Scouting Rockford's CJ Klaas? He'll be a solid MLS player. Makin' the new guy schlep to all those cold Northeast autumn games - nice! (I know it likely has more to do with Craig having been the Region 1 - Northeast - ODP coach for so many years, but sending the new guy to the cold makes for better thread debates.) Sounds like you guys have a pretty thorough strategy. Is Matkovich on the paid staff or does he do this as a volunteer or his role as the CFR coach?
It would have pluses and minuses. an extra week would help group sales, but as you noted, would prevent one team from having a home game. peter
Last follow-up I promise. Wouldn't making the regular season more meaningful also make it more interesting? The more interesting the product is, the more people that might like it and follow it? Not overnight ofcourse, but wouldn't this eventually lead to having loyal fans cause they would have something more care about over 30 games. 1'st place being rewarded the same as 8'th place, the matter how many teams are in the league isn't going to capture the imagination of many, is it?
They are not going to reduce the # of playoff teams especially now that they are going to 12 teams but this unfair home and home series must go. This would really make the regular season more important if you had a one game knockout game in the home of the higher seed.I've said it before and I will say it until I'm blue in the face the #4 team does not deserve a home game against the #1 team.
Why? Because they might win? Heaven forbid. Why have playoffs at all if you want to legislate away any chance whatsoever of an upset? I'm in favor of one-off, too, but this "God forbid there be an upset" mentality is absurd. And you can get blue in the face all you want, I don't think the league is listening. BTW, you weren't so blue in the face against it here when you said "Now that the Fire is at best getting last playoff spot in conference, I'm not so against teams 3+4 getting a playoff home game, as I was last year." Funny how that works.
For what it's worth, Hamlett attended the UW-Cal game (Klaas goal, 2 assists) and/or the UW-Stanford game (Klaas goal). CJ probably didn't hurt his chances. It's quite possible that DH was following UW's opponents, too ... Cal in particular has a bunch of interesting upperclassmen. As I'm sure you're aware, not many MLS teams can match the Fire's track record of finding players from all around the country ... though you've got to wonder why they're not making more use of Ian S.
Yeah but the fire didn't get the last playoff spot and I was just kidding anyway. There can still be upsets but I say let the lower seeds really earn it by winning on the #1 teams home ground.I hate games that are not played to win, both the columbus-NE and kc-sj games the losers were not going all out to win but hold the score down because it wasn't really a game it was the first half of a 180 minute game.Now in the second game NE and sj will be playing for a 0-0 tie or actually in SJ case a 1-0 loss.
As a life member of the worldwide "bigger is better" association, 120 is much better than 116. And if, for some unknown reason (a team full of wimps, perhaps), there is a perceived need to shorten the field, that can always be done. But it's tough to pack a 120 yard field into a 116 yard space.
I dunno. there is some charm in having a smaller field. but generally you are right, bigger is better. Better really long and narrow than short and wide.
I was curious to know if there will be an indoor practice arena with seating in the stadium complex? It would be nice to use for practice and games and maybe even a team like the storm could play in?? Sorry about that Heather mitts sillyness a couple of days ago I was hanging at the P's enjoying pops homemade wine and was in the mood to be goofy. Ciao
The Fire was going to use the Bridgeview soccer dome south of 79th and harlem to practice indoors.It is where they had that reception when they formally announced bridgeview.
Amen. Narrow so that they (the enemy) can't get very far from the fans. And long so that we have more $ideline $eats.
Peter, Goff has reported that Eskandarian and Carroll will be losing P40 status for DC United. Has the league informed Chicago of who will be graduating off P40 for the Fire?
peter, now that you have a little free time, do you want to play a little soccer?Come join us on friday nights in the BBSL out in schaumburg or just show up and have a couple of beers with us.
I love this thread. Peter, you are the best GM ever, in any sport. Your timely, courteous, and thorough responses are fantastic. Questions: When will season ticket holders be allowed to select their seats in the Bridgeview stadium? Will there be any chance to actually step into the stadium before selecting a seat? If the first row is three feet above ground, will the players' benches be covered with those plastic canopies they use in US games or open as they are for Fire games? Will there be any dining area, similar to the south end zone of the HDC, that can be dressed up and serve something a bit better than standard stadium fare?
I sit in the first row at midfield at SF which is about 6-8 feet off the ground and still wish it was a little higher. So as everyone else approves,I'm not crazy about being only 3 feet off the ground. You don't get the perspective to folllow the play. The trade off being in the first row is no one is in front of you blocking your view. Those plastic canopies would block your view being only 3 feet off the ground.
Well I think Wolfgang got a deal with Home Depot center, via Levy restaurant services. I am not sure if they got one for The Fires stadium. SOndiering none of it will be funded by AEG I am not sure how much clout they will have in securing the foodservice vendors for the Fire house. I would imagine it woul be a local service company.