College Park Addickted

Drafting History

2012-02-03T23:24:00.045-05:00

One of the byproducts of being a lifelong Cubs fan is the ease by which you can resign yourself to the fact that morons run the club you love.

In the last twenty-five years, I've spent plenty of time scratching my head, trying to figure out why the Northsiders acquired or dispatched a particular player. But come what may, I've been obliged to root for whatever crap was put out on the field.

So it'll be a familiar feeling going to RFK for D.C. United fixtures this season.

I've no objections to letting Charlie Davies pursue his comeback elsewhere and I'm happy that I'll not have to see Joseph Ngwenya in the black & red for another season -- both Davies and Ngwenya were great with fans and I'd have preferred to see them do well, but they didn't perform and it was time to turn the page.

Maybe Hamdi Salihi and Maicon Santos will improve the attack. Maybe not. Whatever.

D.C. United also showed the door to most of the fullbacks on the roster, leaving only Chris Korb and Daniel Woolard under contract.

Having added Robbie Russell -- a 32-year old MLS veteran -- the front office declined to augment their depth at the position through the draft. But building talent through drafts is, in any event, not one of D.C. United's strengths.

Because it amuses me, a walk back in time through the club's drafts during Dave Kasper's tenure (relying heavily on wikipedia) --

2002:

Justin Mapp (1st)
Daouda Kante (1st)
Mike McGinty (2nd)
Mohammed Fahim (3rd)
Dennis Ludwig (4th)
Bob Brennan (4th)
PASS (5th)
PASS (6th)

(notable draft picks: Leonard Krupnik, 6th; Ricardo Villar, 5th; Davy Arnaud, 5th; Adauto Neto, 4th; Kevin Sakuda, 4th; Noah Delgado, 4th; Chris Leitch, 4th; Marshall Leonard, 4th; Cory Gibbs, 4th; Gavin Glinton, 3rd; Dipsy Selolwane, 3rd; Alejandro Moreno, 3rd; Ian Fuller, 2nd; Danny Jackson, 2nd; Jon Busch, 2nd; Shalrie Joseph, 2nd; Kelly Gray, 1st; Kyle Martino, 1st; Chris Gbandi, 1st; Brad Davis, 1st; and Taylor Twellman, 1st).

2003:

Alecko Eskandarian (1st)
David Stokes (1st)
Brian Carroll (2nd)
Doug Warren (2nd)
Hayden Woodworth (4th)
John Swann (5th)
Michael Behonick (6th)
PASS (6th)

(notable draft picks: Frank Sanfilippo, 6th; Kevin Friedland, 6th; Marco Velez, 5th; Chad Dombrowski, 5th; Jack Jewsbury, 5th; Kenny Arena, 4th; Jamil Walker, 4th; Matt Crawford, 4th; Taylor Graham, 4th; Josh Saunders, 4th; Rob Friend, 4th; Logan Pause, 3rd; Roger Levesque, 3rd; Arturo Torres, 2nd; Damani Ralph, 2nd; Tim Regan, 2nd; Scot Thompson, 2nd; Eddie Gaven, 2nd; Arturo Alvarez, 2nd; Diego Walsh, 1st; Shavar Thomas, 1st; Nate Jacqua, 1st; Todd Dunivant, 1st; Mike Magee, 1st; Pat Noonan, 1st; and Ricardo Clark, 1st).

2004:

Freddy Adu (1st)
Kevin Ara (3rd)
Josh Gros (4th)
Kevin Hudson (5th)

(notable draft picks: Alan Gordon, 6th; Jeff Parke, 6th; Andy Dorman, 6th; Khari Stephenson, 3rd; Matt Pickens, 2nd; Will Hesmer, 2nd; Seth Stammler, 2nd; Ned Grabavoy, 2nd; Josh Gardner, 2nd; Chris Wingert, 2nd; Steve Cronin, 1st; Ryan Cochrane, 1st; Matt Taylor, 1st; Chad Marshall, 1st; Ramon Nunez, 1st; Clarence Goodson, 1st; Clint Dempsey, 1st; and, of course, Joseph Ngwenya, 1st).

Freddy Adu pick received from Dallas for allocation money; 1st round pick, 6th round pick, and Ali Curtis traded for Ronald Cerritos; 2nd round pick traded for Hristo Stoichkov.

2005:

Nick Van Sicklen (2nd)
Tim Merritt (4th)
Matt Nickell (5th - Supp 1st)
Andrew Terris (7th - Supp 3rd)
Shawn Kuykendall (8th - Supp 4th)

(notable draft picks: Jeff Larentowicz, 8th; Chris Wondolowski, 8th; Dan Kennedy, 8th; Dan Gargan, 8th; Cameron Knowles, 8th; Bill Gaudette, 5th; Boyzzz Khumalo, 3rd; Gonzalo Segares, 3rd; Quavas Kirk, 3rd; Chris Rolfe, 3rd; Jay Nolly, 2nd; James Riley, 2nd; Kevin Goldthwaite, 2nd; Ryan Pore, 3nd; Jack Stewart, 1st; Tim Ward, 1st; Scott Sealy, 1st; Hunter Freeman, 1st; Drew Moor, 1st; Ugo Ihemelu, 1st; Danny O'Rourke, 1st; Chad Barrett, 1st; Michael Parkhurst, 1st; and Brad Guzan, 1st).

1st round pick and 3rd round pick acquired from Chicago Fire (for 2nd round pick in 2006 draft) traded for Jaime Moreno; Nick Van Sicklen pick received from Colorado for rights to Alberto Delgado; 2nd round pick and 3rd round pick traded for 2nd round pick in 2004 draft.

2006:

Justin Moose (1st)
Rod Dyachenko (3rd)
Jeff Carroll (4th)
Kenney Bertz (4th)
Andy Metcalf (6th - Supp 2nd)
Devon McTavish (8th - Supp 4th)

(notable draft picks: Chase Harrison, 7th; Willis Forko, 6th; Dasan Robinson, 6th; Daniel Paladini, 6th; Jordan Harvey, 5th; Mike Chabala, 4th; Jonathan Bornstein, 4th; Ray Burse, 3rd; Ryan Johnson, 3rd; Marc Burch, 2nd; Jed Zayner, 2nd; Blake Wagner, 2nd; Tyson Wahl, 2nd; Dominic Oduro, 2nd; Jozy Altidore, 2nd; Yura Movsisyan, 1st; Patrick Ianni, 1st; Calen Carr, 1st; Nathan Sturgis, 1st; Jason Garey, 1st; Kei Kamara, 1st; Mehdi Ballouchy, 1st; Dax McCarty, 1st; Marvell Wynne, 1st; and Sacha Klejstan, 1st).

2nd round pick traded to Chicago for 3rd round pick in 2005 draft; Jeff Carroll pick received from Columbus for Devin Barclay; 4th round pick and 6th round (Supp 2nd) pick in 2005 draft traded for Jason Thompson; Kenney Bertz pick received from New England for Doug Warren.

2007:

Bryan Arguez (1st)
Brad North (2nd)
Jay Needham (3rd)
Ricky Schramm (3rd)
Luis Robles (4th)
Shawn Crowe (5th - Supp 1st)
Guy-Roland Kpene (7th - Supp 3rd)

(notable draft picks: Daniel Woolard, 8th; Kevin Burns, 8th; Kosuke Kimura, 7th; Osei Telesford, 6th; Steve Purdy, 5th; Aaron Hohlbein, 5th; Jarrod Smith, 5th; Nick Noble, 5th; Sandi Gbandi, 5th; Adam Cristman, 4th; Bobby Burling, 4th; Tally Hall, 4th; Kurt Morsink, 4th; Nick LaBrocca, 3rd; Sinisa Ubiparipovic, 3rd; Mike Banner, 3rd; Omar Cummings, 3rd; Dane Richards, 2nd; Fuad Ibrahim, 2nd; Corey Ashe, 2nd; Ty Harden, 2nd; Ryan Guy, 2nd; Robbie Findley, 2nd; Brad Evans, 2nd; Andrew Boyens, 1st; Anthony Wallace, 1st; Chris Seitz, 1st; Wells Thompson, 1st; Michael Harrington, 1st; Bakary Soumare, 1st; and Maurice Edu, 1st).

Jay Needham pick and third round pick in 2008 draft received from Colorado for Brandon Prideaux.

2008:

Andrew Jacobson (2nd)
Ryan Cordeiro (3rd)
Tony Schmitz (4th)
Brandon Owens (5th - Supp 1st)
Dan Stratford (6th - Supp 2nd)
James Thorpe (8th - Supp 4th)

(notable draft picks: Daniel Antunez, 7th; Tino Nunez, 6th; Kyle Altman, 6th; Mike Palacio, 6th; Chris Tierney, 5th; Kheli Dube, 5th; Danleigh Borman, 5th; Keith Savage, 4th; Steven Lenhart, 4th; Brandon McDonald, 4th; Mike Zaher, 3rd; Stephen King, 3rd; Ryan Miller, 3rd; Luke Sassano, 3rd; Geoff Cameron, 3rd; Peter Lowry, 2nd; Yomby William, 2nd; Jonathan Leathers, 2nd; Brian Edwards, 2nd; Alex Nimo, 2nd; Shea Salinas, 2nd; Michael Videira, 2nd; Eric Brunner, 2nd; Eric Avila, 2nd; Josh Lambo, 1st; David Horst, 1st; Dominic Cervi, 1st; Pat Phelan, 1st; Roger Espinoza, 1st; Andy Iro, 1st; Julius James, 1st; Chance Myers, 1st; Tony Beltran, 1st; Patrick Nyarko, 1st; Sean Franklin, 1st; and Brek Shea, 1st).

1st round pick traded for Rod Dyachenko (Toronto selected Pat Phelan); Ryan Cordeiro pick and third round pick in 2007 draft received from Colorado for Brandon Prideaux; 3rd round pick traded for Jerson Monteiro.

2009:

Rodney Wallace (1st)
Chris Pontius (1st)
Milos Kocic (2nd)
Lyle Adams (2nd)
Brandon Barklage (3rd)

(notable draft picks: Marcus Tracy, 4th; Michael Fucito, 4th; Nick Zimmerman, 3rd; Quincy Amarikwa, 3rd; Neal Kitson, 3rd; Danny Cruz, 3rd; Darrius Barnes, 3rd; Mike Grella, 3rd; Jack Traynor, 2nd; Andrei Gotsmanov, 2nd; Brad Ring, 2nd; Baggio Husidic, 2nd; Graham Zusi, 2nd; A.J. Delagarza, 2nd; Peri Marosevic, 1st; O'Brian White, 1st; Jean Alexandre, 1st; Jeremy Hall, 1st; Sam Cronin, 1st; Stefan Frei, 1st; Kevin Alston, 1st; Michael Lahoud, 1st; Matt Bessler, 1st; Steve Zakuani, 1st; Omar Gonzalez, 1st; and George John, 1st).

Chris Pontius pick received from Colorado for Christian Gomez; Lyle Adams pick received from Houston Dynamo with Zach Wells for Bobby Boswell; 4th round pick traded for international roster spot.

2010:

Jordan Graye (4th)

(notable draft picks: Euan Holden, 4th; Shaun Francis, 4th; Brian Perk, 4th; Joseph Nane, 4th; Sean Johnson, 4th; Steven Kinney, 3rd; Eric Alexander, 3rd; Chris Schuler, 3rd; Kyle Nakazawa, 3rd; Ben Zemanski, 3rd; Mike Seamon, 2nd; Korede Aiyegbusi, 2nd; Kwame Watson-Siriboe, 2nd; Ross LaBauex, 2nd; Toni Stahl, 2nd; Zak Boggs, 2nd; Andre Akpan, 2nd; Andrew Wiedeman, 2nd; Steven Beitashour, 2nd; Seth Sinovic, 2nd; Michael Thomas, 2nd; Tim Ream, 2nd; David Estrada, 1st; Austin da Luz, 1st; Tony Tchani, 1st; Jack McInerney, 1st; Amobi Okugo, 1st; Corben Bone, 1st; Collen Warner, 1st; Bright Dike, 1st; Blair Gavin, 1st; Danny Mwanga, 1st; Dilly Duka, 1st; Ike Opara, 1st; Michael Stephens, 1st; Zack Schilawski, 1st; Zach Loyd, 1st; and Teal Bunbury, 1st).

1st round pick traded for Fred; 2nd round pick traded for Christian Gomez and goalkeeper Mike Graczyak; 3rd round pick traded for Josh Wicks

2011:

Perry Kitchen (1st)
Chris Korb (2nd)
Joe Willis (3rd)
Blake Brettschneider (5th -Supp 2nd)
Pass (6th - Supp 3rd)

(notable draft picks: Amani Walker, 4th; J.C. Banks, 4th; Ryan Richter, 4th; Jimmy Maurer, 4th; Dan Keat, 4th; Michael Boxall, 4th; Matt Gold, 3rd; Scott Gordon, 3rd; Jarad van Schaik, 3rd; Alex Caskey, 3rd; Ryan Kinne, 3rd; Davis Paul, 3rd; Bilal Duckett, 3rd; Bernardo Anor, 3rd; Joao Plato, 3rd; Charlie Campbell, 2nd; Cole Grossman, 2nd; Hector Jimenez, 2nd; Anthony Ampaipitakwong, 2nd; Jeb Brovsky, 2nd; Servando Carrasco, 2nd; Stephen McCarthy, 2nd; Michael Farfan, 2nd; Victor Estupinan, 1st; Eddie Ababio, 1st; Corey Hertzog, 1st; Michael Nanchoff, 1st; Justin Meram, 1st; Kofie Sarkodie, 1st; Bobby Warshaw, 1st; A.J. Soares, 1st; Zarek Valentin, 1st; Rich Balchan, 1st; Paolo Cardozo, 1st; Omar Salgado, 1st; Janil Anibaba, 1st; Will Bruin, 1st; Zach MacMath, 1st; Darlington Nagbe, 1st; and C.J. Sapong, 1st).

2nd round pick traded for Stephen King (United's second round pick of Chris Korb was obtained from Red Bulls for Carey Talley); 3rd round pick traded for Avery John (United's third round pick was obtained from Galaxy for two 4th round picks -- LA used the picks to take Dan Keat and Ryan Thomas).

2012:

Nick DeLeon (1st)
Lance Rozeboom (4th - Supp 2nd)
Charles Rodriguez (5th - Supp 3rd)
Matt Kuhn (6th - Supp 4th)

2nd round pick traded for Jed Zayner and 4th - Supp 1st round pick in 2011 draft; 3rd - Supp 1st round pick traded for Julius James.

The club's poor track record in drafts can't be for lack of recognition of the usefulness of college soccer: Kasper played forward for the Terps and translated his collegiate success into a multiyear professional career in the early 90s.

Plus, the MLS draft has a high bust to boom ratio. I've not taken the time to breakdown other franchises' experience in the draft, so it may be unfair to look at D.C. United's history in isolation.

Nevertheless, it is hard to see how the draft has been a priority for the club.

In the last decade, draft picks have accounted for seven core players on the team, with over half of those coming in the 2003 and 2004 drafts alone:

Perry Kitchen (2011); Chris Pontius (2009); Rodney Wallace (2009); Josh Gros (2004); Freddy Adu (2004); Brian Carroll (2003); and Alecko Eskandarian (2003).

If you expand that list to those that have provided cognizable first-team impacts, nine more are added:

Blake Brettschneider (2011); Chris Korb (2011); Jordan Graye (2010); Andrew Jacobson (2008); Guy-Roland Kpene (2007); Rod Dyachenko (2006); Devon McTavish (2006); and David Stokes (2003).

This means that in ten years, a grand total of sixteen draft picks have been significant additions.

Joe Willis, Nick DeLeon, and Lance Rozeboom may yet be included amongst them, but we can already be sure that 2012 draft picks Charles Rodriguez and Matt Kuhn will not.

Not that cutting two draft picks early in camp could have been that surprising. Consider Chad Ashton's comments following the draft:

“They’ve all gone to programs that have had success the past couple of years, and we feel like they have those qualities that will translate to our league," Ashton said. "[It] would be a wonderful surprise to not only make our team but come in and play some minutes for us."

A wonderful surprise? It would be a wonderful surprise if someone who walked off the street made the team and played some minutes for United. But draft picks? What kind of scouting philosophy does this reflect?

But maybe that's just the way things are, that there is such a dearth of talent in college soccer that fifth and sixth round draft picks are largely longshots to make, let alone contribute to, an MLS team.

Except its not.

Of the sixteen draft picks that saw more than a handful of games with the first team, two were taken very, very late -- Kpene was effectively a seventh round pick and McTavish was effectively an eighth round pick. Going back to 2002, United's only used picks that deep on three other players: James Thorpe; Andrew Terris; and Shawn Kuykendall.

It is a limited sample size, but a 40% hit rate in the seventh and eighth rounds of the MLS drafts should indicate scouting genius. And it should cement the simple observation that every pick matters.

Now compare the success in those two rounds with the team's second and third round picks since 2002.

United pulled Brian Carroll in 2003 and Chris Korb in 2011, but their other seven second round draft picks were Mike McGinty; Doug Warren; Nick Van Sicklen; Brad North; Andrew Jacobson; Milos Kocic; and Lyle Adams.

A similar story is presented by the third round picks. United took Joe Willis in 2011 and Dyachenko in 2006, but their other six picks were Mohamed Fahim; Kevin Ara; Jay Needham; Ricky Schramm; Ryan Cordeiro; and Brandon Barklage.

Giving the benefit of the doubt to Willis, four out of seventeen in the second and third rounds of the MLS Draft would seem to reflect scouting incompetence.

In the years that United made picks in those rounds, the club passed on MLS stalwarts like Davy Arnaud, Jack Jewsbury, Josh Saunders, Jeff Parke, Andy Dorman, Jeff Larentowicz, Chris Wondolowski, Jordan Harvey, Mike Chabala, Jonathan Bornstein, Aaron Hohlbein, Kosuke Kimura, Kheli Dube, Steven Lenhart, Danleigh Borman, Chris Tierney, Michael Fucito, and Michael Boxall -- all taken in the fourth round or later.

Dyachenko merits special mention, as he was not only a third round draft pick in 2006. Two years later, United burned a first round pick to get him back from Toronto FC.

In lieu of college scouting, the club seems to approach draft picks as assets that can be used to acquire veteran players. Indeed, trades of draft picks for veteran players has played a major part in United's personnel strategy:

Justin Mapp, D.C.'s first round pick in 2002, was traded for Dema Kovalenko.
United's second round pick in 2004 was trade for Hristo Stoichkov.
A first and third round pick was traded for Jaime Moreno in 2005.
Their first round pick in 2010 was traded for Fred.
The second round pick in 2010 was traded for Christian Gomez.
Josh Wicks was acquired for a third round pick in 2010.
DC's second round pick in 2011 was traded for Stephen King.
Avery John was obtained for a third round pick in 2011.
The second round pick in 2012 was used to obtain Jed Zayner.
Julius James cost United its third round pick in 2012.

Not starving for irony, United used draft picks to acquire players that other clubs had picked up as draft picks and developed. Zayner was a second round pick in 2006, taken after United selected Justin Moose in the first round. Julius James had been a first round draft pick in 2008, the year United gave up its first round pick to get Dyachenko back. Stephen King was a third round pick that year, while United took Ryan Cordeiro in the that round.

If Rozeboom isn't offered a contract, the current United team will have just as many players on the roster acquired through the draft (five) as those drafted by other teams in the third round or higher:

Daniel Woolard was an eighth round pick in 2007.
Kurt Morsink was a fourth round pick in 2007.
Brandon McDonald was a fourth round pick in 2008.
Stephen King was a third round pick in 2008.
Danny Cruz was a third round pick in 2009.

In other words, season ticket holders are being asked to come out and root for a team loaded with later round draft picks developed by other clubs while simultaneously being told that the draft is not important enough to merit roster spots for the club's fifth and sixth round selections.

The roster's current construction belies any claim that there is a D.C. United way of playing soccer and 2012 will present, once again, a team lacking any meaningful identity.

I'll remain optimistic about the academy and am excited to see Ethan White, Bill Hamid, and Andy Najar play for another season. But it's pretty difficult to get ginned up for another group of vagabonds pieced together by management that ludicrously and uproariously claims that the change that needed to come to the club was in the culture of the locker room and not the front office.

Maybe this is the season it all works out. In which case, fine. The MLS is a different animal and player development has to take a back seat to fielding a winning team.

But the more likely scenario is that this is yet another season where the vaunted international scouting machine of United places risky bets on foreign players that don't pay off while season ticket holders are denied even the delusional optimism derived from cheering for a hard-working, hungry kid like Brettschneider.

A Night in Comcast

2012-02-02T23:50:00.004-05:00

There is not much I regret about having kids, but I have missed the season tickets to Georgetown men's basketball. We had great seats, alongside good friends, and got to watch charismatic teams. Saturday mid-day games bridged into enjoyable afternoons in the city.

But it's no place for an infant and the three-year old has let it be known in no uncertain terms that she's not a fan. She says that Hoyas games aren't for kids and begins lobbying for a quick exit roughly ten minutes after finding our seats.

Now, however, I have found a suitable replacement. Maryland women's basketball games are now calendered events. This season we've lucked into a team that is as charismatic as any Hoyas squad in recent history.

While conference play has exposed weaknesses in the team, this iteration of the Terps has performed well beyond reasonable expectations. They are, simply, a fun team to watch; a well-balanced rotation of hard-workers without an elite level talent that towers above the rest. (Four players average double digits in scoring; four players average over five rebounds a game).

And then off the floor, there is the game experience in the stands.

Finding a gelato cart at tonight's game against Boston College eliminated any bad feelings that might have lingered from having to sit until the final whistle at Verizon.

More importantly, the school has shown its gratitude to the team's fans by making players consistently and regularly available. In the few occasions that our eldest has wanted to take advantage of the opportunity, she's thoroughly enjoyed the experience and it has palpably enhanced her interest in rooting for the team. I'd hazard a guess that this is true for a lot of the kids that come out to Comcast for games.

We've enjoyed the season so much, that I began to contemplate picking up Washington Mystics season tickets again. That idea was quickly quashed by the abysmally depressing escape of Marissa Coleman to Los Angeles. I'm not troubled if Maryland loses a game or two or three or four, because what the team offers, night in and night out, is competence. The contrast with the egos run amok that have torpedoed a good WNBA franchise is stark.

Tonight, incidental to demolishing Boston College, Maryland once again demonstrated that they provide maybe the best family-oriented sports ticket in the region.

Yesterday, in sending an iconic Terp on her way (rather than boldly arrest a stunning decline), the Mystics proved that when it comes to alienating loyal fans, the Wizards aren't the only game in town.

Showtime II

2012-01-31T07:45:00.003-05:00

DRose said he wanted to get out on the court and "try and go crazy."

He walked off having shot 10 for 20 from the floor, 14 for 15 from the free throw line, with 35 points, 8 assists, 3 blocks, 2 steals.

In between, an awful basketball game was played.

Bulls fans got to see Kyle Korver log the second most minutes in his brief history with the Bulls and Jimmy Butler introduced into the game in the second quarter to log his most minutes in his even briefer career with the team.

In warmups, Korver was incredible, netting nearly every attempt from the floor. Throughout the game, Korver was left largely open as the Wizards used his defender to help close down the paint. At some point in the second quarter, we were fairly confident Kyle was on his way to a 30 point night. But after missing his first attempt of the third quarter (he'd nailed virtually all of his warmup threes at halftime), Korver's opportunities dried up.

Butler was a body on the floor who fought through screens and used his length to disrupt shots. His biggest attribute last night was that he gave Ronnie Brewer a chance to rest during a terrible performance (2 for 10 from the floor, 0 for 3 on open threes, 2 turnovers, 2 assists).

Other than that, it was a miserable night at the Verizon Center. Bulls fans are not far removed from the Jerry Krause/Tim Floyd nightmare that engulfed the post-PJ/MJ/Pippen/Grant era and its not fun to see the current iteration of the Washington Wizards on the court. Wizards season ticket holders deserve better.

Moving On...

2012-01-23T23:33:00.006-05:00

D.C. United announced today that Matt Oduran and Will Swaim have "been released from their respective trials" along with draft pick Matthew Kuhn and UMBC's standout forward Levi Houapeu, who continues to suffer from the league's roster restrictions on international players despite having moved to the United States from the Ivory Coast at 12 years of age.

Levi did enough in college to merit an extended look with some MLS squad, but things don't seem to be breaking the right way for him. At this point, the talent evaluation of D.C. United's front office and coaching staff regarding kids from outside of the club's academy doesn't instill a lot of confidence for the upcoming season.

I failed to note that the USL Pro Combine invitee list includes not only Dray Washington, but also two of his teammates at George Mason University -- Parker Walton and Eric Zuehsow. The list also includes University of North Carolina Wilmington's Shawn Guderian. One of Guderian's teammates at UNCW, Shaun Utterson, was recently signed by the Blyth Spartans and has acquitted himself well enough early on to start Blyth's last two matches. Utterson joins another recent Blyth signing with American collegiate soccer experience, Sam Hodgson.

Maybe Utterson's and Hodgson's football careers don't progress beyond Blyth. But playing for a club with the history and pageantry of Blyth is a heck of a lot better as a fallback option than what Oduran, Swaim, Kuhn, and Houapeu have available to them.

Natty Light

2012-01-22T22:41:00.011-05:00

Last night, I let my eldest stay up to watch Rico Clark score the gamewinner against Venezuelan reserves in a friendly that seems to have impressed no one outside of my home. But within these four walls, we were thrilled to see A.J. DeLaGarza and Graham Zusi start the game for the U.S. Men's National Team. I was particularly taken with DeLaGarza's play, who seemed nonplussed by the gravity of the event.

DeLaGarza and Zusi were the fourth and fifth Terps, respectively, selected in the 2009 MLS SuperDraft. The first Terp selected, A.J.'s L.A. Galaxy teammate Omar Gonzalez, hit what is hopefully only a speed bump in his ascendant career with an ACL injury suffered in his first practice with Nuremberg. The second Terp selected in that draft, Rodney Wallace, has scored twice as a Costa Rican international in friendlies against the United States and Venezuela. And the third Terp selected in the draft, Jeremy Hall, will begin this year in the MLS on his fourth team, Toronto FC, after FC Dallas unloaded Hall for a second-round pick in the 2013 draft.

Of the Maryland kids coming out of that draft, I think I would have pegged Hall as the most likely to excel early on as a professional. I'd imagine that however happy Jeremy is seeing A.J., Graham, Rodney, and Omar in the limelight, it is tinged with regret at not joining them.

But at least Hall still has a shot at rebuilding his career in Toronto. I'd missed that Jason Herrick (the Chicago Fire's third-round draft pick in 2011) announced his retirement from professional soccer back in November due to a concussion injury that cut short his rookie year with Harrisburg last season. Herrick must of been one of the hardest-working players Coach Cirovski's ever been blessed with and he will, no doubt, take that same ethic to a professional career in finance or accounting.

Herrick's strike partner, Casey Townsend, seems to have landed in a good spot at Chivas USA after being selected fifth overall in this year's draft. Even more encouraging to see Alex Lee's talent recognized as a (what is effectively a third-round) pick in the Supplemental Draft for FC Dallas.

Two other recent Maryland grads, Will Swaim and Matt Oduran, were on trial with D.C. United. I'd guess that both are the longest of shots to break camp with the squad. While Willz got Skillz keeps the dream alive with the Black & Red, some of his former teammates at Real Maryland will vie for a contract with a USL Pro team in Bradenton later this week, including George Mason's Draymond Washington, John Hopkins' Sean Coleman, and Aboucarim Ndaw.

Most of these guys deserve shots as professional soccer players and a lot of talent is simply wasted by the limited opportunities available to our young athletes. That's probably what makes Billy Schuler's decision to forego a Generation Adidas contract and play in Sweden important. For good collegiate American players -- whether drafted or undrafted -- Scandinavia should increasingly become a destination to further player development.

In that vein, it is nice to Jide Ogunbiyi make some effort to describe his experience thus far in Denmark with Viborg. Long may it continue.

Rebound

2012-01-20T01:09:00.002-05:00

The Baltimore Sun's Don Markus recently penned a nice tribute to James Padgett's growth as a college basketball player under Coach Turgeon. With Alex Len, Pe'Shon Howard, Terrell Stoglin, Nick Faust, and Sean Mosley on the roster, Padgett's contributions can easily be taken for granted. I, like Markus, have very much enjoyed watching Padgett crash the boards at Comcast and it is nice to see his effort recognized in a mainstream publication.

But I'm back from Comcast this evening having witnessed a transcendent rebounding performance from Riverdale Baptist's Tianna Hawkins. The junior is averaging over ten rebounds a game this season and tonight Ms. Hawkins eclipsed a thirty-five year old team record by pulling down twenty-four rebounds against Wake Forest. Tianna grabbed her first twenty-three boards without much fanfare. Then the stadium's jumbotron informed fans that she had tied the team record after Maryland had pulled away, the game was largely over, and Tianna was on the bench:

"I asked the team if we should let her come back in and they unanimously said yes," Frese said. "That record has been in the record books for a very long time. It's special for us to be able to break records."

Now, we enjoyed the game and my daughters' had fun throughout, but the last minute and a half -- with Tianna trying to get one more board -- was the most compelling. In that short time, Tianna barely missed an offensive rebound after a missed free throw that slipped out of bounds, then elected to actually honestly finish a layup rather than play the ball off the rim to break the record cheaply, and then broke the record fair and square while her teammates bounded up and down off the bench.

We're about two-thirds of the way through the regular season and this has already been an amazing year for Maryland women's basketball; Tianna's phenomenal performance tonight was just another brick in that wall.

Football Players Can Be Smart

2012-01-04T23:52:00.004-05:00

Over at The New Republic, Jonathan Cohn's policy blog makes the following observation about two college football players (Andrew Luck and Robert Griffin III) that figure prominently in the current bowl season:

Luck carried a 3.45 average at Stanford, studying architecture, and passed up huge money last year to finish his studies. The Heisman Trophy winner, quarterback Robert Griffin III of Baylor, maintained a 3.76, finished his political science degree in three years, and is expected to graduate with a masters. Both are Academic All-Americans.

Cohn's point -- recognizing the often overlooked fact that some of the country's most elite collegiate athletes also happen to be some of their most promising students -- reminded me of this brief Terps news item that made me smile a couple of weeks ago.

Listed first (alphabetically) among the eleven football players that participated in the graduation ceremony is the remarkable Kevin Dorsey, Maryland's receiving leader in 2011. Mr. Dorsey graduated with a degree in economics as a junior.

The Diamondback ran a great profile on the player back in September that concludes with this quote from Mr. Dorsey:

"This is fun. This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to get an education that's paid for through athletics and be able to go out and do something you love every single day."

Exactly.

Congratulations to Kevin and to every other student athlete who walked on the 21st and 22nd.

Connections

2012-01-02T23:48:00.005-05:00

Four pretty good college basketball programs between Maryland and Georgetown's men's and women's teams; Derrick Rose back at the United Center (wow); and Charlton seven points clear of a playoff spot more than half way through the season. These are neither coherent nor defensible allegiances, but it is a good time to have them.

The biggest treat over the last couple of weeks nevertheless has come from Stranraer F.C. My experiments with sponsorships with overseas clubs have largely been disasters and I've now scaled back to just two teams -- Blue Square North's Blyth Spartans and Irn-Bru SFL Third Division's Stranraer F.C.

Stranraer's where Gregory Tade's Scottish career really took off after a false start with Forfar Athletic. We sponsored Mr. Tade for two seasons with Raith Rovers, found him to be both an exceptional talent and person, and are thrilled with his debut results in the Scottish Premier League (where he's tied for the club lead with seven goals).

Stranraer's a fantastic club and they're currently enjoying a very good run in their league -- with a ridiculous +21 goal differential that's placed them 2 points behind Alloa Athletic for the sole automatic promotion slot.

Stranraer's success is not going to register stateside, but boy do I love this club.

For 50 quid (plus VAT), the team offers the opportunity to sponsor one of their players and show support for the squad. That's roughly the cost of a replica top (and sponsorship comes with the gift of the actual top at the end of the year). Yet, despite the limited contribution to the cause, folks at the club take it seriously and go out of their way to communicate appreciation.

