmore coming out to laugh and point fingers at the New York team for suffering a precipitous drop in attendance for the second game in its shiny new stadium;
-Michael Lewis interviewing New York players about what's gone wrong in the stands;
-Duane Rollins ruminating on the empty seats at BMO stadium on the weekend; and
-Jason Davis leading the charge to curbstomp Dallas (and lord did that turn into a gang-kill).

Technorati Tags: Butts, cup training, exercise, maradona, training, world cup

Technorati Tags: Butts, cup training, exercise, maradona, training, world cup

Totally copied promo pic from LA Galaxy official website

ARE YOU READY FOR SOME FUTBOL!?!?!

Sorry. Couldn't resist. The overwhelming hype generated by the promotional engines of MLS, Red Bull, and AEG for today's match-up between the Los Angeles Galaxy and New York Red Bulls swept me away.

It has been an incredible year of soccer in Philadelphia. Over the next few weeks, we'll be taking a look back over 2010, the year soccer came home to Philly, as seen through the lenses of the PSP photographers—Daniel Gajdamowicz, Paul Rudderow and Nicolae Stoian. You can view the collection of photo essays here.

photo credit: ikeX

Hey, how's it going? I'm the New Year's Baby. Aren't I adorable? Of course I am. I'm a freaking baby. Well, anyways, I would like to share some of the New Year's Resolutions I have come up with for three US Soccer stars. Now, I know what you are thinking: "Yeah right, kid, you can't even wipe your own ass, but you are going to tell three of the best athletes in the US how to play the beautiful game?

HAPPY NEW YEAR! LTLF is giving you the chance to start the new year with a competition to win a signed copy of Kenny Burns autobiography No ifs or butts. If you managed to get along to the "Audience with Kenny Burns and guests" at The Approach last month then you should already have a copy [...]

Be afraid. Be very afraid.

Diego Maradona is preparing to launch his own television and Internet channel.

Details are scarce. But the debut is coming next week.
Hold onto your butts.

I picked up this book at the excellent 'Evening with..' night at The Approach back in December, but given Christmas kerfuffles it's taken me a while to get around to reading it. However, it's been worth the wait to have read through Kenny Burns' book, 'No Ifs Or Butts.' Being a fan too young to have [.

Certainly the Reds are the butts of a lot of one-liners these days. And I'm OK with that.
Footy Factor provided the cartoon and caption to this one:

Breaking News: The players from Liverpool FC visited the local Children's Hospital in Liverpool .

Four Dollar Beers!

The Rapids are really busting out some great ideas. Terraces, 4$ beer, 5$ food, ticketless entry.

But it isn't just Colorado who has decided that they are tired of losing money.

The Revolution are kicking their ticketing buzz up a bit too. They launched a referral program, with a hell of a peak prize - trip to the All Star Game.

I'm writing this the morning after. I'm sick, I'm tired, I'm angry and I'm sad.

I'm sad for our fans. 5,000+ showed up on Easter Sunday, cheered loudly throughout the game and supported us in increased numbers throughout the season.

I'm sad for our owners Jim and Nancy Lindenberg.

The bottom line for any sports franchise, the true determining factor of success is the simple old metric: Butts in Seats. In the hotel business, this is known as "heads in beds." Without an historically-strong squad to promote, the club is banking on the allure of Red Bull Arena to drive season ticket sales.

IT IS A JUNGLE OUT THERE...
Things at Turkish Turkcell Super League are getting hotter as we get close to the end of the rope.
It is like jungle ...
Crocodiles of Bursa , canneries of Fenerbahce , lions of Galatasaray and eagles of Besiktas are fighting, in this jungle to be the number in Turkey.

When the Sounders put on a stinker against the Galaxy the owners performed a deft PR move. They gave the season ticket holders a refund for that game in the form of credits for next year. This accomplished two things that FCD needs to take note of. It let the fans know that they care. And more importantly it let the fans know that they aren't going to put up with poor play and they are willing to put their money where their mouth is.

Episode 79: "Send Them Back to My Front Yard"

Host: Scott Bornstein
Panel: Erik Young, Richard Oram, Brian Zygo
DOWNLOAD Episode 79
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Scott is back with the longest show in our history.

Scott is back with the longest show in our history, of course that is what you get for letting Richard Oram and Erik Young be on the panel together and drink beer throughout the show. Throw in orange crush Brian Zygo and hold on to your butts. Listen here at CSRN

So falls the rain, and we've received just what we needed, a goalfest. The battle for third was a truly entertaining game, and no matter what anyone else says, I'll happily state that so far, with only the final left, Uruguay - Germany was my favorite game of the World Cup. This goalfest for third probably indicatest that the final will have a goal in it, if we're lucky.

While MLS attendance figures have always been slavishly tracked and overanalyzed on BigEvil, it seems like they're everywhere this season. And no wonder, when you see what happened to the traffic of the MLS Daily blog once it started publishing comprehensive, easily viewable attendance stats.
So now you've got:

-the eminently reasonable Tom Dunmore coming out to laugh and point fingers at the New York team for suffering a precipitous drop in attendance for the second game in its shiny new stadium;
-Michael Lewis interviewing New York players about what's gone wrong in the stands;
-Duane Rollins ruminating on the empty seats at BMO stadium on the weekend; and
-Jason Davis leading the charge to curbstomp Dallas (and lord did that turn into a gang-kill).

For most, the 2010 high school soccer season starts tonight. For some, it started Tuesday night. I want to reach out to the players and give them a couple words to think about. I know you guys worked your butts off to get here. I know the sacrifices you make to be the best at the sport you love. The beautiful game.

It doesn't look good. The players who we count on and hope that will lead us to success in 2012 don't play football. Soon they'll get corns on their butts from sitting on the bench or in the stands. Is it possible to built a team made up almost entirely of bench warmers? Smuda has no other choice.

With each passing game new FC Dallas CEO Doug Quinn does something I wish more clubs would take on. He challenges the other club's front office in a friendly wager for season tickets for local charities. So far as you're probably aware Dallas is doing pretty well in getting season tickets for it's local organizations.