The transformation from Bruce Banner to the Incredible Hulk still isn't an easy process to watchHello? Is this thing still on? Oh good, you're still here.
Apologies for the delay in regular programming but, fret not, The Boys From White Hart Lane is back from it's Christmas hiatus and is ready to rock your socks off all over again in this new year.

Where the storyline are in U.S. soccer for 2012

Wondering where the big talkers will come from in our soccer world in 2012? The answers are in my piece that posted yesterday at SI.com. Feel free to drop some of these little nuggets of knowledge at the water cooler today as you climb back into the work seat for the New Year.

Currently considering trading TFC Academy for magic beansFor a brief period a little over a year ago, Earl Cochrane was in charge of Toronto FC lock, stock and Barrett. While Jurgen Klinsmann was busy searching the planet for the management team that would eventually be headed by Aron Winter, Cochrane had the keys to the player cabinet and even seemed to be in the running to grab the permanent GM job.

The feeling on the Chelsea forums can be described as depressed whilst still cautiously optimistic. Their predictions hinge on whether or not Bale and King are available for us. King because in the games he's played for us this season we have 25 out of 27 points. Bale because up against Bosingwa, they reckon he'll easily be able to get in behind him and get crosses in.

Sure, it's midday Saturday, but that doesn't mean the week should go without an OFF-topic post.

The theme this week is the starter/appetizer/amuse bouche/small plate/tapas, by now I think you have the point. Some day, after winning the lottery or finding some rich patron, I would love to do a soccer & beer bar that only serves starters.

We're finally back to some league action again after the two week hiatus. I guess in England they'd call that a fortnight. Anyway, we're off to the east coast of England to take on Norwich at Carrow Road in an early morning (North American time) tilt.
Before I get to the official preview, let's check in on some injury notes.

Week after week, planet football delivers magic moments that deserve a wider audience. Prior to the invention of YouTube, those wonderous nuggets would have been lost in time, remembered only by those brave souls who attend matches in the violence-blighted Argentinian Fourth Division. But not any more and this week is no exception.

By "The Other 87 Minutes" / Senior Unemployed English Major CorrespondentsIf you're like us (that is, currently residing in America, somewhat interested in soccer, and on Twitter way more than is healthy) then chances are you've experienced within the last week the absolute wonder that is John Harkes.

We know it's a big and extremely difficult game when Wenger himself calls it a real test and a Cup final. But I don't want to spend too much time building this fixture up. Those visiting this blog know the significance well enough.

The stats pack on Arsenal website provides some interesting nuggets.

Apologies, the this following post about tonight's U.S. National Team friendly vs. those dastardly devils from Ecuador (ESPN2, 7 p.m.) if it feels like a term paper written by a kid during his senior year in high school in the month of June.Instead of belaboring that point, here are a couple quick thoughts from the Honduras game coupled with some other nuggets.

MLS Commissioner Don Garber spoke to the media tonight here at the FC Dallas-New York Red Bulls match. A few interesting nuggets from the commish, one for me being that expansion is no longer the top priority with the league.

He also mentioned that there were several suitors for the club in New York but nothing new on that front really.

As far as Soccer websites go, there are a mountainous volume to choose from. Sites, whether hobby or business, try to keep an audience by covering certain areas of interest. It's impossible for one site to dominate; Soccer is too big of a subject.
Some sites act as funnels, sharing articles from the web, others only write original content.

Map of birthplaces for players currently in La Liga (excluding Spain)

This is our second post in our series on the origins of players previously we looked at the Premier League. La Liga is little different from the Premier League, both in terms of infrastructure ("B" squads can compete in lower divisions) and culturally (Athletic Bilbao has a policy to only sign players from the Basque region).

You know, no matter how disheartening the season just gone has been, pre-season generally provides a measure of confidence. A page has been turned over like some kind of new leaf, and you go into the new one full of hope and optimisim.

