The man (CityIceMan, if he must be named) falsely sets me up as a "Hockey in Milwaukee" thread starter and then shuts down the purtiest darn thread around these parts. Speaking of mixing it up, for those of you not paying attention to the OnMilwaukee conversation, it appears that Reese Witherspoon may have a crush on Mr. Wilt. http://onmilwaukee.com/talkback/talkback-as-7812-68260.html?uri=/buzz/articles/soundoff888.html From OnMilwaukee.com: Reese Witherspoon ""The MLS (Major League Soccer) league is an unqualified, out of touch, and soon to be liquidating soccer league - unless something changes. There is not enough scoring for the fans, and they simply do not want to give any incentives to encourage such "radical" thought or talks. They are afraid it may turn off soccer "purists". Right. For one thing, soccer purists don't care about the MLS anyway. Why? Because the talent and the caliber, along with the dismal (outdoor) performance is totally unattractive to those wanting not just a little, but alot more passion in the game. It is much more exciting to watch European soccer and I don't even live on that continent. I follow the MLS league, but it's frustrating to watch. American fans are different than elsewhere, and we expect notable and somewhat exciting, if not engaging outcomes. We want 3 or 4 goals - not just 1, and we won't even waste our time... watching a 0-0 half-time score, let alone an entire match game, which happens too often. It gets more than a little boring. I grew up playing soccer. But I prefer to watch hockey and baseball as spectator sports. I did attend 4 MLS games this past year in various cities. That being said, I do love soccer, but I like goals too. I also think any championship played in the marketing disaster of Frisco (what's that? San Francisco? Oh, sorry - Texas.) in a place called Pizza Hut Park isn't worthy of much exposure. The "new" stadium there, looked smaller than my high school stadium in the suburbs. My advice is to stop the bi-lingual soccer league dead in it's tracks. The duplicity of 2 languages is annoying at the games and in the programs. They are marketing this league as if it were the Latin-american soccer league. Which is ridiculous, considering most of the people attending and purchasing the tickets are of suburban american descent. Again, most of the fans are not coming from the inner city barrios. They are coming from suburbia. Everyone should be made to feel welcome to attend the games. I just don't agree with the marketing of bi-lingualism. We are not there to be pseudo-educated by the owners who are simply maximizing their politically correct cultural greed motivations. We're there to be entertained and watch the sport. For every person you gain in this bi-lingual regard, you're losing four others. I also believe the league should adopt more liberal scoring rules such as a 35 yard offside approach and additonal overtimes and shootouts to promote goals. It worked in the old NASL. This league is nothing in comparison to how that league was. The old NASL (North American Soccer League) was a much more entertaining Soccer league. I think the MLS may be around another 2 to 3 seasons, if they're lucky, before they fold and offer up all of their lackluster players in a liquidation sale. Milwaukee has a better chance with the Major Indoor Soccer League Wave gaining additional exposure rather than banking on this other nonsense, unless MLS changes it's rules and marketing strategies. Besides, indoor soccer is much more exciting, in an insanely beautiful & corrupt way, and truly our very own American concoction.""
Please tell me that's not the cute little blond actress Reese Witherspoon. I always thought she was cute and had a brain.
I know, and she does such a nice job in "Walk the Line." If you go to the OnMilwaukee discussion you can read how she thinks that Mr. Wilt has somehow insulted people of hispanic heritage and people with disabilities. I may just have to boycott her movies.
Ahhhh. So scaryice IS Reese Witherspoon and is posting vitriol just to sell papers. Brilliant! If you read Reese's other post she accuses CEO Wilt of presenting "egregiously salient numbers" to make his point. Which is of course akin to saying, "You sir, have stooped so low as to cite a number of FACTS!!!" How dare ye.
Most likely someone who finds humor in using her name. A poor man's version of identity theft. I doubt the actress would appreciate it, although I don't see anything blasphemous in what was said. Some of it's actually true.
That post made my head hurt. Like being locked in a room with "Macarena" on repeat. I swear to god, the next person who says anything about changing the rules or the low scoring gets...ok, I don't know what they get. But it won't be comfortable. My kingdom for some original thought. Sh!t! Now they've got me doing it! Reese can go suck on her "very own American concoction." Sorry, I'm a little grumpy this morning.
Now I feel guilty about starting the thread off on a negative note and I apologize. I guess I am continually surprised though by the venom that's held in reserve for soccer. Maybe it still comes out of the days of high school back in the 70's and 80's where people saw it as a foreign and wimpy sport. Coaches recruiting for football or basketball made a point to disparage soccer for whatever reason and soccer players ended up seeing those coaches as morons and neaderthals. I think some of that divide still holds. The jocks or non-jocks who wanted to be in what they perceived as the cool crowd in high school, still have this knee jerk reaction to the sport. It's easy to get a laugh if you're in the right circles by rolling your eyes at soccer. Even Nike's new add campaign comes a bit from a defensive posture. We should just get Freidel and Onyewu to show up at the meetings with the politicians and give 'em a firm handshake as part of the presentation. Thanksgiving was great, I hope everyone around here had a good one. The next time people are in town and the weather cooperates maybe we should kick around for fifteen minutes and get a beer. Maybe you guys can just juggle outside of the bar in Lake Mills.