Trifecta

2011-12-29T01:44:00.006-05:00

3 games at Comcast today and, in an unequivocal admission of an absence of imagination, I went to all three.

There are worse things then spending the day watching collegiate basketball for six hours. Particularly if you live in College Park, where the first two games offered a chance to watch two top twenty women's basketball in action and the third welcomed Alex Len into the fold.

Let me pause on the men's game first and state what is obvious to everyone who is a true Terps fan: Pe'shon Howard is, on his own, worth the price of admission. His dime-dropping is performance art; geometric designs that befuddle and bedazzle. Howard drew Coach Turgeon's ire after foregoing a layup to flip the ball back to either a trailing Padgett or Pankey to set up a slam. The degree of difficulty of the dish surpassed that of the layup, but Howard clearly enjoys rewarding his teammates' hustle more than putting points on the board.

Len's debut is the story for the win over Albany and he is as advertised. Howard, however, is a very, very good point guard. So now, for the Maryland faithful, what was supposed to be a down year now features a ridiculous scoring machine in Terrell Stoglin, a fantastic assist man and floor leader in Pe'shon Howard, a dangerous, versatile seven footer in Alex Len, and a solid, steady perimeter force in Sean Mosley. Throw in three exceptionally athletic wild-cards (Nick Faust, Mychal Parker, and Ashton Pankey) and the indefatigable effort of James Padgett and there is some room for optimism heading in to conference play beginning with NC State.

But whatever else I saw today at Comcast, the thing that will stick is Elena Delle Donne. My eldest fell asleep shortly before tip-off and I settled in to watch the game knowing nothing about either team on the court. I spent the entire first half wondering what number 11 was doing on Delaware's roster.

I had to wait a few hours to learn the answer, provided in this terrific recent piece by Amy Farnum.

Just wow.

Allegiances

2011-12-25T05:12:00.006-05:00

I spend way too much time in my personal life complaining about the poor quality of the Washington Post's sports section; whining that is patently hypocritical insofar as I constantly read the Washington Post's sports page.

(In contrast, I've never bothered to read a single word of Steve Rosenbloom's writing and tend to only glance at David Haugh's ruminations when a competent commentator -- this week, the Chicago Tribune's own Dan Pompei -- ably demonstrates the limitations of the faculties waking the news).

So, I register here another opinion of no consequence: Paul Tenorio is very good at his job. He covers a non-glamorous beat -- prep sports -- with a minimum of snark and a high level of enthusiasm and ability.

And he doesn't miss opportunities to tell meaningful stories.

Tenorio's Christmas gift to soccer fans this week was a neat little profile of Manassas's Junior Flores and the quandary of national representation for the country's elite soccer players that happen also to be the sons of recent immigrants.

The question of whom to represent often gets twisted into a proxy on national pride, when, for players, the response to the question seems eminently practical: who will give me the opportunity to play at the highest level of international competitions?

One example left out of Mr. Tenorio's story is Maryland's own Rodney Wallace. For whatever reason, Wallace continues to be under-appreciated in his home country. But that's probably not going to be a problem for him in Costa Rica: the former Terp netted again for the Ticos on Thursday, this time in Venezuela.

In terms of University of Maryland soccer, however, Mr. Wallace's international achievement was unfairly overshadowed by Jurgen Klinsmann's invites for this year's January camp featuring three former Terps: Graham Zusi; A.J. DeLaGarza; and Omar Gonzalez.

Wallace, Zusi, DeLaGarza, and Gonzalez. 36% of the starting lineup from Maryland's last championship game in 2008.

Remarkable.

Good Luck Devon

2011-12-22T23:17:00.004-05:00

Another poor season led to all kinds of casualties, many of whom were tough to see go, including: Marc Burch, the Terp who made the transition from attacker to unfairly maligned fullback; Santino Quaranta, the Baltimore-native who became the most popular D.C. United player over the last four years; and Clyde Simms, the classiest dude I've ever had the privilege to cheer for -- D.C. Scores' loss is unquestionably Boston's gain.

Of those let go, the hardest one to take is Devon McTavish, who announced his retirement from professional soccer today at the age of 27. Probably not a sentiment shared by a lot of United supporters, but McTavish was a major reason I became a committed fan of the team. Devon did everything asked of him and made the best of a thankless role.

I'd like to say that my lasting mental image of Devon was an unpleasantly cold March day at RFK back in 2008. McTavish's brace against Jamaica's Harbour View in the quarterfinals of the CONCACAF Champions' Cup was certainly unexpected, but no less so than how enjoyable the experience was for the fans who came out for the match.

But that's not it. What will stay with me is the scene outside of FedEx Field after the Real Madrid friendly. Throngs of fans had gathered to catch a glimpse of the Madristas' bus and as we walked back through them to get to our car, we ran into Devon navigating anonymously throw the crowd with a rolling carry-on bag behind him. If the contrast between the adulation showered on the Galacticos and the indifference shown him bothered McTavish, it wasn't evident. He just seemed to be enjoying the day.

It may be bizarre, but pointing out Devon to my eleven-month old daughter and exchanging a brief greeting is all I really remember about the game. I can think of no better demonstration of why I feel blessed to root for D.C. United and am not chomping at the bit to get into the Bernabeu.

Good luck Devon. Thank you.

Vacancies

2011-12-16T23:31:00.013-05:00

The night before Maryland men's soccer team was slated to meet Louisville in the NCAA tournament, my eldest and I were having dinner at the Macaroni Grill in Silver Spring prior to catching the kid's movie of her choice. Not my favorite restaurant, but my daughter got to make the call and I simply could not cajole her into selecting Nando's.

Fifteen minutes or so after we had sat down and ordered, in walked Louisville's team followed by an impressively large group of boosters and family members. And as the very talented college soccer team enjoyed an evening meal, including three seniors expected to be taken in the first round of next year's MLS draft, I got to talk to my kid about the tournament game the next day in the context of a personal familiarity with the athletic contestants that I had never had as a kid.

That dinner made her enthusiastic about the game early Sunday evening. We sat on the grass hill/embankment and I, once again, counted my blessings. Shortly thereafter, Athletic Director Kevin Anderson strolled up the same hill with his lovely family and I momentarily considered bounding over to him and thanking him for working to create an environment where I could take my kids to games with pride. I demurred, having earlier interrupted a private moment of President Wallace Loh's to introduce ourselves, but have come to regret not stridently expressing support for the regime change that brought Randy Edsall to College Park.

These thoughts kept haunting me as we sat in a cavernously empty Comcast Center on Wednesday night watching Zeke's Florida International Union embarrass Maryland for long stretches of the game. For my daughters, this was their second college hoops contest of the week, having endured the Georgetown-Howard match at Verizon on Saturday. The contrast between the two games was stark. While Georgetown's fans were stunned by how long Howard stayed in the game, they remained supportive throughout and got behind the team at key stretches. Maryland's fans took the opposite tact, bitterly grousing throughout most of the game. At one point, I needed to calm down the infant by walking around and found that I didn't need to actually see the game to follow the action: every time Maryland missed any shot or committed a turnover, the crowd collectively groaned in exasperation; every time FIU scored, the crowd behaved as if it had been wounded.

There is no reason this should happen. Mark Turgeon's doing an admirable job with what he has and, in the absence of Pe'Shon Howard and Alex Len (who both return over the next two games), Maryland is 6 and 3 with wins over a Big East team (Notre Dame) and a Pac-12 team (Colorado). Unless they trip up -- as they've come close to doing the last two games -- they're likely to go into the conference season with ten wins. And while the talent has been derided, there are some good players still on this roster; I really enjoyed Ashton Pankey's performance against FIU.

And, yet, Kevin Anderson continues to bear the brunt of criticism leveled at University of Maryland athletics. All kinds of voices (including alums who own small businesses, go to a few games, and, as such, are entitled to lecture the school about the constitution of the football program) have been popping off about what needs to be done to fix Maryland football and basketball and the grievous ways in which the "legacies" of Ralph Friedgen and Gary Williams were tarnished. But we're through the football season and now comfortably into the basketball season. The one thing that's been pretty consistent is piss-poor fan support.

According to the largely useless Report of the President's Commission on Intercollegiate Athletics (Nov. 11, 2011), overall fundraising revenue (composed of Terrapin Club contributions, major gifts, and endowment revenue) fell from $15.3 million in fiscal year 2008 to $11.1 million in fiscal year 2009 -- a 28% decline in a single year while, by the way, both Friedgen and Williams were coaching their respective programs. Fundraising revenues fell again in FY2010, to $10.1 million (again, while Friedgen and Williams were still coaching) and to $9.1 million in FY2011. The $6.2 million dollar decline in fundraising revenue from FY2008 to FY2011 constituted nearly 6 times the $1.2 million dollar operating loss Maryland Athletics experienced in FY2011 and more than the projected loss for any future year through FY2017. The amounts aren't split out, so it is unclear how big of an impact declines in endowment revenue had on the overall budget, but the USA Today's "College Athletics Finance Database" pegged endowment and investment income as contributing less than $500k to total revenue in FY2010.

Contributions (fundraising) are just as big of a component of the overall athletics budget as football revenue or basketball revenue at Maryland. Kristi Dosh analyzed figures reported to the U.S. Department of Education for FY2010 and observed that Maryland clears the second least amount of football revenues in the ACC -- $11.5 million (compared to $10.1 million in revenue from contributions the same year), just ahead of Wake Forest. Duke, the school immediately above Maryland in terms of football revenue in the ACC, generated $16.1 million in revenue from their terrible football program, 40% more than what Maryland earned. Debbie Yow's new school earned almost twice what Maryland earned in football and Virginia Tech earned almost three times the Terps' take. On the flip side, Maryland spent the least on its football program.

For basketball, Ms. Dosh reported revenue for the Terps of $10.7 million in FY2010, putting it in the upper end of the ACC compared to $26.7 million at Duke, $20.6 million at UNC, $10.4 million at NC State, $9.8 million at Virginia, $9.3 million at Virginia Tech, $9.1 million at Wake Forest and Georgia Tech, $8.0 million at Boston College, $7.1 million at Clemson and Miami, and $5.8 million for Florida State.

While basketball revenue seems significantly higher for Maryland basketball, Ms. Dosh's reporting would seem to confirm that Maryland's financial contributions have been relatively meager compared to the athletics program at the University of Virginia which received $26.0 million in contributions for FY2010, while Florida State received contributions amounting to $23.2 million and Virginia Tech's received $16.1 million in contributions as reported in this article from Ms. Dosh.

So, likely because football revenue and contributions revenue put Maryland at the lower end of the ACC totem pole in FY2010, the school relied heavily on student fees -- purportedly the fourth most in the country -- generating $13.7 million from enrolled students. Thus, current (cash-strapped) students contributed more to the FY10 budget than alumni, which seems completely crazy.

Other than noting that luxury boxes at Byrd have been a financial drain rather than boon, the President's Commission Report doesn't spend nearly any time discussing the revenue woes that seem to afflict the program. And while the Report frequently discusses expenditures in context of other conference schools, it makes no such comparative effort with respect to revenue.

But maybe that just acknowledges the slim prospects of embarrassing this fanbase into action. For a game broadcast on ESPN, attendance -- both of the student and non-student supporter variety -- was horrific Wednesday night. Given what the financials indicate about compulsory support from the students, I'm not bothered that they don't show up. But for alums and general sports fans in the region, tickets could be had in the secondary market for less than $5, cash parking at a garage in easy distance from Comcast was $10. Still, the upper bowl was virtually empty. Our row in the lower bowl was completely empty. No one could be bothered.

The other side of the coin here is that A.D. Anderson has a unique opportunity to take a hard look at the culture of University of Maryland sports. He now has a chance, looking out across empty seats in both Byrd and Comcast, to think about how much of a role "F U!" chants and unvarnished front-running play in retarding support for the school's terrific athletic programs.

In the meantime, empty seats at Comcast mean more room to spread out the winter coats, baby toys, and diaper bag and put me at a greater distance from the caterwauling that seems to characterize most of contemporary Terp nation.

Thanksgiving

2011-11-27T00:24:00.018-05:00

I read Tracee Hamilton's most recent column as my three-year old napped prior to tip-off of the Maryland-Florida Gulf Coast game. We were taking our daughters to their first Maryland men's basketball game after a pleasant Tuesday evening visit to campus for my five-month old's first Maryland women's basketball game.

The view of Comcast that my girls had at both games was roughly the same, as the stadium was largely devoid of fans for Mark Turgeon's second home game of the year. The thousands of empty seats led the Baltimore Sun's Don Markus to observe:

One more thing. I have never seen the Comcast Center as empty as it is tonight. I know it's Thanksgiving break, but the marketing department should have done a better job getting tickets out to youth groups, etc. to try to fill the student section behind the basket.

Of course, if Markus ever wants to see Comcast more empty, he need only show up to a women's basketball game.

Hamilton's frivolous lament stuck with me during the game because it seemed to so perfectly reflect the ethos of what it means to be a Washington-area sports fan. It also encapsulates why midwesterners (among others) have such difficulty sympathizing with the fickle nature of the DC-area sports fan.

Washingtonians behave as if this is an anointed city of Champions. And not just run-of-the-mill "we're ridiculously, phenomenally blessed in these particular areas of sport" but Champions in things that will earn the attention of important people around the globe. What matters is the Redskins competing for the Super Bowl, the Wizards marching towards the Eastern Conference finals, the Nationals stirring towards a wild-card spot, the Capitals hoisting the Stanley Cup, and the Terps in play for a BCS bowl or yet another Final Four men's basketball tournament appearance.

The complaints about the dire status of Redskins and Terps football, Wizards and Terps men's basketball, and Washington sports generally comes at a time when my enjoyment of local sports -- particularly those at the University of Maryland -- is at an all-time high. And the incongruences between the way sports are covered in this region and what actually takes place become all the more remarkable.

The best example I can give is from two weekends ago beginning with Veterans Day.

The weekend began with a trip to Ludwig to watch the Maryland women open up their NCAA tournament games against a La Salle team that had given up seven goals all season. Led by a fantastic performance by sophomore transfer Hayley Brock, the Terps put five in the back of the net against the Explorers in one game. There were probably more La Salle students in the stands for the game than Maryland students, but those Maryland supporters that showed up were treated to a terrific showing by an extremely talented Terp team that had sputtered a bit through ACC play.

After the game, we walked down to Comcast to watch the women's basketball team open the regular season by blowing out Loyola. And, as usual, the student showing was even more sparse than at the soccer game. Even with few eyes on them, Coach Frese's team served notice that this year's squad is much stronger than last year's version.

Saturday night, we traveled over to FedEx Field to catch Maryland get whacked by Notre Dame. There were probably better ways to spend the evening and there's little doubt that the Terps are not a good football team, but, for us, we're not going to do a lot of traveling with the team and sitting down on the field engulfed by Notre Dame supporters afforded us a level of intense fan support that is unmatched at Byrd on gameday. Plus, despite being pounded on the scoreboard and pummeled in the stands, we got to watch solid linebacker play out of Demetrius Hartsfield and freshman Alex Twine.

And Sunday, I went to Comcast twice -- first for the Maryland women's prolific beat down of a very, very good Georgetown team (a team that embarrassed Georgia's women tonight in Las Vegas) and later for Coach Turgeon's inaugural win as head coach of the Maryland men against UNC Wilmington. For both games, the Center was largely empty. And the massive line from community supporters waiting to meet the Maryland women's players and coaching staff after the Georgetown upset was piteously juxtaposed with the short wait I endured to get into the men's game as students got their tickets scanned, then turned around and walked out of the stadium (something I've never previously seen first hand).

In between all of that, I also attended my first ever field hockey games, watching Maryland beat Iowa in their first round NCAA tournament game and then sitting through most of a thrilling, tense affair that concluded with the Terps upending Syracuse to advance to the Final Four.

Of all the Maryland events I went to that weekend, the Syracuse field hockey game was the single-best sporting event; although I had little idea of what was going on in terms of rules or playing strategy, the contest was so engrossing I forewent a large part of the Maryland-Georgetown game. And the timing could not have been better... the next weekend, for entirely bizarre and providential reasons, we toured the Field Hockey Hall of Fame housed in Collegeville, Pennsylvania on Saturday and then my three-year old and I watched, through a live feed, Maryland's stunning comeback win over the Tar Heels in the National Championship game on Sunday.

I may not have any ability to appreciate the subtlety of the sport, but even my three-year old could appreciate the drama of a two-goal comeback with four minutes in regulation and the exhilaration of Jill Witmer's determined run in overtime to give the Terps yet another National Championship.

But an NCAA field hockey championship is not a real championship and Kevin Anderson still deserves to be fired and Debbie Yow remains the worst person in the world. And *yawn* we've got another top ten women's basketball team in College Park. And *shrug* Maryland's men's soccer team absolutely obliterated West Virginia -- with a hat-trick from future professional Casey Townsend -- in their opening game of the NCAA tournament, roughly a week and a half after Maryland alum Omar Gonzalez was named MLS defender of the year and shortly before he and fellow Maryland alum A.J. DeLaGarza would start together and secure a clean sheet MLS Cup win.

Of course, all of the above relates only to Maryland.

After skipping the Georgetown men's home opener to watch field hockey, I went to Verizon that Monday to see the win over UNC Greensboro and was floored by how good Georgetown's young team was. I sat down behind Roy Hibbert, equally impressed by how accommodating Hibbert was with fans in the crowd and how impressive Georgetown's freshman class looks on the court. For those who were paying attention, the Hoyas remarkable run at the Maui Invitational wasn't wholly unexpected -- indeed, on the strength of the Greensboro game I stayed up to watch the Kansas opener live because I thought that Georgetown had a decent opportunity to pull the upset win. Although this year was written off as a down year for the program, the chances now are better than fair that the Hoyas will once again be among the nation's elite.

And none of the foregoing even begins to account for the insane level at which prep sports are played in this region: DeMatha's soccer team went undefeated and was generally considered the number one or two high school team in the entire country. The last ESPN ranking I looked at had Good Counsel's football team placed at sixth nationally.

Yet, even with these overflowing blessings, the accepted storyline is the paucity of compelling sports storylines this fall.

I don't get it.

On almost any weekend day over the last couple of months, anyone could easily have taken themselves over to watch world-class athletes compete in high-level sporting contests. Those of us in this region are privileged to have before us a bountiful cornucopia of excellence across fall sports -- football, basketball, soccer, and field hockey -- and yet the complaints about what we don't have register the loudest.

There are many, many more important things that I am thankful for. Nevertheless, the simple fact is, as a massive fan of sports, I am thankful for what D.C. offers. And, in my own selfish way, I'm thankful for all the empty seats around us that facilitate going to these matches with an infant and toddler in tow.

Puzzling Evidence

2011-11-24T21:44:00.014-05:00

On Monday, the Columbus Crew, along with every other MLS team, released its list of players protected from the possibility of selecting by the Montreal Impact in the expansion draft. The ten players they chose to protect included a number of familiar names:

Balchan, Rich
Duka, Dilly
Gaven, Eddie
Hesmer, Will (GK)
James, Julius
Marshall, Chad
Miranda, Sebastian
Renteria, Emilio
Rogers, Robbie
Tchani, Tony
Anor, Bernardo

The inclusion of a former much-beloved DCU alum means that Columbus believed that Julius James and his $72k salary were important enough to the future of the Crew that the club risked losing an established contributor such as Andres Mendoza or Emmanuel Ekpo or an inexpensive prospect like Justin Meram or Korey Veeder. Again, we are less than one-year removed from the front office's determination that James did not merit a roster spot (replaced by Rodrigo Braseco) on D.C. United, dropping him into Columbus' lap at no cost to them.

For its part, D.C. United protected Dejan Jakovic.

Last season, Jakovic earned $201k to play 15 games, after managing 18 games in 2010 and 23 in 2009. In the 15 games Jakovic started, United gave up 24 goals -- a 1.4 goal against average per game that represented an improvement over the 1.5 GAA United had for the full season.

James started 31 of Columbus's 34 games and, in those matches, the Crew gave up 35 goals (the equivalent of a 1.1 GAA).

I like Jakovic and I enjoy watching him play. But the decision to protect Dejan and eliminate the possibility that Montreal would select a Canadian international that happens to be one of the highest wage-earners on the team seems about as puzzling as cutting Julius James.

Ethan White was automatically protected as a home grown player and protecting Brandon McDonald, who earned a paltry $45k last season, was an obvious move. With Perry Kitchen also protected, United has three good options at center back even before taking Dejan Jakovic into consideration.

And yet, there it is, United's front office will go into 2012 making the same gamble on Jakovic's health as has been made the last two seasons. And, at the same time, will go into the year with a complement of fullbacks that don't exactly strike fear into the heart of opponents.

It is unfair to kill the FO for dumping James without recognizing the shrewd acquisition of Brandon McDonald in season, but having benefited from Frank Yallop's erratic judgment already, people around the team have to have considered that Jakovic's salary would be better applied to trying to entice Bobby Convey back to RFK (perhaps this is not an option... I know nothing about Convey's previous tenure here).

Grave Expectations

2011-11-06T11:38:00.017-05:00

With the Washington Post's drums of doom beating with greater urgency and foreboding, our little of family of four set out for a morning constitutional to Byrd -- including a short pit stop at the recently opened local branch of Bobby's Burger Palace -- to catch the last home game of the football season.

There were seven home games on the schedule this year, but yesterday was the first fixture the whole family was able to attend.

All kinds of negative things will be written about this season (although the Post's assault is likely to subside as each of its columnists takes turns expressing their deep moral outrage at Penn State's Athletics Department, presumably highlighting the terrible human failings resulting from a singular focus on the results of a football program to the detriment of its character, before once again pummeling Coach Edsall for failing to claim victories in ball games this year) and much of this will detract from what, with the notable exceptions of the Temple and Boston College debacles, was a very entertaining slate of football games played at Byrd.

The second half of the game against Virginia sucked for Maryland partisans. Effort from certain Terps, most obviously at the edges of the defense, dissipated, and the Cavaliers rolled. But the weather was perfect, the scenery from high atop the stadium stunning on a fall day, and the first half gave another tantalizing preview of what Maryland football might look like next season.

At four months, my youngest doesn't form opinions about such things, but my three-year old has perspective to spare and we had, in another venue for another athletic event, a thoroughly pleasant afternoon on Maryland's campus.

All kinds of people in the neighborhood and within the Terrapin community are supremely disappointed. I have not had success in convincing friends and neighbors otherwise, but outside of the Temple game, there has been a lot of entertaining football played at Byrd.

Start with the Monday-nighter against Miami: I've been equivocal about expressing support for the full Terrapins athletic program (largely, to be sure, because of the culture of Friedgen's and Williams' respective squads). Sitting in the upper deck, that all washed away as the rain poured down and Maryland attacked a weakened Hurricane squad. That night, I walked back home from the stadium in a downpour soaked to the bone but exhilarated by the event.

Two weeks later, I returned to watch the Terps get battered by the Mountaineers completely encased within drunken WVU students who periodically broke into "We're going to the SEC!!!" chants as West Virginia piled up points. As the alcohol wore off, Maryland made an insane run that fell one drive short. A single Danny O'Brien misread overshadowed a furious three touchdown onslaught that had the Mountaineers on their heels and their fans finally exhaling with a minute fifteen left in regulation.

We were out of town for the Temple game the next week and, as such, were spared the spectacle of a comprehensive drubbing in miserable weather. By coincidence, we were staying at the same hotel north of Philadelphia as Maryland's women tennis team -- when guests attempted to harangue the players about the upset, they shrugged it off. So did we.

The victory against Towson the week thereafter wasn't exactly comforting -- Maryland looked awful. Another comeback that fell short -- this time engineered by C.J. Brown -- against a far better team in Atlanta against Georgia Tech instilled a bit of hope.

Georgia Tech bled into a colossal home return against Clemson. And for every Terrapin booster complaining about the program, I'd like to hear how he felt after Matt Furstenburg crossed into the end zone. Actually, considering Nick Ferrara's kick to Sammy Watkins on the next play, perhaps it is tough to remember any elation from that game.

So, now, with bad losses to Florida State and Boston College, let's all remember that Maryland went 8 and 4 during the regular season last year -- and won a luxurious trip to RFK for the Military Bowl. Never mind the 2-10 season in 2009. And never mind these numbers: 51,263; 47,954; 44,452; and 39,168. That would be the average home attendance figures for Maryland football from 2007 through 2010.

This year? 42,355.

I had high hopes for Coach Edsall and the rest of the staff, but truth be told, the performances haven't been encouraging. Maryland's special teams play, in particular, has been horrific and has not appreciably improved as the season has progressed. But we'll be getting season tickets again next year and root for the Terps with a clear conscience.

Friedgen's three-year run from 2001 through 2003 was incredible. But his early success masked deficiencies that would become all too apparent as mediocre season followed mediocre season. Coach Edsall will not be afforded the same margin for error that allowed Friedgen to post a 41 and 41 record from 2004 through 2010.

The process is more important than the results and while it will make things more difficult in the near term, I want the college football program I support to be under close scrutiny. We went to our first Maryland football game in 2002. Even to a passive observer of the program, things have not been right. I'm more confident now about its relative integrity; maybe that's wrong and maybe I'll be disappointed, but I'm way more interested in watching Terps football now then I've been over the last decade.

Unanswered Questions

2011-10-31T21:51:00.012-04:00

I am a frequent visitor of Steve Goff's "Soccer Insider" on the Washington Post. It is great to see regular coverage of D.C. United in a local paper with national circulation, but I fail to understand how soccer fans in the region should be satisfied with what continues to be low-quality writing and analysis of a sport of major professional and amateur significance in the area.

Last week Goff published an interview with DCU's Kevin Payne in two parts. The fact that the interview took place and that it was disseminated is fantastic, a boon to any United supporter. But the substance of the interview is remarkable. If there were betting lines for such things, no sportsbook would take any action on Goff harping on Charlie Davies and working in a reference to Davies' recently-filed civil suit (an action that has clearly offended Goff's strong moral sensibilities).

But let's spend a moment on what President Payne actually said, substantively:

“We need another center back. We have Ethan [White], Dejan, Brandon [McDonald] but I feel strongly we need to have another natural center back. It’s fine to know that Daniel Woolard, in a real pinch, can play there, but I don’t think you want to start guys like [Woolard and Marc Burch] as center backs. They’re good left backs."

Another center back? That would seem to be an interesting comment. I seem to remember that United had a center back under contract -- a guy that many United supporters thought was one of the few bright spots in an otherwise dismal 2010 campaign.

When Julius James was unceremoniously cut at the beginning of this season, Goff explained:

James played a lot of minutes on a terrible team and wasn't very good. They shopped him around. No one was interested in relinquishing anyone or anything. He might get picked up at some point.

So it would seem noteworthy that the same guy who "wasn't very good" started 31 of 34 games for a team that finished three spots higher in the eastern conference, made the playoffs, and gave up 15% less goals for the season (52 for DCU and 44 for Columbus).

Nevertheless, the front office's decision to cast away a competent (and inexpensive) centerback does not merit mention in response to the team president's lamentation of a lack of depth at the same position?

That gives away the game. Goff doesn't seem to be terribly interested in soccer as an actual athletic competition and, yet, for whatever reason ... this is apparently the best we get.

I vacillate on whether this is a fair characterization of someone I read fairly often. But the day that the U.S. Women's National Team released the roster called in for the November 19th friendly against Sweden, Goff (appropriately) posted a note about the WPS's termination of majicJack FC, running Dan Borislow's response stressing his own purported commitment to the national team. The piece, however, failed to even mention that Georgetown's Ingrid Wells formally received a call in to join the country's best female soccer players. Not a mention.

We get it Steve, women's professional soccer is in trouble. It could fail and you've got no qualms about piling on. But not even a hat tip to an incredible achievement by one of the best women's collegiate soccer players to have ever graced this region?

Student Athletes

2011-08-27T22:17:00.005-04:00

For Maryland (and, more directly, University of Miami) football fans, the fallout from "The U"'s latest heinous scandal is a matter of great interest in advance of their September 5th opener up here in College Park. As yet more Miami athletes are accused of receiving improper payments and benefits from a crooked booster, the academic aspect of collegiate athletics seems entirely absent.

There are a number of reasons why making the trek over to Ludwig for Friday night's huge matchup between the two elite women's soccer teams of Stanford and Maryland (it ended up being a fantastic game fraught with tension on a beautiful night), but what stood out to me the most was the play of Stanford's Chioma Ubogagu.

Maryland boasts some impressive talent -- Jasmyne Spencer is a very entertaining player (and should have been awarded a penalty that would have determined the game) -- but Ubogagu is a special player. The freshman had a brilliant first half and I spent halftime trying to learn more about her on the wireless: from Coppell, Texas; fresh off a team that won the Class 5A state championship; the granddaughter of a former Tottenham Hotspur and Nigerian national team player and one of the most heavily recruited female soccer high school athletes from last year's class.

Chioma was so heavily recruited that she turned down an offer from the elite women's program in the country at the University of North Carolina to play soccer at Stanford. Why?:

“It was just the best of both worlds, educationally and soccer-wise,” Ubogagu said. “I kind of wanted to go a place that I could start a tradition. Stanford has never won a national championship, and I'd love to be a part of that as opposed to just being another ring.”

Ms. Ubogagu's profile notes that she boasted a 4.975 GPA in high school. In a February 2010 interview, Chioma was asked what some of her goals were in her junior year in high school. Her answer:

Academically, my goal this year was to make all A’s [every] 6 weeks which I have kept up with so far. Soccer wise, I would love to win another state championship.

Per a nice profile on ESPN Rise, prioritizing academics comes from her parents and the opportunity to play soccer is conditioned on excelling in the classroom.

I am deeply ambivalent about big time college football and men's college basketball. While the poor academic achievements of the majority of Gary Williams' and Ralph Friedgen's players may not have bothered many supporters of the college's athletics programs, it has been, alongside the abusive nature of student support for those two teams, a major factor in keeping our family away from their games.

But when the balance is right -- when athletics is something clearly and intrinsically tied to the academics of a university -- there's no ambivalence in the stands. Chioma Ubogagu would seem to be the living paradigm of all that collegiate athletics aspires to be.

A few random unrelated additional notes riffing on Maryland alums:

This household was very happy to see the news that Rodney Wallace has been called in to the Costa Rican national team. Listed as a midfielder, he'll get a chance to play on the wing alongside or behind Christian Bolanos -- one of our favorite international footballers. We'd have much preferred to see Wallace get a shot in the U.S. men's national team, but it is hard to see how he'll be able to generate enough buzz off of his performances for the Portland Timbers to catch Jurgen Klinsmann's eye.

I love nearly everything about the Timbers' entry into the MLS, but the team is not exactly developing Maryland talent. And, for that reason, we were similarly very happy to see Jeremy Hall move to FC Dallas. We had hoped that getting away from Red Bulls would allow Hall to show his terrific talent and while that may not have worked out, early returns for Dallas have been promising. If nothing else, Hall's change of address led to me watching a phenomenal performance tonight from Brek Shea in Kansas City.

On the other side of the spectrum, we noted that the Harrisburg City Islanders beat the Rochester Rhinos in a USL Pro semifinal and will face Orlando in the championship on September 3rd. Neither Jason Herrick nor Drew Yates will take part in the game, as both were lost to season-ending injuries early on. Herrick reportedly suffered a concussion that killed an already disappointing first professional season, and Yates injured his ACL. I've not been able to locate information discussing either's progress (or lack thereof) in recovery, but we hope that it is swift for both.

Badge of Honor

2011-08-22T00:04:00.003-04:00

There's no real new news on the progress of FIFA's ongoing investigation of CFU officials.

There's the temporary spectacle of a non-Colin Klass led Guyana Football Federation, where Franklin Wilson expects to keep his seat warm until Mr. Klass's suspension concludes. And then there is Mr. Klass's concession that he expected FIFA's actions. Not, of course, because he did anything wrong, but because he is "one of the outspoken leaders in Caribbean football . . ." Mr. Klass is, then, fully understandably "very disappointed" in the Ethics Committee and he's "upset about it . . ."

The mother ship's move to silence leaders of Caribbean football would lead to more hue and cry from the region if, say, it looked like there was such a crackdown. For while Mr. Klass's future career in international football looks to be very much in doubt, fellow compatriot and Jack Warner-loyalist Captain Horace Burrell is entertaining visions of running not just the CFU but CONCACAF as well. It is a possibility currently openly discussed in Jamaican football circles, with an eye towards the benefits that would potentially inure to the country should Capt. Burrell be elevated.