It's hard to feel that yet this summer, I have to say. I know that much of it has to do with the blanket coverage, the Twittering, the non-stop chatter about Arsenal when we might be best served stepping away for a little while and not analysing the ever-loving shite out of every single utterance made by every single person connected with the club.

Soccer Quants Finding New Numbers To Judge Quality

Still much is hidden by the clubs as they don't want to give up advantages, but correlations between Sprints and Points on Table have been discovered. Importance of tackles has been reduced.

In all you can find many nuggets, but not much meat in this large post on the developments of soccer analytics over the past decade.

In case you missed these nuggets from the FIFA scandal...*This was literally one of the kickbacks at the heart of the current firestorm at FIFA, delivered by Mohammed Bin-Hammam to Caribbean Football Union members, and sealed with a kiss from a nice Mr. Warner - allegedly!Four bundles of $100 bills totaling $40,000 neatly packed in a nice brown envelope.

Major League Soccer commissioner Don Garber was at the AT&T Sports Franchises and Facilities conference, hosted by SBJ/SBD. He took part in a little Q&A and offered up some interesting nuggets on expansion and TV ratings.

On expansion:

We are focused on New York.

Well maybe not everything. There is no mention of the important things like the selection of beer available to local drunks and the price of the stadium dog but there's a bunch of other random nuggets in there from Vancouver radio personality Peter Schaad who has apparently taken it upon himself to give us guided tours of every MLS stadium.

- Keith Hickey (With special thanks to Ray Escamilla) The MLS Players' Union released the salaries for all of their members (every player in Major League Soccer) today. I sifted through the raw data to bring you the most interesting nuggets of information. All figures use the "guaranteed compensation" statistics.

Two big pieces of news today. first the Rapids officially announced that they'll be back on altitude in HD this year for 27 games. That appears to be every non-FSC or ESPN game, and the two ESPN games will be rebroadcast on Altitude. When the games overlap a Nuggets or Avalanche game the game will be on Altitude 2.

The MeloDrama is finally over. According to the Denver Post, Carmelo Anthony has officially been traded to the New York Knicks. Carmelo Anthony has to be ecstatic because he wanted to go to the Knicks all along. The Knicks have to be happy because they landed their man. The big losers? The New Jersey Nets.

Thankfully, the NBA trade deadline is this coming Thursday. At that point, we can finally be done with the drama surrounding Carmelo Anthony. It seems like the Carmelo Anthony trade rumors change every hour. Carmelo is going to the Lakers! Carmelo is going to the Knicks! Carmelo is going to the Nets!

The last we saw of Raymond Domenech, he was immersed in a witness protection program masquerading as some sort of poker crash course. Now that the money's dried up from that little venture, he's back for more cash with his very first exclusive post-World Cup meltdown interview to be released amidst pomp and several forms of circumstance tomorrow.

Denver, Colorado The Colorado Rapids are out to set the record straight. It seems most long-time area residents refuse to believe that they are in fact the defending MLS champions.
It seems the confusion began this January when are residents who had previously bought single-game tickets received direct mailings offering season ticket pages for "your defending champion Colorado Rapids.

US Soccer may not have a game Wednesday, but it will still have a voice.

On the site we will have a few words from Sunil Gulati that I recorded in conversation with him a few Saturdays ago at the Home Depot Center after the Chile game.

Upcoming...

TSG was privileged to be allowed to listen to Gulati discuss everything from red jerseys to the CONCACAF changes in a closed door fan session before the match.

Never quite seen the attraction in Darren Bent. Old school forward, nothing more. Does a job at fair to middling clubs. Moving to Villa for 24 million is lunacy, I thought England was in the middle of a financial crisis?
Anyway why don't we start valuing players based on the number of followers they have on Twitter?

and
In case your resolution was to avoid online chatter, here is the official TFC leadership group announced at the ACC press conference today.
There is a team approach to the new TFC leadership. So forgive me if my labels are simple. Aron Winter seems to be both coach and technical director.