A cloudy morning in Phoenix is a godsend, don't ever let anyone tell you differently. Some things I have noticed or thought about in the last few hours include:

• TNT's Chip Caray is just getting crushed for his performance in last night's one game playoff between the Tigers and Twins.

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Greg Thorn writes:

Everything would change for me in 2007 when my wife and I moved to Kansas City. There, I was finally able to get intrenched in supporting an MLS team and quickly began to cheer for an exciting Wizards forward named Eddie Johnson. My support for Kansas City was soon equaled by my support for my new/old favorite team, Seattle Sounders FC.

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It's that time again.� Time to take notice and realize that the NHL and NBA seasons start way too soon.� It could also be that they end in June, way too late.� � Either way, they are burning the public out.� Their schedule is way too long.

Tonight is the NHL's opening night and it feels like, your kidding, right, didn't it just end like a month ago?

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I recently read an article about ways to make the NHL more popular in America. Since MLS has its own shortcomings in popularizing the sport in America, it served as inspiration for this masterpiece. Here, I bestow upon you Seven Ways To Make Americans Care About MLS:

7. Free Beer – Do I really need to explain this?

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The couple links I bring tonight are all solid. In fact they each could have easily gotten their own posts had I not been working on other things today, including the ground work of a possible new design for this site (yeah that's a long ways off though). Still each are very interesting and deserve a full read if you haven't done so already.

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Thanks to Kenn Tomasch we can now be underwhelmed with USL attendance for the 2009 regular season. Remember that the Rowdies will be in a league with some or all (we hope) of these outfits in 2010.
Montreal Impact are by far the standouts in this group with an average attendance in excess of twelve thousand a game. Click to continue reading...

ESPN's SportsNation has spoken in regards to what the average american sports fan thinks about soccer, and it certainly seems like this past summer has increased the interest level of our game-
Which is more likely in the next 10 years?
Cubs win the World Series - 40%
Danica wins the Indy 500 - 37%
U. Click to continue reading...

There are loads of articles out there in the interwebs today regarding Kyrgiakos' move to Liverpool.� I'll just link to some of the more widely-read sources, such as the BBC and the Telegraph.� TVNZ, a site I'd never visited before today but which boasts that it is the "Best Sports Site" according to Quantas Airlines, is reporting on a statement supposedly put out by Kyrgiakos apologizing to fans and clearing up confusion over remarks he made just a week earlier when he claimed he would not move to PAO and was going to play for AEK for Four years:

Liverpool new boy Sotiris Kyrgiakos has delivered a public apology to Greek fans after realising his lifelong dream.

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It started in nhl and I started wandering would this be same with soccer? The question came about because the NBA, beginning next season, will let teams sell ads on their practice jerseys and is exploring allowing them on game jerseys.
I understand the economy stinks and leagues are looking for any way to give teams a financial boost. Click to continue reading...

Today's Talking Point

Shootouts after regular season ties seemed to have been confined to MLS' bad-ideas-graveyard, but when an owner of a successful MLS expansion franchise wants to bring them back, you have to wonder what is going on his head.

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Claudio Lopez has won the MLS Goal of the Week award for his INCREDIBLE long-range strike against LA over the weekend from his own side of the half line. This is his second Goal of the Week honor of the season. Now some links for your enjoyment:
1. There were lots of different versions yesterday, but here's the CNN story on President Obama calling for the World Cup to come to the U. Click to continue reading...

You gotta love the winds of change sometimes. After moaning for months about our the economic status at the club, co-owner George Gillett went out and made a big pledge to the future of the club by selling his 80.1% stake in the NHL's Montreal Candians. And with Tom Hicks set to sell his majority stake in the Texas Rangers, things could well be looking up (but let's not hold our breath just yet).

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You gotta love the winds of change sometimes. After moaning for months about our the economic status at the club, co-owner George Gillett went out and made a big pledge to the future of the club by selling his 80.1% stake in the NHL's Montreal Candians. And with Tom Hicks set to sell his majority stake in the Texas Rangers, things could well be looking up (but let's not hold our breath just yet).

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You gotta love the winds of change sometimes. After moaning for months about our the economic status at the club, co-owner George Gillett went out and made a big pledge to the future of the club by selling his 80.1% stake in the NHL's Montreal Candians. And with Tom Hicks set to sell his majority stake in the Texas Rangers, things could well be looking up (but let's not hold our breath just yet).

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Fernando Torres has laughed off rumours of a switch to Chelsea, insisting he wants to win trophies with Liverpool.
The news comes as the proposed sale of George Gillett's ice hockey club Montreal Canadiens offers hope the financial cloud over Anfield can be lifted.
Reports yesterday suggested that just a week after Torres was linked with a shock move to North West rivals Manchester United, Chelsea are now planning to test Liverpool's resolve over their Spanish striker with an audacious £50m bid. Click to continue reading...

Bruno look alike on his way to London?
This could just be the bullshit that is British sunday papers talking - but there are various reports coming out of England that Chelsea will make an audacious bid to pry Fernando Torres from Liverpool. And that Liverpool's true financial state will be revealed over the coming weeks to be too weak to resist the offer. Click to continue reading...

7 minutes is all we need from Sportscenter. It's not too much to ask is it? Hell, they spent more than 7 minutes on mock drafts for the NHL surely they can make time for weekly highlights for a league whose games they air. Click to continue reading...