Around these parts, Bill Archer -- who has provided brilliant commentary and background on the topic for uninitiated Americans like myself -- has asked for someone to lecture him on how Andrew Jennings has no obligation to consider his sources with respect to the current low-intensity campaign to discredit one Chuckie Blazer. I'll confess to bemusement at the full-throated defense of Mr. Ten Percent.

First, the source of the information does not detract from the newsworthiness of the content of the information. The fact that Jack Warner is the person behind the information fed to Andrew Jennings seems uninteresting. What is, instead, interesting is the validity of the information provided. And while we may quibble as to whether characterizing the FBI as investigating Mr. Blazer's financial transactions is misleading, the reality is that Chuck's financial affairs are most curious.

Second, the history of Mr. Jennings' reporting would seem to have established that he is heavily reliant on self-interested whistleblowers disclosing information to attack opponents and, further, the return fire from such escapades in order to obtain information that is otherwise entirely concealed from the public. One sinner hands Mr. Jennings a dossier of documents with the goal of undermining another sinner; the sinner in the cross hairs, in turn, slips other sheets of papers under the many doors of an unreliable blogger hoping that he will run with it.

Here, Jennings runs stories criticizing Chuck Blazer's financial dealings. Mr. Blazer, in turn, lets loose on Jack Warner's continued interference in CONCACAF's affairs and how he's screwing CFU. And the rest of us are awaiting the next salvo while wondering what the problem is with stoking this conflict. Chuck Blazer's not just a really fat rich guy. He's a really fat guy who became rich as an executive in international football on the coattails of Jack Warner's profligate reign over regional football while acting as an attack dog for other men who made it rain off of the beautiful game.

Playing some FIFA executives (and former executives) off of others would seem to be a very fruitful strategy for a reporter.

Consider, for example, Yves Jean-Bart, who took a different angle in pleading his innocence earlier this week. Jean-Bart noted that there was no shame in FIFA in being investigated by an Ethic Committee. After all, as Jean-Bart explains, Sepp Blatter, Julio Grondona, Ricardo Texeira, Jerome Valcke "and others" were all under investigation at one time or another and who would not want to be part of that illustrious group?

For what it is worth, Yves Jean-Bart claims that he is only being investigated because representatives from Haiti failed to meet with investigators in the Bahamas (Jean-Bart, alas, had no Bahamian visa, and the association's secretary, Jacques Lionel Desir, was at the Copa America). Dadou is clean and everyone, even those that despise him, knows this:

"Je suis clean. Tout le monde le sait, et meme ceux qui me haissent."

All of which doesn't really explain why Jean-Bart is the only official from the national association under investigation, but no matter. It makes him part of the constellation . . . Blatter, Grondona, Texeira, Valcke and now, Jean-Bart!

Where else but FIFA could being the subject of an ethical investigation constitute a badge of honor?

Terps 2.011

2011-08-21T01:35:00.006-04:00

Two very pleasant trips to campus today.

An early morning constitutional following the Arsenal and Liverpool tie (nice to see Carl Jenkinson getting a full run out in major games -- he looks like he will be able to hold his own in the EPL) took us to the football stadium shortly after the end of the open practice, but still in time for the three-year old to get autographs from Coach Edsall, Coach Crowton, Kenny Tate, and Danny O'Brien.

The university does a terrific job with these events. The relaxed atmosphere was perfect for introducing my daughter to the stadium, showing her where our seats would be, and planting the idea of adding football games to the portfolio of sporting events the she will accompany me to. It is also nice to see how much a small community of Terps football supporters genuinely appreciate the access to and time spent by the team's staff and players.

We were back on campus seven hours later for the men's soccer team's exhibition against Georgetown. The event marked the first live soccer game attended by our youngest and we could not have asked for a nicer night as the backdrop for the match.

Maryland's starting eleven featured many familiar faces -- including three players that spent time with Real Maryland this summer (Will Swaim, Karou Forbess, and Alex Lee) -- and one unfamiliar face, as Marquez Fernandez paired up with Lee in the back.

While the game ended in defeat and had long stretches of sloppy play, I walked away impressed with Sasho Cirovski's team. Maryland started the game with two solid fullbacks, London Woodberry and Taylor Kemp, have a very strong holding midfielder in Helge Leikvang, a clever, entertaining wide player in Sunny Jane, and a strong, talented attacker in Patrick Mullins. Alex Shinsky got a run out as a substitute -- the team is certainly not hurting on depth.

But the principal takeaway from the game (for me at least) had to be Kyle Roach.

Brian Wiese's men came to Ludwig with aggression in their minds and hearts. Maryland players were punished in the midfield, with Georgetown's number 7 (I believe Gabe Padilla) rocking some clattering challenges against the Terps. Maryland is an extremely skilled and well-coached team (really liked the design of an early corner -- Forbess short to Kemp, curled past the back post to Mullins/Stertzer, with the ball headed back into the middle and the defense thoroughly unsettled), but they can be bullied and thrown off their game. When the referee allowed hard challenges (fouls), Maryland seemed unsettled.

Enter Mr. Roach as a substitute for Taylor Kemp at left back. Although a freshman, Roach is clearly the most physically imposing player on Maryland's roster and he left his mark on several Hoyas. Late in the game, Roach put in a poor corner and, in subsequently trying to win the ball back, blew up a Georgetown player to draw a caution (a straight red might also have been appropriate). Although not particularly tall (5'10"), Roach is big and fast and he gives Maryland an element of ferocity that, in the absence of Matt Kassel, Jason Herrick, and Ethan White, would otherwise be sorely missed.

Stories

2011-08-18T00:43:00.005-04:00

I am very late to this party.

Discussing Chuck Blazer with friends during D.C. United's terrific home performance against the Vancouver Whitecaps led one of them to note, "You haven't heard the story about the CONCACAF credit card and Scores?"

I had not and, as such, had missed Mel Brennan's excellent description of what it is like to be the General Secretary and Treasurer of CONCACAF. The outrage and disappointment Mr. Brennan felt on his first day on the job is palpable:

The [American Express Centurion credit] card existed on the back of the aggregated wealth of CONCACAF; the everyday commitment to football made by the people of CONCACAF’s forty nations (and the subsequent investment television broadcasters and advertisers make in football to reach those audiences, and the resultant sales they expect to garner from those audiences) made it possible.
And it was in Chuck’s name. And it just paid for food, strippers/dancers, and a set of massages.
That’s what the General Secretary and Treasurer of CONCACAF, the FIFA Executive from North America, spent the region’s money on…regularly.

Cripes.

Brennan's imagery is of gluttony unbound; of a man distinguished more by his avoirdupois than his professional achievements paying for women to pretend that they see past the folds with funds intended to promote the world's game in the region.

As much as Andrew Jennings (correctly) hangs the devastating public airing of Mr. Blazer's perfidiousness around the big man's neck, it is the picture painted by Brennan that should stick with people when Blazer tweets his congratulations to the U.S. Women's National Team for their good work. And that portrait should entirely eclipse any characterization of the man as an intrepid whistle blower willing to sacrifice the trappings of power for principle.

It is almost enough to make one eager for the coming reckoning.

Yet, there are far worse things than feckless executives with a taste for silicon.

Based on one of Bill Archer's recent posts, I picked up and read Stewart Bell's "Bayou of Pigs."

It was well worth the time, because it would otherwise be impossible to fully appreciate the insanity of Patrick John's role in international football.

Less than two months ago, Mr. John was handed another four year term as the head of the Dominica Football Association. The absence of Mr. John's name from the list of CFU officials under investigation -- following his decision to provide a sworn affidavit to FIFA during the 48-hour "come to Jesus" window -- would seem to indicate that there is a good chance that he'll finish out the new term.

Or perhaps not; not because he'll face discipline from FIFA, but because the boundless ambition of a small man has led him to eye bigger and better things.

If you click through the link and read the article, let that sink in for a moment. Mr. John moots his name as a potential replacement for Jack Warner at the top echelons of FIFA leadership while simultaneously declaring an undying love and affection for a man that is supposed to have nothing to do with international football. Mr. John's love letter to his forlorn friend reads:

"I would just like to tell him that he has been my friend and we will continue to be friends. I respect his decision to pull out from the football arena, but as a member of CONCACAF and CFU, I will still be in touch with him. I will continue to get his assistance and expertise in moving Dominica forward, as it relates to football."

The thought that Patrick John, enshrined by Jack Warner into the CONCACAF Hall of Fame in 2007, might be a serious candidate for promotion within FIFA is mind-boggling.

Patrick John was convicted of hiring a mercenary group composed of Ku Klux Klan members and neo-Nazis to violently overthrow the elected government of his country. He spent almost a decade in prison because of the crime. Per Bell's reporting, Mr. John defended himself in court against the charges using a line of argumentation that may have foreshadowed his participation in FIFA:

"It was only two thousand years ago when evidence of untruths and half truths, evidence contrived for obvious reasons and designed and created by persons with special interests, was given against a man who was charged with conspiracy to overthrow a government and install himself as king, and the court then condemned [him] and found an innocent man guilty. They raised and praised and claimed a murderer, Barrabas, and set him free, giving him all he desired, and up to today, descendents are living with the consciences. I am not guilty and I am totally and completely innocent of any charge."

The "Bayou of Pigs" story is incredible; it exemplifies the maxim that truth is, indeed, stranger than fiction. That Patrick John -- who owes his position to the machinations of Jack Warner to depose the legitimately elected former officers of the association -- has now cemented his involvement in the governance of international football is an equally incredible story. And they are both stories that every person interested in football in the CONCACAF region should know.

Keep Talking

2011-08-15T04:16:00.010-04:00

Andrew Jennings has quite correctly turned the good ship Transparency towards the large floating mass that is currently heralded as its faithful steward -- one Chuck Blazer.

Jennings has been fed information regarding Blazer's remuneration and, well, Mr. Blazer's done well for himself.

The timing and substance of the information leaked means that you don't exactly have to be Nancy Drew to figure out where it is coming from. Indeed, Mr. Jennings' piece includes priceless missives from Lisle Austin's legal team of one Barry Blum, including the following:

‘It is laughable that FIFA enjoys a status as a not for profit sporting organization. It is actually a sinister business organization operated by robber barons with no regard for ethics or integrity; power is all that matters.’

(Just to clarify, Mr. Blum, you're suing to get your client back in charge of one of the outposts of the sinister business organization operated by robber barons with no regard for ethics or integrity which should not be considered a non-profit tax exempt entity? Good luck with this litigation strategy.)

On the substance of what Mr. Jennings reports, it is not exactly shocking or earth-shattering news that a FIFA executive loyal to Sepp Blatter has pocketed many, many farthings off the back of the beautiful game. All around the world the same song. The scope of Mr. Blazer's compensation is remarkable; his public trumpeting of his good fortune even more so. And certainly Mr. Jennings is absolutely correct in observing:

Nonetheless Blazer, Chairman of FIFA’s Media Committee, enjoys favourable reporting in the American media. He has been lauded as the ‘whistleblower’ who ejected Warner from FIFA.

The same may be said of the USSF as our own federation had made no effort to distance itself from the man.

But the support that Mr. Blazer enjoys in the federation and the apathy of the American media towards the circumstances of his enrichment may ultimately facilitate a reckoning. Because if there is one thing that Mr. Blazer has in common with many of his brethren in CONCACAF -- particularly in the CFU -- it is that he likes to talk. And not just talk, but locate himself as morally superior to all that may try to impeach him.

There is a nice example of this in Mr. Jennings' piece where it catalogs Mr. Blazer's outrage at being asked about his son's employment at CONCACAF:

‘Your question about my son is completely inappropriate. I am a public person and recognize that harassment from people like yourself with agendas to sell books and papers and who have little regard for the truth, comes with the territory.’

(Note: the desire to make money is obviously why anyone would report on the financial affairs of FIFA's executive members. It is, of course, a wholly dubious, commercially-corrupted enterprise. And a total insult to FIFA's doyens, who commit their time and energy to soccer in a selfless, tireless public-minded effort to bring world peace, through football, to the panting masses.)

But the better example can be found over with Richard Conway, who has a reply from Mr. Blazer up on his blog, which begins with "Mr. Jennings is an unreliable blogger who doesn't care much for accuracy or the facts." (Oh, snap! Do you see what he did there? "Mr." Jennings doesn't even merit the word "reporter" or "best-selling author" or "investigative journalist." He's only a mere blogger). Mr. Blazer is so certain that his number twos have no aroma that he decides to go into detail about the small matter of $250k remitted to him by the Caribbean Football Union:

In the instance of the mentioned 250k payment, Mr. Warner owed me the payment of a loan for over 5 years in the amount remitted. I was dismayed when he sent it with his accountant drawn on the CFU account, but was told by the accountant not to worry, it would be properly reflected to show that it was his money. Since then, Jack has resigned, but has not turned over the checking accounts of the CFU to their Executive Committee and Secretariat. I have had to bail them out by providing offices to them in our Miami CONCACAF offices to operate the regions competitions. Once he has turned over the accounts, we will be able to determine, whether as described by the accountant, the funds were Jack's, or if they were not.
I have previously stated that if they were not properly Jack's funds, as they alleged, then I would return it to the CFU.

At this point, Jack continues to thwart the progress of the CFU by not giving them access to their accounts and locking the CFU staff out of the office, while providing space for four accounting personnel paid by CONCACAF and now exposed as working for the WGOC (Warner Group of Companies). How absurd.

We are sending investigators into Trinidad to get the information from the banks and to protect our assets.

In other words, the story that Mr. Blazer has decided is entirely reasonable is that he was owed money for a loan by one Jack Warner. Mr. Blazer was repaid said loan not by payment drawn from an account belonging to Mr. Warner, but, instead, was paid from a check drawn from funds belonging to the Caribbean Football Union -- an organization headed by one Jack Warner. Mr. Blazer recognized that this did not seem kosher, but having been assured by Mr. Warner's personal accountant "not to worry," Mr. Blazer locked his concerns up in a little box, placed it in his morality chamber, and cashed the check.

How absurd.

This is from the same dude who earlier commiserated with Sky News regarding his absolute shock and horror at the audacity of Mr. Bin Hammam and Mr. Warner:

It is amazing to me that two intelligent men, who were both in possession of the FIFA Ethics Code, never recognized that what they were doing was in violation of that code and wrong. Furthermore, in their leadership roles, they clearly sent the message to others that what was happening was "approved" or "correct" given their advice to the members. What a tragedy to have leadership sending their members in directions so clearly wrong. They are fully accountable for this and even today seem to be condoning the inappropriate gifts they feel is a norm. Someone needs to adjust their norms.

How noble. How stirring.

The problem with Mr. Blazer's public declarations are that they are wholly reliant on the credibility of the person making the claims. Here, the track record isn't comforting.

But why does this matter?

Ultimately, with Mr. Blazer's guidance, CONCACAF has improved and the U.S. Soccer Federation has seen quantum leaps in the development of the game in this country. That Mr. Blazer is also rich because of it is, for him at least, a happy consequence.

Still, there is the small matter of who is going to run CONCACAF. And while officials like Jack Warner, Lisle Austin, and Colin Klass may receive their comeuppance, one name not on FIFA's lists is Captain Horace Burrell, leaving him free and clear to pursue the top posts at both the CFU and CONCACAF.

In a rational world, Captain Burrell's close ties to a fallen regime and his continued loyalty to persona non grata Jack Warner would disqualify him from serving, but, as Captain Burrell recognizes, the math is quite simple:

"There are some 40 countries in CONCACAF and approximately 30 in the Caribbean, so we just have to wait and see."

It is difficult to imagine a scenario where Captain Burrell will not be able to line up CFU's members in support of his candidacy -- there are likely to be many aggrieved individuals within the CFU looking for a chance to exact vengeance in the near term on Mr. Blazer and the lack of interest here at looking more closely into Mr. Blazer's affairs will undoubtedly be a rallying point for the Captain's supporters.

The risk to American soccer supporters is that opportunities for further development of the game will be caught in the crossfire.

With every word Mr. Blazer speaks in defense of himself (to the profound shrug of shoulders from American media), the coming power struggle in CONCACAF is cemented to play out as a battle between the CFU and the United States. And we're going to lose that argument.

Final Marks

2011-08-11T23:59:00.014-04:00

Before getting to the 16 CFU member association officials who will now be in the crosshairs of FIFA's ethics committee, spare a thought for the plight of Barbados' Lisle Austin.

The former acting President of CONCACAF was suspended by FIFA for a year for seeking relief in a Bahamian court against CONCACAF's treatment of him.

Mr. Austin's response? He's ticketed himself a vacation from organized football for quite some time:

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, Aug. 11, 2011 -- /PRNewswire/ -- The following is a statement issued by Lisle Austin:
FIFA's desperate attempt to suspend me through its kangaroo court affirms that it believes my rights to judicial due process are inferior to its interests of sweeping under the rug any attempt to bring transparency to the football world.
FIFA's present leadership has once again shown that it is a corrupt cabal of arrogance and cronyism, administered by individuals who continue to act outside the rule of law, seeking to destroy anyone who dares to question the existing regime.

The hearing was yet another attempt to marginalize and silence calls for reform and transparency in FIFA's lucrative dominance over the game of football.
I call on those who have already raised their honest voices – and those who have watched silently in fear -- to stand with me and demand accountability and good governance of world football, and an end to the dishonestly and greed that threatens to destroy the game we so love.
I will continue my action in the Bahamian court. I must fight for what is right and have no doubt that ultimately fairness and truth will prevail.
SOURCE Lisle Austin

Just to review, Lisle Austin paid a commercial service to distribute a press release that is -- I don't know how else to put it -- batsh*t crazy. Cue the conspiracy theories that Lisle Austin is being paid to make Sepp Blatter seem palatable.

But the tale of one man's utter delusion should not distract from the marquee: FIFA announced investigations of 16 CFU member association officials.

The16:

Colin Klass and Noel Adonis (Guyana);

Yves Jean-Bart (Haiti);

Franka Pickering and Aubrey Liburd (British Virgin Islands);

David Hinds and Mark Bob Forde (Barbados);
Richard Groden (Trinidad and Tobago);

David Frederick (Cayman Islands);

Osiris Guzman and Felix Ledesma (Dominican Republic);
Anthony Johnson (St. Kitts and Nevis);
Patrick Mathurin (St. Lucia);

Joseph Delves and Ian Hypolite (St. Vincent and the Grenadines);
Hillaren Frederick (U.S. Virgin Islands)

Attention paid to the members of this list will first be given to Colin Klass -- the only one of the 16 to be provisionally suspended pending completion of an investigation -- because of his long and controversial history in FIFA.

Recounting Mr. Klass's greatest follies is totally appropriate, but perhaps the more interesting thing is the fortuitous timing of these events. There are some parallels between Klass's current predicament and that of Dr. Bertie Chimilio in Belize. Mr. Klass faces growing domestic opposition amongst his own constituents and a looming threat of intervention from the government of Guyana. By naming Colin Klass (and Noel Adonis), FIFA has created the possibility of dreaming of a world where Mr. Klass isn't screwing Guyanese footballers.

The second name on the list that will garner attention is Haiti's Yves Jean-Bart because of his defense of FIFA and Mr. Blatter in the face of proposals to delay the President's re-election. And that's fine, but the inclusion of Mr. Jean-Bart and the Dominican Republic's Osiris Guzman and Felix Ledesma in the scope of FIFA's inquiry underscores the absurdity of the original official CFU line holding that the $40k was a grant to advance football in small nations.

The nations of Hispaniola are home to the second and third largest populations in the CFU. Amongst the far more accomplished footballing nations in Central America, only Guatemala has a bigger population than Haiti or the Dominican Republic. The little country meme doesn't fly there. Instead, these federations stand for where the CFU (and CONCACAF) have failed to make meaningful progress to develop the game in the region.

Switching gears, of interest from previous posts here, the problems of the Trinidad and Tobago Football Federation continue with the inclusion of the association's secretary Richard Groden on the list. And, as Stanford Conway at SKNVibes foreshadowed Sunday, FIFA also names St. Kitts & Nevis's President Anthony Johnson.

Of the remaining names, the fact that the U.S Virgin Islands' Hillaren Frederick is there will probably fly under the radar. If the investigation implies a potential suspension down the line, this would be a huge blow to USVI football which has made huge strides since ousting former President Derrick Martin in December.

Indeed, FIFA's announcement of an investigation of Mr. Fredrick was issued the exact same day as FIFA also released a puff piece lauding the rise of USVI's national team, with the article crediting Hillaren for bringing in Keith "Grell" Griffith in May to lead the team.

And I think that just about sums up the lunacy of all of this.

Derrick Martin headed the USVI Soccer Association for years. Mr. Martin failed to properly account for funds coming into the Association. Under his leadership, the federation simply stopped reporting financial information after 2007 and failed to hold an annual congress for three consecutive years.

And FIFA/CONCACAF/CFU did not care. And footballers in St. Croix, St. John, and St. Thomas suffered for it. Prior to Mr. Hillaren's presidency, the USVI's men's national team had played only 28 official games, losing 20 of them.

Exit Mr. Martin. This year, the team has beat the British Virgin Islands twice and advanced to the group stage of World Cup qualifying for the first time in the country's history. In two months, the USVI has moved up 51 places in world rankings.

But it may not be the hiring of Coach Griffith that will be Mr. Hillaren's most memorable act in May of 2011. One brown envelope has put the team's progress in jeopardy.

Pencils Down, Time Is Up

2011-08-09T00:01:00.016-04:00

Tariq Panja reports that the other shoe has dropped; FIFA will begin "corruption proceedings against more than 10 Caribbean officials . . ." Per Mr. Panja's reporting, FIFA's ethics panel will meet today following more witnesses coming forward.

The committee will separately hear claims made against the august former CONCACAF head man Lisle Austin for his bizarre actions following the initial fallout. However, the identities of those that may be implicated regarding the May meeting is, as yet, unknown.

Some educated guesses can be made.

Trinidad's The Guardian notes that the country's FA president, Oliver Camps, stated that the federation had declined FIFA's invitation to provide more information regarding their involvement in the meeting.

So that probably doesn't bode well for a federation already in crisis.

And its probably worth pausing on the state of the T&TFF in the wake of Jack Warner's stewardship: it is bankrupt.

A trip scheduled to Port-au-Prince for a friendly against Haiti was canceled over a lack of funds.

And why is T&TFF bankrupt? Cue Trinidad's Minister of Sport Anil Roberts:

"The TTFF is the worst-run sporting organisation in Trinidad and Tobago," stated Roberts. "They flout all rules and procedures. They totally disregard all checks and balances that are here at the Ministry of Sport and the Sport Company. Checks and balances are very important for transparency, accountability and making sure we get value for money. This is taxpayers' money we are dealing with."

Minister Roberts was happy to provide examples to defend the decision to support football in Trinidad but not the federation:

"They presented a document which states that a assistant coach with the national team is being paid $120,000 per month. Our investigations shows that no assistant coach was getting anything close to that figure.
"So, at that time in August, we asked for all contracts for the coach Russell Latapy, the assistant coaches, the technical consultant, all of these things. We asked for contracts to verify these figures so that we can say this is a legitimate figure. We have not received one contract for anybody, whether it is Russell Latapy for a year ago, or whether it is now Otto Pfister." . . .
"We have no clue how much Mr Pfister works for. We have not been given a contract for Pfister or for anyone. No money can be disbursed to anyone without legitimate documentation. So, the Government has agreed that we will fund football. However, the TTFF will not get a blank cheque, or a cheque for any amount of money for them to do as they please," Roberts insisted.

But surely Mr. Warner has left a legacy for football that can be the foundation for a renewal?

Mr. Camps, Mr. Camps?:

"Football is just like any of the other sports. Just like many of them we don't have a permanent home for football, and just like many other sports we have to book the stadium and such venues for matches."

I seem to recall that a whole bunch of soccer stadiums were built in T&T. Wonder what happened to that.

In any event, as Mr. Camps explains, there just isn't any money to be made in football in Trinidad:

"You know that local football doesn't generate funds," Camps declared. "To generate spectator interest, we have to bring in top teams to generate funds. And usually after paying for these teams and paying the players and other expenses, most times we just break even. People think we make big money, but many times we just break even."

Just break even. I think that is Mr. Warner's motto.

Leaving Trinidad for now, Stanford Conway of SKNVibes penned a fine story published on Sunday regarding the role of St. Kitts and Nevis's FA in this rollicking feel-good story.

Per Mr. Conway's piece, the president of the St. Kitts-Nevis Football Association, Anthony Johnson, explained:

"We have in the past cooperated with the FIFA Ethics Committee in their investigation and we will remain committed to doing so in the future. That really is the gist of our position and I don't really wish to add anything further to that."

And that follows a June 6th press release from the association declaiming any involvement in nefarious affairs; no bribes offered or accepted there. So nothing really to see here.

But Mr. Conway is undaunted and he posits the following entirely appropriate questions:

If it were a fact that the money offered by bin Hammam to the CFU officials was gifts for the enhancement of their respective organisations and not as bribes, then why did the officials from The Bahamas and Turks and Caicos return theirs?

If it were a fact that the envelopes containing money were given to all officials present at the Trinidad conference, why did 15 of them denied [sic] receiving any? And if they had indeed accepted cash gifts for their associations’ development, was it recorded in their accounts ledgers? What was it used for? Where is the tangible evidence of its disbursement and why was it not publicised?

And most saliently for those members that chose not to come clean to FIFA:

If there were no infringement to FIFA's rules and regulations concerning the illegal transfer of cash, why then were Debbie Minguell and Jason Sylvester placed on a one-year ban by the Ethics Committee?

Mr. Conway sought out James Buchanan, a past General-Secretary of SKNFA, for his thoughts and, as explained in the article, the unwillingness of some CFU officials to provide honest disclosures or to walk away from Jack Warner has endangered the Union's power.

Buchanan describes Mr. Austin's ill-timed broadside against Chuck Blazer as "premature and tactically bad."

He also offers good advice for CFU's leadership:

"They cannot ostracise the CFU members who reported receiving cash. It is time for Captain Burrell and Colin Klass to step up and step off on their own and bring new direction to the CFU. The problem is that they will first have to come clean on the CFU scandal and avoid any FIFA sanctions."

Yet, even if they wanted to, Captain Burrell and Mr. Klass will be unable to follow the recommendation.

That train left the station a while back.

Or, switching metaphors, the test of leadership created by bin Hammam's "gifts" to the CFU is over. If Bloomberg's reporting is correct, a whole lot of people failed.

Seeds of Hope

2011-08-05T01:25:00.008-04:00

Reviewing the corruption and abuse that has infected far too many of FIFA's constituent members (to say nothing about FIFA itself) inexorably leads to the conclusion that the international football is so deeply and fundamentally bent that it is beyond the possibility of reform. Cynicism, therefore, reigns supreme. When another venal federation official commits another horrific violation of the public trust, those that have seen the same story played out over and over should be excused for merely nodding their heads in disgust and moving on.

Cynicism, of course, concedes the territory. If we expect that FA officials are, by nature, venal, mendacious, and corrupt, then the corruption of football is an unremarkable consequence; an inevitability that must be accepted.

But why should the corruption of a game that millions enjoy playing and watching be something that is tolerated?

On Tuesday of this week, a remarkable thing happened: FIFA failed to throw the full weight of its support behind the Football Federation of Belize (FFB) and the FFB's President Dr. Bertie Chimilio. FIFA blinked.

When the Belizean government took on the FFB, FIFA took action in defense of its member organization. Belize was suspended from international football. Rather than cave at the threat of a shunning, the general popular wisdom in Belize seems to have been "So what?"

FIFA changed tack, lifting the suspension and facilitating a "Belize" team to play in a World Cup qualifier outside of the country. The game went on under the direction of the FFB and over the objection of the government . . . a slap in the face of the government and a show of solidarity with the good people at the FFB.

But Belize's advance to the next stage of qualifiers did not spark a popular movement to quell the government's actions. If anything, it signaled how far the game had fallen under Dr. Chimilio's guiding hands. As Amandala observed early this week:

[I]f FIFA wants an idea of just how deep and painful are the wounds caused to the Belizean football public by those presently in control of the FFB, they only need to note the fact that there was no national outcry or lament, except from a select few FFB stalwarts, when the FIFA suspension was first announced; and neither was there any great celebration when it was lifted. In fact, the qualifier games in Honduras were hardly even discussed in Belize football circles. What the Belize football family was most concerned about was the FIFA visit, and the possible changes that they hoped may result. As one aggrieved football family member put it, “it is not Belize, but instead it is the Bertie Selection that is participating in these games.”

Thus, although FIFA allowed the farce in Honduras to proceed, nothing changed in Belize. If FIFA was going to suspend Belize (and all financial support as well), so be it -- the price of continuing under this iteration of the FFB was simply too great.

In the face of unyielding opposition, FIFA took the easier way out. FIFA backed down:

Their Football Federation of Belize has received a sharp, stunning come-uppance from FIFA that's so severe, it can't even be called a slap in the face; it's more like a kick in the rear end.

Forgive the crude analogy, but it's that rough.

Specifically, FIFA ordered that FFB has to organize a Special Congress by September to adopt new statutes and an electoral code. New elections are to be held in December.

Now, Dr. Chimilio may still retain his title come January 2012; there is plenty of time to get districts back in line. But whether there is a new President of the FFB or not, the crux of this dispute was the government's unwillingness to recognize a private football association that had disclaimed any accountability to anyone other than CONCACAF or FIFA. And, in the end, the stand taken by the Belizean government forced FIFA to intervene and demand that the FFB make reforms.

For football fans and players in Belize and football supporters generally, this is a promising turn of events. Belize may never be a power in Central American football, but they should be much better than they are now and talented Belizean footballers ought to have the chance to compete at the highest levels, just as their neighbors do. Cleaning up the FFB is the first step in correcting these deficiencies.

Getting the Word Out

2011-08-04T01:40:00.009-04:00

I am headed up to NYC this weekend and am thinking about stopping by Belson Stadium on Sunday to see where the Red Storm play and catch my first USL PRO game of the season (having not followed through on my intent to go see a match in Harrisburg or Richmond).

Proving once again that the "USL PRO is the strongest, most sophisticated and most experienced North American men’s professional soccer league below MLS, both on and off the field," FC New York's web-site contains virtually no information about the club. Because nothing says that you're "[f]ocused on franchise stability and longevity" like being incapable of telling (or unwilling to tell) the general public anything useful about your professional franchise.

But sifting through the rubble of Queens' answer to Crystal Palace Baltimore led me to a press release that I had missed two weeks ago (that, for some reason, refers you to FC New York's embarrassing web-site): FC New York will be the first professional team to visit Guyana since Hull City dropped by in 1974.

Garth Nelson, on behalf of the Guyana Football Federation and President Colin Klass, wrote that the GFF “would like to invite F.C. New York to participate in a three games tour in Guyana. The venture will be a positive boost to Guyana’s football.”

If after over two decades of autocratic rule, Colin Klass was finally able to bring a professional team as esteemed as FC New York to Guyana, imagine what he will be able to do with another twenty years in office?

Because the press release contains the same delusional self-promotion that has permeated much of the USL (“With this trip I hope we can gain even more positive exposure as F.C. New York continues to grow globally”), it is a frustrating read. But the tie to Mr. Klass, and the FO's decision to include a side-trip to Trinidad to face Caledonia AIA, is a heck of a way to pay tribute to your Caribbean fans while standing next to regimes that are attempting to foment a conflict with a NYC-based member of the U.S. Soccer Federation.

Just a week prior to F.C. New York's announcement of its February 2012 tour, Mr. Klass came out publicly in support of Lisle Austin's call for an audit of CONCACAF finances . With an unimpeachable history of high minded civic service and an unwavering commitment to transparency, Mr. Klass decreed:

"We must anchor our ship or we will forever be lost, we cannot submit ourselves to the tyranny of a minority, the audit must be done now," Klass said.
"While I will not cast aspersions on the questionable characters of those who have foisted themselves in leadership positions and those who have scarified our names and our soldiers for their own political ambitions, I will describe the delaying tactics of the CONCACAF Exco (executive committee) and its general secretary (Chuck Blazer) on this matter as very strange. Why is this happening?"
He added: "Could it be that Chuck Blazer is attempting to perpetuate a culture of secrecy at the organisation to prevent a true accounting of what has gone on at CONCACAF during his tenure?
"Is there credibility to claims that this review would unravel and expose the lavish lifestyles of certain employees funded by CONCACAF accounts"?

