But he is comforted by the fact he'll br up in the owners' box on Sunday and can get free food and drink... You can pack away a lot of nachos and hotdogs in 2 hours and if it is free? Boo-freaking-ya.
We've considered those tickets a time or two, but then I remember I am not 12 any longer, and all-you-can-eat hot dogs and nachos complemented with salty popcorn and those stadium pretzels is not really something to which I aspire.
It's funny how everyone jumps on the fine #. Perhaps because it's one of the very few times the league has actually released to the public the amount of a fine. And because they've held those numbers so close to the chest, I don't know how anyone can really weigh in on how appropriate the number is.
I actually want to see Sigi suspended for more games. I know it would largely be symbolic, since he'd still probably be able to communicate with the bench and act as a coach, but to me, there's a very significant difference between saying "the ref was crap" and "the ref was the 12th man for the other team". Even if he doesn't mean it this way, the latter statement attacks the integrity of the referee, while the former statement merely attacks his quality. Personally, I don't take attacks on integrity lightly. Attacks on quality, well, that depends on whether or not the referee really was crap.
Robbie Keane with a quote after the game today that may get him in hot water, depending on how broadly this gets around. Now I know we all have "rose colored glasses" on when it comes to our home teams, but I was at the game today and honestly didn't think the ref was biased. I didn't think he was good, but thought his bad calls went against both teams. He let way too much physical play go, missed several goal kick/corner kick decisions, and made a bad call on the "foul" that led to the Quakes first goal (both players just got their feet tangled, it wasn't a foul either way). He also let Keane get away with an intentional handball in the offensive box after Busch cleared his initial shot, and didn't give him any card. I thought the bad calls went both ways, and was surprised to see Keane's quote. Anyway, it's not as bad as Sigi going on national tv with his comments last week, but this is still something I suspect that Keane will get fined for.
I can't believe Robbie Keane thought Marrufo was against them. That's such rubbish. I was charting the game, and in the first half, I noted Marrufo called 4 fouls against SJ and 7 fouls against LA. BUT he elected not to whistle 1 time against SJ and 5 times against LA. So really, in the first half he gave LA the benefit of the doubt/blindness on 42% of the fouls they committed. In the second half, it was SJ 3 fouls and LA 5 fouls, but he missed the call on an LA handball. Marrufo is such a bad referee. I can't understand why FIFA likes him.
Didn't watch the game, wouldn't surprise me if he did though. He did something very similar in 2009 to James Riley. Magee slapped/pushed the side of Riley's head/kneck and when Riley brought his hand up to do the same Magee went down like he got punched. Riley got red carded and Magee got away with it. Speaking of simulation. FCD player went down acting like Eddie Johnson elbowed him in the face. Pretty clear there was no contact to the players head. Didn't even see any kind of swing of EJ's elbow I believe. Even looked like the FCD player tried to cleat the back of EJ's calf but missed on the same play.
Well, this is something that's more or less up to the USSF. Fifa reviews the list and might have an interview with the referee before the appointment is formalized, but that's it. There isn't a guy from the Fifa referee committee analyzing the performance of individual referees. They leave this up to those watching them referee each week. Maruffo has actually done pretty well internationally though.
There was a slight small contact between our player and theirs and he dropped to the ground like he was nailed.