Posts Tagged ‘Soccer’

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Lazyweb: Truphone in South Africa this summer?


2010
05.07

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So, just a quick post here.  I’ll plan to do a more extensive post in May as well.  I’m trying to decide what I want to do for notifications while in South Africa.  I’m doubting the stadiums will have wifi.  I don’t know how much it’s worth to me to do live updates via identica/twitter, but I’d like to.  Truphone was suggested to me, but I don’t know what their South Africa message/data rates are.  FIFA is also offering pre-paid cards.  I should probably look into that a bit more, but I’ve been swamped.  Thoughts?  Mostly, would you care if I did live updates?  If not, it’s probably not worth looking into.

Also, as I’ve mentioned, I’m moving.  During my move, I plan to purchase a TV.  What do people think about this 32-in TV?  32 in is a little small, but it is 1080p and I’m not really looking to drop a ton of money.  There are larger ones, but it doesn’t get great revues.

Also, we’ve got MLB and NCAA Basketball guys lined up.  Not sure when he’ll get going, but I’m excited about it.  NBA guy just got a new job, so that’s on hold.  NFL guy should be coming soon, or at least that’s the last word I’m getting.

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EPL, FA Cup, etc wind down. MLB, MLS, etc get started. The Circle of Life.


2010
04.11

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Just quickly, NCAA Frozen Four final was yesterday.  The hometown Badgers got annihilated by Boston College.

Also, what was the deal with the ESPN spring football coverage?  Are you really hurting that much for content.  Here’s an idea, PUT THE MADRID BARCELONA GAME ON! It’s not a matter of rights, because ESPN had English coverage of the game on ESPN3.  BTW, I can’t tell you how happy I am that ESPN3 (old ESPN360) now works in Linux!

EPL

It’s hard to imagine anyone but Chelsea winning the EPL.  The one thing that gives me hope is the two tough away games versus the one tough away for ManU.  However, if Chelsea gets a draw and ManU wins out, Chelsea could still win on goal differential…which they are winning by four at the moment.  Based on how ManU has been playing, I just don’t see it happening.  I am pleased with the signing of the Mexican striker though.

FA Cup

It’s also pretty hard to see anyone but Chelsea winning the FA Cup, thought Portsmouth doesn’t really want to quit, it seems, despite certain relegation and a likely summer sell-off.  And by likely, I mean, as likely as the sun rising in the east tomorrow.

La Liga and Champions League

With the victory over Real Madrid, I can’t imagine anyone but Barcelona winning the La Liga or Champions League.  Go Barca and Big Z!

Playoffs

The Carolina Hurricanes and many other NHL franchises are having their seasons come to a close within the next few days.  Fliers made it today, so roommate is happy.  I don’t care too much.  I’ll just cheer for the ‘local’ Blackhawks or whoever comes out of the east, accept perhaps not Crosbyburg.  I used to kinda like Crosby, but he’s become the hockey version of Laettner post-Olympics.  NBA Playoffs are also coming up.  Bucks and Bobcats are in, so plenty of basketball to watch.  It’s hard to imagine Bama or UK getting an automatic bid, but UNC seems likely…and UNC will get an at-large barring a collapse.  However, conference playoffs don’t start until late May, so I’m really jumping the gun on that.  If you’re not aware, UW-Madison does not have a baseball team.

MLB

Way too early to say anything about the MLB.  I’m hopeful for the Reds and less so for the Brewers though they have nearly identical records.  I hope the Reds only go for the for pushing off free agency and not for the Super 2 clause with Aroldis Chapman.  For a small-market team like the Reds, an extra year could be a big bonus before the Red Sox or Yankees come swooping in.  At least they brought Leake into the rotation, because, it’s never a good thing to be looking up to the Pirates.  For Chapman, keeping him in the minors for a while makes sense to me.  Chapman is learning English and I doubt there are any countries in the western hemisphere less like the US than Cuba.  Venezuela still trades with the US and has oil revenue coming in.  I’d be interested to hear if someone thinks I’m off-base with the Cuba comment.