Everything I have read about Mr. Blazer indicates that he should not elicit a great deal of sympathy from American soccer supporters and that he has, in point of fact, managed to provide for himself very well (thank you) off of the back of the beautiful game in the region. But he has also been instrumental in the advancement of the sport in this market and a substantial increase in revenues attendant to the development of the game -- something that Mr. Warner and his cohorts, particularly Mr. Klass, cannot similarly claim.

I read comments from CFU folks like Mr. Klass and wonder how things within FIFA have been driven so ludicrously through the looking glass that grown men stand around pointing fingers at each other and loudly decrying illicit actions of which they have also been alleged to have undertaken. It must be like a support group for adulterers where the members are required to lambaste one another for their infidelity in public scoldings.

But the story of Jack Warner, Colin Klass, Horace Burrell, Lisle Austin, and the rest may just be a story of the disinterest of the cadre of select journalists and commentators that cover soccer in the United States.

F.C. New York can announce a trip to Guyana, organized under the benevolence of one Colin Klass, because (1) F.C. New York's travel plans aren't exactly page 1 news in Metropolis and (2) for those that do care, the name Colin Klass likely does not register.

My shock and dismay at FIFA outs me as a naive ingenue when confronted with the hue and cry marshaled by Bill Archer on the subject. I mean, my gall man, this is the Patrick John I have been referring to in past posts? This is the guy that is running Dominica's FA? How is this not mentioned each and every time Mr. John's name comes up or he surfaces to comment on anything related to FIFA?

Now would seem to be the appropriate time to connect those dots. If reports are correct, Mr. Klass gave inaccurate information to investigators regarding his knowledge of what took place during Bin Hammam's visit to Port of Spain. That should mean that the non-voting member of CONCACAF's Executive Committee will be in for some unwanted attention over the next few months. And that should also mean that outlets that have more than five people reading them a day have the opportunity to educate soccer fans about the officials that currently have a stranglehold on football in the Caribbean.

Reputation

2011-08-02T00:26:00.002-04:00

If you google "Josh Wicks," its not terribly flattering. Wicks' Wikipedia entry, at the moment, highlights some of the things that led United supporters to turn on him. Then you have to sift through more results -- many exceedingly negative -- before you run across this terrific article by Craig Stouffer including Wicks' candid assessment of his shortcomings and his personal demons.

But perhaps that will change.

Last Saturday, IFK Mariehamn traveled to Helsinki and frustrated HJK for 80 minutes. The team dropped points after Wicks botched a punch trying to clear a corner kick that was put into the netting to secure a 1-0 win for the homeside.

The result was disappointing, but IFK's play this season has once again exceeded expectations and Wicks is being called one of the best players in the Veikkausliiga this season.

The dramatic change in Josh's fortunes has led him to be the subject of another terrific article by Brian Sciaretta over at Yanks Abroad which highlights just how far Josh has come. Gone, but likely not forgotten, are the days of just trying to get someone to give him a chance.

Now, instead, what is articulated is fulsome ambitions: (1) contribute to IFK finishing in the top four (or, better yet, three) of the league; (2) play at even higher levels in Europe; and (3) catch the eye of U.S. Soccer officials to earn a national team cap.

No doubt some will call Wicks delusional, but it would be a mistake to -- once again -- underestimate what he can achieve.

Tick Tock ...

2011-07-27T04:57:00.015-04:00

Perhaps the strategy devised by the Caribbean Football Union's leadership in response to their May 10th meeting with Bin Hammam -- hold firm, stick together, deny, and wait for things to blow over -- was a wee bit flawed.

You've got forty-eight hours:

"FIFA sent a letter yesterday (25 July) to all CFU associations, asking the associations, their presidents, and any of their members with knowledge of anything that transpired during the meetings held on 10 and 11 May in Trinidad and Tobago to provide and report all relevant information in their possession within 48 hours.
"Truthful and complete reporting will be considered in mitigation by the Ethics Committee when deciding on potential sanctions. Any person who has relevant information but does not come forward during this 48 hour period will be subject to the full range of sanctions.

"Following this 48 hour period, the Ethics Committee will be asked to open the necessary ethics proceedings."

Skysports has the current standings:

25 associations --

1 did not attend (Cuba)

4 failed to meet with investigators (Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, and Montserrat -- note that while no one from Dominica may have met with investigators, that has not stopped Patrick John, the association's President, from talking openly about the meeting in the press).

11 met with investigators but denied receiving cash gifts (Barbados, Guyana, British Virgin Islands, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Jamaica, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago, and the U.S. Virgin Islands)

9 informed FIFA they were given or offered $40k at the meeting (the Skysports article doesn't list the countries but five of the nine are the football associations of the Bahamas, Puerto Rico, Bermuda, the Cayman Islands, and Turks & Caicos and representatives of the football associations of Suriname and Curacao have publicly acknowledged that $40k was offered at the meeting. The last two countries not listed in the three other categories are Aruba and Grenada).

Of the eleven that denied receiving gifts, some went further.

The head of the British Virgin Islands' football association, Franka Pickering, told The Independent that she saw no evidence of any bribes at the meeting.

Carlos Prowell, representing Colin Klass and the good folks at the football association in Guyana, told local news outlets that not only was no money taken by his impeccable organization, none was offered.

Representatives of the football association of Barbados have said in statements to the press that no payments were made at the meeting (they've made it pellucid).

Also interesting from the breakdown is that the group of eleven CFU member associations reportedly represented by Colin Henry includes members that have acknowledged the offer of a bribe (the Cayman Islands and Grenada), others that have refused to cooperate with FIFA (Dominica and Antigua and Barbuda), as well as the core group of CFU's leadership (Jamaica, Barbados, Trinidad & Tobago, and Guyana). How the interests of all eleven -- which, at this point, clearly diverge -- can be represented by the same counsel is an interesting question.

In any event, FIFA has issued an ultimatum. What say you?

If you're Jamaica's Captain Horace Burrell (and acting President of the CFU), you're doubling down. And so too is Oliver Camps, the President of Trinidad & Tobago's Football Federation.

So that should be fun.

But if you were to ask me what was the best part, the absolute best part of this story? How about what Louis Freeh's report had to say about one Colin Klass. From the Irish Times:

The Freeh report also includes statements about Colin Klass, a CFU executive committee member and president of the Guyana FA, who orchestrated a campaign by other associations to write letters backing Warner and saying there was no offer or talk about cash gifts at the Trinidad meeting.
The report quotes evidence from Bahamas vice-president Fred Lunn, who took a photo of the cash he was given before returning it on the afternoon of May 10th, stating that Klass went into the room when the money was being given.
The report states: “Outside the boardroom, Mr Lunn encountered Lionel Haven (a former Bahamas FA board member) and Colin Klass.
“According to Mr Lunn, Mr Klass stated: ‘Why is this door locked, are there people getting bribed around here?’ The male \[CFU official] then allowed Mr Klass to enter the boardroom, which he exited after a few minutes. Mr Lunn noticed that Mr Klass had a smile on his face and was slightly giggling.”
Klass told investigators however that he did not go into the boardroom.
The report states: “Mr Klass tried to enter the CFU boardroom on the afternoon of May 10th, but was told that the room was not for him. Mr Klass remembered that Mr Warner said on May 11th that the only gifts were a laptop computer and projector.
“Mr Klass... stated that \[he] had not been offered or received any cash gift while in Trinidad and Tobago at the meeting.”

If Mr. Klass had a smile on his face then, he doesn't have one now.

No Hope

2011-07-24T23:06:00.013-04:00

It has been coming for a while now, but this weekend signaled the final, swift closure on a false period where my little girl joined me for soccer outings in the region.

"I don't like soccer, daddy."

No Everton-D.C. United Saturday night, in spite of how excited I was about the scheduling of the friendly.

No Real Maryland - Fredericksburg Hotspur PDL season finale this evening. I'd planned to head to the game on my own, but being told by the little one that all she wanted to do is stay home with daddy isn't that bad an outcome.

Unfortunately, my change in personal fortune is due to baseball. The tide turned with an innocent trip to the Southern Maryland Blue Crabs' Regency Furniture Stadium. One evening at the stadium -- and its playground, inflatable slide, bounce house, sand pits, and bumper boats -- combined with regular trips to the playground and Build-A-Bear at Nationals Stadium and the carousel and bounce house at the Bowie Baysox's Prince George's Stadium was enough to paint soccer in sharp contrast.

I grew up at Wrigley. Perhaps because of that I failed to fully appreciate the threat posed by these stadiums. These parks concede that baseball is boring (at least for long stretches of the three to four hours spent at the stadium).

The long, dull stretches of baseball games was something I appreciated as it was conducive to conversation or fixation on details about players that might otherwise have been missed or pondering important/spurious concepts under a beautiful sun. I disliked Comiskey, in part, because it tried to draw attention away from the competition on the field.

But William Louis Veeck has unquestionably won the war for baseball's soul.

The last soccer game I was able to take my daughter to was a Real Maryland match shortly after the birth of her little sister. My wife needed a break, so the trip was over my eldest's strongest objections. On the way into the stadium she looked up and said "I don't like soccer. Baseball has bouncies. Baseball is more better."

In almost any other year, this would not bother me terribly -- in point of fact, she asks to go to baseball games and this, in and of itself, is great. But it had to be this season.

When the Cubs were in town at the beginning of July, my daughter was asking to go to baseball games and I refused, holding out until the Thursday finale. We bought tickets outside the stadium and immediately went to the playground. It took a while to get to our seats, but shortly after sitting down I wanted to get back to the playground.

The Cubs won the game eventually (following the Nationals' epic collapse), but what we saw was horribly depressing baseball. I'm happy to say it was the most I've seen of this awful Cubs team in several months.

And when they are blowing plays or cut down trying to stretch singles into doubles while down seven runs, the thought I cannot evade is what Jim Hendry did to Ryne Sandberg. Hendry's done many remarkable things for the franchise at the helm, but the decision to go with Quade over Sandberg was pure ego -- there was no legitimate baseball justification for the choice -- and it is, finally, an offense that merits relieving him of his position.

Removing Hendy won't fix the Cubs problems. But for the reasons that Phil Rogers outlined in an inspired column in the Chicago Tribune on Friday, hiring Pat Gillick would not only restore competence to the front office, it might also facilitate the correction of the grave error made this last offseason.

College Prep

2011-07-19T01:02:00.016-04:00

When D.C. United announced the acquisition of Austin da Luz from the Red Bulls on Sunday, it brought back pleasant memories of when we first started to seriously follow collegiate soccer. da Luz was part of Wake Forest's terrific 2007 national championship squad and, along with Lyle Adams, is the second player from that team to have been signed by United.

In 2007, da Luz was a substitute in Wake Forest’s 2-1 win over Ohio State. He was one of fourteen Demon Deacons to take the field that day -- each of whom went on to play at least some professional soccer.

Coming off the bench along with da Luz was current Chicago Fire midfielder Corben Bone and current New England Revolution striker Zack Schilawski. Starting for Wake Forest was Schilawski’s current teammate in New England, Pat Phelan, along with Chivas USA’s Michael Lahoud, San Jose’s Sam Cronin and Ike Opara, Real Salt Lake’s Cody Arnoux, and Marcus Tracy, currently at the Danish-side Aalborg, and Brian Edwards, the keeper for the Swedish second-division side Dergefors IF (a team currently in contention for promotion to the Allsvenskan).

The remaining four players, including Lyle Adams (D.C. United and Austin Aztex), each can claim some professional experience: Julian Valentin (L.A. Galaxy and FC Tampa Bay), Jamie Franks (Wilmington Hammerheads and Rochester Rhinos), and Evan Brown (Seattle Sounders).

That season, Maryland dropped its one game against Wake Forest in Winston-Salem two to nothing. The Terps would bow out of the tournament in an emotional upset win for a visiting Bradley squad overcoming grave tragedy.

The Terps of 2007 were no pushovers -- current MLSers Omar Gonzalez, A.J. Delagarza, Rodney Wallace, Jeremy Hall, Graham Zusi, and Stephen King were on that team (as was Thorne Holder, currently with the Philadelphia Union; Rich Costanzo, currently with the Rochester Rhinos; Sean Flatley, currently with the Charleston Battery; and Drew Yates, currently with the Harrisburg City Islanders) -- and it was unquestionably a good season to be introduced to collegiate soccer at Ludwig Field.

This likely explains why I do not understand arguments that college soccer is somehow retarding the development of the game in the United States.

For all of the players mentioned above, amateur soccer in NCAA division I competitions gave them a chance to play at high levels of competition against talented opponents, even if for only a limited portion of the year. The education they received (even if only partially completed) likely also provided some comfort to each as they pursued careers as professional athletes in a field with limited opportunities available to Americans.

In any event, we view the addition of da Luz as a positive development and look forward to seeing what he can do as part of United.

Bertie Chimilio's XI

2011-07-15T23:30:00.014-04:00

There are lots of things going on at the moment that merit special attention. We're on the brink of a new era of incompetence of our federal political system. If that's too depressing to grapple with, the U.S. women will contend for the championship of the Women's World Cup on Sunday to cap off what has been a tremendously entertaining tournament and the Copa America promises four intriguing match-ups over the weekend.

Shortly after the Women's World Cup Final is concluded and a few minutes before Chile and Venezuela tangle to see who will make the semifinals of the Copa America, an absolute farce will take place at the Estadio Olimpico Metropolitano in San Pedro Sula.

To some muted fanfare, FIFA announced on July 7th that it was "provisionally" lifting the suspension of Belize to allow the national team to complete the second leg of its World Cup qualifier against Montserrat. As opaque as ever, FIFA explained: "This decision has been taken following some positive developments in the case, as reported by the FFB to FIFA."

What would that positive development have been, one wonders? It can't have been that positive, as FIFA's announcement also observed:

This return match will now be played before 17 July 2011 outside of Belize (in order to avoid the risk of the Belizean authorities not providing security guarantees, as was the case for the game originally scheduled for 19 June 2011).

Hold on, what's that? The game will not be in Belize because the government may not provide security? Wouldn't that imply that, perhaps, the Belizean FA isn't considered representative of the country?

When the game kicks off, it will take place over the objection of Belize's government:

The Government, in a press release, maintained that the FFB was not recognized and called on Honduras, where reports suggested the game would be played, to respect Belize’s “sovereignty” and right to accountability from its national governing body.

The Belizean government has informed FIFA that the FFB "is not authorized to represent the people and country of Belize in local or international competition, (and FIFA) continues to sanction matches for a team that is not recognized by the country of Belize as its National Team."

In other words, the team that takes the field in Honduras on Sunday would be more appropriately designated as "Dr. Chimilio's Eleven."

The moniker would not only be descriptively accurate, it would also emphasize what this dispute is all about: the continued reign of one Bertie Chimilio.

Dr. Chimilio is unlikely to be terribly worried about what the outcome will be. FIFA is on his side and if there was any question to whether this support would continue, FIFA's July 7th announcement quashed that.

If Bertie does not prevail, FIFA will not only cut off Belize from international football competitions but, far more importantly, cut off the FIFA financial fount:

Kaseke concluded that the FFB’s ban from the stadiums was causing extreme havoc and disruption to its football schedule and was preventing follow-through on plans for redevelopment of the stadiums with FIFA money.

And let no one forget that Dr. Chimilio is the conduit for those funds. Why did the FFB fail to file its registration papers with the government complete and on time? Well, the FA simply "overlooked" its obligations "because of the visit to Belize of FIFA President Sepp Blatter."

On Tuesday, Belize will entertain three high level FIFA officials (Rafael Salguero, FIFA Executive Member and Emergency Committee member; Ariel Alvarado, CONCACAF Executive Member; and Rafael Tinoco, UNCAF President) and FIFA's emissaries are likely to push for even more Dr. Chimilio.

But while FIFA may be resolute in its defense of a Blatter friend and ally, the pressure on the good doctor is mounting. A report by the Sports Investigation Committee apparently lambastes the electoral system established by the FFB which resulted in Dr. Chimilio's re-election to another four-year term in December of 2010. Even at the time the election was controversial as Dr. Chimilio refused to allow Sergio Chuc, the chairman of the Belize Premier Football League, to challenge him for the presidency of the FFB. That farce acted as yet another catalyst for the current crisis.

And no one in Belize is pulling punches. When the BPFL withdrew from the FFB back in May, the e-mail sent by Mr. Chuc to the FA was released to the press and it wasn't sweetness and light:

But for the record, we are not interested in continuing to be part of the FFB. We have found over the years that the President is very deceptive, arrogant and lacks the best interest of the game. You are no better than him as you blindly follow his instructions and cannot make decisions on your own. Furthermore, the majority of district chairmen are lackeys that do the bidding of the president for a few pieces of silver, especially the chairman for Orange Walk. Mr. Palacio is by far the most dishonest person I have come to meet in the last years. I pray that you all would find it in your hearts to step down and give football a chance in Belize.

Nor is Belize's press soft-pedaling their opinions.

The Guardian:

Many are frustrated with the FFB’s undemocratic method of selecting executive members. The dictatorship reign of the president has equalled the privatization of football in which Bertie is C.E.O. and king. . . FIFA’s disregard of the government’s decision is complete disrespect to the country and disregard for its laws.

Amandala:

For nearly a decade, the football community in Belize has tried to remove the present FFB President through all the constitutional avenues afforded by FIFA. But every attempt has been thwarted using often blatantly illegal tactics, which have received the blessing of FIFA’s representative in CONCACAF, then President Jack Warner. . . Belize has gone nowhere in football during this past ten years of Warner endorsed corruption and mismanagement in Belize football. And our game and football organization is in a mess, thanks to FIFA’s prolonged reluctance to intervene.

However, even with blood boiling, can a little country on the Caribbean withstand FIFA's onslaught?

Perhaps.

From the same Amandala piece quoted above:

As an afterthought, it might come as a surprise to President Blatter that, even with the largesse of FIFA’s financial generosity to the FFB, the Belize football family is still not happy. That is because, Mr. Blatter, the football family in Belize is likened to a stressed out household where the abusive husband receives a big, fat paycheck, but it all goes to the sweetheart, while only a few meagre crumbs reach his starving children. We haven’t been “feeling it” in Belize, so only a select few will miss the massive FIFA grants. That’s why Belizeans are facing the suspension without great panic or heartbreak; those with little have little to lose. Rather, there is a sense of relief, and a resolve to start over again, after ridding ourselves of this yoke of corruption and stagnation in our football.

Regardless, FIFA says "Belize" will play Montserrat in Honduras on Sunday. But for supporters of Belizean football, the real game -- the match that will determine the future of the sport in the country -- will play out even further out of sight.

The Mess You Made

2011-06-20T01:38:00.001-04:00

A 2-0 win over an impressive Jamaican side is reason enough to be happy with today's result, but the victory is all the sweeter because of the context in which the game was played.

Proving once again that the T&T/Jamaica/Barbados triumvirate that runs the Caribbean Football Union is without shame, a letter from the Jamaican Football Federation to FIFA was released to the press earlier this week. The letter, submitted by members of the CFU, represents a formal ethics complaint lodged against Chuck Blazer.

On its own, this does not rise to a level of national enmity, as there are few Americans with nice things to say about Blazer and even fewer rushing to his defense, but the substance of the attack should greatly offend American sensibilities. According to published reports, the JFF's letter alleges that Mr. Blazer:

"discriminated against Capt Burrell and certain members of the Concacaf through his contemptuous and denigratory words since all the persons who were singled out were of a specific race".

This is almost too stupid for words. But it is also a clear signal that the defense of the CFU and its current standard operating procedures will be made on delusional, divisive grounds.

The standard appeal of the "smallness" of the Caribbean members versus those of their North American and Central American peers has already been made. The myth of minnows overachieving under the charitable hand of Jack Warner has been repeated ad nauseum; this despite the fact that the total population of the Caribbean members exceeds those of the Central American members; that the achievements of CFU members in world football have been modest, at best; and that in the four largest members of the Union, the game has developed in no appreciable manner.

Now, add to that the specter of racism and rather than have a discussion about the merits of given positions, those supporting the existing regime can whisper about conspiracies and insidious machinations.

Spin this however you want, but $40,000 in $100 bills ain't going to change. Jack Warner's checkered history is not going to change.

What will change is the tolerance of other CONCACAF nations for chicanery within the CFU. Operating under a belief that folks in North and Central America are out to get Mr. Warner, Mr. Austin, or Capt. Burrell out of fear for the CFU's carefully amassed power fails to recognize the obvious: the rise of Jack Warner within FIFA occurred not in the face of opposition from other CONCACAF members but in the wake of their apathy to the prospect.

The self-immolating response of CFU's leadership threatens to stoke ambitions, particularly in Mexico, for greater prominence in world football affairs. I would imagine that the more buffoonish the CFU becomes the more appetites are whet for a fundamental power shift in CONCACAF's affairs.

Mr. Austin's lawsuit and Capt. Burrell's charges no longer appear to reflect a cadre of folks who believe that they are bullet-proof. There is no tactical intelligence in these strategies; they convince few of the justness of the position taken while further solidfying opposition. Instead, these gambits appear to be desperate actions signaling the ferocity by which acquired privilege will be defended.

If this is the case, there will be collateral damage and that can have severe repercussions, as evidenced in another CONCACAF-related story making the rounds.

Outside of the CFU, CONCACAF and FIFA are dealing with the bad publicity attendant to the suspension of Belize from the organization. Most reports are content to note that FIFA has faulted the Belizean government for interfering in the FA's affairs. This is too bad, because the background is remarkable and illustrates the ridiculous lack of accountability within FIFA.

Earlier this month, Belize's Ministry of Sport informed FIFA, CONCACAF, and the Football Federation of Belize that the FFB was not authorized to represent the country. The move followed the exodus of both semi-pro leagues (the Belize Premier Football League and the Super League of Belize) from the FFB.

Now, FIFA's story spotlighting the kick-off of the road to Brazil 2014 (begun with a 5-2 first leg victory for Belize over Montserrat) has been hijacked by Belize's suspension from the organization following the government's refusal to provide services for the return leg in Belize originally scheduled for Sunday. And there is little hope for a quick resolution that would allow for that match to be played.

On one side is the FFB, led by Dr. Bertie Chimilio, who -- like many others within FIFA's walls -- sounds his arguments in terms of conspiracies designed to get him as a person rather than the institution he is supposed to run. And Dr. Chimilio is said to have the full support of Sepp Blatter meriting a visit from the high official earlier this year.

On the other side is a resolute government that has now facilitated the creation of a new organization, the National Football Association of Belize, to represent and develop football in the country. The NFAB includes both the BPFL and the SLB and, in fact, under the auspices of the first meeting of the NFAB, the two rival leagues reportedly agreed to combine to become the Belize Premier Superleague, making the survival of the FFB an even more dubious proposition.

The ultimate deathblow to the FFB may be Belize's willingness to forego World Cup qualifiers and FIFA football should Dr. Chimilio remain in charge. Belizeans are reported to be apathetic to the plight of the nation's football team and FIFA's punishing trump card -- the denial of international football -- may not have an impact.

But maybe not. This isn't the first time that the government has made a run at the FFB. In 2004, the government canceled FFB's registration in the face of reprisals from FIFA and CONCACAF while many within Belize's soccer community applauded. Dr. Chimilio survived. In the near term, only football's supporters suffer.

Happy Father's Day

2011-06-19T22:51:00.010-04:00

Sandwiched around a trip downtown to watch a soccer game, I had a terrific father's day with our little one.

As much as I enjoyed the day with her, I am also grateful for having been afforded the chance to see the U.S. - Jamaica game. Thanks to El Salvador's bare qualification out of the Gold Cup's group stage, RFK was popping and the atmosphere was without precedent for me at the stadium.

The blue wave that descended on the stadium prior to the first game of the doubleheader surprised me. I had (wrongly) assumed that most of the Salvadoran partisans would stay outside the grounds tailgating until the ES - Panama tie grew closer, but, instead, tens of thousands of fans wearing blue filled seats and rooted loudly and forcefully for the U.S. men's national team.

The unique nature of the day should not be understated. For Salvadorans throughout the region, today offered a rare opportunity to show simultaneous love and loyalty both for the country left behind (but by no means forgotten) and for the country that has become home. It was a beautiful sight to behold.

On the field, an early injury to Jozy Altidore left the USMNT with a team that featured Juan Agudelo along with Sasha Klejstan, Alejandro Bedoya, and Eric Lichaj, and all four performed very well. Everyone around me provided better analysis of the game than I ever could, so I'll just memorialize photos of a day at the park:

Keeping On...

2011-06-11T22:37:00.017-04:00

If the report that Colin Henry will be representing the CFU and eleven of its individual members, including Dominica, is correct, then Mr. Henry is going to be faced with some interesting challenges as to the various positions of his individual clients.

It was reported today that the president of the Dominica Football Association (and former Prime Minister), Patrick John, declared that his federation did not receive any payments or gifts at the May 10th CFU meeting in Trinidad. This announcement, however, does not situate the Dominica in the "see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil" camp led by T&T/Jamaica/Barbados, as Mr. John has an interesting explanation for why it would not have been bribed: Dominica openly opposed Bin Hammam's candidacy and declared support for Monsieur Blatter. Mr. John's denial, in fact, reads like an indictment of his fellow associations:

“Dominica was never approached about the gift being given because Dominica opposed Bin Hammam’s candidacy at the meeting when he made his presentation,” [John] said.

“He was told that Dominica will not support him and will instead support Blatter. We were very tough on him. Other … members asked some soft questions about when they will or will not get the money, that is, the money for the Goal Project and an increase in the Financial Assistance Project and then the story broke out.”

Mr. John noted that he could not speak for other associations but that the DFA had no awareness as to whether bribes were offered or accepted at the meeting.

This is no bombshell revelation, nor should it be surprising to other CFU members as it is fully consistent with what Mr. John told Dominica News at the beginning of the month:

“The DFA was the only association to refuse Hammam’s proposals and the association has not received any such monies.”

Dominica's claim of exceptionalism has nevertheless led to the association being lumped in with others that have denied that gifts or bribes were given -- a position that seems even more untenable with each passing day -- perhaps, in part, because Mr. John appears to support the belief that Chuck Blazer has pursued claims against the CFU as part of a plot to install North Americans as the leadership of CONCACAF.

What does this mean? At base, I think that the DFA's position is a reflection of how weak the support is amongst the various CFU members for the official storyline peddled by its leaders. If the FIFA investigation has any teeth (and it may not) knives are going to start being placed into backs.

The acting president of the CFU, Jamaica's Captain Horace Burrell, now says that the Union will cooperate with FIFA's investigation following a change in venue to the Bahamas. But the CFU goes into those meetings with a problem that is escalating by the day.

First, the CFU web-site continues to post questionable missives that only seem to further undermine confidence in the organization. There is, for example, this piece originating from Barbados that includes a line that seems to argue for conspiring to prevent the disclosure of wrong-doing at the May meetings:

There is no doubt that, should CFU members individually take the high road, Caribbean football will suffer in the long run.

The most recent posting describes the Barbados Football Association's demand to Sepp Blatter to reinstate Lisle Austin as the head of the CFU; a somewhat problematic request since Mr. Austin has elevated the dispute to yet another level by seeking the intervention of Bahamian court (CONCACAF is supposed to be headquartered in Nassau). Mr. Austin has declared that he's received an injunction that once again installs him as President. And, well, he had a little more to say:

“I am gratified but not surprised by yesterday’s order,” Austin said of the injunction. “I have stood firm in my belief that I rightfully succeeded to the Acting Presidency of Concacaf and (the) order affirms my belief.”

This is kind of like celebrating a clean sheet after ten minutes, but, go on Mr. Austin, do tell:

“My efforts to lead the Confederation into a new era continue again today (Friday),” Austin stressed. “The rogue faction attacking Concacaf from within cannot interfere with our love of this sport and our pursuit of reform and transparency.”

One in a million. Absolutely priceless.

Regardless, we all know how FIFA feels about folks turning to courts of law for relief, so this should turn out well.

However, try as he might, Mr. Austin cannot outclass Jack Warner. Asked if he was going to the Bahamas to participate in the FIFA investigation, Mr. Warner replied:

“I not answering them questions. What you wasting my time for? I not talking to all you about that. Respect my wishes, nah.”

There you go. Don't waste his time. Respect his wishes. Always remember the golden rule: Do unto Teflon Jack as he would do on to you.

And, oh by the way, here's an English language article on the Curacao Football Association's press conference earlier this week confirming that $40,000 was offered to CFU members as a "gift" at the meeting.

And here's a contemporaneous article describing Mohammed Bin Hammam's May 10th meeting with CFU members. Given the subsequent fallout from the address, you have to love this summary of Mr. Bin Hammam's comments:

Bin Hammam mentioned that he did not believe FIFA was a corrupt organization. In light of reports that surfaced earlier in the day regarding allegations that four FIFA officials requested bribes from the England 2018 World Cup bid, Bin Hammam maintained that if there were allegations were to be true then sufficient evidence would have to be provided.

He added that he hoped FIFA would be more transparent and its decision-making process should involve more parties.

Not corrupt? A need for more transparency? Where do I sign up?

Pellucid

2011-06-09T23:29:00.010-04:00

All that time trying to understand Dutch last night and all I had to do was wait a few hours and let Simon Evans catch up with the press in the Netherlands. Suriname's Louis Giskus not only once again confirms the fact that gifts were given, but has strong words characterizing Jack Warner's actions:

Giskus said the invitation to the meeting, from Warner, stated that all transport and accommodation costs would be covered by the CFU, although later Bin Hammam said in a statement that he covered the expenses of the meeting.
"Warner wrote in the invitation that all the expenses would be paid by CFU," he said. "My conclusion is that he was lying. If you say that all expenses paid by CFU and later we hear that Mr Bin Hammam says he paid all the expenses then Mr Warner was lying."

The timing of Evans' article could not be better as it comes the same day as Barbados' Lisle Austin's suspension from CONCACAF was extended for football activities throughout the world by FIFA while the Barbados Football Association's gambit extended to a strained public statement from President Ronald Jones (who is also the Minister of Education on the island) declaring the Association's virginal virtues:

The Barbados Football Association makes it pellucid that none of its delegates were offered any inducements or gifts to support any of the candidates during the meeting on the 10^th of May in Trinidad. Our delegates listened to the Speeches by Mohamed Bin Hamman, who was there to make a case as to why he would need the support of FIFA members of the CFU.

But the statement contains some notable wiggle room and leaves open the option of hanging the association's General Secretary, David Hinds, out to dry:

The General Secretary of the BFA has already responded to FIFA Ethics Committee at a meeting in Zurich over the past week. He maintained that he was not aware of any inducements offered to delegates at the meeting. He further explained that he was not in any position to state if any inducements were offered to any other delegates of any Caribbean Federation or Association.
The comments of the General Secretary of the BFA remain the position of the BFA on this matter. As President of the Association, I am positive that our delegates operated with the highest level of integrity and professionalism as I would have expected of any member of the BFA’s Executive.

Bizarrely, the issued statement comes shortly after President Jones is reported to have penned a letter to other CFU members noting the stakes. Jones' letter reportedly opined:

"Comrades, we are on the brink of self inflicted destruction. It was never supposed to be like this. The legacy of Caribbean society and our various struggles over time should have taught us many lessons. Sad to say these lessons seemed to have been forgotten or sacrificed as persons scatter to seek their own comfort and survival."

I'm not sure how issuing statements declaring your own innocence helps the collective but that's probably fairly representative of the CFU.

Separate and apart from Jones' exhortations, many of his CFU colleagues aren't necessarily in a position to circle the wagons. Guyana is apparently in the "see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil" camp of the Union, but the nation's football federation likely has more pressing problems. The Georgetown Football Association, a constituent member of of the Guyana Football Federation, has sought the assistance of domestic courts in an effort to halt the re-election of the Federation's incumbent President, Colin Klass. Klass is reportedly in the United States for the Gold Cup -- not because he is assisting FIFA's inquiry -- and the GFA's complaints are said to arise from their opposition to Klass's leadership and their inability to nominate a challenger.