In America and elsewhere, there are soccer purists and there are those who prefer the indoor (albeit bastardized) version of the sport. There are others who are ok with both. I think this has worked against the game. In "Ms. Witherspoon's" case, it's apparent indoor is the only acceptable version. It allows her the luxury of good old American instant gratification without having to exhibit the patience or technical knowledge the game requires. In this respect, there are many like her. After reading her contributions, I think she's someone who lives in the Chicago area who has an axe to grind. Maybe someone who's toes were stepped on by the Bridgeview project.
Louis Bennett coach of UWM has taken the coaching position downtown and across the river at Marquette. Wow. Bennett cites the challenge of winning in the Big East as one of the primary reasons for the move. http://www.jsonline.com/sports/marq/dec05/376011.asp There's probably another thread somewhere on this but if Bennett can get Marquette to raise it's soccer profile in the Big East the profile of soccer and the city will be raised as well.
Wow, I sure didn't see this move coming. This will REALLY make things intersting during the annual UWM/Marquette game next year.
And of course they are talking about this in the College forum http://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showthread.php?t=275739 From that thread: "Re: UWM men's soccer coach moving to Marquette It's a great coup for Marquette, who have had a stagnant program for some time. Bennett was at the Marquette v Valparasio basketaball game tonight with his son and got a standing ovation when announced and shown on the jumbotron. I cant wait for him to turn around the program."
Went out of town Wednesday and came back to see this. Very surprising. UWM has been the powerhouse in town; players were drawn by the attraction of the head coach and lower tuition. It'll be interesting to see who replaces Bennett and how this all pans out. You can bet Marquette's roster won't include the number of good local players that UWM's did. It's a shame UWM lost such an outstanding coach, but UWM just appears to be a stepping stone. Maybe it was just a mtter of time. Think Steve Adlard will go to UWM?
Things are always really interesting when those two teams face each other... It's a great move for MU, I've always like Louis Bennett...But, as someone pointed out, he draws a lot of local talent to UWM (if that's true, I don't really follow their program except when they play MU) how will that affect recruiting? Is he as well known and liked around college soccer as he is in Milwaukee? Thoughts??
Not that they're the end-all to local collegiate soccer, but I wonder where the Dombrowski group will be next year? That will be an interesting indicator.
Why is it so surprising - more $, better facilities, better conference, chance to go farther in the tournament. Why wont Marquette recruit local players? Adlard only really recruited Kansas City and not a couple blocks down at MUHS, Bennett will actually look at the good players in the state. Also, Marquette does have scholarships for soocer players so the tutuion isnt the end all. I doubt UWM would want Adlard, they have a tournament level team and he isnt frankly that level of a coach.
Why was it surprising? Because Louis Bennett was UWM soccer. Of course, we also know no one is irreplaceable. There are a good number of high-caliber high school players in the Milwaukee and suburban areas who don't have the ability to handle Marquette's tuition. Not every soccer player earns a full ride or even a partial ride; far from it. In that respect, UWM was much more palatable for some of the local boys. And a coach with an excellent reputation to boot. That's all I was saying. Most coaches aren't any different than players when looking for a better deal. It's almost always about the money.
Not necessarily relevant to this discussion ... but maybe it is. From today's J-S: http://www.jsonline.com/news/metro/dec05/377738.asp The whole Bradley Center/Wisconsin Center saga is a friggin' soap opera, only more tedious. I can't help but feel that open land anywhere near these venues where, in theory, a new Bucks arena might get built, will be so tied up in political limbo for so many years that gaining access to it for a soccer stadium would be a very dificult thing to imagine. The only silver lining in all of this is that my first name isn't Ulice.
Don't worry, if we can shrink the thing down to two acres we could be in business on Wisconsin avenue. "THURSDAY, Dec. 15, 2005, 4:34 p.m. City tries again to sell downtown lot A city-owned lot in the heart of downtown Milwaukee is again being put on the sale block, nine months after the latest attempt to develop the property fell through, the Redevelopment Authority said today. The parcel, with just under 2 acres, is south of W. Wisconsin Ave. between N. 4th and N. 5th streets, and is used as a parking lot. It is across Wisconsin Ave. from the Midwest Airlines Center convention facility, and is just west of the Shops of Grand Avenue. The asking price for the entire parcel is $3,456,000. Buyers could also opt to seek portions of the site, for either $1,620,000, or $2,700,000. Several attempts to develop a hotel on the site have failed in recent years. The latest attempt, which would have created a 255-room Sheraton Hotel, was dropped in March by an investors group led by John Hunzinger, president of Hunzinger Construction Co. Hunzinger declined to state why the project fell through, but downtown hotel operators have complained about a large slowdown in the city’s convention business since 2000. The Redevelopment Authority says the site could host hotel, retail, entertainment, residential and/or office uses. -By Tom Daykin
The thing that I love about this is that other cities usually demolish their outdated buildings right? I mean how dumb would it look to have three basketball arenas lined up in a row in the middle of downtown? Something's got to give and I can't see the Wisconsin Center District tearing down Mecca without some serious compensation. That leaves you building a new arena next to the 20 year old Bradley Center and then tearing the Bradley Center down. I think they could still do it on the land directly adjacent to the BC without crossing Juneau onto Park East land.