MLS

Much, like MLB, we aren’t far into the season. However, 3 of 30 is a bit further along than 6 of 162…and baseball has a longer playoff.  Much looms over the 3-0 Galaxy though.  Buddle is playing well, but what will happen if Donovan goes to the EPL like he should?  What happens when/if Beckham comes back?  How will Beckham play without a world class partner, such as the one he has in Donovan?  The MLS is always topsy-turvy with their ridiculous salary cap, but with a few big names heading to the World Cup, will teams lose steam?  Will the big names be tired?  Will a World Cup run inspire confidence?  It’s impossible to tell.  The one thing that’s obvious is that a World Cup injury, even a short one, to a name such as Donovan, could be the difference in the playoffs or not or a championship or not.

What a dumb post?  I hate to even link to it to point out how uninformative it is.  Wikipedia is much more informative about the changes.  I’d like to see it higher.  Maybe five designated players?  I understand the rule, but it’s keeping the MLS from being a viable alternative to getting up at 6:30am to watch EPL games.  The rise of cable sports has kept the NBA and NHL off the major networks, but it would be nice to see the MLS get on the basic cable rotation more than once a week.  Of course, the question is, what would ESPN or VS drop to make more room for the MLS?  I’d certainly be fine with ESPN Deportes becoming part of basic cable, but there’s not going to be any push for something like that until the MLS is really worth watching for the casual soccer fan.  Right now, it makes more sense to pick a club in Spain and/or England and follow them, at least in Central and Eastern times.  I’m not sure I’d be willing to get up at 5:30 or 4:30 in the other two time zones.  The growth of US soccer and the MLS specifically is another post though.  Right now, I’m just happy there are games again and I’m excited about the Bobcats maybe making a run.  It’s pretty sad that the Bobcats are the highlight of my sports life, but maybe if they make a run this year Jordan will splash some cash and I’ll no longer feel that way.  They are going to need to drop the orange before I’m buying a jersey though.

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supernatural disasters, natural disasters and the Bobcats and Bucks that love them


2010
04.03

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With title races and playoffs coming up, I thought I’d simply check in with some of my favorite teams and wax philosophically about their chances of bringing home silverware.  Also, you’re getting this a few hours early.  I mean, why not?

First off, a disaster of cosmic proportions – a supernatural disaster if you will.  I’m talking about the Red Devils falling at Old Trafford.  It’s likely this game should have ended in a 2-2 draw, or even a 3-2 United win.  ManU had two penalties not called and Gary Neville’s shoulder barge also should have been a penalty.  Let’s say they make all of them (not unlikely).  That’s 3-2.  Ok, ManU’s goal may have been a hand ball.  I think it hit his chest, but I’m not exactly neutral.  However, DROGBA WAS CLEARLY AND ABSOLUTELY OFFSIDES. WTF!!!!!!!! It wasn’t even close.  A full body, plus a hair.  So, that makes it 2-2.  Even with no penalties, it would have been 1-1.  It’s clear that Rooney getting injured is bad news for Champions League and EPL.  The Red Devils are safely in Champions League competition next year, so there’s not a lot of difference in two and three, but if Chelsea slips, you definitely want to overtake them.  Unless Chelsea has an injury, I don’t see anyone catching them.  Arsenal and ManU still have Champions League to deal with.  Now, I think Arsenal are pretty much done.  Two away goals is a huge mountain to climb.  However, Fulham overcame a 3-1 defeat in the Europa Cup against giants Juventus, so it could happen. Remember that Any Given Sunday piece? I just want to note that I am cheering hard for Fulham and American midfielder Clint Dempsey to win it.  I’m halfheartedly cheering for Liverpool too, but I really want Fulham to take home the silverware.

ManU may also be done in Champions League, but coming back from 2-1 at home is certainly doable.  Defense and have Nani or Berbatov poke one in.  It’s certainly possible, despite Berbatov looking like trash today…seriously, I did not get up at 6:45am to watch that kind of performance.  If you lose and Cech plays out of his mind, fine.  To lose by simply miss chances and not put it on frame…seriously?

Well, if you don’t believe in the supernatural, there are always natural disasters…the Carolina Hurricanes.  Now, I was going to write about how the Hurricanes have an outside chance at making the playoffs, but that has pretty much evaporated as at the time of this writing, there is 2:32 left in the 3rd period of the game against New Jersey…and they are losing 4-0.  I’m not even going to say anything else about it.