With J Hutcherson -- During Tuesday's Barcelona - Chelsea game, some of you might have noticed the scroll letting us know that the National Hockey League's leadership wasn't interested in a second Toronto club. Taking that a step further, a second Toronto club was way down the list in the unlikely event that the NHL wanted to relocate a club or expand their league. Click to continue reading...

Sticking with our theme of American (well, North American anyway) sports stars playing soccer, have a look at Dominic Moore of the Toronto Maple Leafs here. Moore's hockey stick was broken so he decided to briefly play a proper sport and use his feet. And check it out: Moore's two footed! Dribbles through nicely before laying [. Click to continue reading...

Before the weekend began I think any Sabres fan would have been happy taking two points against tough opponents on back-to-back nights.  So now I ask if you are happy that the Sabres earned two points because of their shootout win on Friday night against the Rangers? Click to continue reading...

When you are dealing with a niche sport, the marketing buzzwords change completely. Hockey is one of those niche sports, and it's clear that the NHL is no longer a part of the "Big Four" leagues. There is the Big Three (NFL, MLB, NBA) and then there is hockey, stuck in the middle of the [...] Click to continue reading...

Goalie Ryan Miller bailed out his sleepwalking team early, enabling the Buffalo Sabres to wake up and pull out a 2-1 shootout win over the New York Rangers on Friday night. Click to continue reading...

Vanek has 27 goals and entered Thursday's play tied for the league lead with two of his fellow East reserves, Washington's Alexander Ovechkin and Philadelphia's Jeff Carter. Click to continue reading...

Derek Roy had a goal and two assists and the Buffalo Sabres avoided blowing a three-goal lead to beat the slumping road-weary Ottawa Senators 4-2 on Tuesday night. Click to continue reading...

Before we talk about the game itself, we should probably get this out of the way. I'm not really sure how to react to it because I've never seen anyone get bit during a hockey game. These are the kinds of things I'm just not prepared to discuss, so I apologize if this is meaningless. Click to continue reading...

Perhaps the sub-head should be; "Or how the mighty have fallen." Two years ago, the Sabres raced out to the best record in the league only to fall short in the playoffs. We all know how they fared last year. Last year the Senators had all of Canada talking about if they could topple the Montreal Canadiens [. Click to continue reading...

Jason Pominville and Derek Roy received the message loud and clear. Just 48 hours after being called out by coach Lindy Ruff, the linemates scored two goals apiece to lead the visiting Buffalo Sabres over the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-1 in NHL action on Thursday night. Ruff was upset after Buffalo lost to the visiting Washington Capitals [. Click to continue reading...

Jason Pominville and Derek Roy received the message loud and clear. Just 48 hours after being called out by coach Lindy Ruff, the linemates scored two goals apiece to lead the visiting Buffalo Sabres over the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-1 in NHL action on Thursday night. Ruff was upset after Buffalo lost to the visiting Washington Capitals [. Click to continue reading...

Thad over at The Back Post is reporting that the Wizards have a new beat writer to replace Bob Luder whose name has come up in the Star's recent layoffs. According to Thad, the new writer is Randy Covitz, who is currently with the Star. From a quick search of the Star's website, it looks like recently, Covitz has been mainly covering NASCAR and racing for the Star. Click to continue reading...

Allegedly at least, according to some Canadians. Now everyone repeat after me: "We are NOT the NASL. We are NOT the NHL. We are NOT Starbucks." Click to continue reading...

The line for a MLS expansion team just got a little longer as Eugene Melnyk, owner of the NHL's Ottawa Senators, has meet with league officials to discuss a move to Canada's capital.
The report says Melnyk and MLS met last Thursday. Although no specifics are known, Melnyk does bring with him a $1. Click to continue reading...

If any of us had to guess who the potential Canadian cities are that would be likely to become the home of a new MLS team I'm sure we'd all go with Montreal or Vancouver, right?

Well the National Post reports that there is some interest in bringing Major League Soccer to Ottawa. The owner of the NHL's Ottawa Senators has spoke with Major League Soccer about bringing soccer into Ottawa.

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After the DC game, I was calling for changes - even if it went as far as benching Conway a game - to do whatever it takes to wake this team up. But Osorio took it to another level, and it nearly paid off with a W. An excellent effort by the midfield, good stand up play by Goldthwaite and the backline, and the Bulls were one mistake away from a win.

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I was playing with this in my head the other night. It's completely impractical, but what if the groups for Euro 2008 were put together based on geography? You might have something like this...
Alpine Group
Austria
France
Germany
Switzerland
Eastern Group
Croatia
Poland
Romania
Russia
Mediterranean Group
Italy
Spain
Greece
Turkey
Northern Group
Czech Republic
Holland
Portugal
Sweden
Ok, Portugal isn't exactly in the north, but they had to go somewhere. Click to continue reading...

I was playing with this in my head the other night. It's completely impractical, but what if the groups for Euro 2008 were put together based on geography? You might have something like this...
Alpine Group
Austria
France
Germany
Switzerland
Eastern Group
Croatia
Poland
Romania
Russia
Mediterranean Group
Italy
Spain
Greece
Turkey
Northern Group
Czech Republic
Holland
Portugal
Sweden
Ok, Portugal isn't exactly in the north, but they had to go somewhere. Click to continue reading...