October, 2009

Soccer — Comments Off
21
Oct 09

Chivas USA and Seattle Sounders FC join playoffs

Chivas USA and Seattle Sounders FC both have guaranteed themselves a spot in the 2009 MLS Cup Playoffs. They are joining defending champions Columbus Crew along with Houston Dynamo and LA Galaxy.

That leaves 3 positions up for grabs on the last weekend of the year. Those 3 spots that are up for grabs will have 7 teams possibly still alive to grab one of them. Right now the 3 teams that control their own fate are Chicago Fire, Colorado Rapids, and Toronto FC. If they win, they are in. Chicago Fire only need a single point to ensure their spot.

The other teams that need to win and get some help are FC Dallas, New England Revolution, DC United, and Real Salt Lake. Real Salt Lake would almost need a miracle to sneak their way in, but it is still possible.

This is what the single table looks like going into the last week:

49 Columbus
45 Los Angeles
45 Houston
45 Chivas USA
44 Seattle
42 Chicago
40 Colorado
39 Toronto FC
—
39 FC Dallas
39 New England
39 D.C. United
37 Real Salt Lake
32 Kansas City
30 San Jose
18 New York

I think DC United might be able to sneak in there at the expense of the Rapids. Colorado has to play at Real Salt Lake while DC United has the Kansas City Wizards. Chicago Fire and Toronto FC will keep their positions.

What do you think? Who will grab those final 3 spots?

This post is from the Major League Soccer Fan Blog

Chivas USA and Seattle Sounders FC join playoffs

Related posts:

  1. Chicago Fire join the playoffs
  2. Galaxy, Dynamo and Crew reserve spots in playoffs
  3. Rapids Still Want Playoffs

Racing — Comments Off
20
Oct 09

NASCAR Changes Part 2 – Points System

Previously, I decided to change the format of the Chase. Now I'm going to tackle the tricky world of points and points racing.

The biggest complaint about the points - winning doesn't pay enough - will be taken care of with this system. Some favor awarding the winner as inordinate amount of points, but that's not feasible or necessary. However, there are fair points to make: winning deserves a nice bonus.

Other changes I think that need to happen are for the top 5, top 10, and top 20 to be awarded a better percentage of points., top 5, top 10, top 20 receive higher points – 35th through 43rd receive same amount of points, something that's been a popular position to take. It's now reality.

Another complaint as the years have gone on has been the devaluing of qualifying. Back in the old days, qualifying was important. Qualifying was fun. Guys wanted to be the one that sat on the pole and led the field to green. Honest ask yourself, is qualifying as important as it used to be? The answer, of course, is no. That's going to change, because the polesitter will now earn an extra 5 points. Come Chase-time, that's going to be big. Also, I'm keeping the 5 points for leading and leading the most laps in place.

To sum up, I think these changes will be good for the points because you can't rely on the same thing for decades upon end. They need to be updated with the times. Now, you can win the pole, lead the most laps, win the race, and take home 215 points while second place takes home 180 if they don't lead a lap.

Finish Points

Pos. Current TCS proposal

1st - 185 - 200

2nd - 170 - 180

3rd - 165 - 170

4th - 160 - 160

5th - 155 - 150

6th - 150 - 145

7th - 146 - 140

8th - 142 - 135

9th - 138 - 130

10th - 134 - 125

11th - 130 - 121

12th - 127 - 117

13th - 124 - 113

14th - 121 - 109

15th - 118 - 105

16th - 115 - 102

17th - 112 - 99

18th - 109 - 96

19th - 106 - 93

20th - 103 - 90

21st - 100 - 87

22nd - 97 - 84

23rd - 94 - 81

24th - 91 - 78

25th - 88 - 75

26th - 85 - 72

27th - 82 - 69

28th - 79 - 66

29th - 76 - 63

30th - 73 - 60

31st - 70 - 57

32nd - 67 - 54

33rd - 64 - 51

34th - 61 - 48

35th - 58 - 45

36th - 55 - 45

37th - 52 - 45

38th - 49 - 45

39th - 46 - 45

40th - 43 - 45

41st - 40 - 45

42nd - 37 - 45

43rd - 34 - 45

Racing — Comments Off
9
Oct 09

Standardized Start Times A Win For Fans

Check out my latest post at On Pit Row.
Racing — Comments Off
7
Oct 09

Motorsports Authentics On Verge Of Bankruptcy

Story from Reuters.

I guess when you make crappy products, this sort of thing will happen. In all seriousness though, I remember saying years ago that this was a bad idea when you a complete standardization of racing apparel and diecasts. The market worked better when there were competing companies that actually made items worth buying. Maybe it's because I stopped collecting, but the diecast business doesn't seem to be as booming as it was. I haven't bought a new racing hat in over a year because the older ones I have are better. I think it's time to declare MA a failure. My fear was oversaturation of a few certain drivers, and that's what happened. There really are fans of drivers other than the top 5 most marketable and when those fans can't find anything to buy to support their drivers, they go away. Add to that less people watching and paying attention to NASCAR now, this really shouldn't surprise anyone.
Soccer — Comments Off
7
Oct 09

Galaxy, Dynamo and Crew reserve spots in playoffs

Three teams have booked their spots in the 2009 Major League Soccer playoffs.  The defending champions Columbus Crew are in and currently leading the whole league with 46 points and even a game in hand over several of the teams chasing them. At 44 points the champions of 2006 and 2007 Houston Dynamo are in. The LA Galaxy are also in the playoffs with 44 points as well. The Galaxy also happen to be 2005 MLS Cup champions. Although they haven’t done much since then Bruce Arena has them moving in the right direction now.

If we keep going like this the 2004 champions should be the next team to qualify. That would have to take quite an amazing run from DC United as they are currently 5 points behind 4th place Seattle Sounders FC.

Here is the current situation:

46 Columbus
44 Los Angeles
44 Houston
41 Seattle [@KC, FC Dallas]
41 Chivas USA [KC, San Jose, @Chicago, Houston]
41 Chicago [@New England, Chivas USA]
40 Colorado [@FC Dallas, @RSL]
38 New England [Columbus, Chicago, @Columbus]
—
36 D.C. United [Columbus, @KC]
35 Toronto FC [San Jose, RSL, @NY]
34 Real Salt Lake [NY, @Toronto FC, Colorado]
33 FC Dallas [@San Jose, Colorado, @Seattle]
32 Kansas City [@Chivas USA, Seattle, DC United]
28 San Jose
18 New York

Seattle Sounders FC, Chivas USA, and Chicago Fire should all be okay to get into the playoffs. Colorado has 2 games against slightly weaker opponents than others, but they are both on the road. New England has 3 games left, but they have to face league leading Crew twice and Chicago once. I think Toronto FC has a good chance of jumping over DC United and New England to get that last playoff stop. That is my prediction today at least.

Who do you think will be in the playoffs?

This post is from the Major League Soccer Fan Blog

Galaxy, Dynamo and Crew reserve spots in playoffs

Related posts:

  1. Chivas USA and Seattle Sounders FC join playoffs
  2. 4 Teams Qualified For Playoffs Already
  3. Chicago Fire join the playoffs

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