Just want to throw this in here since I’m talking about my teams that at some point I’ll probably look at the Bama 2010 football season based on recruits as well as the UK 2010 season based on recruits and departures.  Should be interesting to see if any of the big three leave UK.  I think they could all benefit from another year. I think draft stock went down as the season progressed…mostly because they were sharing minutes with each other.

Additionally, I have done a terrible job following college baseball this year.  At some point I’ll check in and give an overview of how seasons are going for GWU, UK, Bama and UNC.

Now on to the NBA…I live in Madison, so I keep an eye on the Bucks, but they traded my boy Jodie Meeks, so I’m not real happy with them.  The Bucks are putting the hurt on Phoenix right now…24 points at halftime…ouch.  The Bobcats are really my team though.  The   The Bobcats are also currently losing, but only by 9 points in the 3rd, so that’s not too bad.  Playing better in the 2nd half so far.  If the playoffs ended right now they would have the 7th spot and even if they go on to lose this game, they will still be in the 7th spot by a game.  Chicago is in the 9th spot though, so this is not a good game to lose.  They’ll play one more time before the end of the season, so in football parlance, these are 6-pointers (and that’s not a touchdown, but rather the 3 points per game that soccer uses).  Bobcats were up, but now down by 5 again very late in the 4th. Not really to call it just yet though.  The only team with a better record than the Bobcats that they play in the remaining games is the Hawks, so it’s looking pretty good for them to be in, but at New Orleans and at Houston will definitely be tough.  Chicago, on the other hand, has to play Boston, Cleveland and the Bucks…those are all home games though.  Last game of the season is Bulls in what is -more-or-less my hometown of Charlotte.  It could be for all the marbles…well, a playoff spot.

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World Cup Bracket


2010
03.26

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With all the talk about brackets for the NCAA tourney, and seeing this article on dynamic duos, I was inspired to do a World Cup bracket.  There still could be a lot happen.  There could be so crazy Togo-esque shooting or just simple injuries.  I got the layout of the below from Wikipedia, so please respect their Creative Commons license.  I’m not going to do game scores, but I’m leaving the matches here just so people can have that info available here.

Here are some of my thoughts. First, despite in the past home field advantage playing a huge role in the World Cup, with Brazil being the only team to not win on their continent, I really can’t see the African teams doing any better.  South Africa may be the weakest team in the competition.  The big African countries seem also destined to disappoint.  Algeria, Nigeria and Ghana could all get out of their group stage, but I don’t see them going too much further.  Nigeria’s new coach could prove not to be a perfect fit immediately and Algeria is so inconsistent I could also see the finishing last in their group.

It will be cold, but European players are used to playing in the cold European winters.  It may slow down Spain, but Torres plays in England and the rest of the team certainly plays elsewhere in Champions League action.  The European teams are also going to be on their own time zone or close to it.

Group A is the toughest call.  South Africa, though weak, could surprise in the first round.  France has the talent to win it all, but is so dysfunctional you wonder if they will even make it out of the group.  Mexico is probably sending one of their best squads ever, but who knows if they can survive the previous coaching debacle.  Uruguay‘s chance rest on Forlán as far as I’m concerned.  I don’t know if anything short of winning it will save Domenech‘s job and I could see a USA-98-like performance coming from them.  Ultimately, despite their talent, I don’t see them getting out of the group.

Things get tough to call in the semifinals with Germany vs. Spain.  Will Spain show up like they did in the Confed Cup?  If so, the Swiss or Honduras could play spoiler.  You have to like the Swiss and Chile, conditions-wise.  Ultimately, I guess I see the curse of winning off European soil to continue.  Dunga seems to have good control of his team.  It’s hard to argue with the team that wins the top qualification out of South America, the top team in ELO rankings and the second team in FIFA rankings.

Matches

See also: 2010 FIFA World Cup schedule

All times are South African Standard Time (UTC+2)

Group stage

(more…)

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Any Given Sunday


2010
03.22

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Posted in College BBall | 1 Comment »

Yesterday (you know, the day I was supposed to have this article done…), a Sunday, Manchester United defeated Liverpool to go atop the EPL with no one able to catch them with games in hand.  I just wanted to mention that as a ManU fan and to keep you from thinking this was an NFL post. ;)

