Blatter is an idiot

The great rotund one and ruler of all things FIFA Sepp Blatter has opened his big pasty mouth, and once again nothing of any use came out. This story has made the rounds on the interwebs so most people are aware of it already but I figured since I have an outlet for my rants I should make use of it. Here's a link to a story which contains his foolish remarks. The man is supremely misinformed and what will follow is for you sepp, should your bloated self make it over to this blog at some point I hope you read closely because I'm gonna do my best to correct your stupidity.

"American football plays in winter

No that's wrong. "American Football" plays in the fall with only a very limited number of playoff games being actually played in the winter.

or they can only play from March to October

Also very wrong. We play from March to October to avoid competition with...the NCAA, NFL, NBA, and the NHL. MLS can spout on about playing the cold all they like, and while that would definitely crush attendance numbers it's competition not the Cold they're afraid of. But if you are a subscriber of the valid (if slightly of base) "It's too F*@king Cold" argument then you can also point out that in the US soccer is viewed primarily as a fall, summer and spring sport. Youth soccer runs spring through fall and ever since NASL soccer in this nation has been a Summer game.

which means you are not in the right season

Sepp do you actually pay attention to world soccer? Or do you just pay attention to western-European soccer? Scandinavia, Russia, South America and Central America all play in the summer, it's not just MLS and North America. Besides what is or is not the "right season" is purely subjective and there for has no correct definition my friend.

The best American players are playing here, and this is the basic problem with the MLS

If this is the problem with MLS then this is problem with every country in the world outside of Western Europe. I'm sorry Sepp but MLS isn't gonna spend itself broke like the English clubs. But one day when we can hike our salary cap to that similar to, say the NHL. Well then we'll see how many US players are overseas, but that's gonna take time.

This next stupid bit is from the article itself

MLS has said it hopes to eventually make the switch but it can't for now because it shares several stadiums with NFL teams. Eight MLS teams are in football stadiums built for the league, two share with NFL teams that are controlled by the same owners as the football club, and New York shares with NFL teams through 2009 before moving into its own stadium.

I don't believe this in the least. MLS may want to end the season a bit later or start it a bit earlier to resolve conflicts, but I do not believe MLS will ever play by a Western European schedule.

Back to the stupidity of Sepp

This league was founded after the 1994 World Cup, but is still struggling to get the position they should have according to the number of football players there are in the United States

All this shows is that Sepp once again does not understand the way soccer (or sports a whole) is traditionally viewed in this country. There may be literally millions of soccer players in this country, but most are little kids. The same way that I was a kid when MLS was founded and became a season ticket holder as I aged, a good bit of these kids will too. But that's going to take time seppy-boy this stuff doesn't just happen overnight. After all, this league is only 14 years old.

The league has not found yet its position. It can only find its position if the league has its own stadiums."

In the last ten years MLS has built Seven Soccer Specific stadiums and has plans on the books to build three more (five if we count Portland and Vancouver) for a league that many critics still believe will fail. I don't know what he's bitching about, but considering how long stadium plans take to get approved and then built that's impressive. I believe Liverpool FC has been trying to get their new stadium opened since 2003, and even now it still is looking iffy for 2012. In the end all Sepp did by opening his trap was prove how ignorant to American sports he really is. That's enough rambling for today. Have your say at the bottom, I know this story isn't exactly breaking news, but if ya want feel free to let me know if you agree or disagree with me.

Thanks

MLS Round Up

Sorry about the delay between posts, but with the flu and finals on the horizon I've been a bit too distracted lately. Anyway onto the Round Up...

Seattle
Looks likes MLS' second underwear modeling DP will be ready to play the role of Super-sub for their home opener. Congrats Freddy, lets just hope for your sake those injury trouble stay away, after all MLS isn't exactly non-physical league. The Link

More good news for the land of Frasier is that Quest field will host MLS Cup 2009. I feel this is a good choice and with 20k in season ticket holders all but guaranteed to show up It should make for a great TV experience. The bad news in al of this though is that the TV experience will require basic cable as the game got bounced from ABC to ESPN, Ouch. The Link

St.Louis
Looks like the bid for the St. Louis expansion isn't quite dead yet. Everyone's favorite Dutch owned American Beer Company Anheuser-Busch is prepared to Donate land and facilities to the potential new team. That's great news for the bid but I'm afraid it might be to little too late. I have a feeling that St. Louis should be shooting for USL at this point, what with Portland and Vancouver looking more and more like locks. The Link

Columbus
Bad news in the 614 it seems, Pat Noonan left practice the other day rather upset and apparently injured. The expensive Crew Sub won't be joining the team on the final bit of their preseason as the team heads to Texas. While this is bad news for Noon's the Crew shouldn’t sweat it too much as Midfield is where the team is the deepest. The Link

