And MagicDan needs to to start a a new product idea to rival the Sham-Wow, and stay out of the new league.
In all seriousness, I do think "Washington Metro" is a good name. "Washington Pride" is also fitting for a women's soccer team (or "D.C. Pride") And "Washington Clash" would be cool too. "Washington Transit" is cool too. But my favorite (maybe not for D.C. specifically), for a team name in this league would be "Dazzle". People would eat it up. "Hey Hank, we'll have to call you back tomorrow. We're headed out the door. We're in a hurry as we're off to watch the Dazzle game tonight. They're playing against the Sirens".
Is this old news? http://www.ussoccer.com/News/Womens...ive-Director-of-New-Womens-Soccer-League.aspx https://twitter.com/chicagoredstars/status/274300809154531328
I believe that we should/can assume that US Soccer and the 8 teams are highly confident and have received assurances or verbal agreements from most WNT players to play in the league. Sunil's comments last week: "It is our intent to fund 24 players, but if a couple of players decide to for example play in Europe, it might be less than that" ..." An important part of the discussions we’ve had in this process has been with the national team players. They’re certainly going to participate and we’ve gotten very good signals from them, but they want to know what league looks like...."
Will there be two divisions in the league? One division with: Seattle, Portland, Kansas City, Chicago Other division with: Boston, Sky Blue, Western NY, and D.C. Rivals Seattle vs. Portland Kansas City vs. Chicago And all teams in the East would be rivals with one another.
Everything I've heard is that it will be 22 games. 7 against all team, with an additional 1 against a rival (Portland/Seattle for example). That doesn't really support it being division oriented, but also doesn't necessarily preclude it.
I like the 22 game schedule. WPS had 20 in the first year, 24 in the 2nd year, and 18 in the 3rd year. 24 is too many. 18 is not enough. 20 is about right. But 22 is exactly right. I'm telling you, so far.... this new league is off to a pretty good start with their decisions. The All-Star game will be great. They need to listen to their fans, and incorporate a skills challenge competition during All-Star weekend. And it needs to be on the weekend. That whole weekend needs to be at "midseason", and it needs to be a full weekend off for every team. The skills challenge would feature the following competitions: Goal 2 Goal Sprint: (sponsored by Sprint) Dribbling from goal line to goal line (over 100 yards) and being timed electronically. Fastest player who can dribble from end line to end line, wins. Lisa De Vanna might be the favorite going in to this competition, if she plays in this league. Corner Kick Bullseye: (sponsored by KC Masterpiece) Corner kick target competition. Players kick from the corner flag. There are targets marked on the field with a point value associated with each target. When the ball is kicked and hits a target, you get that exact amount of points that the target is worth. The player who racks up the most points, wins. Each player gets 12 kicks (and some of the targets would be bigger to ensure some points are hit, so most players don't get shut out). This competition is to see who is the best at sending a service in from the corner flag. 4-on-4 challenge: (brought to by Panasonic Tough-pad) 4 all-star offensive attacking players (such as Press, Morgan, Leroux, Wambach) take on 4 all-star defensive players (such as Rampone, Sauerbrunn, Engen, and Ali Riley) in a half-court game of soccer. All action is at one half of the field inside the center line exclusively. When one team has possession of the ball and doesn't score, and the opposing team then has it, they then have to take it out past the 18 and set up their offensive attack (yes, this means that the all-star defensive team would have to set up their offensive attack). And so then they try to score themselves, and so on. The Goalkeeper is an All-Star keeper as well. You would think the 4-player offensive team would win this competition, right? But this gives fans a chance to see who's better at their total overall game. Are the 4 offensive all-stars better at defense than the 4 defensive all-stars are on offense? Remember, many of the top defenders used to be a forward back in the day. Not too many of the top forwards used to be a defender though back in the day. So it's not a guarantee the 4 offensive all-stars would win, although several would still consider them the favorites going in to this competition on paper. One thing to note, is that if the ball goes over the touch line, over the center line, or over the goal line, then the team that knocked it out last is on defense. There will be no corner kicks in this challenge. The ball is then set up way outside the 18 again instead or a corner kick. If the ball goes over the touch line at any point however, then it does result in a throw-in still awarded to the team that did not touch it last before it went out. Woodwork Clank: (sponsored by Home Depot) This competition features players kicking from outside the box in attempting to "hit" the crossbar (or post). 20 kicks awarded to each player. The player that scores the most points in hitting the crossbar/post, wins. You get three points for hitting the crossbar, and one point for hitting either side post (similar to getting 3 points for winning a soccer match, and 1 point for getting a draw). Think of it as, crossbar = win. side post = draw. Grand Finale - "Powder Puff Futebol": (sponsored by P&G) Yeah, that's right. A fan favorite to come. 7-on-7 challenge. The female teams play football (American football), and to get tackled their flag has to be ripped off their back hip by a defender (via flag football rules). One difference from traditional powder puff football though. These girls play with a soccer ball instead. They hike the ball to the Quarterback, drop back to pass, and try to complete a pass (american football wise) with a soccer ball, and the wide receiver has to be onside (soccer wise) against the last defender (this means the wide receiver can't run past the last line of defense (the furthest defender back) before the ball is thrown into the air, or else she's called offsides, just like the offside rule in soccer. The mission is to score a touchdown, not a goal. The extra point, though, (after a touchdown) would be kicked with a soccer ball into the goal from far out. Those could be valuable. Touchdowns are worth 6 points. Extra points are worth 1 point. You don't want to lose 14-13. After all this, then the real all-star game takes place later on. Traditional 11-on-11, 90 minutes+ of course.
