A late withdrawal prompted changes to two Men's Over-30 groups and the schedule for Madison United's 19th annual President's Cup indoor soccer tournament, which is next weekend at BreakAway Sports Center in Madison and Keva Sports Center in Middleton.

The St. Charles Celtics pulled out of the event and were replaced by Madison-area team Galaxy.

The Madison Celtics and Sharpshooters FC are atop the Madison Soccer Association standings as the league takes its summer break.

The Celtics sit atop the Division 1 table with a 4-1-1 record and 13 points, one ahead of Madison Eagle and Madison United (4-2-0). League matches resume in August, with the playoffs in October.

There is plenty to say about sports in New England. Intimacy isn't necessarily what first comes to mind. Not as much as, say, titles, playoffs, trophies, and the like. With six states sharing one professional sports team for each of the top-tier sports, it can be a challenge to stand by your team through the entirety of its season.

After the Chicago Bulls drubbed the Miami Heat in Game 1 of the 2011 Eastern Conference Finals, fans have jumped off the Heat bandwagon in a major fashion. Just a couple days ago, their bandwagon was full. Now it's difficult to find a fan who still believes that the Heat can beat the Bulls.

But it's still very much possible.

Springfield SC (red) vs Scott Gallagher, MRL 2008

As the High School season comes to a close, so is the Club season. There are effectively three levels of competition now in the US with the highest level being the US Soccer Development Academies such as the JR Sporting KC program in KC.

I've already examined the NFL and NHL, so now it's time for professional basketball.
What if the NBA had implemented a system of promotion and relegation? There was no obvious point to start like with the NFL and NHL, so I settled on the 1967-68 season. That's when the league was expanded to 12 team, the same starting number I used for the NHL, and it also means that all three of these posts started right around the same time.

(I originally wrote this post over two weeks ago. But for whatever reason I sat on it, and then sat on it some more. It may be a little dated the NCAA Championship game was the worst ever but Arsenal's continuing incompetence which gave United the title without even playing brought this back to life.

Let's talk about MLS 1.0 for a minute. Via Fake Sigi, The Viper's Nest blog puts forward some explanations as to why the Red Bulls haven't lived up to expectations, viz., anyone wanting to see their games. Worrisome stuff.
But it's New England's woes that I find jarring.
Hey, it's early.

The team has already made the trek, but the broadcasters follow on Friday a.m. via three different flights from three different ports. If all goes well, we should be in our southeastern Mass. digs by 9 p.m. ET, just in time to catch the second half of the Sox opener with the locals.
I'm a New England guy, but my teams are the Red Sox and Bruins.

Dwight Howard se burla de LeBron James pre-game Heat-Magic haciendo mimica del talco que usa James y alguna que otra payasada mas, pero resulta ser que Lebron le respondió con (51 puntos -17/25 en tiros- 11 rebotes y 8 asistencias) , y una victoria contundente de 100-104.

Por cierto ahi viene el juego de estrellas.

¿Qué mejor momento para hablar de Escocia que tras un Old Firm?. Ayer se disputó el más clásico de todos los clásicos en el fútbol escocés en un partido muy emotivo porque se hacía honor al 40 aniversario de la catástrofe de Ibrox. Se enfrentaban Rangers y Celtic en el Ibrox Stadium para luchar como casi siempre por el primer puesto en la tabla.