Some recent leadership battles in the CFU have led to regime change. The U.S. Virgin Islands Soccer Association's longtime President Derrick Martin was kicked out of his post in December by an 8 to 1 vote from the Executive Committee after Martin reportedly refused to answer questions from members regarding the Association's finances. The questions raised, on their face, seem to be significant:

The USVI Soccer Association was founded in 1992 and because it is one of the 208 member associations of FIFA, it receives $250,000 every year to be invested purely on developmental projects like women's soccer, Futsal, refereeing, medical programs and more.

Since Martin has been at the helm, the association has received over $1 million and Martin said the latest $250,000 installment came in September.

The USVI Soccer Association has never organized a recreation youth soccer league, a women's soccer league or Futsal, which is a type of soccer that is played on a smaller playing surface or on the beach. An adult coed league did not happen on St. Thomas this past season and Martin said there has not been a USVI Soccer Association presence on St. John for the last three years.

And, apparently, CONCACAF starts to get concerned about where the money is going after an association fails to hold an annual congress for three years and has most recently reported its financial information in 2007.

But maybe the shenanigans of the Trinidadian/Barbados/Jamaican leadership of the CFU may pay off in the end. After CFU members refused to go to Miami, FIFA will now conduct its inquiry in The Bahamas from June 14th to the 15th. The CFU has also lawyered up and engaged the services of New Zealand's Colin Henry; notably Henry will also be representing a minority of CFU's member associations: Trinidad & Tobago; Barbados; Jamaica; Guyana; Grenada; Dominica; the Cayman Islands; Antigua & Barbuda; St. Kitts & Nevis; St. Lucia; and St. Vincent & the Grenadines (11 of the 25).

CFU gathered its members in Trinidad this past Tuesday to plot a way forward. Some closing of ranks is undoubtedly occurring. But that's perhaps what makes Mr. Giskus's continued public commentary all the more remarkable. Whatever lines have been drawn, some folks are crossing them. More should follow.

The Lunatics You're Looking For

2011-06-08T22:25:00.046-04:00

One of the most compelling facets of international football is captured beautifully in Steve Menary's "Outcasts! The Lands that FIFA Forgot". To wit, Menary aptly portrays the aspirational quality of a game that links people all over the world.

I've knocked out about half the book this week and the stories of football in the Channel Islands, Greenland, Aland Island (with a reference to IFK Mariehamn no less!), the Shetland Islands, the Falklands, and a number of places that I could not find on a map (and some, like the Principality of Sealand, that may not exist) is in my wheelhouse. Tales of the hopes and ambitions of kids kicking a ball around on the Isle of Man or St. Helena whilst dreaming of playing at the highest levels of the sport are no more ridiculous than the limitless ambitions of young man from Madeira named after the 40th President of the United States.

Menary describes, with appropriate reverence, the lengths that Greenlanders will go to just to get a game and he does not hide his admiration for the sport as played in the Island Games -- the spirit of competition free of the corrupting influence of commercial exploitation.

But before Menary gets to the heart-warming, uplifting stuff, he hits the flip-side of the coin -- what happens when the dreams of young men and women are twisted for (with apologies to Ms. Merchant) the lust and the avarice, the bottomless, cavernous greed of reprehensible human beings.

If you are scoring at home, Menary's book, published in 2007, waits all of eight pages to drop the name of our region's guileless leader:

Trawling through FIFA's 207-strong membership roll, a large number of members are clearly not independent nations, yet all receive US$1 million every four years as part of the world body's financial assistance programme. The money is also a huge political tool and enables regional power brokers such as Trinidad & Tobago boss and CONCACAF strongman Jack Warner to move up through the regional hierarchy into FIFA.

Known locally as 'Teflon Jack,' Warner was deemed in February 2006 to have a "conflict of interests and that the code of ethics had been violated as a result" of ticket allocations for that year's World Cup finals made to the Trinidad & Tobago FA that were being distributed by a travel agency owned by his family. Warner was never punished by FIFA, but he is certainly guilty of using his position in CONCACAF to test the idea of international football and provide a block of voters, who, awash with FIFA grants, are willing voters to support Warner and his protector, FIFA boss Sepp Blatter, come election time.

Thirty of CONCACAF's forty constituents are members of Warner's principal playground, the Caribbean Football Union. And 25 of CFU's members are also FIFA members. The CFU, as a block, controls over twelve percent of FIFA's 208 members.

Although the CFU has not produced terribly memorable footballing sides (Jamaica qualified for the World Cup in 1998 and Trinidad & Tobago did so in 2006), some of the members have made their mark through cynical abuse of federation offices. Menary has one more shout out from the greatest hits album of CFU corruption at page 11:

In Antigua & Barbuda, more than ₤200,000 went missing on a new FA headquarters that was never built. The Antigua & Barbuda FA secretary general, Paul 'Chet' Greene, a friend of 'Teflon Jack' Warner's went unpunished.

A 2008 article by Trevor Morgan notes that a $471,364 FIFA GOAL Project grant towards building a training centre in Antigua & Barbuda netted... an empty lot but was still followed by a second grant, this time for $503,098, in 2005. And Morgan's article also identifies a similar FIFA financed money pit in Barbados finally shelved in February of 2008 (while also running FIFA's reply that it was a non-event).

Fast forward to this week, when at least 18 of the 25 CFU FIFA members are reported to have refused to travel to Miami to participate in the FIFA-led investigation of brown bag cash payments made to CFU members in order to solicit support for Mohamed Bin Hammam's candidacy for the FIFA presidency. Why did they decline? These CFU members refused to be pulled into a vast American conspiracy to destroy the noble history of the CFU, as outlined by the full-time stand-up comic, part-time head of the Barbados FA (how's that training centre coming?) Lisle Austin in a letter exposing all of this for what it really is: a C-O-N-SPIRACY.

On one side of the CFU, the heads of the federations of the Bahamas, Puerto Rico, Bermuda, the Cayman Islands, and Turks & Caicos Islands have each supported the allegation that $40,000 in $100 bills was given to CFU members in brown envelopes at a CFU meeting at the Port of Spain. That's five of the 25.

Published reports say that at least 18 of (presumably the other 20) CFU members have refused to cooperate with the FIFA investigation, meaning that the orchestrated American assault on the Caribbean likely does not include the American possession of the U.S. Virgin Islands -- an entity that wields the same number of votes (1) as the United States despite the fact that a $40,000 cash grant would result in a $0.36 distribution to everyone living in the territory (a similar amount given to USSF could be spread amongst Americans one one-hundredth of a cent at a time).

Current acting CFU president Captain Horace Burrell has publicly declared, on behalf of the Jamaican Football Federation (which he also heads), that Jamaica received no cash gift at the meeting. Not surprisingly, the two attendees representing the Barbados Football Association have also publicly declared that no payments were made at the meeting.

Same with Carlos Prowell, Guyana's representative at the meeting, who says no money was offered to his federation and none was taken. But that hasn't stopped folks from asking whether this claim is, in fact, true and wondering where all of the money has gone ("Editor over the years we have heard of talk of large sums of money to be had in this game of football, but we have not been seen any real development of the game in Guyana."). (In a May 2010 post, Steve Menary raised similar questions about Guyana's federation following a false start after near qualification in the Gold Cup in 2007.)

The British Virgin Islands Football Association's head, Franka Pickering, declared early on that she too had seen no evidence of any bribery. Ms. Pickering, who presides over a national football squad that managed to lose its two 2010 Caribbean Cup matches 17 to 0 against Haiti and 10 to 0 to CONCACAF powerhouse (*cough*) Dominica, deftly added: “we discussed why he (Mohamed Bin Hamman) was running for President and that was about it. Us small Islands are just a drop in the bucket”.

However, the "we didn't see anything" line is not universal amongst CFU's other members. According to this Radio Netherlands report, Curacao's Rignaal Francisca has stated that after Bin Hammam's presentation on May 10th all attendees were given $40,000 PLUS a laptop PLUS a projector. Francisca, however, claims that he turned down the funds -- asking that they be wired to the federation -- and that there was no understanding that the money was given to support Bin Hammam's candidacy (although the question of what the grant would have been for remains unaddressed). Because of this latter point, Francisca apparently saw no reason to inform FIFA of any of the unquestionably strange approach (one he terms as being not in the normal course of business). My Dutch is limited to what Google translator tells me the words mean, but Francisca seems to argue that it is not terribly unusual to be given donations of thousands of dollars in the world of football.

Even better, Suriname's Louis Giskus admits to receiving $40,000 at the meeting, but was initially reported to have taken the position that he didn't feel he was being bribed with the generous offer of 400 $100 bills. It was, instead, a dispensation for a kind and benevolent CFU totally divorced from Bin Hammam's presentation that directly preceded it. Subsequent reports indicate that Giskus may no longer be holding that view, that Curacao's Rignaal Francisca was also present, and that while Giskus doesn't know if Francisca accepted his gifts, Giskus received $40,000, a laptop, and a projector believing these to be contributions from the CFU for the development of football in Suriname. A June 7th press conference was to be held, but I've been unable to locate anything that would confirm that Suriname is assisting in the investigation.

Giskus's admissions -- which are frequent to the Dutch press -- should make the positions adopted by the federations of Trinidad & Tobago, Barbados, the British Virgin Islands, and Jamaica untenable. They should also make the rest of CONCACAF extremely concerned about how much damage Warner and his cronies are going to do to the organization in the near term. The stupidity of the arguments presented defending what transpired on May 10th is what is most disconcerting. Not the bit about this being an American plot to destroy peace-loving God-fearing Caribbean nations; that's just hackneyed. But the concept that Cuba -- population in excess of 11 million -- the Dominican Republic -- population in excess of 8.5 million -- and Haiti -- population of nearly 10 million -- were all given $40,000, a laptop and a projector to advance the sport in their country while, at the same time, Montserrat -- with a population that approaches all of 5,000 people (one-sixth the size of College Park, Maryland) -- was given the exact same amount is stupendously idiotic. And these amounts were only given to CFU's 25 FIFA members but not to the five members (French Guiana, Guadeloupe, Martinique, Saint-Martin, and Sint Maarten) who happen to have not been included in that august club (and, as such, have no vote in FIFA's election)?

As former Antiguan national coach Veron Edwards Sr. noted in the wake of these disclosures:

“No. I think that everyone knows how football [is] run in the Caribbean and it is not only the Caribbean. I think what you have here is a collective body and I think that most of the CFU members went to this meeting as a block on who the candidate was they were going to vote for and I guess the money came in after,” Edwards said.

What possible argument can there be that something else was going on?

Something is very, very wrong with the CFU. When soccer was struggling to gain a foothold in the U.S. what happened in the Caribbean was of no consequence to Americans. This, however, is no longer the case and looking the other way while CFU members pilfered, or, at a minimum, frittered away, large amounts of resources is no longer a viable option.

Tsk! Tsk!

2011-06-06T22:23:00.013-04:00

We took the little one to a playground last night and she finally decided to take a break from doing potentially dangerous things about a half hour into our visit. I took the opportunity presented by the brief respite to check the news through the Chicago Tribune's mobile site, quickly read the story about Carlos Zambrano's comments following another pathetic loss, and realized that this Cubs' team was going to be at least as depressing as the 2006 and 2002 versions of the squad.

And so what? That the Cubs suck is not exactly surprising. I was optimistic about the coming season because of the addition of Matt Garza and a firm belief that Alfonso Soriano would have a turnaround season, but I am also an idiot who always finds reasons to believe that -- despite all evidence to the contrary -- this will be the year.

Or maybe I wasn't so bullish on this year -- the moment that Jim Hendry announced that Mike Quade, not Ryne Sandberg, would be the coach of the Cubs, the possibility of a miracle effectively ended.

Maybe this year would be tolerable if it was Sandberg at the helm. The losses absorbed now could be accepted as valuable lessons endured for a glorious return just over the horizon. Now? I doubt that there a more than a handful of Cubs fans that believe that Quade can do anything with the team; they will be horrible not only this season, but the next, and probably 2013 as well.

And, as an added bonus for all of the Cubbie faithful, Hendry's shunting of a Cubs legend (who paid his dues and did everything asked of him) has created a perfect storm that will usher out three of three franchise's most loved and prolific players -- Kerry Wood, Aramis Ramirez, and Carlos Zambrano.

It was inevitable that Zambrano's comments would be used as a launching point for the lecturing and sanctimonious hectoring that has, with notable exceptions, replaced sports reporting in the city. Cue David Haugh -- who, sticking to his now cemented role as a clown, brands Big Z as an "immature hothead," a "prima donna," and "selfish."

Fortunately, there are exceptions, and it is awesome to see Bob Brenly voice support for Z and, even better, read Bruce Miles' measured thoughts on the same subject. (Indeed, Miles has it exactly right: "You're going to get some of the easy and predictable reactions in the media, like the Cubs should suspend Z.")

I'm starting to take perverse enjoyment in Haugh's writings. They're predictable, they are all holier-than-thou, they are all slated to management, and they're lazy. Here's what he says about Zambrano's tenure with the following:

"It was another symptom of the immaturity that has made Big Z's career a big disappointment given his physical potential."

Disappointment? To whom?

Zambrano has had one of the best pitching careers of any Cubs' starter -- second only to Greg Maddux -- in the thirty plus years I've followed the team.

Let me write that again ... Carlos Zambrano has had the second-best pitching career of any Cubs' player in the last thirty years.

I only caught Rick Reuschel and Fergie Jenkins at the tail end of their careers. But from just a pure numbers standpoint, Big Z holds up with the greatest to take the mound for the team.

This year (likely in his next start), Zambrano will break the 1,500 strike out mark for the Cubbies. That's second all-time, behind only Fergie. Zambrano's won 121 games in 271 starts (8th all-time), that's a 44.6% ratio -- the same as Maddux's (133 wins in 298 starts). Reuschel won 135 times in 343 starts (39.4%) and Fergie had 167 wins in 347 starts (48.1%). A career 1.31 WHIP, a career 3.52 ERA, 7.635 k's per nine innings (6th all-time and second only to Kerry Wood amongst pitchers with at least 1,000 innings pitched in a Cubs jersey).

In case you had not heard, Zambrano is kind of good. He's been kind of good for a decade. Miles is, again, dead on:

And despite his problems of last year (which started with the Cubs shunting him off to the bullpen), the guy's got some cachet around here. He outlasted both Wood and Mark Prior as starting pitchers. He's overcome some of anger-management issues and redefined himself as a guy who can get you out by thinking and finesse and also by the occasional power pitch sometimes.

He's been the Cubs' best pitcher of this day. Ten or so years ago, watching in spring training, I turned to somebody and said, "Wow, this guy's got better pure stuff than either Wood or Prior." And he did.

Rock on Z. Don't let the bastards get you down.

Fair Play

2011-06-05T22:42:00.029-04:00

After finally successfully convincing The Decider that our home was not complete without a flat-screen high-definition television, I celebrated the new acquisition with two things: (1) running the bank heist/standoff scene of Heat with the volume at its maximum and (2) christening the television with the Trinidad & Tobago World Cup 2006 match against Sweden in Dortmund.

Like most everyone else in this country, our rooting interests were with the clear underdog and we were thrilled to see the Soca Warriors pull off a draw, particularly after the ejection of former Bohemians (and future D.C. United) alum Avery John.

The game ended up being the highlight of T&T's German tour, as 2-0 losses to the UK and Paraguay ushered the team back home.

Despite being denied a win in Germany, that Soca Warriors World Cup team ended up winning important victories ... in court, well after the closing ceremonies. And this is how I first heard of Jack Warner.

FIFA's organizational structure bore little interest for me and certainly the fact that the organization is consistently dogged by issues of corruption was neither surprising nor terribly noteworthy. But the infantile, deeply idiotic manner in which the Trinidad & Tobago Football Association (TTFA) sought to screw its own players who had brought national glory gave me pause.

After the tournament, Shaka Hislop, Kelvin Jack, Brent Sancho, Avery John, Marvin Andrews, Ian Cox, Cyd Gray, Atiba Charles, Chris Birchall, Aurtis Whitley, Anthony Wolfe, Collin Samuel, Evans Wise, Cornell Glen, Kenwyne Jones and Stern John brought a complaint to the Sport Dispute Resolution Panel because of unhappiness that an agreement with TTFA for a 30/70 split of World Cup-related profit for the federation -- increased by Jack Warner to a 50/50 split after the historic draw -- resulted in Warner offering each Soca Warrior a paltry $5,600 for their efforts. Warner, who is nothing if not classy, responded to the legal action by deriding the nation's heroes as greedy mercenaries and seeking to renege on the promised increase in the split.

Following the adverse judgment, the TTFA refused to honor it, concocting spurious allegations (principally that the players had violated a confidentially clause) and 15 of the 16 steadfastly pursued the relief previously granted in domestic courts in Trinidad. At almost every turn, the players have won their claims, the TFFA has been rebuffed, and, yet, the case continues. In February of this year -- finally -- an interim payment was ordered to be made to the players. That is, in February of 2011, five years after the World Cup in Germany. (After filing yet another appeal challenging another confirmation of the TTFA's culpability, the Federation recently announced that it was withdrawing the appeal).

TTFA's response -- after outrageously refusing to be held accountable -- was to declare that it had no money to make the players whole and threaten bankruptcy. And if there was any confusion about how import Warner is to football in Trinidad, the TTFA's commentary made clear that it exists at the whims of one man. Oliver Camps, the President of the Federation, was quoted as saying:

What we must all be cognizant of is the fact that at present the TTFF does not have that kind of money, as over the years we have been depending almost solely on our benefactor Jack Warner to take care of the financial needs of the Federation.

Apart from whatever help we receive from the Government from time to time, Mr. Warner has been funding all our eight national teams single-handedly. I will discuss with him whether or not he is mindful to assist us in this matter or whether as a Federation we will be forced to file for bankruptcy.

For the players who brought the case, while there was always some possibility of a large judgment down the line, pursuing the action came at great personal cost for the careers of a number of the players. At base, the suit was one brought against Jack Warner; it was and remains an effort to hold Warner accountable for his mendacity (Shaka Hislop, one of the most respected names in Trinidadian football and one of the footballers that brought the case, noted to BBC Sport that the whole debacle raised questions about Warner's involvement with the national federation and their dubious financial accounting). Regardless of what it meant for the national team's competitiveness, those who brought suit were ostracized and some struggled to find work as professionals in result.

Nevertheless, they stood up to Warner and deserve the respect and admiration of everyone concerned about the integrity of the game. Indeed, in my absurdly large collection of player issued/match worn shirts, one of my most prized assets is an Avery John D.C. United CONCACAF Champions league jersey that consistently reminds me of the group's perseverance.

I keep this in mind watching the inevitable fallout from the latest fiasco involving Warner -- one that has now led to the ridiculous, although highly comical, rantings of Barbados' Lisle Austin as he does his "greatest hits" tribute to incompetent deposed LDC dictators.

As the head of the Caribbean Football Union (CFU), Jack Warner is now alleged to have facilitated the payment of brown bag cash bribes from Mohammed bin Hammam made in an alleged effort to win the votes of the CFU's 25 FIFA members (CFU has 30 members, but five are not yet full-fledged FIFA members). The 25? Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Aruba, Bahamas, Barbados, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Cuba, Curacao, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti,
Jamaica, Montserrat, Puerto Rico, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, Trinidad and Tobago, Turks and Caicos Islands, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

The payments are unrelated to the decision to hand Qatar a World Cup, rather FIFA's presidency was the issue at stake at the May 10th CFU meeting in Trinidad, and the scale of the corruption alleged is paltry -- $40,000 in cash to the 25-voting members (for the tidy sum of $1 million total). But the actions taken by the representative of the Bahamas Football Association, Fred Lunn, in response to the bribe are remarkable. To wit, Lunn rejected pressure from CFU staff members, notified the Federation's president (Anton Sealey) of the curious approach, refused the "gift," and condemned the behavior.

Warner's defensive missive assures the world that he has the statements of 13 of the 25 CFU members denying the allegations that such payments were offered.

Therein lies the issue that should most concern the rest of CONCACAF. The Bahamas FA should be lauded for what Mr. Lunn and Mr. Sealey have refused to do. They must also be protected. Notably, Eric Labrador, the President of Puerto Rico's FA, has confirmed the Bahamas FA's account of a $40,000 payment, following initial confirmation of the claims from the football associations of Bermuda, Cayman Islands, and Turks and Caicos Islands. But that means that only five of the 30 CFU members have made public declarations regarding what was, at best, horrific decision-making by the CFU, while on the other side of the ledger, 13 CFU members have sought to obfuscate.

CFU's importance in world football derives purely from its numbers. CONCACAF's powers in international competition come from North and Central America. Retribution against the Bahamas, Bermuda, Cayman Islands, Turks and Caicos Islands, and Puerto Rico by the rest of the CFU will not register outside of CONCACAF. Regardless, the potential blowback is something that should concern the rest of CONCACAF. Warner's reign has coincided with an increase in interest in the sport in the United States and Canada, but his continued presence threatens the further advancement of the sport. Whatever the pragmatic reality, Warner's antics should fundamentally offend everyone involved with U.S. soccer. This is, after all, our regional federation as well and the well-being of those federations within CONCACAF that have spoken up should matter.

Hanging 'Em Up

2011-06-05T00:07:00.008-04:00

Our Memorial Day vacation in Southern Maryland began with a detour to Regency Furniture Stadium for our first independent league baseball game. The sidetrip was a bit of a lark as we were running by the stadium on our way to Lexington Park. I figured we would drop by the game, maybe grab a hot dog, see what the Atlantic League had to offer and get back on the road.

We ended up staying much longer than I had anticipated and for the first time in her young life, our daughter made it all the way through a baseball game.

Although we entered the stadium in the first inning, we did not get to our seats until the eighth. Regency isn't so much a baseball stadium as it is an amusement park for little kids. Nationals Park has a playground and Prince George's Stadium (home of the Baysox) has a carousel and an inflatable bounce house. Regency, however, has a playground, a bounce house, a massive inflatable slide, a climbing wall, sand boxes with crane shovels, and bumper boats. Bumper boats.

The setup is not conducive to watching a baseball game and has unfortunately warped our daughter's expectations of sporting events. Following Saturday's game, she's asked to go to a baseball game every other day and declined to join me for the Real Maryland match tonight as Richard Montgomery High School cannot compete.

When I did get to watch the game, what was on the field was almost as surprising to me as how much our daughter was enjoying the amenities off the field.

The Southern Maryland Blue Crabs were facing the Camden Riversharks and on the mound for the Riversharks was the familiar visage of Jason Johnson:

Johnson, as a Baltimore Oriole between 1999 and 2003, was a regular on my fantasy baseball teams (that obviously finished near the bottom every year). And he wasn't the only familiar face, as Camden's starting lineup also featured former Astro Mike Lamb (2004-2007), former D-Ray Toby Hall (2000-2005), and World Series ring owner Pedro Feliz -- each of whom made a cameo appearance on my fantasy bball teams at one time or another.

Watching Johnson get shelled and Lamb and Hall struggle at the plate against former Cub Jason Waddell wasn't terribly enjoyable. And although the turnout (of over 4,000) meant that these former big leaguers were not toiling in total anonymity, there is something fundamentally wrong with seeing an athlete that has achieved as much as Pedro Feliz being mercilessly heckled by drunken never-have-beens while living out of a hotel in Camden and earning $2,500 a month.

Feliz has chosen his path, so presumably he knew what he was getting into. Nevertheless, I was surprised by how much the spectacle of deterioration detracted from my enjoyment of the actual game. This is not a tribute to achievement; Feliz is not celebrating his career. Instead, he's holding out a gossamer thread of hope at renewal and he's hitting .233 against Atlantic League pitching.

Mbuta II

2011-05-30T00:21:00.008-04:00

Lost -- at least to me -- in the attention paid to Coach Bradley's announcement of a Gold Cup roster was Javier Clemente's list of 23 Cameroonian players called in to face Senegal in an African Cup qualifier group match scheduled for later this week.

The big news coming from Cameroon's camp was the return of Alex Song and Carlos Kameni to a team that already features Samuel Eto'o, Pierre Webo, Sebastien Bassong, Eyong Enoh, Stephane M'Bia, and Benoit Assou-Ekotto.

Around here, the even bigger news is that 25-year old Matthew Mbuta was again called into the squad.

My internet search skills have failed to discern where Mr. Mbuta currently plays at the club level, but he is clearly doing enough to earn one heck of an honor by continued inclusion in a fairly strong footballing side.

As I wrote back in February, we're thrilled for Matthew and wish him the best in all future endeavors. I remain surprised that he does not appear to be on the radar of any MLS or NASL squads. I am also surprised that Mbuta's story -- a rise from playing for a second division U.S. team in dire circumstances to earning a spot amongst the Indomitable Lions -- is not a bigger deal.

Mystikal

2011-05-27T23:48:00.010-04:00

The Washington Mystics first preseason home match of the 2011 season was at 11:30 this past Thursday morning at the Verizon Center. 11:30 am on a weekday is a strange start time for a professional athletic event but the unusual scheduling transforms the stadium into a wonderland for little kids.

My daughter chose to skip daycare to join me for the game and we sat behind the Chicago Sky's bench. Outside of one run to grab food during the second quarter, there was enough happening on the court and in the stands to keep a two-year old's attention for the entire game.

The Mystics franchise does a terrific job creating a kid friendly environment for these early weekday games. And while that may not be what many look for in a sporting event, the basketball itself is worth the price of admission.

The Mystics' returning nucleus of Alana Beard and former Terps Crystal Langhorne and Marissa Coleman showed well in the game, although Coleman struggled from the floor.

Based on the little one's favorable response to the game, I'm guessing that we'll be able to add Mystics games to our schedule this summer.

Close Encounters with Footballing Giants

2011-05-23T00:16:00.008-04:00

The management of D.C. United should, by rights, be disappointed to have organized a friendly against one of the world's most storied football clubs and have only a paid attendance of 10,728 people take advantage of the event.

The disappointing turnout ignited another long, familiar debate in our section as to whether the sport has really managed to make any significant strides in the country. If a visit by Ajax -- which started the game with four (Kenneth Vermeer; Vurnon Anita; Demy De Zeuw; and Miralem Sulejmani) of the starters that played in the league title clinching match against Twente one week ago -- could not get casual soccer fans in the region to come out in droves, then perhaps it is only the celebrity of Beckham, Henry, Barcelona, Milan, and Chelsea that drives ticket sales and not technical brilliance.

I walked past Will Chang and Charlie Davies on the ramp heading down to our seats. Whether there is sufficient support for soccer among the general population does not really matter to me so long as Mr. Chang continues to have faith that there is a worthwhile market here.

The addition of Charlie Davies, I think, showed a commitment to making the fan experience more enjoyable; adding exhibitions that feature Ajax and Everton demonstrated a commitment to restoring pride in the franchise.

My daughter and I were treated to a fantastic display of football today at RFK. For the first time, I regretted not having seats higher up so as to better appreciate the passing and design of Ajax's offensive forays.

My daughter's not old enough to appreciate what happened on the pitch -- she told me that her favorite part of the game was Blake Brettschneider's goal, but I think that the rainbow dipping dots will be her answer tomorrow -- but it will hopefully be memorable nonetheless. We were about three-quarters of our way up the stairs and out of the stadium when she turned around and looked down at all the Ajax supporters congregating in the corner to salute their club. I asked her if she wanted to get autographs from the players or go home; she chose to head back down the stairs. Ten minutes later, with the help of some very nice young men in Ajax replica kits, we finally made our way to the metro with a shirt signed by Siem De Jong and Andre Ooijer.

I am, as ever, grateful for D.C. United.

Boosters

2011-05-16T22:23:00.011-04:00

Before exposing my two-year old to the elements and Terry Vaughn's comical refereeing at RFK, we took her up to Columbia for the UM Rebounders' second annual minigolf tournament for the University of Maryland Women's basketball team.

The event was fantastic, our daughter had a great time, and our admiration for the program grew in result.

Although I am a passionate sports fan, I am not drawn to sports for social interactions. I will not go to a movie theater or playhouse by myself, but have no problem flying solo to a stadium to watch a game.

So, this might be the first time I have wanted to join a supporters' group and get to know its members. The first thing conveyed by the Rebounders at the event is that they are an extremely nice group of people. The second thing conveyed is that the Rebounder volunteers genuinely make people feel welcome. We knew no one there, but were treated warmly and left to our own devices to enjoy the event.

But the third thing -- and this is the most important takeaway -- is a sense of the intense pride felt in the great history of women's basketball at the University of Maryland. At the first hole on the minigolf course, the "celebrity" host for that hole introduced herself to us as Dottie McKnight. And we had no idea who she was... A hole earlier I took a bad prat fall on the green trying to stop my daughter's putt from going into a sand trap. Chris Weller came by to make sure that I didn't hurt anything beyond my pride. And we had no idea who she was...

That level of ignorance is embarrassing. But if either Coach McKnight or Coach Weller were put off by our cluelessness, they did not show it. And while we did not know who they were at the time, we've remedied that now.

We weren't unaware of everyone on the course and brief interactions with some of the current players and coaching staff underscored the quality of the program. And my wife and I thoroughly enjoyed hearing about Lori Bjork's time in Transylvania playing professional basketball this past European season.

Our sincerest thanks to the Rebounders for organizing the event and for making it open to the public.

Elevation

2011-05-13T23:45:00.017-04:00

Tomorrow, it begins.

Accrington Stanley's improbable run this season in England's fourth division will culminate with the kickoff of the first leg of their semi-final playoff matchup against Stevenage FC.

Whatever happens with the semifinal, the team that advances presents a remarkable story and has to be the sentimental favorite in the final playoff match at Old Trafford. Stevenage only gained league status this year. Proving that they were punching at their weight, the club also achieved one of the great results of the English football season after upending Newcastle at Broadhall Way 3-1 in the FA Cup third round.

Stevenage's roster is loaded with familiar faces.

There are two Charlton Athletic academy alums on the club's roster: Lawrie Wilson and Stacy Long.

Stacy Long came to Stevenage from Ebbsfleet United and he is joined by two other former Ebbsfleet players, Michael Bostwick and Darius Charles, at the club.

And then there are three players with American ties. The University of Notre Dame's Jose Mousinho has had a great opening season for the club. Taiwo Atieno signed with the club in February, having returned to England after playing for the Puerto Rico Islanders and Rochester Rhinos in the USL. He was added to a roster that already had a USL alum in Dino Maamria, who had a disappointing short run with the Charleston Battery way back in 2003.

Despite all of that, our rooting interest is firmly with the little club from Lancashire. We've now sponsored one of Accrington's young home-grown prospects for two seasons. We've followed the sad financial soap opera that has dominated the club's storyline over those two seasons and hope that resolution of those dire problems will now correspond with success beyond most of the team's supporters' wildest dreams.

Earlier this week, we happily added to our support for the club by sponsoring two additional players. Unfortunately, we were able to sponsor additional players because many squad members were without sponsors. In a magical season, the club should be turning away requests from supporters to assist the team.

In any event, we are not the only Americans with an interest in Accrington Stanley: AFC Cleveland, a club slated to begin playing professionally (somewhere in the U.S.) in 2012, last week announced a most unexpected affiliation with Accrington Stanley.

Money

2011-05-11T00:05:00.003-04:00

Sometime after Adam Cristman attended an event last year for a charity that a friend was involved in, we checked the MLS Players Union’s list of 2010 salaries and were shocked that the 25-year old area native was only making $40,000. Forty thousand ain’t much to live on for a professional athlete with a family, but it’s a marked improvement over how things used to be just four years ago.

In 2007, Rod Dyachenko was being paid a $17,700 annual salary to play in the midfield for United. Current United defender Daniel Woolard was making $12,900 on the Chicago Fire – Woolard makes $50,000 this season for DCU.

A year later, Greg Janicki (another of my favorite United players that supporters slated unfairly) was earning $12,900 to play center half for D.C. United – he earns $45,000 this year for Vancouver.

The Players Union’s salary reporting is not ideal for cross-season comparisons, as each is a snapshot of rosters at different parts of various seasons – 2007’s reported salaries are from the end of August; 2008, early October; 2009, mid-March; 2010, mid-June; and 2011, the beginning of May.

But I like numbers and a breakdown of these amounts, for D.C. United, tells an interesting story.

