Standing Up for the Rich and Powerful

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.