Salt Lake City
Real Salt Lake fans have something to cheer about today, as they Royals took home the Carolina Challenge Cup. RSL won the match today 2-1 over the host Charleston Battery, very nice Salt Lake. Here's a great play-by-play style break down from the official team blog. The Link

Chicago
Here's A nice little Q&A with US Soccer legend Brian McBride over on the Chicago Tribune website that's very much worth the read. The Link

LA Galaxy
Some great news down LA way, Landon Donovan has returned and is once again practicing with the team. The big fish is once again back in the proverbial small pond. At least one of the stars in L.A. wants to be there. The Link

MLS Wide
Here's an interesting tidbit via the Rapids blog, it's the MLS Fan Code of conduct in useful PDF format so you can print it off and read it every day! The Link

And we're back

Sorry about the layoff in posts these lat few days, I was rather busy and didn't really have a chance to get out any new updates. So without further delay lets jump right into a short round up (It would be longer but I'm still rather busy)

MLS
The MLS players union released the salaries of all the players around the league while I was gone and this is definitely worth taking a look at. As always in MLS there are some kids who are playing just for the love of the game, and not for their shameful 12k a year salary. I can't wait for the day when MLS can offer a living wage to their rookies and reserves. In the mean time however it's either 12k or no k so take your pick I suppose. The Link

In that same vein here's a fantastic story from MLS-Daily breaking down the biggest upgrades in salary across MLS. This is worth a read for any fan of the American game. The Link

Salt Lake City
DC was thumped the other night by RSL in the Carolina Challenge Cup. There's a great play-by-play style break down for those interested over on the RSL team blog. The Link

LA
Here's a Quick overview of the Beckham deal by Steven Goff. If you ask me it sounds like MLS and namely the Galaxy are getting screwed here for the most part. Though the fact that LA does get a small "transfer fee" for the time he spends hanging out in Italy avoiding he actual contract. The Link

Columbus
Also while we were gone The Crew downed their second set of reserves, beating Liverpool's second string 2-0. The Link

Houston Bounced

Houston was knocked out of the Concacaf Champions League last night in a tough 3-0 loss down in Cancun Mexico. Houston didn't look particularly sharp to me at any point in the game last and that's not good when you're going into a road game a goal down. The total aggregate score from the game last night was 5-1, ouch. At least the Dynamo made a run of it in the CCL, all other MLS sides were knocked out long ago at this point. Overall MLS did not put out a good showing this time in the Champions League, something that should be a serious concern for the league. This group stage should be the earliest that any MLS team should be knocked out of the CCL in my opinion. Many are pointing to the USL's success in the compilation as an embarrassment for MLS, and I agree. Houston is probably better side than the two remaining USL sides, and has proven their better than at least Montreal. They couldn't get it done when it counted, though and that's a problem.

In the next edition of the CCL MLS will be represented by Columbus, New York, Houston and DC. Columbus has a deep squad and should be able to make it to the knock out phase easily. Houston with their experience this year and an intact core of players means they should as well. On the bubble will be DC and NY both squads have the talent to push aside smaller Caribbean and Central American squads, but both squads aren't nearly as deep as the Crew or Dynamo. This lack of depth could be their downfall as the glut of games that comes mid season will strain on them even more. Couple that with DC needing to reassert themselves in the regular season again their CCL chances look even more grim. In the end of course only time will tell which squads will meet with success or failure, but one thing is clear. MLS should not tolerate another poor CCL showing like this year's again, next year every MLS squad should make the knock outs, bare minimum.

Sound off, what are your thoughts on MLS' CCL troubles.

Miami's Out

As Portland receives a huge boost to its bid to be the next Major League Soccer city, Miami is removed from life support. Today MLS announced that the Miami bid for an MLS franchise was officially done and dusted. The official reason stated was because of "adverse market conditions", but one has to believe that FC Barcalona's recent hesitance in regards to backing the project has to be the main cause. Most people (myself included) also feel that dispite changes in the cities demographics, South Florida is a terrible market for any sport. Their local USL-1 Side averages only around 1,000 people in attendance per game and looks likely to go bankrupt and stop play this year. I feel for the soccer fans in Miami, I can't imagine living in a city without a club to support, but I agree with MLS that their city isn't the right move for the league. Soccer in Miami has never done well, like most other sports. Though lets be honest, spend a summer day in a boiling stadium 30 minutes outside of the city or go to the beach for free. It's not really hard to see why, Miami soccer is a casualty of the other entertainment options avalible to residents. Even their baseball team which has two recent championships struggles emensely to bring people in. All and all while I feel bad for their fans, I'm glad for the league. I agree with "The Don" Garber, Miami is not for MLS.