While some of that sounds amusing, I don't think it is worth risking injury to national team players (of any nation) which all-star players would almost assuredly be. I am also not the biggest all star game fan (in any sport). Most likely the all star teams are going to be some combination of US, Canadian, and Mexican national team players. I'd much rather see a 3-way friendly tournament between those national teams.
Really? I thought the 2010 WPS All-Star game was amazing. Abby XI vs. Marta XI. It was a classic setup and draft.
I love your presumption. "Because it didn't happen, the powers-that-be must not have thought of it!" What would the league gain by leaving out viable, stable ownership groups? The answer is absolutely nothing. So your argument is either that those in charge of the league are stupid (for not selecting existing viable ownership groups) or incompetent (for failing to do due diligence). And what, precisely, makes you qualified to make either assertion? Because from where I'm sitting, this 1) seems like a carefully and thoughtfully laid out plan, 2) with strong financial backers, 3) and support from key power players in the sport. So what if a few teams were left out? Every single DII and DIII market in the country (and then some) wants an MLS team--that doesn't mean they're all good locations for the league.
Update on the KC team: http://equalizersoccer.com/2012/11/30/fc-kansas-city-president-discusses-new-team/#comment-4922 Announcing coaching staff today. Logo and website next week (and maybe even a name!)
This I don't agree with. Borislow probably paid a lot of money for the Freedom, even if it was just taking over the debt they owed (and this is me assuming, remember, I have no idea how much he actually paid, but no one else in DC stepped up at the time). He probably still owns the name, even if he changed the names on the jerseys to magicjack. I think the court documents from beau show the company name is Freedom Soccer LLC/magictalk SC. I don't think Halstead or Fitz would be overly welcome to the idea if someone else wanted to use the name "Philadelphia Independence" or "Atlanta Beat" for a womens professional soccer team. I think the new team wanted to capitalize on the popularity of the brand name that they don't own, and it was a good idea, but I guess it didn't work out. Oh well. I'm going to support the new team, whatever name they come up with.
Is the CBF willing to pony up some money for 8-10 players? A nice list of young girls, who will be the future of the NT team... Amanda Debora Thalia Bruna Maye Carol Wiggers and Thais Faby 1 or 2 Solid U17 girls. Have the crocks made any comments? I'd take a guess that Sahlen would try to grab Marta again, if he gets Sinclair to come back to WNY and can find away around the 500k cap. I just don't see Sinclair being piled up in Portland and Seattle with all the NT players, if they are all trying to run to those two locations. She makes all the sense in WNY.
haha, Brazil investing in their WNT. Funny. They just gave their money (at least the money that suits haven't stolen) to Big Phil.
I definitely liked WPS' All-Star games. However, I just don't think the new league will be "big enough" to merit an All-Star. I measure "big enough" in three ways: total number of players, diversity of players by nationality, and popular (media) clout. The new league will have about the same number of total players WPS had, but WPS was far "bigger" in the other two categories, especially in 2009 when it opened with trumpets blaring. I agree that, considering how much the national federations will be supporting this league, having a small tournament of international friendlies (USA, CAN, MEX, and maybe one other) outside of the league's jurisdiction would be much more appropriate than an All-Star game within the league without changing the look of the event much. (And, heck, maybe a small tournament of friendlies could have an "opening ceremony"/"preliminary events" for fun. But that'd be a stretch.)
It was certainly the way the event was presented initially, and I didn't hear anything different until after I got there. (A friend of mine came all the way from north of Baltimore for the announcement, then had to leave before the movie.)
Yeah, I just have a general disdain for all star games. I'm a baseball fan, the sport where the concept was first done, and I still don't like it. I'd prefer if none of my team's players ever made it to the all star team, that way they are fresher, and won't get injured once its all said and done. I understand some people like seeing them, but soccer is such a team sport that it really doesn't make sense to me. I don't mind if they still hold one, because it *is* very loved, in general, but having other "events" seems like a good way to injure valuable athletes.
if this is really the FC Kansas City logo, it's a lil too generic for my taste http://www.fckansascity.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/fckc-logo2.png