Total salaries on United’s roster have fluctuated dramatically over the last five years, from a low of $2.3 million in 2007 to a high of $4.9 million the next year:

2007 = $2,276,390.00
2008 = $4,884,668.85
2009 = $3,233,676.28
2010 = $2,759,648.28
2011 = $3,322,518.57

These substantial fluctuations, however, mask the fact that a couple of high-value contracts drive the differentials. The massive change in salaries from 2007 to 2008 illustrates this point.

In 2007, when cumulative salaries were the lowest, no one on the team made more than $300k. Total team salary more than doubled in 2008, but virtually all of that increase can be attributed to the addition of Marcelo Gallardo (who made $1.9 million that season) and a large increase in Luciano Emilio’s salary. The $2.4 million increase in salary allocated to these two players was more than the entire team of 27 players made in 2007 ($2.3 million).

The decline in team salary from 2008 ($4.9 million) to 2009 ($3.2 million) corresponds to United taking Gallardo’s $1.9 million salary off the books. Similarly, the decline in team salary in 2010 ($2.8 million) can be attributed solely to a $500k decline in Emilio’s annual salary. As in 2007, in 2010, no one on United made more than $300k.

The total roster size has varied from 24 (2009) to 31 players (2008) and the club’s per-player average salaries have fluctuated significantly as well:

2007 = $84,310.74
2008 = $157,569.96
2009 = $134,736.51
2010 = $102,209.20
2011 = $114,569.61

But the small number of high value contracts drives the average – the highest per-player average salaries in 2008 were driven by Gallardo’s large salary. And when Gallardo was making millions, 11 players on United earned less than $20,000. That’s not a professional league.

To get a sense of how far the MLS has come, looking at what the bottom 15 guys on the roster make is instructive. Average salaries over the five years for the 15 guys with the lowest salaries:

2007 = $23,576.00
2008 = $19,635.24
2009 = $50,180.80
2010 = $54,354.16
2011 = $53,159.26

Now, fifty grand is not exactly lifestyles of the rich and famous, but it is a living wage.

And the real story, I think, told by the Union’s release of 2011 player salaries is the further confirmation of how far the league has come since David Beckham decided to move to the United States.

The average salary of D.C. United’s 15 lowest players fell slightly in 2011, but United’s roster size has steadily increased from 24 in 2009 to 27 in 2010 to 29 in 2011.

Limiting the analysis only to the bottom ten on the roster shows how much salaries have come up:

2007 = $18,990.00
2008 = $14,340.00
2009 = $35,395.80
2010 = $43,235.65
2011 = $45,354.51

And maintaining the high average amounts even with roster expansion is remarkable. This season, the league expanded by two teams and expanded rosters from 26 to 30 players – increasing the total number of players potentially under contract in the MLS by thirty percent in one season (from 416 to 540) – and yet none of those players made less than $32,600. That’s almost a three-fold increase from minimum salaries in 2007 despite the significant increase in employees.

United’s salary amounts are fairly representative of the MLS overall. For the Portland Timbers, their bottom 15 make on average $51,897.48 (DCU = $53,159.26) and their bottom 10 make $42,171.23 (DCU = $45,354.51). Vancouver ($44,083.61 and $38,440.01) and Seattle ($46,650.00 and $37,712.90) are lower, but still substantially above where salaries were in 2008, before they joined the league.

The increase in income for marginal players on MLS rosters creates a significant number of additional opportunities for talented American athletes to pursue careers in soccer and this expansion, in turn, creates a deeper talent pool that overseas leagues can tap into.

(As to MLS players going overseas, Josh Wicks – who made $42,000 for D.C. United in 2009 – had a tougher time of it in IFK Mariehamn's second league match, which ended in a 3-3 tie).

Alums

2011-05-08T01:16:00.011-04:00

Coach Cirovski's former players are having a bit of an impact on professional soccer this weekend.

To wit:

Maurice Edu started and played 71 minutes for Rangers earlier today as they got another step closer to the SPL title with a 4-0 drubbing of Hearts. Edu's thoughts on the success of this season's squad were highlighted on the club's web-site after the game.

We're back from seeing Stephen King and Ethan White lock down D.C. United's second consecutive clean sheet in four days at RFK. I thought White was fantastic tonight against FC Dallas, with one bad giveaway off a miskick that rebounded harmlessly to Bill Hamid. King had a decent game starting in the midfield, but took two awful shots on goal from two good opportunities from outside of the box. Marc Burch was healthy enough to make the bench for United, but was an unused substitute. Chris Seitz made the bench for FC Dallas as their backup goalie, but did not see action (Kevin Hartman was terrific between the posts for Dallas).

Tonight's marquee league match pitted Los Angeles' Galaxy against New York's Red Bulls. A.J. Delagarza and Omar Gonzalez were responsible for keeping Thierry Henry, Luke Rodgers (later replaced by Juan Agudelo), and Dwayne De Rosario in check. Both played the full ninety in a game that ended 1-1. Matt Kassel made the 18 but did not see the pitch for the Red Bulls.

Robbie Rogers also started and played the full ninety in a 1-1 game, with Columbus handing the Sounders a second disappointing result this week after losing to DC on Wednesday.

Last night, Portland ran their record to a perfect four for four at home in the league with a 1-0 win over the Union. It was the Timbers' second consecutive clean sheet -- with both shutouts featuring Jeremy Hall and Rodney Wallace starting at the two fullback positions and playing the full ninety. With Troy Perkins minding the net, Hall and Wallace made a number of quick-witted clean clearances that relieved the pressure brought to bear by a marauding Danny Mwanga and Sebastien Le Toux. Danny Califf stayed back in Philadelphia with illness. Zac MacMath dressed and backed up Mondragon for Philly, but did not see playing time.

Graham Zusi's Sporting Kansas City was off this weekend after Zusi started for the team last week in their loss to the Red Bulls.

A win

2011-05-06T22:37:00.014-04:00

A run of bad performances meant that it was tough sledding trying to find company for a cold Wednesday night matchup with Seattle. Too bad for them.

I have no dislike for the Sounders franchise; in fact, I'm jealous of the support the city of Seattle gives for the club. They are a fun team to watch.

But I have no love for Fredy Montero. Montero's goading and cheap shots in the U.S. Open Cup Final two seasons ago triggered a moment of madness from Josh Wicks that effectively ended his MLS career and turned many of United's supporters against him (Josh seems to be doing just fine in the Finnish top flight, recording his first clean sheet in the opening league fixture and making at least one good save during the match as shown in this highlight package).

A few years ago, Montero's schtick was tolerable because of the skill he displayed on the pitch (when not throwing himself to the ground). Now his game has clearly regressed and he is unable to singularly influence matches. I don't mind watching Montero get frustrated (and Seattle lose) when he's in the lineup.

Fredy's remarkable skill at going down easily in the box earned Seattle its only goal Wednesday (and really, running in front of a center half and slowing down to draw contact only works with MLS-quality referees -- you would be better served to just try and play the ball and score), but the anti-Montero, Andy Najar, created two for D.C. United and nailed the post to threaten a third.

Najar was ridiculous. Sitting in the stands means watching a lot of passing -- some good, some bad -- with mild interest and then sitting up a bit straighter when the ball finds its way to Najar's foot. Najar commands the attention of both the audience and opposing players and this year, unlike last season, when the other team collapses down on him, Najar's outlets (Charlie Davies and Josh Wolff) have shown that they can capitalize off of Andy's hard work.

The sequence for the second goal was set up by a clever ball played by Najar to Santino, Quaranta's heads up ball back to Najar, Najar's great ball control and a deflection that put the ball directly in the path of Wolff to tee up Davies. Najar is far and away the most dangerous player in the squad and when he's creating for his teammates, United has a chance to hang with anybody if there is a competent defense behind him.

At the same time as Najar returned to DCU's starting lineup, Ethan White was back in the middle of the defense as well. Olsen adjusted the backline to move Perry Kitchen out to right back and paired White with Jakovic. The shakeup worked well against Seattle. White kept possession when the ball fell to him and was a solid, physical force in front of Hamid. He was good enough to have earned another call into the starting XI for tomorrow night's game against FC Dallas.

Yet another highlight was seeing Stephen King get in some action at the end of the match. King spelled Simms for the last ten minutes and, as far as I could tell, didn't dress down a teammate in his time on the field. The logjam of central midfielders has buried King on the depth chart, but his appearance would seem to signal that he has continued to work hard even with the odds stacked against him.

Crumbling Walls

2011-05-03T23:16:00.012-04:00

We moved to College Park eight years ago in large part because of a fish pond at the back of a house that was on the market. That the fish pond (and the house) was near a huge public university in the ACC was also a big plus.

Then we moved here, took a short walk around the east side of US1 and worried that we had made a terrible mistake. We saw (and heard) then what David Morton later described in a blistering 2006 article in the City Paper.

We've constantly chosen to live near college campuses and had never previously experienced anything like it; the rampant culture of nihilistic stupidity made no sense at what was, by all accounts, an elite public university.

In response, for our first few years here we steered clear of the school. Occasional trips to the Comcast Center and Byrd Stadium confirmed our negative first impressions; as did my sister's reports of her experiences as a graduate student.

Over time, our distaste softened with increased interactions with the school and alums. Maryland Day, held each year on the last Saturday of April, provides a great introduction to the incredible academic resources of the school to anyone who wants to see them. The women's basketball team fundamentally changed our view of the Comcast Center. Maryland's soccer program -- both the men's and women's teams -- helped to further augment my love for the game. Once we started going to athletic events on campus regularly, we began to appreciate the amazing breadth of excellence in the school's athletic program: men's and women's lacrosse; women's field hockey; women's gymnastics; track & field -- heck, at my daughter's request, we've spent an afternoon taking in a softball game on campus.

We have still, with few exceptions, steered clear of football and men's basketball games. I thoroughly enjoyed the last time I was at Comcast for a men's game (in 2007), but it was for all the wrong reasons as American University upset Maryland for the first time since 1926-27 and Terps fans streamed out of the stadium in droves with three minutes left on the clock. No similar good memories of my last time at Byrd -- hosting Cal back in September of 2008, we ran gauntlets of drunk teenage morons with a three month old. We bailed early with my wife swearing that she would never go back again.

I'll test that resolve this year.

The sea change started with the hiring of Gary Crowton as offensive coordinator. I love Crowton. The Bears were absolutely awful in the two seasons (1999-2000) he was the OC, but his offenses were fun to watch. The lasting testament to Crowton's tenure is the receiving record held by Marcus Robinson. Robinson caught 84 passes for 1,400 yards (and Bobby Engram pitched in 88 receptions for 947 yards) in 1999 with Shane Matthews and Cade McNown getting the majority of the snaps at quarterback. Very few Bears fans (and even fewer NFL fans) would guess that the Bears all-time leading receiving yards record was set with McNown and Matthews behind center. But that's what Crowton can do. And now he has Danny O'Brien? That's entertainment.

The conversion continued with the school's masterful promotion of the Red - White spring game, scheduled to correspond with Maryland Day and Ag Day on campus.

The fact that the team's spring prospectus emphasized the academic accomplishments of Coach Edsall's UConn football teams helped even further.

But what sealed the deal was going to the spring game. The people at the university responsible for organizing the event are to be heralded. My daughter (and I) had a blast. Virtually every player we interacted with at the autograph session was fantastic and made the most of interacting with fans. In a short amount of time, we got to know enough about a few players to significantly ratchet up our interest in rooting for them.

Based on my daughter's experience and watching kids around us, every Terps football fan with children should make a point of attending.

I can't say enough about how grateful we are to the school for setting up the event and making it available to the general public.

Actions speak louder than words anyway, so I bought our season tickets earlier today.

Odds and Ends

2011-05-02T00:05:00.001-04:00

Several things that I may be the only person in the world to care about simultaneously:

After skipping the tournament in 2008 and 2009, IFK Mariehamn thrashed second-division Joensuun Iloiset Peli-Pojat (JIPPO) 4-0 to reach the semifinals of the Finnish Cup for the second year in a row. Another clean sheet for Josh Wicks and Mason Trafford.

In addition to excellent results on the field, Mr. Wicks appears to be adjusting well to life in the Aland Islands -- he and Joe Funicello even have their own radio show. They are both, unquestionably, a long way from a football field at Richard Montgomery High School.

IFK has another North American in their squad, former Vancouver Whitecap and USPDL player Luca Bellisomo, who recently explained that he'd take his Brazilian teammate along to a desert island because he looks like a woman from behind. (The Brazilian in question, Fernando de Abreu Ferreira answers the same question with Josh Wicks, as Wicks would scare away any dangerous animals that might offend them).

IFK opens up its league season today with a match against Myllykosken Pallo -47 (MyPa), who were knocked out of the Finnish Cup Thursday by last year's runner up, HJK. MyPa has also added a Canadian: Kentucky Wildcat alum Riley O'Neill. O'Neill joined MyPa after four years in lower division German football.

In Scotland, our Raith Rovers' surprising bid for a spot in the Scottish Premier League was dealt a mortal below last weekend after a Fife derby loss to Dunfermline. The coup de grâce to the promotion push was administered by Queen of the South on Saturday. Although it is a disappointing end to a brilliantly entertaining season and although the gaffer painted a dire picture of the immediate future of Raith football after the match, falling just short does not wipe away everything the club achieved this year, as confirmed by John McGlynn being named Manager of the Year by the PFA Scotland and John Baird being named Scottish first division player of the year.

We've proudly sponsored Raith Rovers players the last two seasons and look forward to continuing our support next season, whatever the composition of the squad. By all rights, however, we should not be able to sponsor any players on the club next season if McGlynn gets the measure of support he has earned from local fans. What he has done at Raith is nothing short of incredible and as only a passive supporter of the club, I am in awe of how much he has achieved.

As amazing as the Raith story has been, mighty Accrington Stanley's year has surpassed it. For a little club always on the brink of extinction, Stanley's clinching of a League 2 playoff spot after adding to Barnet's misery Saturday is almost unbelievable. As with Raith Rovers, we've proudly sponsored an Accrington Stanley man for the last two seasons and have followed the sordid soap opera of the team's front office operations. Less than a month ago, John Coleman announced that Stanley's players were not receiving salaries after yet more financial difficulties for the club. Nevertheless, Stanley have not lost a league fixture since falling 3-1 to Gillingham on March 12th.

Beyond all reasonable expectations, if Stanley can handle Torquay or Stevenage or Gillingham (depending on results from the last league weekend), they will likely face Shrewsbury at Old Trafford with a chance to host Charlton Athletic in League 1 next season. That's insane.

If last season's FA Cup run, culminating in a fourth round home match against Fulham televised on Fox Soccer Channel, seemed like a dream, diehard supporters in Lancashire must be pinching themselves continuously and questioning their sanity.

I hope they don't wake up anytime soon.

Support

2011-05-01T01:31:00.001-04:00

Another tattered season for DC United got worse Friday night with the announcement that Branko Boskovic has a torn ACL shortly before a sloppy, embarrassing 4-1 thrashing at the hands of Bobby Boswell's Dynamo.

As depressing as it has been to see United roughed up for 10 goals over the last three games, this terrible run of play (and luck) was not unexpected.

Oddly, the losses and lapses aren't preventing me from enjoying watching United's matches.

Earlier this week, Brian Quarstad posted an argument emphasizing the importance of supporting the NSC Minnesota Stars. It is a great piece. It also reminded me of how fortunate we are to have an MLS team in DC; whenever I walk into RFK, I get a chance to witness something that soccer fans in dozens of cities here and in Canada wish they had.

If there has been one lesson hammered home over the last year with the loss of local second and third division professional men's teams and the Washington Freedom it is that professional football in the DC area is in a precarious state. Still, without the threat of relegation, the consequences of poor play are largely financial and reputational, not existential. With expectations properly set, it becomes much easier to sit back and enjoy what the MLS has to offer this year: impressive new, young blood that is reshaping the league.

Two weeks ago, Agudelo's stunning goals showed a glimpse of the young striker's vast reservoir of ability. Friday night, Will Bruin's hat trick against DC -- while nowhere near as aesthetically pleasing -- confirmed the Hoosier's competence as an MLS striker.

And on Tuesday evening, our long trek to Boyds was rewarded with a coming attractions preview of the Revolution's two teenage phenoms, Michael Augustine and Diego Facundez.

It is not as if D.C. United offers nothing to enjoy this season. Ben Olsen will hopefully improve as a coach. Andy Najar will, at some point, get an opportunity to build on last year. Chris Pontius is developing into a solid MLS attacker at the same time as Charlie Davies continues to work himself back into playing shape. Perry Kitchen, Ethan White, and Bill Hamid should gel into an effective defensive unit. But, at least for me, I am far more interested in the MLS as a whole than I have been in prior years.

One example: A late night out (for us) last Saturday meant that we got home just in time to see the second half of the L.A. Galaxy - Portland Timbers match on television. Entertaining game in its own right, but for supporters of Maryland's soccer program, there are all kinds of happy feelings associated with seeing AJ Delagarza, Omar Gonzalez, Rodney Wallace, and Jeremy Hall on the field together in a professional soccer game. Gonzalez again showed how much of a threat he is becoming off of set pieces with a nice header straight to the keeper off a Beckham corner. For his part, Delagarza's good play earned him plaudits from multiple sources (including a favorable comparison to Cannavaro).

The Maryland angle may have led me to turn on the game, but the quality of the match itself kept me watching. It may just be because I appreciate the game more now, but I routinely find myself tuning into random MLS games and enjoying what unfolds.

Even if my team is struggling, I'm still privileged to be regularly treated to live football at the highest level in this country. Whether we will continue to have such opportunities will undoubtedly hinge upon the continued support of United's fans through the duration of these trying times.

Standing Up for the Rich and Powerful

2011-04-30T17:46:00.009-04:00

Chicago has a proud tradition of brilliant sportswriters. I grew up on Jerome Holtzman, who taught me to love newspapers and gave me even more reasons to love baseball in the city.

Chicago also has an embarrassing tradition of giving morons columns and allowing them to poison the atmosphere: Skip Bayless and Jay Mariotti taught me the lesson that in contemporary America, being an a*^hole is often confused with being interesting. Steve Rosenbloom currently proves that this inability to distinguish between the two continues to characterize the environment.

David Haugh is a whole different story. Haugh is generally a solid writer about the Bears and game performance and analysis. His opinion pieces, on the other hand, are idiotic and induce winces while reading. Not because I disagree with his opinions necessarily: Haugh recently wrote that he thought the Bears should do right by the Ravens and send Baltimore its fourth round pick to remedy the team's silly mistake. I also think that it would have been a classy move that would not only salve any hard feelings from the Ravens but also be a tremendous boon in terms of public relations and general perceptions of the club. But Haugh wrote this in support of his argument:

Salvaging Angelo’s reputation around the league by showing he’s a man of his word might be worth whatever fringe roster player might be picked at that slot in the fourth round.

Bob LeGere, who does excellent work for the Daily Herald and is a must-read for all Bears fans, appropriately mocks the stupidity of labeling the possible fourth round selection as a "fringe roster player":

And those who act as if giving away a fourth-round pick is no big deal are uninformed. Since Angelo began running the Bears’ draft in 2002, the fourth round has brought DE Alex Brown, CB Nate Vasher, QB Kyle Orton, LB Jamar Williams, OG Josh Beekman, S Craig Steltz, DE Henry Melton, CB D.J. Moore and DE Corey Wootton.

Indeed, in honor of "fringe roster players" selected in the fourth round, I walked around Byrd Stadium today wearing Marcus Robinson's jersey -- the Bears' 1997 fourth round draft pick out of South Carolina who, under current Terp offensive coordinator Gary Crowton, set and still holds the franchise record for receiving yards in a single season (1,400 yds).

To be fair, it is a throwaway line. Sloppy, ill-conceived, and unsupported, but minor.

Haugh's follow-up? Feigned outrage at Robbie Gould in one of the dumbest concocted controversies in recent memory. Haugh quotes our kicker as telling the Chicago Tribune:

"Look, fans don't buy tickets to see Virginia or Brian McCaskey. They pay to watch Brian Urlacher, Drew Brees and all the great players. This lockout is all because of the owners' greed. I'm sorry if that sounds cold, but it is the truth."

This quote seems, on its face, unremarkable. Not to Haugh. Haugh sees Gould defiling Virginia McCaskey, disparaging her honor. This, Haugh will not abide. Now, expressing this opinion is one thing. When Haugh writes:

By today's anything-goes standards, what Gould said falls short of offensive to many. But a Bears player criticizing Virginia McCaskey is like a baseball manager arguing balls and strikes. You're wrong the moment you begin to speak, whatever you say.

he just comes off as an idiot. A lack of outrage at a fellow sportswriter who repeatedly and continually attacks player for failing to play through injury evinces "anything-goes standards." On the other hand, saying that people don't pay to see the McCaskeys and that the lockout is due to owner's greed is a mixture of fact (people don't pay to see the McCaskeys) and opinion (the lockout is a product of a number of things, including owners' desire for more money -- i.e., greed -- the weight afforded to each factor depends upon perspective).

But Haugh goes further:

I called Gould to see if he regretted escalating lockout rhetoric to include a woman considered off-limits for a long time.

You what?

I asked Gould if he will apologize to Mrs. McCaskey whenever football resumes.

Is this the third grade?

Grow up, David.

Humiliating

2011-04-23T02:32:00.006-04:00

Thursday night was a beautiful evening to spend at RFK. Setting to one side the result, the audience at the stadium was treated to an excellent display of football from the visiting side capped off by a remarkable moment of skill from Juan Agudelo. A diehard Arsenal supporter accompanied me to the game and after spending most of the drubbing recalling some of Thierry Henry's more exceptional goals in light of his brace, Agudelo's juggling conversion paid perfect homage to his teammate's career achievements.

I wish that this all would have been enough to allow me to leave RFK happy and justify missing game 3 of the Bulls-Pacers series. But a pathetic performance from D.C. United starkly contrast the Red Bulls effort. The juxtaposition between centerbacks was particularly noteworthy. Rafa Marquez and Tim Ream were tremendous; frankly, I spent almost the entire first half admiring their partnership. Perry Kitchen and Dejan Jakovic, not so much. Craig Stouffer's excellent recap of the evening locates blame for Henry's two goals on D.C. United's fullbacks (Chris Korb and Marc Burch), but from our seats, in real time, Jakovic seemed to lose his defensive assignments throughout most of the evening. The Canadian international made a brilliant tackle late in the second half and endured numerous cheap shots from mini-Hercules Luke Rodgers without being provoked into retaliation, but otherwise appeared to struggle.

Ethan White lost a starting spot following United's only shutout of the season because Kitchen was apparently healthy and perhaps that's the right call. But watching a team's most potent attacking force go completely unmarked doesn't sit well and belies any claim that the defensive personnel on United's roster reflects the best recruits available for Olsen's Army. A short piece by Ives Galarcep on Andy Iro's frustration in Columbus concludes with the following:

Iro was a fixture in Robert Warzycha's starting lineup last season but hasn't played at all this season. Instead, Warzycha has paired Julius James with Chad Marshall in central defense. The Crew's back line is in the midst of a 373-minute shutout streak and has posted four consecutive clean sheets.

Tell me again how James isn't very good.

Ethan White was joined on D.C. United's bench last night by Branko Boskovic, Andy Najar, and Santino Quaranta. I don't believe any of the four where there because of fitness concerns. The team selected for the starting XI got thrashed and spent much of the game (at least until Boskovic's introduction) sputtering in the attacking end.

Perhaps United fans will soon be treated to declarations that Boskovic, Najar, and Quaranta aren't very good?

Staying In Touch

2011-04-18T22:02:00.005-04:00

On a weekend packed with great soccer matches, I caught two games on television. Barca-Real Madrid? No thank you. Manchester Cup Derby? Not my cup of tea. Arsenal-Liverpool? Maybe alright for some, but no sir.

In this house, only the best = Saturday, D.C. United in Toronto; Sunday, the L.A. Galaxy in Chicago.

Both games featured huge contributions from players we followed locally, which ended up being the theme of the weekend.

Begin Friday night: IFK Mariehamn played another game in the Finnish Cup, this time against Honka, and won 1-0 on a goal by Toni Lehtinen. Per the match report, the most valuable player of the game was the man most responsible for the shutout, Josh Wicks. In addition to making some great saves to preserve the clean sheet, Lehtinen's goal is reported to have come off a Wicks' boot forward. Mariehamn now moves on to the quarterfinals as one of the final eight teams remaining in the tournament after reaching the semifinals last season. IFK Mariehamn's league season opens on April 28th against Lehtinen's former team and fellow Finnish Cup quarterfinalist, FC Haka. Long may Wicks' good run of play continue.

On Saturday night, Ethan White was handed his third consecutive start anchoring D.C. United's defense against Toronto FC. In the second consecutive league match, he was joined by fellow Terp Marc Burch in the back four. White didn't have a perfect game, but he was solid and fearless and a seminal part of DC's first clean sheet of the regular season. Along with Perry Kitchen and Chris Korb, United has added three very good players from the collegiate ranks to their defense (and all three played Saturday). Questions were raised as to whether White was too eager to leave Maryland, but the early returns from his play indicate that he is a competent professional soccer player who can seamlessly slot into the starting XI.

On Sunday afternoon, the L.A. Galaxy traveled to Chicago and according to the broadcasters the man of the match was another center half from Maryland, Omar Gonzalez. Gonzalez netted the game winner off an impressive header connecting with a corner kick. Chad Barrett's strike would have been enough, but Omar got beat late by Dominic Oduro. Despite the lapse, Gonzalez put in another good shift for LA and his ability to score from set plays is going to have to put him in the mix for additional caps with the USMNT. Late in the match, LA's other center half, Leonardo, injured himself badly on an innocuous looking play and is expected to miss the rest of the season. In Leonardo's absence, LA will likely use the All-Terp duo of Gonzalez and AJ Delagarza.

A little later in the day, two other former Terps took to the field for the Portland Timbers' second home game in the MLS. Another game, another gamewinner for a Maryland alum, this time off the foot of Rodney Wallace, who benefited from some nifty dribbling by Kalif Alhassan that took out nearly every Dallas defender leaving Kevin Hartman isolated and exposed. The first person to congratulate Wallace on the fortuitous goal? Jeremy Hall, who put in a 64 minute shift before getting spelled by Darlington Nagbe and things unraveling a bit for Portland as Dallas pulled back two.

It sucks to see Wallace in any MLS jersey other than United's colors, but he could not have landed in a better place. Reunited with Hall, both are privileged to play before a rabid fanbase that make home matches events, not mere games.

Convenient Fees

2011-04-03T23:20:00.004-04:00

A trip to Nationals Park today spared me from having to watch Carlos Marmol's meltdown at Wrigley, as the Cubs lost their opening home series (to the Pirates) for an inauspicious start to the season. At the stadium, a twenty minute wait in crowded ticket lines provided the perfect opportunity to contemplate "convenience fees."

Last week, I bought a bunch of tickets to the 2011 Nats Fest. I wasn't sure I would be able to use the tickets (and ultimately was not able to use them), but a portion of the ticket price went to the Nationals Dream Foundation so no loss either way. Except, the last ten dollar ticket I purchased came with $6.75 in fees ($1.50 for convenience, $5.25 for order processing). The numbers make the necessary math here simple for me: ordering a ticket online came with a 67.5% surcharge for fees.

A few days later, I tried to buy tickets to a Padres game. There are 23 different pricing levels for seats at Petco. (I thought that this was remarkable until I went to buy Nationals tickets and realized that they've got 30 different pricing levels -- the Cubs have 22). Finding the best seats available -- as opposed to the most expensive tickets available -- is not easy, as it requires searching across all of the various ticket pricing levels to see what can be purchased. After thirty minutes of futile clicking, I gave up, found a ticket broker and bought seats exactly where I wanted for over 25% less than what it would have cost to buy the tickets directly from the club.

A break in the awful weather here created an opportunity to go see a ballgame today and so I spent ten minutes on Saturday looking at buying tickets for the game: five outfield reserved tickets for $24 a piece were easy enough to find -- although I was given no ability to determine whether those seats would be in left or right field -- and Tickets.com's cut? A mere $23.50. Meaning that I could bring somebody else to the game for two quarters if I just waited to buy tickets at the stadium.

Complaining about ticket fees is neither new or interesting, but I struggle to understand why the ticket services provided for such exorbitant fees are so pathetic. Anyone who has purchased tickets for European football clubs has enjoyed the ability to pick out specific seats for a match after being informed as to which ones are open or already occupied. I bought tickets for a Feyenoord match a few months ago and marveled at the ability to navigate a system in a language I did not understand to find a great couple of seats.

Perhaps that level of interactivity -- for reasons that elude me -- is not appropriate in the context of a baseball game. Except, one of the great things about getting tickets for Bowie Baysox matches (the Orioles' AA affiliate) is the ability to pick your exact seats through a transparent process. The Baysox's interface parallels that of choosing seats on a plane -- you are shown which seats are unoccupied and can simply select whichever of the available seats you fancy.

And, of course, buying tickets through MLB's "official" secondary marketplace (StubHub) allows far more autonomy in selecting tickets. Ticket availability is reported by section. If I wanted to buy five tickets for the Nationals next home game, StubHub's total administrative cost for purchasing five tickets at $24 a piece? $16.95. In other words, the "convenience" of tickets.com's archaic system is valued at 19.6% of the total ticket charge, while StubHub's interactive system of bringing tickets to a prospective buyer is valued at only 14.1% of the total ticket charge (despite it being far superior). Put another way, the tickets.com system is 40% more expensive for purchasing tickets of the same value.

Worse, because of the market I am in, the $24 tickets for the next home game available on StubHub are being sold significantly below face value, so the equivalent cost for buying comparable tickets through the club directly would be substantially higher.

The design of MLB's ticketing system seems to intentionally drive fans to the secondary market -- a bizarre consequence of what appears to be structural incompetence. Presumably, a better system would not only encourage more ticket sales but would further facilitate dynamic pricing systems that would provide more revenue.

Or not. Regardless, missing the top half of the first inning while waiting in line for tickets did not bother me. As long as the alternative is paying significant funds to a service that seems to do little, chatting with other baseball fans on a sunny (albeit brisk) spring day is the better option.

Nice Touches

2011-03-31T00:05:00.003-04:00

The IFK Mariehamn website carries the unhappy news that the club lost 182,000 euros last season (roughly equivalent to a $250,000 loss), an amount nearly six times the loss experienced by the team in 2009. The club attributed the significant decline in its financial performance to a precipitous drop in attendance and the loss of a subsidy from the Aland Islands government which would have covered over 15% of the shortfall.

I'm surprised that the club does not lose more money in insuring its stay in the Veikkausliiga, as it is remarkable that the team can punch so far above its weight while maintaining a close eye on the enterprise's purse strings. My meager contributions to the club fell in the 2011 financial year, so hopefully those few euros portend even more found revenue streams for Mariehamn.

Other Americans will play a far more important role in IFK's fortunes this season. The club's website now also features two short pieces profiling D.C. United alum Josh Wicks and Real Maryland alum Joe Funicello.

The main takeaway from these short postings would be, I think, that Joe Funicello can cook and that both seem to enjoy the family atmosphere of the Finnish club. Or that Real Maryland alum Mason Trafford wishes he was an American and not cursed with Canadian citizenship or that Josh Wicks donates his chest hair to cancer patients... which is an incredibly selfless thing to do ("Mason är att han hellre skulle vara amerikan än kanadensare. Sen kan jag också berätta att Josh Wicks donerar sitt brösthår till cancerpatienter").

I hope that IFK's supporters get as many opportunities as possible to get to know and love Funicello, Trafford, and Wicks. Earlier tonight, I was in the basement picking something out for a charity auction next month and stopped in front of a soccer ball on a shelf that features the autographs of both Joe and Josh... a reminder of how both made the time (and in Josh's case, went well out of his way) to entertain a baby girl amused by the act of handing a pen and her toy over to an adult in uniform. I'm also reminded of sitting in the stands at Richard Montgomery watching Mason play and noticing that Josh was there as well, taking in a sport he obviously loves with a few dozen others, or running into Josh at Ludwig when he'd come out to support DC United teammates being honored by their alma mater. Best of luck to all three.