The title phrase was coined by Bert Bell in 1958 in regards to what is now called ‘parity’ in the NFL.  For those of you not in the US, Sunday is ‘the’ day for the professional American football.  Sure, there’s Monday Night Football and the occasional Thursday game, but Sunday is the day.  If you ask me, the NFL (and the MLS, but that’s another post entirely) have too much parity.  This is going to get a little off subject, but indulge me.  No one wants to see a team buy a championship, but Real Madrid and the New York Yankees have both proven you simply can’t do it.  I could see it being possible in the NBA, with only 5 players on the court, but the closest thing the NBA has seen to the Galácticos, the 2004 Lakers, proved not to be a winning formula.  The draft in the US or youth programs in Europe add enough spice to see a team like Montpellier HSC atop Ligue 1 or Åtvidaberg FF in the top league of a country.

Sustained greatness is certainly possible, winning championships is not (depending upon how you define greatness, of course).  If you look at Barcelona, a lot of those world-class players came through their system.  Even Messi, an Argentinian, spent four years in the Barcelona youth system.  ManU also has had regulars Paul Scholes, Wes Brown and Gary Neville come through their youth system.  Neither of those clubs opposed to buying either; Zlatan (affectionately known as BigZ) is a clear example of that.  I’m not going to argue that ManU’s youth system is anywhere close to Barca’s, but it’s telling that they made bigger news with selling to Madrid than with any of their pickups.  All of this is to say that money cannot buy championships.  Rich clubs still have to buy quality players that fit in their system and also make sure they are developing the best youth sides lest someone catch them.  Champions League and such changes the equation a bit, but that (like MLS parity) is another post altogether.  Even when the money is stacked against you, or even if you don’t play on Sundays, “any given Sunday,” a team can win.

The same is true in college basketball. (You didn’t see that coming, did you?)  Especially on Saturdays, it would seem.  Unless you live under a rock or don’t live in the US, Northern Iowa beat Kansas Saturday.  Millions of brackets blew to the wayside with that game.  Mine did, but Purdue helped bring it back to respectability.  The unpredictability of the tournament is what gives it so much of it’s luster.  My roommate and I discussed how it compared to the FA Cup.  One of the differences is FA Cup games aren’t played on a neutral site until the final, but it’s much different from that too.  For those of you on the other side of the pond, you can think of a similar sort of excitement toward the giant killing.

One of the things I loved to do as a kid and that I haven’t done in years because I haven’t had time is to redo my bracket after each round.  Let’s try this again.

MSU over NIU (originally had KU)

OSU over UT (original pick)

Syracuse over Butler (original winner)

KState over Xavier (originally had Pittsburgh)

UK over Cornell (original winner)

WVU over Washington (original winner)

dook over Purdue (original winner)

Baylor over St. Mary’s (original winner)

Not going to go through the other games now, but I now say a Syracuse/dook final with UK and OSU in the Final Four.  I hope that’s not how it turns out, but that’s what I expect.

Games are starting again on Thursday and then on Friday, but…any given Sunday.

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FIFA Shoots They Score!! …Or Did They?


2010
03.08

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Posted in Baseball, Soccer, The Olympics | No Comments »

Well, it’s hard to have breaking news on a weekly blog entry, no? NY Times beat me to it, but it’s still relevant (hey, they just posted this morning!).  Times Online (UK) did too, and to no surprise, I find their commentary better informed.  Before this becomes a link fest to organizations that have covered the topic before me, I just want to say what I think and why.

I’m frustrated with the power of FIFA (there are only 8 votes counted on these things??).  No sporting organization is nearly as powerful as FIFA.  I hate that FIBA rules are different that NBA (and to a lesser degree IIHF/NHL), but without that tension there’s a monopoly. US sports don’t have monopoly status in the same way because college sports are separate and very important.  Also, whatever you think about it, the US Congress isn’t afraid to step in.  I have a hard time believing the UN is going to pose sanctions on FIFA-nation though.

Of course, as I mentioned, FIFA isn’t the only global organization, but the only one that can even claim to be in the same ballpark is the International Olympic Committee (IOC).  Yes, the Olympics are huge, but  the Olympics only happen once every four years (let’s not kid ourselves, much as I personally love the Winter Olympics, they are a side show).  FIFA’s once-every-four-years event, the World Cup, is bigger in some respects than the Olympics.

