December, 2009

NFL American Football — Comments Off
11
Dec 09

The AFL Frowns Upon Your World Cup Shenanigans

FOOTY! WHAT!?God, I love Australia. Nowhere else in the world will you find so many football codes constantly warring with each other for the hearts and minds of the people. How many epic pub brawls have started over rugby league fans calling Aussie rules a girl’s game, or vice versa? The world may never know, and more’s the pity.

The latest battle in the Aussie Football Wars, however, won’t be fought over beers. Lost amidst the massive English and American bids for the 2018 World Cup is the fact that Australia would like to host FIFA’s big show, too, because soccer is growing down under, too.

And guess what? The AFL and NRL aren’t giving up their stadiums for your girl’s game. Oh, no.

See, unlike England and America, Australia has not one, but two major pro football leagues in season in June and July, and those leagues aren’t too keen on giving up some of their stadiums in the middle of the season. Sure, the World Cup might be the biggest sporting event on the planet and might bring unprecedented tourism dollars to Australia. That won’t stop the AFL and NRL from looking at it as a not only a huge shot in the arm to the competition, but a massive pain in the ass.

Perhaps if Football Federation Australia really wants to follow through on its darkhorse bid, it should start considering some new construction. Melbourne Cricket Ground can fit 100,000 people, but for a soccer game, they’ll all be about half a mile away from the action. Imagine paying the GDP of Slovenia for front row seats to the World Cup Final, only to find your view is partially obstructed by that bench 20 yards in front of you.

As much as I’d love to see the World Cup return to the States, I’m now hoping Australia does get it soon, if only to see just how ugly and bitter the Aussie Football Wars can get. I can’t wait to see the AFL devise ways to lure packs of Brazilians and Ivorians down to Docklands. “We’ll show ya some real footy, mates!” The resulting confusion alone might make for great television.

(Spotted on Pitch Invasion.)

NFL American Football — Comments Off
8
Dec 09

USL Declares These Bitches Better Have Its Money

The news last week that the Rochester Rhinos had decided to join the breakaway North American Soccer League had most of us believing that this new league might stand a decent chance of happening. A USL stalwart like Rochester wouldn’t leave unless it felt league certification from the US Soccer Federation was in the bag, right?

Not if those bitter old bastards at NuRock have anything to say about it, apparently.

According to Canadian soccer blog The 24th Minute, the USSF held meetings with representatives from the USL and NASL, and the USL continued to insist that several NASL clubs were contractually obligated to play in the USL in 2010. One source claimed that the USL was “threatening to sue everyone at the table” if the NASL was certified.

In essence, a USL representative walked into the room and shouted, “BITCH BETTA HAVE MY MONEY!”

This should give you some idea of how much USL actually cares about soccer in America. It doesn’t. The people in charge of this show only want to get paid, and anyone who has any funny ideas of creating a league where club owners have some say in how the league works should be forced out of business for insubordination. These people would rather destroy second-division soccer in America than let any of these clubs be free to decide how they want their league to operate. That might give you some idea of how much money the USL was raking in from this “business model” of theirs.

This is bad news for several of the NASL’s breakaway clubs — especially Carolina, Miami and Minnesota, who led this charge in the first place. If the USSF decides not to certify the NASL, that would force several clubs reportedly under contract to play the 2010 USL-1 season. Several more would end up sitting out 2010 all together, either by choice or by USL lockout. That would undo all the good work the Carolina Railhawks did in putting a good team together last season, and it might force the Minnesota Thunder to shut its doors for good.

On the other hand, all this might do is delay the inevitable. Any clubs forced back into USL for 2010 would be certain to avoid any contractual obligations to USL in 2011. That might give the NASL the time it needs to ramp up properly and build a worthwhile league.

But would that be too late? This is a World Cup year, after all, which means more attention on soccer in America. What happens when potential fans look at what’s going on below MLS and find out just how much of a joke it really is?

USL isn’t thinking about what’s good for the game. It’s thinking about what’s good for its bank account, and we’re all starting to realize it always has. Enjoy that CREAM, fellas, and thanks for nothing.

UDPATE (12/09): USL has filed its first lawsuit, claiming the Rhinos, Rowdies and Crystal Palace Baltimore are in breach of contract. Clearly, they don’t care what anybody thinks of them anymore.

Basketball — Comments Off
7
Dec 09

Cleveland Sends Big Message

When Cleveland took on Milwaukee last night, it wasn’t a surprsie that they won. Although Milwaukee has been having a nice year, they aren’t the Cleveland Cavaliers. The Cavs have been able to play their games to the highest ability. Last night, the Cavs were down 12-0 near the beginning of the game, but then went on a 29-0 run. This is the biggest run of any team this year. Nicely done, LeBron and Shaq. It’s also interesting that this high-level team doesn’t seem to be having the kind of drama that the Los Angeles Lakers had when you paired Shaq with someone like Kobe. But Cleveland is a smaller team and has that kind of character at the moment. We hope that the team will be able to move on towards a big playoff presence this year. So far, they are dominant in almost every way. We’ll see what happens! Last night, though, they won 101-86.

Basketball — Comments Off
4
Dec 09

Artest in Chicago

When Ron Artest was in Chicago, he was a player who could be tough to handle. He always was in his younger days. He’s a provocateur, which has become an important part of any team at this point. He was interviewed this week, saying that he used to drink sometimes during halftime or before the game. It might have been only a sip or two, but it was still during the game. He went on the radio in Chicago yesterday to say what he actually meant in giving out this information. His point was to say that the fame had come to him so quickly that he didn’t know how to handle it. In fact, he didn’t handle it well at all, and resorted to drinking. His point was to emphasize how bad off he was at times during his career. Hopefully young kids will take this lesson and try to keep on top of those kinds of problems before they happen.

General / NFL American Football — Comments Off
4
Dec 09

Your 2010 FIFA World Cup Draw

GROUP A: South Africa, Mexico, Uruguay, France

GROUP B: Argentina, Nigeria, South Korea, Greece

GROUP C: England, USA, Algeria, Slovenia

GROUP D: Germany, Australia, Serbia, Ghana

GROUP E: Netherlands, Denmark, Japan, Cameroon

GROUP F: Italy, Paraguay, New Zealand, Slovakia

GROUP G: Brazil, North Korea, Ivory Coast, Portugal

GROUP H: Spain, Switzerland, Honduras, Chile

My initial thoughts:

  • I was fully expecting the USA to get the Group of Death after drawing England early, but it’s actually not bad. Slovenia will be tougher than we think — they did knock off Russia to get here, after all — but advancing to the knockout round does seem a little more possible than it did a few weeks ago.
  • Group G is the Group of Death this year. Brazil, Ivory Coast & Portugal in one group? It’s enough to make you want to see Cristiano Ronaldo cry. Again. (Note from Brian Phillips of The Run of Play: “I really want to know how Group G is going to be written up in the North Korean state media.”)
  • If Argentina fails to advance from Group B, the Church of Maradona will get torched. By its followers.
  • Spain and Italy are stone cold locks to advance, and France will probably get through in spite of itself.

So there it is. We have six months to talk about this before it actually happens. What do you blog readers think of this?

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