As much as I enjoyed seeing the profiles of Wicks and Funicello up on IFK Mariehamn's website, I enjoyed this bit of news on D.C. United's site much more: D.C. United has partnered with the Northern Virginia Majestics to bring women's soccer back to the Maryland Soccerplex as part of the W-League.

The loss of the Washington Freedom was depressing, but remains (at least to me if to no one else) a much preferred alternative to losing the WPS altogether. The addition of a D.C. United backed club to the women's second division resident at the Soccerplex certainly softens the blow.

It will be interesting to see how the Freedom's ardent supporters react and if the environment that made Freedom games such a joy to attend will be replicated when the season kicks off in June. The club, currently dubbed "Washington FC" on the USL web-site, will play five home games in June and July, with three of the five coming on weeknights and four of the five starting at 7 pm.

What is even more interesting to me is D.C. United's willingness to back the venture. Women's soccer is usually fodder for easy shots taken at the struggles of the professional league and brash claims about the lack of quality in the game. Outside of specialty sites dedicated to the sport, there is not a lot of positive press that surrounds it.

I think that the better view is that developing women's soccer is incredibly important to the future of the sport in this country. The women's game creates more fans for the sport generally and enhances interest in soccer for girls. Although my daughter is only learning how to articulate herself and her ideas, she has fully internalized the fact that we watch both women and men play soccer. When she wanders off by herself to dribble the soccer ball in another room, I know that this is a product of seeing women do the same thing on the field. When she tells me she wants to go to a soccer game, it is without regard to whether women or men will be playing -- she just wants to see it played.

Going out to cheer for women playing in D.C. United shirts will, I believe, cement her support for the club. I would hazard a guess that our experience would not be unique in that regard.

For all of these reasons, I'm very grateful that United's management has decided to take this step and I look forward to supporting the new venture in any way possible.

Loyalty

2011-03-30T00:05:00.003-04:00

Arriving home after D.C. United's first fixture of the season, I had intended to tap out a post about the joys of watching a team that was relevant again. But my daughter had to be put to bed after being wound up at the match and then work obligations intensified and the post did not get written.

And then United traveled to play New England for its second fixture and reality set in a little bit.

I'll say this: at no point during this season will I regret having renewed (and expanded) our season tickets with the club. The opening game against the Crew was fantastic and my daughter's enthusiasm for attending matches -- even if they are all scheduled as evening games this season (?) -- has grown. The club, in addition to bringing Charlie Davies into the squad, has made an honest and earnest attempt to demonstrate their appreciation for season ticket holders by giving us friendlies with the likes of Ajax and Everton and weaving the Barcelona-ManU friendly at FedEx into the package this year. I would have been over the moon had things been left with only Davies and the club from Amsterdam, but toss in Everton and the clash of the giants (or the giants' reserves) and I am now proselytizing on the team's behalf to anyone within ear shot.

I do not, however, expect the team to be very good or terribly competitive.

There are some uncanny similarities between the current state of D.C. United and Charlton Athletic. Both clubs live off of proud histories and have, of late, seen both their support and relevance in their respective communities wane. At points, the very existence of both has been in peril (ably demonstrated by the Revs supporters clever "Baltimore United" taunt last Saturday). And both have turned their fortunes over to inexperienced club legends to placate what remains of a dissatisfied fan base.

As with D.C. United under Ben Olsen, the early returns for Charlton under Chris Powell energized supporters. The decision to jettison Phil Parkinson (paralleled by the decision to not secure a more experienced coach to take the reins in DC) looked to have been made at the right time. Those who sagely counseled that triumphalism was misplaced, that nothing had fundamentally changed (and, if anything, had gotten worse) were shouted down by the pollyannas in the crowd (including myself) who fervently believed that salvation was at hand.

Following Charlton's pathetic loss to Rochdale today was further confirmation of the delusions attendant to fans that have to believe that their hero's can do anything -- even right a ship that is clearly sinking into the abyss.

I don't have any ties to Chris Powell. Never met him and only have been able to see him play sparsely. But that doesn't matter. I've loved what I have been able to see. Loved everything that I've ever read about him. Chris Powell is an athlete worth admiring.

For many D.C. United supporters, Ben Olsen fills a similar role. Ben Olsen is, fundamentally, D.C. United. The club and the player are interchangeable.

Yet, for both Powell and Olsen, the chances that their reputations will be harmed by tackling frontline management jobs with the clubs with which they are identified are extremely high.

On Saturday against New England, United was an awful team to watch. Although there were a few bright spots, the team, as a whole, seemed listless and incompetent. And in the places where coaching and practice would seem to make a significant difference -- dead ball situations -- United looked particularly bad.

If I'm honest, I expect a lot more games like that 2-1 loss than I do like the 3-1 opener. I expect that there will be more effort and commitment in subsequent games, but I'm not sure that it will have much of an impact on the outcome of matches.

The salient question now is how Powell and Olsen are going to be perceived at the end of their respective seasons. Continued poor results are likely. How much more additional slack are these gaffers cut because of what they achieved in the uniforms of these teams?

At least in Charlton, the answer seems to be "not much."

Tourneys

2011-03-27T22:06:00.004-04:00

Like everyone else, I have been greatly enjoying Virginia Commonwealth's run in the NCAA Men's Tournament. Beginning with VCU's beatdown of Georgetown, I've caught most of their games and have marveled at how the Rams' have maintained the same level of intensity throughout their upsets over the Hoyas, the Boilermakers, the Seminoles, and now the Jayhawks.

The Tournament is a terrific televised sporting event -- the large number of games in the early rounds allows viewers to find potential upsets or close games and, as the number of games begin to dwindle, the competitiveness of the matches ratchets up and you've got tension-filled contests where kids are playing at a level that defies explanation or understanding.

This was the second time in the last four years that early round games of both the men's and women's tournament were played in the DC metro area. Both in 2008 and again this year, I've had the good fortune to attend some of the games of both tournaments. Overall, as much fun as the men's tournament is to watch on television, it is not nearly as enjoyable to be sitting in the stands. On the other hand, the women's tournament is a fantastic live event and one that we have not missed at Comcast.

There is one huge exception to my general impression of live men's tournament games -- Duke vs. Belmont, still one of the single most exciting live sporting events I've ever attended. But the five other games were largely forgettable. I have no recollection of Xavier's twelve point win over Georgia, nor of Purdue's win over Baylor. The Wildcats' band's full rendition of Oingo Boingo's "Insanity" was more memorable than anything that happened in Arizona's loss to West Virginia, despite the fact that both Chase Budinger and Jordan Hill were on the floor for Arizona. And this year, although Cinci's win over Mizzou had its moments, I was uncomfortably bored for the bulk of UConn's dismantling of a totally overmatched Bucknell.

Part of it is the environment at the stadium. The single biggest fan base for the evening games this year came from Bucknell and they got thrashed. Despite the fact that UConn shows well for Big East matches against Georgetown at Verizon, Huskies' fans were not out in force for their first-round game, with alums sprinkled throughout the upper deck.

Even when supporters show up -- and West Virginia's fans turned out in droves in 2008 -- the ban on alcohol sales at tournament games means fans get smashed before entering the stadium. The net effect is brutal. While excessive binge drinking prior to a college football game may augment the emotion pouring out of the terraces, five hours in a basketball stadium can wear down even the most debilitating intoxication. Because Belmont came so close to knocking off Duke, the West Virginia fans had completely spent themselves by the time their game had started and endured most of it in a groggy stupor.

The significance of pre-game drinking was probably accentuated this year because of the games coincidence with St. Patrick's Day and nearly everyone I know who went to the evening sessions almost cut their night's short because of the number of "I Can't Believe How Drunk I Am!" cell-phone jibbering idiots in their section. I lucked out in sitting a section where the five kids who fit that profile were quickly quieted by threats of physical assault that they had no desire to test.

The combination of factors means that the prevailing mood is negative, the fans -- spoiled by the possibility of seeing something like Belmont-Duke for every game -- are, for the most part, disinterested until forcefully engaged, and the games themselves will, in most instances, fail to meet expectations.

The women's tournament games are fundamentally different. Although regular season games sometimes approach comic/tragic, with the Terps matched up against another side that doesn't take the sport terribly seriously, tournament games insure that both teams approach the game with the same level of importance.

In 2008, we caught Maryland and Nebraska's first round games against Coppin State and Xavier, respectively; skipped Duke and Arizona State's openers against Murray State and Temple, respectively; but returned for the second round games. This year, we watched Maryland beat St. Francis and then came back for the Georgetown-Maryland rematch.

Few fans, if any, get tanked before going to a women's tournament game and the absence of alcohol is unremarkable. Those that come out do not come for the event, they do not come out to brag to acquaintances about what they are doing, instead they buy tickets anticipating an entertaining game.

The resulting environment is of an entirely different feel than the men's tournament. And it has nothing to do with a team (Maryland) being able to play on their own home court. If Geno Auriemma is disappointed with his fanbase's apathy to the Huskies' tournament runs, Brenda Frese must be resigned to the fact that no matter what her program achieves, students cannot be bothered to show up to tourney games. At both of Maryland's tournament games this year, there were more students from St. Francis and Georgetown in the stands. The Red Flash's fans, in particular, put Maryland's student body to shame, with several dozen showing up and raucously supporting their team throughout the game.

The crowd is, nevertheless, heavily partisan as it is drawn from the surrounding community, but they are receptive to great performances regardless of the uniform she is wearing. This year, the crowds got behind Sugar Rodgers, who dropped 60 points in two games against Princeton and Maryland. Against Maryland, I think Rodgers had the single most impressive performance of any player I've watched live at Comcast. The three pointers she was draining (7 for 10 from beyond the arc) became increasingly ridiculous and despite good effort out of the Terps, Maryland didn't stand a chance.

And, yet, I have not bothered to watch a single one of the women's games on television this year. In years past, I've only managed to watch Maryland's later round games but have not tuned into anything else. I had intended, notionally, to remember to catch the Hoyas attempt to take down UConn today but remembered the game was on only after it was completed.

But I don't think that detracts from how much I have come to enjoy women's collegiate basketball. Maryland was a pleasure to watch this season and the student body's disinterest notwithstanding, I hope the school continues to bid on hosting the tournament in the years to come. Like Maryland's soccer program, the women's tournament is one of the most underrated, underappreciated gifts from the university to DC-area sports fans.

Bad Writing

2011-03-14T02:21:00.006-04:00

As more facts regarding the negotiations come to light, the "NFL Players Association overreach" position should become significantly less tenable.

Part of the reason why this position was advocated by some has to reflect an awareness by the NFL at the laziness of many sportswriters. The NFL's summary to fans of the breakdown in negotiations was remarkably pejorative for something so light on substance:

Dear NFL Fan,

When I wrote to you last on behalf of the NFL, we promised you that we would work tirelessly to find a collectively bargained solution to our differences with the players' union. Subsequent to that letter to you, we agreed that the fastest way to a fair agreement was for everyone to work together through a mediation process. For the last three weeks I have personally attended every session of mediation, which is a process our clubs sincerely believe in.

Unfortunately, I have to tell you that earlier today the players' union walked away from mediation and collective bargaining and has initiated litigation against the clubs. In an effort to get a fair agreement now, our clubs offered a deal today that was, among other things, designed to have no adverse financial impact on veteran players in the early years, and would have met the players’ financial demands in the latter years of the agreement.

The proposal we made included an offer to narrow the player compensation gap that existed in the negotiations by splitting the difference; guarantee a reallocation of savings from first-round rookies to veterans and retirees without negatively affecting compensation for rounds 2-7; no compensation reduction for veterans; implement new year-round health and safety rules; retain the current 16-4 season format for at least two years with any subsequent changes subject to the approval of the league and union; and establish a new legacy fund for retired players ($82 million contributed by the owners over the next two years).

It was a deal that offered compromise, and would have ensured the well-being of our players and guaranteed the long-term future for the fans of the great game we all love so much. It was a deal where everyone would prosper.

We remain committed to collective bargaining and the federal mediation process until an agreement is reached, and call on the union to return to negotiations immediately. NFL players, clubs, and fans want an agreement. The only place it can be reached is at the bargaining table.

While we are disappointed with the union's actions, we remain steadfastly committed to reaching an agreement that serves the best interest of NFL players, clubs and fans, and thank you for your continued support of our League. First and foremost it is your passion for the game that drives us all, and we will not lose sight of this as we continue to work for a deal that works for everyone.

Yours,
Roger Goodell

The NFL's version was so rosy that the truly gullible had few places to go to explain why the NFLPA would walk away so noisily from something so good. The easiest, of course, is to make the narrative personality-based: DeMaurice Smith's (an accomplished successful DC attorney) ego is too big ... the players are simply vindictive and were punishing the NFL Owners for their approach.

All of this is horse manure. Arguments that negotiations of this magnitude came down to the personalities of those sitting on the players' side of the table are pathetically contrived. By definition, the players' representatives are accountable to hundreds of their fellow employees with everyone's livelihood on the line.

Any self-respecting journalist would have to be incredulous about the declaration that the league's owners had offered to split the difference in the compensation gap between the two sides. And, it seems that this characterization was intentionally misleading:

So the league didn’t really offer to “split the difference.” The league went to the midpoint of the $20 million gap, cutting the total difference from $640 million per year to $320 million. But with no offer to provide the players with any portion of the revenue that exceeds the projected growth, the offer was something closer to the league’s prior position than the players’ prior proposal.

Because the financial structure is complicated, the details that will come to light will escape a substantial portion of fans offering their opinions on the labor dispute. But there is no excuse for a reporter/sports writer not understanding what just went down. Moreover, the intentional deception inherent in the NFL's characterization should be underscored by reporters' writing on the subject.

Realistically, however, it would be foolish to anticipate any change in approach by those teeing off on the players. Sports writing is not a profession where accuracy or completeness is particularly prized or valued. Much better to have an opinion and a strident one at that.

Along the same lines, I was disappointed in Jason Reid's column for the Washington Post today commenting on ESPN's "Fab 5" documentary. Reid criticizes Rose for having once held the view that the only African-American players in Duke's basketball program were "Uncle Tom's" and implies that Rose appears to hold some vestige of that opinion. Reid relates a story of being derided with that term by Milton Bradley, a charge that obviously hurt the write.

I read the column before watching the documentary and was surprised by how much Reid's characterization seemed to distort Rose's discussion of Duke's program. Rose matter-of-factly concedes that his judgment was framed through jealousy of Grant Hill's good fortune compared to the disappointment he felt at his father's refusal to recognize him. Rather than being a judgment on the blackness or lack thereof of other African-Americans, Rose's description seems to be inherently personal and there is little evidence -- from the documentary -- that any of his teammates held similar views.

It seems totally unnecessary to attempt to ascribe a viewpoint to Jalen Rose -- particularly one that leads to a linkage to Milton Bradley -- given the historical setting of the Fab 5. That Michigan team was portrayed to America as the quintessence of African-American youth culture and Duke's basketball program was cast as its polar opposite. The Fab 5 were (so conventional wisdom went) brash, hip hopping ballers, who played a playground style of basketball. Duke, on the other hand, were cerebral, disciplined.

The division between racially true and "Uncle Tom" was successfully etched out by media coverage and popular perception. It poisoned the era and rendered irrelevant the question of whether Rose acquiesced to commonly-held views or not.

The more important thing would appear to be the fact that Rose has since come to grips with those views and why they were wrongly held. And that would make a far more interesting article.

The NFL Owners' New Haugh

2011-03-13T12:13:00.024-04:00

The routine I have now developed for weekends involves, on Saturday, getting up early, sitting through multiple Dora episodes, trying to get the family out of the house to avoid watching more Dora episodes, following the Charlton league tie through Charlton Life on my wireless, overcoming the disappointment of a horrifically poor run of play under SCP to get on with the day, and then talking myself out of whatever I had planned for the evening to watch the Chicago Bulls.

Last night, I talked myself out of using the tickets I purchased for the Richmond Kickers - University of Maryland preseason game. The Terps got shellacked in the second half, but I would have gone just to see 600+ people turn out for a third division soccer team's preseason match (and to see that London Woodberry remains very much a part of University of Maryland soccer). I would imagine that the Kickers are very proud to have engendered such remarkable support at Ukrop Park yesterday and I am looking forward to driving down for a game at City Stadium at some point this upcoming season.

And then I talked myself out of watching the 4A state championship, missing a great game at Comcast that crowned Waldorf's North Point as the best high school basketball championship.

The Bulls game was a nice alternative.

68 - 41 at the half. Franchise record of 18 made threes (shooting 56% from beyond the arc). C.J. Watson with 16 points, 8 assists, and 5 rebounds in 17 minutes. Win led to a virtual tie for first with the Celtics in the East.

All beautiful, but all overshadowed by the twentieth anniversary tribute to Chicago's first NBA titleholders. The entirety of the event was well orchestrated by the franchise, but the visual of Michael Jordan pointing to the current team -- taking in the festivities seated on their bench -- and telling Bulls fans not to be surprised if they win six more left an indelible mark.

Sundays bring another early morn and more Dora. But there is a blessed opportunity to catch some live soccer (today it allowed viewing of Renato Augusto's nifty steal and Bayer Leverkusen's gamewinner over Mainz and Reading's valiant efforts against Man City in the FA Cup) and read the papers.

Today, the Chicago Tribune is highlighting David Haugh's criticism of the NFLPA. Haugh argues that the players' union has overreached and reports that DeMaurice Smith's ego eclipsed what Haugh decrees a good deal for the union.

Everyone has an opinion, but not every opinion has merit.

Haugh's editorial is heavy on apportioning blame but light on any substantive criticism of the NFL Players Association's position. Instead, Haugh focuses on atmospherics and what is, ultimately, his political opinion that employees ought to accept labor terms that are reasonable. His willingness to positively characterize a proposal based on the summary released to the public by the NFL does not reflect terribly well on his judgment, but the bigger issue is what Haugh makes no effort to argue: that the the NFLPA's proposal endangers the long-term health and success of the overall enterprise.

The inability to characterize the players' proposal as harmful to the game should ultimately lay bare the true nature of this dispute. Ad hominem attacks on the "greed" of NFL players or the purportedly oversized egos of those negotiating for the players can only distract for a limited time.

As can the even more idiotic arguments leveled against the players -- these tend to employ ridiculously inapt analogies to the salaries of the common NFL fan to those of NFL players and fundamental misunderstandings regarding the nature of labor markets and the structure of the NFL.

My favorite comparison is the poisonous observation that members of the American military make considerably less than the average NFL player. For those truly concerned about the disparity, one might suggest that their outrage is mildly misplaced. Our infantry men are horrifically under-compensated for the sacrifices they make for this country; but any comparison to professional football players is absurd for any number of reasons.

The salaries for U.S. military men and women are established by the Department of Defense -- any agency that is accountable to the Office of the President and the U.S. Congress. In other words, our military is underpaid because we, as voting citizens, tolerate that state of affairs.

The economic activity generated by football players -- and the taxes paid to the federal government by their work -- contribute to the possibility of raising what we pay our service men and women. At the same time federal funds will continue to flow to government contractors and their executives, who make salaries far in excess of grunts in the Army, but who do not cause NFLPA's detractors to bat an eye. And, in the truly private sector, investment bankers and corporate attorneys among many other white collar professionals will continue to rake in obscenely bloated salaries from behind their desks without a concomitant contribution to the generation of wealth in this country.

But, you know, football players make more than enlisted men and women. So screw the players. (You know who else makes more than enlisted men and women? The NFL owners. And sports columnists. Neither of whom will put their physical health at risk for their paychecks).

The NFL's financial health is not in jeopardy. The league continues to enjoy an exemption from antitrust laws that precludes the realistic possibility of competition, while owners have extracted the right to further restrain competition by capping salaries and limiting what players can make for the good of the game.

But the owners want more. They want more guarantees on the revenue they will generate each year. And they want to generate more income through the additional league fixtures added to each season. And they want these concessions -- the additional guaranteed income in particular -- without demonstrating that the financial performance of the franchises have deteriorated to any extent over the last ten years.

Fortunately, the Tribune is also carrying a piece by Bill Plaschke that acknowledges what Haugh appears unwilling to concede: this is not like basketball or baseball. The lasting images of NFL players is not music videos, not television commercials, not primadonna fits of pique. At the moment, the lasting image -- particularly those for Chicagoans -- is the anguished end to Dave Duerson's difficult life and the daily afflictions of former warriors only a quarter century past their physical prime (like Wilber Marshall, who was forced to sue to obtain a meaningful award for disability, eventually winning an appeal before the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals in 2008).

The future of football as a dominant force in American sports culture depends upon the NFL doing right by its players. The marginalization of boxing (and the rise of mixed-martial arts, which does a better job appealing to the small portion of Americans lusting for bloodsport) over the last few decades should provide enough of a warning to the NFL that a significant number of fans will stop watching if they are convinced that they are tacitly contributing to the serious physical harm of players.

In these circumstances, it would be very difficult for the NFLPA to overplay its hand. The moral high ground is unquestionably on the side of labor on these facts and no amount of bombastic rhetoric will shift that reality. Owners want more money. End of story. Players, on the other hand, want more money and want to preserve the future of the game.

I have thought about this a lot over the last couple of months. If football came back with a labor agreement that extended the season to 18 games, failed to generously fund retirement benefits and health care for former players, and did not make the health and safety of current players the single biggest priority for the future of the NFL, I do not think I could justify watching Jay Cutler get knocked silly for another season or Chris Harris and Major Wright endanger their long term health to make plays that needed to be made on the field.

America is not Rome.

Sick

2011-03-12T00:18:00.007-05:00

"Sick." It is a phrase that I've found myself using a lot while watching basketball recently.

Tonight, the Bulls hosted the Atlanta Hawks, fresh off of an embarrassing collapse against the team last week in Atlanta. Atlanta puts up 50 in the first half. 3rd Quarter? 10 points. Though one minute left in the fourth quarter (down 20 points)? 10 points. Sick.

No Carlos Boozer. Kurt Thomas queued up from "DNP -- Coach's Decision." 3 of the 5 starters account for a grand total of four points. Bulls win by 18 over the fifth seed in the East. Sick. Sick.

We missed DeMatha's WCAC championship win for the Bulls visit and we missed their City Title victory because of work commitments. So I missed more chances to get wowed by James Robinson, Mikael Hopkins, Jerami Grant, Jairus Lyles, and Beejay Anya this season.

We are four miles north of DeMatha, but three miles west of Eleanor Roosevelt. So after missing the DeMatha games and having to give up tickets behind the basket for the Bucks visit last Tuesday, we carved out a night to watch E.R. tackle Baltimore's Patterson Senior High School at Comcast in the state 4A semifinals.

Go for Eleanor Roosevelt, stay for Aquille Carr. We took our time getting to the game and Carr spent much of the second quarter on the bench. Eleanor Roosevelt was dominating and seemed to have the game in hand. Carr took over in the third quarter. Jaw-dropping ball handling skills, incredible leaping ability, and impressive court intelligence (anticipates the movement of other players). Merits all the hype and heads and shoulders above everyone else on the floor. Sick. Sick. Sick.

Not that the kids from Greenbelt's finest were slouches. Chaun Miller (Junior) and Prince Okoroh (Senior) played well and the team's defense was strong enough to hold Patterson's potent offense to less than seventy points in the game.

I walked out curious about what options Okoroh has for D-I play next year. Not only is he a good ball player who has excelled as part of E.R.'s basketball team, he is also apparently a promising academic prospect. His play matches his description of his own game and that of Coach O'Connell's.

And, yet, despite being thought of as one of the top ten basketball prospects in the region and one of the nine nominees from PG County for McDonald's All-American Game, Okoroh does not appear to have generated a great deal of interest from mid or high major programs.

Left off most subscription service listings for basketball recruits, Okoroh is reported to have scholarship offers from two Ivy League schools (Brown and Columbia), three local schools (UMBC, Howard, and Mt. St. Mary's), and Fordham (although a UMBC basketball supporter blog indicates that no offer has been made).

I'm a bit surprised, from just a limited viewing of his game, that Okoroh does not have options to play at higher levels. But, perhaps, it is simply a reminder of the truly exceptional talent required to play D-I basketball on scholarship in this country. Sick.

Rout

2011-03-01T00:26:00.004-05:00

I have had some low moments at Verizon watching the Bulls -- although none lower than shuffling out of the stadium on May 6, 2005 as the Bulls wasted a 2-0 first round lead over the Wizards. After being harassed and heckled by Wizards fans throughout the game, my wife swore that she would never go to another game decked out in Bulls gear and that she would never, ever root for the Wizards.

I carry a bit of resentment as well, although the Wizard's incompetence has softened those feelings a bit. Tonight, I even felt embarrassed for Wizards fans that had to endure an obnoxious (sizable) minority of Bulls fans who rejoiced in the trouncing of the home team. With two minutes left, the game descended into a parody of Georgetown routs, with Bulls fans calling for Brian Scalabrine and going wild when he converted an open jumpshot. I am sad to admit I was one of those fans, but given the giddiness of nearly everyone that came out to support Chicago tonight, it was hard to resist.

The Bulls won their 41st game of the season tonight and have guaranteed at least a .500 record this year. Since the turn of this century, the Bulls have managed 42 or more wins a grand total of two times (2004-2005 with 47 and 2006-2007 with 49) and made the playoffs three other times by finishing with as many wins as losses. This team will blow recent history out of the water.

The juxtaposition between Bulls fans (ebullient) and Wizards fans (dis-spirited) almost detracted from the enjoyment of the game. Almost.

The Bulls are very good and that certainly is a big part of why they are drawing large groups of fans at away games -- as an aside, the annoyance of the Fox Sports Wisconsin announcers on Saturday night was great ("Tonight would have been a great night for the Packers to have brought the Lombardi trophy to the arena") -- and another major contributing factor is Derrick Rose's ridiculous play (the between the legs feed to a trailing Joakim Noah was jaw-dropping from the stands). But I would hope that another part of the draw is how likable this iteration of the Bulls are.

Michael Wilbon has captured a bit of this in his recent articles for ESPN, admitting that he (like thousands of other Bulls fan) is "drinking the Kool-Aid." No trade, no big name addition, because Gar and Pax think that they can win a title with this group? Sign me up.

Let others outside Chicago kill the franchise for wasting an opportunity to make a run at a championship. Let internet posters and commentators decry the lack of a shooting guard that can light up the opposition. I'll take this team.

On the way home, my sister noted that this is the first time she can remember the Bulls having a rotation that was missing anyone that made fans shake their heads and go "there goes the game." The eleven-deep rotation features, uniformly, solid players who exert maximum effort during their time on the floor.

I will admit to having some initial reservations about C.J. Watson, but those have been totally wiped away. I like the second team, when led by Watson, almost as much as I like the starting lineup. Everyone plays hard and everyone plays together.

Tonight, I thought it was particularly telling that after Kyle Korver and Ronnie Brewer missed a series of open jump shots, Bulls fans were nonplussed. The Wizards fans around us tried to rib the more vocal Bulls fans about the clanking shots, but the visiting crowd waved them off -- we're all right, they'll start falling, and even if they don't, someone else will score. They've got this.

It may be sour grapes, but I'm not sure I would like this team as much if it depended on O.J. Mayo to provide a significant amount of its offense. There is something that makes Chicago even more dangerous because opponents don't know if the complement to Rose/Deng/Boozer on the offensive end is going to come from Bogans or Korver or Brewer or Watson (or, failing those four, Noah or Gibson through tip ins from missed perimeter shots).

Whether the Bulls added anyone or not, it would not have changed the fact that the key to the Bulls' season this year is the health of Derrick Rose and Luol Deng. Building a team around these two -- rather than moving the focus away from them -- is the right move regardless of the consequences for this year.

Preppie

2011-02-28T00:03:00.006-05:00

At Verizon on Wednesday, talking to Georgetown alums after the tough loss to Syracuse on Saturday, and again tonight at Bender Arena, Georgetown's supporters voiced the same negative theme: the Hoyas have made too many reaches on local talent nice guys -- Jerrelle Benimon is not good enough to play in the Big East; DeMatha's Mikael Hopkins is not aggressive enough to play in the Conference and will not help the program; and making an offer to DeMatha's James Robinson was a mistake and a misguided effort to curry favor with local AAU teams and the WCAC.

The Benimon criticism kills me. As soon as Jerrelle is introduced, the grumbling starts. No matter where I sit in the stadium, inevitably someone will audibly, obnoxiously groan "Why does Thompson play him?" Benimon's numbers are pretty meager and he has not progressively built on the promise he's shown in a few performances, most notably against Memphis this year. But he always plays hard and, as a sophomore, his efforts and JTIII's obvious faith in Benimon should be enough to give him the benefit of the doubt.

The Hopkins and Robinson criticism seems crazy. Admittedly, I've seen both play a grand total of two times -- Monday against St. John's and this afternoon against Paul VI in the WCAC Semifinals -- but I want to see how both develop under Georgetown's coaching staff.

The ESPN Profile of Mikael Hopkins includes this analysis of his perceived weaknesses:

Hopkins must be more physical and learn to welcome contact. At times he seems not into the game and untimely disappears on the floor. He is a very capable rebounder on both ends but at times watches the action instead of perusing the ball sometimes the only rebounds he gets are the one that come right to him. Hopkins must play with more energy and urgency on a consistent basis to obtain the production he is capable of.

From the limited sample set I have, that seems about right. But, two things are important to keep in mind in relation to this criticism: first, he is immensely physically gifted and is unquestionably a good high school basketball player and second, if he wants to fully harness those talents, he'll be able to do that at Georgetown and, if he does, he's going to be a very good D-I college player. This is a kid who got scholarship offers from Kansas, Texas, West Virginia, and Maryland. The fact that he is local means that Georgetown alums can dissect his game and its purported flaws up close. But that doesn't mean that their negative reaction somehow invalidates what is immediately evident to anyone who watches him play (he is a very talented basketball player).

The ability to see the player first hand also plays a huge role in the rush to denigrate James Robinson. Robinson may not decide to come to the Hilltop. He's got a ridiculous number of scholarship offers: at least five schools in the ACC (Maryland; UVa; NC State; Boston College; Wake Forest), at least six schools in the Big East (Gtown; WVa; Pitt; Marquette; Rutgers; and Notre Dame) and Oklahoma. Robinson's the type of prospect who is thinking about how to cut down the number of schools he's considering. But if he decides that Georgetown is the right place for him, color me excited. Indeed, the prospect of just getting to see Robinson for another season at DeMatha makes me happy.

Watching Robinson play basketball is a pleasure. He controls the game, makes good decisions on the floor, and is the type of player that makes everyone around him better. He's faulted for being slow, but he is able to beat opposing players off the dribble and can get to the rim fairly quickly. He's also a big point guard, who is not afraid of drawing contact or playing physically.

Today, DeMatha struggled with Paul VI. Josh Barr's summary for the Post correctly and appropriately focuses on the role Robinson played in avoiding an upset.

Setting to one side the future of Georgetown, both WCAC boys semifinals games were great. In the first game, Paul VI's junior guard Patrick Holloway very nearly beat DeMatha with a tremendous performance that had everyone at Bender buzzing. But as good as Holloway was, Bishop McNamara's senior guard (and WCAC boy's player of the year) Marcus Thorton was even better. A series of missed open perimeter shots put the Mustangs in a major hole against Gonzaga, but a frenzied comeback in the fourth quarter took place after Thorton's shots started falling. Thorton doesn't need a lot of space to get his shots up and when he hits a groove, he is deadly.

What I liked most about watching Holloway and Thorton (and most everyone on the floor) was the way they play. Thorton was hitting ridiculous shots and was pulling McNamara back into the game, but it would have been very difficult to tell from his reactions whether he had hit or missed the shot he just launched. I doubt that I could have ever show similar restraint, but as a neutral at the games, it is refreshing to see kids this talented approach the game with respect.

The DeMatha-Gonzaga final tomorrow night (8:30 pm at Bender) should be highly entertaining. Of all the players we saw today, I was most impressed by Gonzaga's Kris Jenkins. I would be surprised to hear that Jenkins plays in the final as an ill-considered late block attempt in the middle of McNamara's run seemed to have resulted in a bad injury that prevented Kris from putting weight down on his leg. Without Jenkins, Gonzaga misses a potent offensive post and perimeter threat.

Bender may be the place to be for DC Hoops fans tomorrow, but for me, the place to be is the Verizon Center for yet another chance to see Derrick Rose and the Bulls live.