It’s a little off-topic, but I think it’s worth going down this FIFA vs. Olympics debate briefly.   There were 715.1 million viewers for the 2006 final and total viewership was 26.29 BILLION (down from just under 26.4 billion in 2002…different time zones and such).  Before the soccer-hating Americans rush in to claim that USA Today reports 40 Billion viewers, let’s think about this a bit more.  How many countries compete in the Olympics?  Let’s guessimate…all of them.  The UN says 192, so let’s go with that (even though that’s low due to multiple examples like Puerto Rico).  There are 32 countries competing in the World Cup.  192/32.  That’s exactly 6 times more.  Not all countries are the same size of course, and some of the big ones aren’t even in the World Cup: Russia and China are notable.  India, with it’s billion people, has never qualified for the World Cup.  They are too busy playing cricket.  China has only qualified once for the World Cup.   I think it’s safe to say on time slot saturation, the World Cup is doing a better job.

I think that little tangent was important, but it’s not really the point. FIFA operates all the time (not saying the IOC doesn’t plan for the summer games for four years, but that’s not what I mean).  Every year there are EPL games.  Every year there is a UEFA Champions League.  Every year is a Copa Libertadores.  These, and every other top teir league and tournament around the world, is governed by FIFA.  When the MLS tried to do things the ‘American’ way (read: ridiculous), FIFA stepped in and was going to withhold cash.  I think it’s really hard to impress upon someone who doesn’t follow the game just how powerful FIFA is.  Any analogy is going to be ridiculous, but let me try.  Let’s image that the European leagues in basketball were dominant powers in the world.  The NBA is a powerful league, often thought to be the best, but the NBA teams aren’t the best teams in the world.  The Lakers, Celtics, Bulls, Pistons and Cavs all have worldwide popularity due to their past and present stars, but Uppsala Basket had an unstoppable center in the 70s and were a best team in the world for a while.  The Munich, Milan, Rome, Paris, London and Barcelona teams could any year be the best team, even if top-to-bottom the NBA is still the greatest league.  This is more-or-less, the way the EPL is now.  Let’s say the top 2 teams from the NBA enter a NorthAmerican/European tournament akin to UEFA Champions League.  The Celtics and Lakers dominate these spots (domination in the NBA doesn’t happen like domination in European football, but that’s another story) and teams like the Bucks are less interested in winning the league and more interested in knocking off either the Lakers or Celtics (let’s for get the conferences here) to get that NATO League spot.  Now, let’s say that the NBA really didn’t like the trapezoid lane, but to cash in on the millions of dollars of the NATO League, they had to follow FIBA rules.  If you can imagine this, you can imagine the power of FIFA.

We’ve established that I don’t like FIFA’s power (even if I do adamantly believe in standards), that the World Cup is ridiculously huge and that that power I don’t like FIFA actually possesses.  What we have not established is that video replay is a good or bad thing.

I do *not* think video replay should be the start of things.  I do, however, think a chip in the ball to determine if it crosses a goal line would help the game.  How many goals are scored in a game?  I don’t have stats, but let’s say 2-1 is a common score.  Just as common as 2-2 and 1-1 so it balances out to three times a game.  Thus, technology is going to come into play, let’s be generous, six or so times a game (ok, that’s not being generous to current officials, but you know what I mean).  If I’ve got Americans reading this, I’m probably preaching to the choir.  We love video replay in American football, basketball, hockey and baseball.  There was a fight in baseball because of it’s “tradition” and that’s the same fight FIFA is putting up.  Up until World War II, the norm was for countries to have protectionist economic policies.  Up until the invention of the printing press, the tradition was for people to be illiterate.  The world changes and while I do think it’s important for people and organizations to stick to their roots, those roots weren’t established in stone.  They were established in a changing world.  One that is changing faster now than it ever has before.  Perhaps that’s why there is a backlash of traditionalism from FIFA and from the MLB.  With technology and communication changing on a daily basis, we want to be able to sit on our couch and watch the same game we’ve always loved.  Well FIFA, I’ve got news for you, I didn’t have an high definition TV a couple years ago.  It made the games better, not worse.

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Hockey and Soccer: Separated at Birth? – Part 1


2010
02.28

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Posted in Hockey, Soccer | No Comments »

Once again I’m not writing the article I planned to write, but with a day of giant upsets in college hoops, a canceled flight and an OT Gold Medal Game, you can’t really expect me to sit around researching for articles can you? ;) Well, I did a little…

The ice-cold reality is that hockey in the U.S. is a niche sport.  I’d disagree in general and it’s particularly a hard sell after watching the US’ run to the silver medal, but despite there being teams in LA and Atlanta, I might call it a ‘regional’ sport.  For some reason, that seems less demeaning, though the meaning is probably the same.  If you can’t grow up playing a game, you probably aren’t going to be a big fan.  When I was a kid growing up in Tuscaloosa, it was a lot easier to dream of being Bart Starr or Joe Namath, than it was Wayne Gretzky, even if Gretzky was a member of the Super Friends.  By the time the Hurricanes moved to Raleigh (or Greensboro as the case was at first), I was in high school.  There can still be some backyard dreaming in high school, but the ‘childhood dreams’ are pretty much gone at that point. Even if I had been the Hurricanes fan I am now, I still would have had to have driven to Charlotte to play.  Let me be clear, I am not advocating we throw up all sorts of rinks in the south so kids can play.  I love hockey, but if I’m going to be doing any advocating for more TV time , it’s going to be for soccer…mostly because I’m tired of FSC terrible video quality and tired of getting up at 6:45am to watch the good games (might be more on this later).

Rick Liebling makes an interesting comment on niche sports, ‘Individually they will remain fringe sports in this country, so let’s not pretend otherwise,’ but fails to fully develop the idea.  Rick is undoubtedly discussing sports more niche than hockey or soccer in this country, but I think he’s on to something talking about the European club system.  Hockey and football are undoubtedly more popular in Europe (regionally for hockey again) the the big three of American sports.  I’m not trying to be all Europhile, but particularly in football (since hockey is a North American sport), taking some queues from the other side of the pond would be good.  The NASL went the way that Portsmouth is going to go in part because they Americanized the game.  The problem with the MLS isn’t that there aren’t soccer fans here, it’s that the soccer fans here don’t care.  The MLS formerly had some weird schedule rivaled probably by Scotland’s table split or Australia’s weird sorta-kinda double-elimination tournament, but thankfully that too will be going the way of the NASL due to the addition of the Philadelphia Union.  The MLS having promotion/relegation is a pipe dream, but a single table causes no problems.  Going with a ‘play twice’ format does nothing to save teams money/cut carbon, the greatest advantage of having regionalized divisions.  Odd numbers of games against teams for the NBA, NHL and particularly MLB don’t matter too much because the seasons are so long.  However, the new MLS season (as the old) will be 30 games long, making it closer to the NFL season (both in sheer numbers and by percentage).  I think crowning the champion as the person that finishes first could also be a reality without major hiccups, but one I don’t see happening.  The MLS has the Support’s Shield, but that’s not the true champion.  Have a Carling Cup style tourney if you like (and of course there is the FA Cup-style Open Cup), just make it a separate competition.  I’m with Bob Knight on this.  Single-elimination tournaments are bollocks.

There’s one last point I want to bring back the comparison between the ‘plights’ of the NHL and MLS.  The MLS is also regional, but in a different way.  While there’s nothing stopping a North Dakota native from dreaming of becoming the next Landon Donovan like there is kids from Alabama becoming the next Patrick Kane, the kids in North Dakota simply don’t care.  However, in cities where there is always going to be a larger immigrant population or in the south/southwest where there is Hispanic migration, people do care.  The NHL needs to focus on Canada and the northern US, because that’s where the money is.  I love the Carolina Hurricanes, but they are never going to get the love the Panthers do.  The MLS is already targeting major cities because that’s what professional sports teams do, but they aren’t targeting the right demographics (with perhaps the exception of Toronto, Seattle and Chivas USA)

No prediction on next Sunday’s article.  I’m still doing valuable ‘research’ on the FIFA 2010 review, as well as the indoor/outdoor soccer article.  I’m also going to come out with part two of this article at some point where I take Liebling’s idea of branding niche sports together and give you some thoughts on how this could be done.

I’d also like to get your thoughts on shorter posts.  Jeff suggested I break up my articles.  I’d like to keep a Sunday deadline, just to make sure I churn stuff out regularly.  Do you prefer the RSS feed to be populated at the same time each week?  I know I like that xkcd comes out on a regular schedule, but maybe I’m just anal-retentive.

As always, thanks for reading!

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