Bball Frenzy

2011-02-25T00:19:00.004-05:00

In advance of the Bulls second visit to DC this coming Monday, I've gone a bit basketball mad. Monday night: DeMatha vs. St. John's; Wednesday night: Georgetown vs. Cinci; Tonight: (sitting on the couch) Chicago vs. Miami. More high school hoops (hopefully) tomorrow and Sunday.

Sitting at Verizon last night and absorbing a tough loss made far worse by the injury to Chris Wright, I spent a lot of time contemplating how blessed folks are in this area in terms of basketball. The Wizards are a long way from making DC relevant in the NBA, but Georgetown and Maryland boast decent college programs with occasional flourishes from George Mason and George Washington. And then, sounding the same repetitive theme, basketball at the prep level is stunningly good.

I went to the Georgetown game with a Duke alum. As we watched Austin Freeman, Chris Wright, Julian Vaughn, Jason Clark, Henry Sims, and Markel Starks represent the DC-Baltimore metro area as six of the ten man rotation on the number eleven team in the country, I realized that local kids also make up one third of the rotation of the number one college team in the country (Nolan Smith, Tyler Thorton, and Josh Hairston). And there will be more local products (Mikael Hopkins and Quinn Cook) joining these two programs next year.

Two years ago, I marveled at the number of D-I basketball players that hailed form PG County. Broadening that out to the DC-Baltimore metro area further underscores the depth of the talent pool in the region.

I may be late to this realization, but I'm certainly enjoying taking advantage of it -- as a passive fan of the sport -- now.

DeMatha

2011-02-22T00:49:00.005-05:00

$5.

I wrote something last week contending that the annual Duke - U.Md's women's basketball matchup at Comcast was the best area value for a sporting event.

That assessment probably fails to appreciate how rich the sports offerings are in the DC metro area.

I finally got around to going to a DeMatha high school basketball game tonight, despite the fact that the school's home stadium is only a few miles down the road on US1. We could not make the DeMatha - Gonzaga showdown on Sunday, but DeMatha - St. John's was still well worth seeing.

And all it took was $5.

I went to the game looking forward to seeing future Hoya Mikael Hopkins play on senior night and to see sophomore big man phenom BeeJay Anya. And both were well worth the trip, but I was not suitably prepared for the ridiculous talent that DeMatha boasts.

At the end of the first quarter, I was most impressed by DeMatha's junior point guard, James Robinson. At 6'3", Robinson is a big player at the point, solid defensively, and a good passer. He had a bad turnover in the third quarter, but other than that performed very well directing the Stags attack. I read a bit about him after the game and I think this ESPN profile description is particularly apt. He definitely can run a team, he seems like a very mature basketball player for his age, and he has a surprising ability to block shots with a quick, explosive leap in defense.

While I was pointing out the things that I liked about Robinson's play, my wife keyed in on the third 6'7" plus player DeMatha had on the floor at the time along with BeeJay Anya and Mikael Hopkins -- Jerami Grant. Grant's face looked familiar, but I couldn't place it. As the third of Harvey Grant's sons to go to DeMatha, there is no reason that I should not have known his pedigree. In any event, I would generally agree with this ESPN write up. Grant's got pretty good ball handling skills, his perimeter shot seemed to be better than what the description would have indicated, and while he doesn't hold the post, he does crash the boards well.

St. John's were no pushovers either. I was very impressed with Julian DeBose and when Danish international Soren Dossing started hitting from the outside, St. John's looked like they might be able to pull off an upset.

But the stars of the show were DeMatha. The Stags host a playoff game Friday night (time to be determined) and if they advance, they'll play in the first game of the semifinals doubleheader to be played at Bender Arena on American University's campus on Sunday (4:30 pm; game 2 of the doubleheader, likely featuring Gonzaga, at 6:15).

One last thing: I've read a bit about the reservations that some Hoyas fans have developed regarding Mikael Hopkins. From what I saw tonight, I would take those concerns with heavy grains of salt. The most remarkable thing about DeMatha's team is how most (not all) of the players carry themselves. There was not a lot of individualistic celebration during the game, players did their jobs, did them (for the most part) well, and moved on. I think this approach has been interpreted, in Mikael's case, as a lack of drive. That would not seem to be a fair assessment.

Hopkins appears to be a very bright basketball player. He has good instincts on defense and in rebounding and may develop into a good shot blocker. Any comparison to Henry Sims would be inapt. I don't know what he may eventually offer on offense, but Hopkins will be a solid contributor as an underclassmen for his rotations in the post.

Mbuta

2011-02-20T00:12:00.004-05:00

A week and a half ago, Cameroon's national football team walked out on a poorly maintained pitch in Macedon for an international friendly. Remote locales in Eastern and Central Europe are not foreign to The Indomitable Lions; par for the course for a West African FA and a chance for those in Macedonia to see some of the world's greatest footballers up close.

The starting lineup for the team featured Inter Milan's Samuel Eto'o, Mallorca's leading goal scorer Pierre Webo, Olympique de Marseille's Stephane M'Bia, Ajax's Eyong Enoh, Tottenham's Sebastien Bassong, AS Nancy Lorraine's Landry N'Guemo, RC Lens' Henri Bedimo Nsame, AS Monaco's Nicolas N'Koulou, and AFC Valenciennes' Gaetan Bong. But as the final whistle blew the only goal scored during the game was credited to Matthew Mbuta. As in the Matthew Mbuta formerly of the club formerly known as Crystal Palace Baltimore.

Mbuta not only got his first international cap for Cameroon, but logged his first international goal after a good showing at a special prospect camp held for uncapped Cameroonian international players in December.

First off, congratulations to Mr. Mbuta. The biggest loss for us with the collapse of CP Baltimore is being deprived of the opportunity to see Matthew play live. Ever since the night that Mbuta electrified a few hundred spectators at a high school in Annapolis as a third-division football team knocked the Red Bulls out of the U.S. Open Cup, we've traveled all over Maryland to see him play. Beyond just being a ridiculously skilled player, Mbuta is also an extremely nice person and was regularly one of the first to wade over to the fans at the end of matches at UMBC.

When I have tried to get friends to make the trip up from DC to see CP Baltimore, the principal selling point has always been "you've got to see this guy play." And, on the few occasions that I was able to get anyone to bite, Mbuta made the trek worthwhile.

Because of my limited knowledge about the game, I have generally accepted that my judgment about the relative value of players is slightly impaired. But Mbuta's performances always stand out and I have struggled to understand why he has not gotten more of a look in the MLS. He failed to secure a contract after an extended trial with D.C. United and could not get playing time when he won a contract for the Red Bulls. The question has bugged me to such an extent that when we kept seeing Ben Olsen at Ludwig for Maryland games last season, the only thing that I ever wanted to approach him with was why Mbuta was not playing at the top level of U.S. soccer.

The fact that a Cameroonian international player struggles to obtain contracts in the United States makes little sense. Someone, somewhere in the MLS can use Mbuta's prodigious talents.

Or perhaps, Mr. Mbuta's trials and tribulations in the U.S. should come to a merciful end. When IFK Mariehamn dropped another League Cup match earlier this week, the team featured U.S. club soccer castoffs Josh Wicks, Mike Zaher, Mason Trafford, and Joe Funicello (my Swedish ain't good, but I think Josh gave up a penalty for the only goal of the game). Mariehamn's not managed a great goal-scoring record to begin this new campaign, so if the club (or any Scandinavian team for that matter) needs to upgrade its attacking options, Matthew Mbuta should be in the mix.

I hope that he sticks around and we get a chance to see him compete in the top flight here. When I look at D.C. United's roster, I think Mbuta would be a good fit as a late game option off the bench to attack down the wings against tired fullbacks with his great pace and on-ball skills. But he is probably an even better fit on other rosters in the MLS or NASL.

Whatever the future brings, best of luck to Matthew. Congratulations on a tremendous opening bow as an international footballer and we hope that this is the beginning of bigger and better things for his career.

Back in the Fold

2011-02-19T00:22:00.003-05:00

My disappointment with D.C. United over the release of Julius James lasted all of 24 hours.

Fred's back.

My general impression is that United supporters are split over his value to the team. My daughter, on the other hand, is unequivocal. She loves Fred. Although she has met him only a couple of times, Fred made a huge impression by taking the time to interact with her and show interest in a small child.

I harbor no illusions about why Fred is back, as Kasper's quote within the release seems to say it all:

"Fred was very motivated to return to DC, and we look forward to his contributions."

I had written Fred a few weeks back asking him if there was any possibility that he would be returning to the team and his response gave me some hope that there was a chance that something was in the works.

Whatever road he traveled, Fred is back.

Setting to one side my daughter's adoration, I have always enjoyed watching Fred play. He has never given fans any reason to question his commitment to the team and to this community. So welcome back. We missed you.

Horse Manure

2011-02-18T00:23:00.007-05:00

As much as I enjoyed going to the Maryland game tonight, I am still pissed about the news that Julius James got cut by D.C. United. Not that this wasn't entirely predictable, as Olsen and the front office have been taking shots at last year's backline for some time (apparently not convinced that James and Jakovic constitute the best option as a center half pairing).

So, no surprise. It still sucks. James was a favorite with supporters because he is a very nice, humble dude and because he played with his heart on his sleeve and with his balls out. Andy Najar may be who we all point to in order to explain why we head over to RFK to watch a horrid team get trounced, but the people's MVP from a lost 2010 season was Julius James. At least he was for me and for those season ticket holders that sat around me (in response to the news of James' release, one of my neighbors' response was "they cut their best defensive back? he outplayed everyone else last season even through an injury!").

But wait, what's this?

James played a lot of minutes on a terrible team and wasn't very good. They shopped him around. No one was interested in relinquishing anyone or anything. He might get picked up at some point.

Posted by: Steve Goff | February 17, 2011 1:49 PM

I'm generally grateful for Goff's work covering the sport. I'm annoyed by the derision he aims at the WPS -- although, at this point, I have to admit it is probably appropriate. But, he covers a sport that few care about and does a decent job of it.

Even with that in mind, the above is inexcusable.

Set aside for a moment that it is, as an objective and empirical matter, wrong to state that James "wasn't very good." The tone of the post is not just dismissive and disrespectful, it reflects a willingness to be complicit in a hatchet job from the front office and/or the coaching staff on a decent person. Reporting that United shopped him around and no one is interested doesn't mean that James "wasn't very good," it may just mean that some within the organization had been effective in trashing him and that it was unlikely that he would be on the roster at the beginning of the season.

Nothing that James did in a D.C. United shirt merited this classless of a summation of his value as a professional soccer player. Reporters are certainly entitled to have their opinions and express them. And reporters will frequently make judgments that are wrong or write things that are lazy. No big deal. But as much as one can, a reporter ought to avoid being flippant and cynical -- if that is what you are reduced to, you ought to find a new line of work; something, perhaps, that is not beneath you.

Craig Stouffer's description of a "good soldier" fits a bit better with what D.C. United supporters saw from James over the last year and a half. Same with Martin Shatzer's recollection of James' tenure:

James was by most accounts the best defender on United’s roster last season. This very community even voted him for the Popie Award by a wide margin. He plays central defender the way a defender should: strong, fast, consistent, quick-thinking.

Also befitting of James' time with United is the general twitterverse's response to the news, which broadly consists of expressions of surprise, disappointment, and appreciation for the time Julius spent with fans around here.

Nevertheless, he's gone and it's a shame. Nothing is going to reverse the fact that James is no longer part of the club, but I do hope that some attention will be paid to the stunningly unprofessional manner with which some in the club appear to have attacked James through an ingenuous beat reporter.

Value

2011-02-17T22:49:00.003-05:00

It is unlikely that there is a better sporting event value in the D.C. metro area than the annual Maryland - Duke women's basketball game. Maryland's hatred for Duke often manifests itself in ugly and troubling ways, which is one of the principal reasons that it is difficult to fully become a fan of the Terrapins athletics program. But the women's basketball match is where it actually seems like there might be a respectful rivalry between the two schools.

Tonight, we sat behind a family of Duke fans fully decked out in Blue Devils gear. While they enjoyed the first few minutes of the game, the rest of it was fairly miserable -- not because Maryland fans hassled them; surrounding fans didn't even tease them. And they were not alone as a number of other people showed up in Duke colors. At Duke-Maryland soccer games at Ludwig, little kids wearing Duke logos get chased down and harassed by students. Since few students show up for women's basketball games, this isn't an issue.

The marketing arm of the athletics program offered us additional tickets to encourage fans to bring out more people to see the women's team. And it is a great showcase. We were able to get some friends to come out to the game and the environment was fantastic. We were not, I am certain, the only people that spent some time after the game heralding the $145 family of four season ticket package offered by the school.

I spent the much of the second half chasing children around Comcast, but what I was able to see was impressive. Bouncing back from two tough losses at Miami and at home to Virginia, Brenda Frese's young squad blistered Duke's more experienced team. At first, Maryland's players made a series of poor decisions and routinely turned over the ball, falling behind early. But in short order, the tables were turned and the Terps ended up forcing 20 turnovers.

Maryland has one more home game -- against Virginia Tech next Thursday night -- and then Comcast will host first and second round games in the NCAA Women's tournament. Reserved seats for the games are $30, which is a ridiculously inexpensive way to see three good college basketball games.

Dropping Like Flies

2011-02-16T22:37:00.003-05:00

I took a late lunch today and dropped by the Elephant and Castle to watch the Barcelona-Arsenal Champions League tie. I walked out of the restaurant two hours later elated -- it was a game I plan on trying to watch with my daughter again this weekend, just to try and give her a sense of why I love the game.

Although it is a pale vestige of today's spectacle at Emirates, the match got me excited for the seasons of local soccer to come. I finalized an expansion of our season tickets to DC United so that our toddler would have her own seat. I tried to figure out how to increase my support for Real Maryland FC for its inaugural season in the PDL (while, at the same time, getting a little excited about the prospect of seeing Julia Arjona and others at Richard Montgomery). And I am trying to temper my expectations of what seems to be another strong recruiting class for Coach Cirovski -- including three products from the NY Red Bull Academy and U-17 phenom Alex Shinsky.

But that will likely be the extent of our opportunities to follow the sport in the region. Freed of his contract by the collapse of Crystal Palace Baltimore, the gem of the squad, Korey Veeder, has now joined the Columbus Crew for the upcoming MLS season. Howard County's Maryland Red Devils, which had played their inaugural season in the National Premier Soccer League (4th Division) last year were not amongst the teams announced today by the NPSL as populating the league in 2011. The club has announced that:

The TSC MD Red Devils be sitting out for the 2011 season and are planning to be back in 2012.

And so much for my hopes of taking my daughter to see women's professional soccer. Our Game Magazine confirms what everyone who is not an idiot could have foreseen (I, being an idiot, did not) -- Washington Freedom is no more and the team will be playing all of its home games in Boca Raton this season. I hope that Dan Borislow is able to make his vision work down there, because the women's professional game is going to need a lot of help to survive, but it is a shame that the WPS will proceed without a DC-area presence this year.

What does that leave? It is now absolutely imperative to support those teams that are here -- DC United, Real Maryland, and the Northern Virginia Royals. United's signing of Charlie Davies makes the team immediately more interesting. The folks at Real Maryland are doing a great deal to try and make the club relevant to the local soccer scene. Whether the club will be able to draw people and get support remains to be seen, but they are trying. Whether I can convince anyone to trek out with me to Manassas also remains to be seen.

Alanderica

2011-02-10T22:35:00.005-05:00

While watching the USL2 championship game on FSC between the Charleston Battery and the Richmond Kickers last August, I was struck by the same thing that stuck out to me when the Battery and Kickers visited Real Maryland: I enjoy watching Tiyi Shipalane and Mike Zaher play and will root for both wherever they end up because of their short time on DC United.

I was also impressed with Lamar Neagle's work up top for Charleston -- that Neagle would eventually end up at IFK Mariehamn alongside Mason Trafford and Joe Funicello was a pleasant surprise.

Now, a fourth former USL alum is vying for a spot on the Finnish club as Mike Zaher is on trial with Mariehamn.

In all the time we watched Zaher try to break into United's lineup or attempt to take seriously playing ball on a high school football field in Rockville, I had not realized his singular claim to fame as the jerk to JoJo's heroine in Too Little, Too Late. But nothing gets past the Aland Islands press.

The prospect of a Zaher/Trafford/Funicello/Wicks defense for Mariehamn is intriguing for us because we've been able to see each of them play -- in difficult circumstances -- and each (to us) truly deserves a shot at demonstrating that MLS clubs messed up by failing to appreciate their abilities.

NGWSD

2011-02-07T23:53:00.005-05:00

On the way out of Comcast Sunday, I asked my daughter what her favorite part of the game was (she is an avid Dora fan). She said: "When the players got in trouble." We asked her what she was talking about and she said "When there was a timeout on the floor."

My favorite part was having her sit next to me -- for the second day in a row -- while watching a basketball game.

I do not take lightly the privilege afforded by close proximity to an elite women's college basketball program. I am treated to great basketball and my daughter gets to see women playing at the highest level cheered on by thousands of enthusiastic fans.

It helps that this unique state of affairs appears to be fully appreciated by the program's participants. Coach Brenda Frese's contribution to the celebration of the National Girls and Women in Sports Day emphasized the resources made available to student athletes seeking to be the very best at what they do. And for those women that take advantage of what the school offers and can fully harness their talents -- well, that leads to some pretty remarkable things. As Coach Frese marvels:

One of the most incredible things I’ve watched in my time here at Maryland is how young women can grow into incredible role models and heroes that transcend gender. I’ll never forget being at a wedding reception and watching little boys and girls pretend they were some of our more prominent players. I’ve seen people of all ages wearing the jerseys of our players in the stands. And I’ve had people stop me in the street to tell me a story about where they were and what they were doing when one of our players or teams had an incredible moment. Each time, it crosses my mind that these are young women that are inspiring all sorts of folks.

As Maryland steamrolled the Wolfpack with a 67 to 26 run, our two year-old wandered into the team store and picked up a basketball jersey that she wore for the rest of the day.

I don't care whether she'll ever actually want to play basketball or if she ever will want to be an athlete. But there is something pretty cool about having her female role models extended beyond Disney characters.

One of the books in regular rotation at bedtime is Jane Yolen's Not All Princesses Dress in Pink. It is a neat little book and something that our daughter took to immediately. For her, there is no conflict between wearing frilly dresses and playing soccer with the neighborhood toddler boys. Football helmets go perfectly with tutus. And we can watch Sleeping Beauty while she wears her Terps basketball jersey. Long may it continue.

Hoop Dream

2011-02-05T22:48:00.005-05:00

Saturday began with a surprisingly entertaining ESPN broadcast of the Sunderland - Stoke City tie and was followed by reports of Charlton Athletic's maintenance of Chris Powell's perfect record (three wins in three fixtures) and household-favorite Gregory Tade's brace that gave Raith Rovers another three points.

And, yet, most of my thoughts today have focused on a sport other than soccer. I am tapping this out while watching the remarkably entertaining first half between my Chicago Bulls and the Golden State Warriors. The Bulls play like a finely-tuned machine; for whatever reason -- and I would imagine that it is a confluence of many different things going right -- everything has clicked and their current form has to put them in the top four in the NBA.

But the appointment television of Chicago Bulls game, tonight, follows the privilege of having seen Marshon Brooks' ridiculous performance at the Verizon Center this afternoon.

My daughter joined me for the game and, consequently, my attention was not always on what was happening on the floor. Nevertheless, even distracted, it was impossible not to notice what Brooks was doing. Throughout the first half, it seemed a novelty. At halftime, the friend that had given us the tickets and I reminisced about Quincy Douby. Douby's final game against the Hoyas in DC a little less than five years ago -- where he dropped in 29 of the Scarlet Knights' 50 -- left an impression.

As it turned out, another Douby -- Brooks comparison would have been more apt. Three weeks before his last trip to Verizon, Douby went to the Carrier Dome and nearly carried Rutgers to an upset victory in overtime. Douby accounted for 41 of Rutgers' 84 points, but a Terrence Roberts' three at the death negated Quincy's ridiculous effort.

This afternoon, Brooks' 43 (of Providence's 81) put the Friars in a position to win a game that, by rights, they had no business contesting. I think I get what JTIII was trying to do by shutting down everyone else not named Marshon, but the strategy seemed to backfire when the game came down to a single shot on two separate occasions. Both times, Chris Wright did enough to disrupt (and perhaps foul) Mr. Brooks to deny the storybook ending.

Years of watching Big East basketball mean that performances like Brooks' today are particularly savored. He managed to keep all of us on the edge of our seat -- including my two-year old. Thoroughly entertaining. It's nice to love basketball again.

Pride

2011-01-23T23:03:00.003-05:00

This probably makes me an idiot, but I am so incredibly proud of what the Chicago Bears managed to do this afternoon.

After the first half, with the Bears getting smoked, my daughter woke up from her nap and found us downcast. Once Todd Collins was introduced into the game, I had resigned myself to suffering, in the most muted way I could, a full scale embarrassment in Chicago.

But I should have more faith. Once quarterbacking duties were handed to Caleb Hanie and Caleb hit Johnny Knox on a beautiful throw, the mood in our house -- and throughout Bears nation -- improved substantially.

Yes, the Bears lost to a rival I absolutely detest. Yes, the Bears fell short. But the lasting images I will take from the game will be the reckless abandon with which the Bears played themselves back into the game and my daughter's reaction: bouncing around the house, eventually grabbing her favorite teddy bear (dubbed "Willie") and crowning him with a Phillip Daniels mini helmet.

Let's be clear about what happened today, because while an acerbic media will focus on questions of whether or not Cutler showed enough heart with a torn mcl (by writers who can't work if they've got a bad cold) or whether Lovie, Martz, and Marinelli got outcoached (and they probably did), the facts are that Caleb Hanie walked into a football game and did more in one quarter than he had in two previous years (2009-2010 stats: 8 for 14, 66 yards, 0 TDs, 1 INT; NFC Championship game: 13-20, 153 yards, 1 TD, 2 INTs). The facts are that Matt Forte's 160 yards from scrimmage (70 on the ground and 90 receiving) was the most productive of any Bears' running back in the postseason since George Gulyanics put up 161 yards (94 rushing, 67 receiving) in the 1950 championship loss to the Rams.

With a torn muscle in his hip and having barely practiced throughout the week, Chris Harris went out and played a tremendous game. With all the hype about Charles Woodson and Tramon Williams, the best cornerback on the field was Peanut Tillman. And with every reason and excuse to lay down, the bad memories of watching the Eagles smoke a 13-3 Bears team once Jimmy Miller left injured and Shane Matthews got behind center have been erased.

Again, it sucks that they lost, but watching that defense fly around the field in the fourth quarter, watching that offense rally around Hanie, turning the game around so that Packers' fans had to hold their breath as the impossible seemed to be coming to fruition -- all of that means no regrets.

This is a team that fully deserves the city's admiration.

This is a team that deserves to be part of the franchise's storied history.

Congratulations to Jerry Angelo, Lovie Smith, and everyone involved in the organization for turning things around and making us all believers.

Packing for Dallas

2011-01-22T21:36:00.004-05:00

Let's say you've got a two-year old daughter. And said child has already been forced to suffer through lots of miserable Sunday afternoons -- including a trip to Baltimore two Decembers ago where she was eager to get out of the cold as the players we had come to cheer for -- because of a disease contracted by her parents at an early age that has not yet been shaken.

What would be a normal Saturday spent prior to the NFC Championship game? Thanks to YouTube, the answer, of course, is repeated viewings of Charles Martin's ode to what it means to be a Packer or Ken Stills defining Packer toughness or Keith Van Horne taking exception to the Packers ethos. And when the toddler asks why anyone would do anything so craven, the only answer, obviously, is: "that's what it means to be a Packer."

Michael Wilbon had a great piece for ESPN (Wilbon has been a great addition for the website) describing how Chicagoans are socialized to think about the Packers. Each of the incidents I showed my daughter today (repeatedly) shaped my thoughts about Green Bay. I hate the colors green and gold because of them -- when I see Plymouth Argyle's kit (the victims in the opening number of Chris Powell's return to The Valley earlier today), I react viscerally because the colors are close -- and the only Packers jersey I've ever been tempted to buy is a Mark Chmura replica.

I have enjoyed reading the commentary of sportswriters that know nothing about Chicago spouting off about how the Bears will come to regret not knocking the Packers out of the playoffs in Lambeau. No matter what happens tomorrow, things could not have turned out better.

Certainly, all Bears fans went into the last game of the season hoping that the Bears would knock the Packers out of the playoffs. Since I had little faith in the team's ability to do anything once the postseason started, a win might possibly have constituted the team's biggest achievement of the year. As the game stayed close, I kept thinking about the NFL Films clip from early in the season where, after a Packers win, a team official intercepts Coach McCarthy on his way off the field to tell him that the Vikings have lost. That moment let everyone know what the Packers mentality -- Minnesota was their only real threat in the division.

Four months later, Green Bay squeaked into the playoffs and it could not have worked out better for Chicago. By bouncing the Eagles in Philadelphia, Chicago drew the weakest team in the playoffs for their first game. By bouncing the Falcons in Atlanta, Chicago got to host the NFC Championship match. By Sunday afternoon, no Bears fan regretted the Packers advancing. This is the game everyone wants -- Green Bay vs. Chicago at Soldier Field -- and no matter the outcome, this has been a tremendous bounce back season for the Bears.

I would guess that there were more Chicagoans relieved about the outcome of Sunday night's game than were worried about meeting up with a hyped division rival. The prospect of advancing to the Super Bowl only to meet a much better opponent that could virtually erase the 46 to 10 score line that defined the ascendancy of the Monsters of the Midway and Walter Payton was unsettling. But one of Buddy Ryan's sons has made sure that Patriot redemption is not in the cards for this season.

The Packers are a good team. And they might blow out the Bears tomorrow -- I don't think they will, but they might. But the fact Chicago has a chance to both (1) deny Green Bay a trip to Dallas and (2) punch their ticket to play either Pittsburgh or New Jersey means that it no NFC Championship game involving the Bears will ever be bigger.

Whatever happens, I have a two year old that now knows the words to Bear Down and can't wait for gametime. Whatever happens, I am loving this time right now... I am loving the anticipation... the buildup. Tom Petty's wisdom doesn't apply universally; right now, the waiting ain't the hardest part.

Whatever happens, thanks to everyone in the Bears' organization for making this possible.

Now go out and turn some green and gold to black and blue. Do it for Charles Martin and Ken Stills. Do it and cement your place in the pantheon of Chicago sports deities. Beat the Packers.

Club Support

2011-01-22T14:39:00.010-05:00

After two friendlies, Josh Wicks' return as a professional goalkeeper in a meaningful match with IFK Mariehamn got off to a good start on Tuesday, when Wicks, Mason Trafford, Joe Funicello and teammates shut out FC Haka 4 - 0 in the opening round of the Veikkausliiga Cup.

Less of a result in their second outing, as FC Honka beat IFK Mariehamn 3 to 1 earlier today. Josh Wicks, Mason Trafford and Joe Funicello again started for Mariehamn in the team's fourth match in nine games.

While on the topic of the club, a belated thank you to whomever suggested getting in touch with Nina Bostrom at IFK Mariehamn. The club was fantastic about working with me to get gear and I am now the proud owner of several IFK shirts and a scarf sent all the way out from Aland. I would imagine that there are many more pressing things facing those working for the team and I am most grateful for their efforts to accommodate me.

Another of our favorite clubs, the Raith Rovers, continued their hold on the sole promotion spot in Division One today with a disappointing draw at home against Greenock Morton earlier today. The big news with the club, however, is newly-promoted Inverness Caledonian Thistle's budding interest in bringing Gregory Tade to the Scottish Premier League a little in advance of his Rovers teammates.

We've sponsored Tade each of the last two seasons and have had occasion to interact with him once over that time period -- he was exceptionally kind and thoughtful and took action that belied my preconceived notions of a professional footballer. Tade is obviously charismatic; for as much stick as he takes for failing to convert some goal scoring opportunities, two of the three he's tallied in the league this season have been game winners (most recently against Dunfermline at the beginning of the month) and he has a knack for coming through when it most matters.

Our family wishes Greg the best in whatever he decides to do. While we would love to see him in the SPL with Raith, he's out of contract at year end, and who knows if the Rovers can maintain their lead or will bring Tade back should they find themselves in the top flight.

In addition to his FaceBook fan page ("The Legend, Gregory Tade"), testaments to Tade's appeal are found at his former clubs as well. Stranraer, where the Frenchman first left his mark on Scottish football, continues to hold fond memories of his short tenure there. We're thrilled to see that the club is at the top of the table of Division Three, even after a disappointing loss at Elgin earlier today.

Stranraer, like IFK Mariehamn, features fantastic people working with the club. Their supporters' willingness to entertain bizarre inquiries are a credit to the squad and make us proud to sponsor a player and, for myself, even prouder to now claim a fairly significant collection of Stranraer match worn gear.

I've very much enjoyed sponsoring players at various clubs, both because it heightens my interest in following teams in various competitions and because of the communication sponsorship facilitates with the clubs' supporters. Every football club in the world must, at some level, be backed up by people who have a pure passion for their team and it is a welcome treat to get a chance to share in all of the different permutations of those attachments, even when they are wholly unfamiliar to my own background and experience.

I hope that others interested in the game here in the States will take advantage of the opportunities to learn more about what it means elsewhere. Getting to know Stranraer or IFK Mariehamn is a great place to start. Along the same lines, I would further recommend the Blyth Spartans. Based largely on our great interactions with the club, our support of the team continues to grow. As I've learned more about the club and its illustrious history -- for example, I recently finished Harry Pearson's "The Far Corner" which contains a succinct description of the club's vaunted history as part of Pearson's musings on all important footballing matters in the northeast of England -- I recognize that I have no business traipsing around the club, but am grateful for their willingness to welcome interlopers.

A Rose in Bloom

2011-01-18T00:38:00.005-05:00

No Carlos Boozer. No Joakim Noah.

Doesn't matter.

Bulls 96 - Grizzlies 84.

Derrick Rose? 22 points, 10 rebounds, 12 assists, 1 steal, 1 block, 1 turnover.

If Rose's triple double happened last year at this time, Chicago's sports media outlets would trip over themselves trying to add superlatives to describe what Rose is doing.

But this is not last year. This is, instead, the year that Jerry Angelo and Lovie Smith have remade the Chicago Bears into a potent force in the NFL... one that will face-off against its most hated rival for a shot at the Super Bowl next Sunday.

So Derrick Rose and the Bulls are, at the moment, overshadowed. The chattering class can fret over whether Jay Cutler is the team's savior or simply another punky qb without Walter Payton and the Monsters of the Midway to bolster him. In the interim, Michael Wilbon continues to knock out great articles chronicling Rose's development (like his piece following the win over the Heat on Saturday night) and we all have time to get to know and further love the rest of the team (through, for example, Adam Fluck's neat slice of life piece on Joakim Noah today).

If the Bears can beat the Packers on Sunday, they become the story in the Chicago media for the next three weeks, maybe the next month. Between now and February 13th (a week after the Super Bowl), the Bulls will play 11 games -- 52 total for the season. By that point, I hope, the Bulls will have insulated themselves from any corrosive effects of a poisonous media and forged a cohesive identity as one of the strong contenders for the Eastern Conference title.

Tomorrow begins a six-game homestand, followed by five away games. If the Bulls can manage a 7 and 4 record over those 11 games -- which, at the moment, would seem to be selling the team short -- they will have largely wrapped up a spot in the postseason (with a 35 and 17 record) by the time the spotlight is focused directly on the team. Barring further injury, they should be at full strength for the last thirty games of the season and, well, then things get really interesting.

At the moment, the Bulls are 28 and 13. Which means at the half way point of the season, Bulls fans are being treated to something we haven't seen since Jordan and Pippen left town: a dominant team. Moreover, we're being treated to something else we haven't seen since that bygone era: routinely having the best player on the court be the one in a Bulls uniform.

Yet, bizarrely, the fact that both of these things gets (relatively) little attention is probably a blessing. No one expected the Bulls to be this good this fast and, as such, expectations for the team have not yet outstripped reality.

But it is hard to keep quiet about it. Derrick Rose is really, really good. In the post-Jordan/Pippen era, this is the best Bulls team to have taken the court. And they are a sight to behold.