This playoffs has been a competition to see which team I loathe more progresses: the LA and Seattle crybabies, FSL, or the San Jose goon squad with Sideshow Lenhart. I would like NY but Rafa balances out Henry. I guess Houston or maybe DC are the least of the evils.
After last night, it's beginning to look like a repeat of last year's final. Houston and Kinnear simply know how to win playoff series, and LA looks to be peaking at the right moment. And now the whole MLS community can stop worrying about the availability of Stanford stadium.
That's good, I was losing a ton of sleep over it. I'm sure you were as well... The Houston game was entertaining if you like watching SKC futily attack all night (which I happen to really enjoy). Just further proof that a well organized and well coached team is just as effective as "attacking soccer" and maybe even more effective come playoff time. Also, Houston sure doesn't seem to have a problem filling their new stadium with their direct style. It's probably because Houston isn't really a hispanic dominated market. Oh wait...
Darlings FSL with the #MLS4FSL tag and playing "the right way" and all that - 1 trophy "Thug life" Rapids that everyone hated in the same time period - 1 trophy (The expectation is that FSL will now disassemble that "great" team)
Did I hear that right on the broadcast about Houston? That they have a 1700 person waiting list for season tickets? The team poster they send to their faithful fans must be REALLY nice!
Hinchey: "We have reached out to U.S. Soccer to let them know we would want to be considered as an option to host one of the Hexagonal matches next year." That would be awesome if they could bring a game here. I won't get my hopes up, though.
I'm glad Tim is pushing this. Denver has gotten the shaft with respect to the USMNT. If I recall, they were concerned about the altitude. At one point (before a game in Mexico City) they had some quack doctor tell them that they would have to stay at altitude for something like 2 weeks before they became acclimated, and that it was better to go directly from sea-level to Mexico City on the day of (or the day before) the game. That shitty advice probably plays into the fact the team doesn't play in Denver (much) or train in Colorado (ever) That advice was given despite the fact that most research shows that most healthy people will become fully acclimated (even between 8,000 and 12,000 ft) within 3 days. Further, training at high altitude increases respiration, increases red blood cells to carry more oxygen, opens up parts of the lungs that are generally unused at sea-level (due to increased pulmonary pressure), and drives more oxygen into muscle tissue. I've NEVER understood why the USMNT doesn't use Denver or Colorado Springs as a training camp. It would give them an incredible advantage.
I think the biggest nit is East coast is preferred for Euro players travel. Also used with "put in grass" on why Seattle has not hosted a game.
Sweden vs. England today ended with a goal that will go down in history: Zlatan scored on a bicycle kick from 25 meter (approx. 82 feet). It was Zlatan's 4th goal for the day ... Sorry for the Swedish, but if you scroll down a bit there is a video of the bicycle kick: http://www.bt.se/sport/tv-se-zlatans-ofattbara-fulltraff(3523373).gm
4 out of 10 choices for FIFA's women player of the year are from the US - AWESOME! Carli Lloyd, Alex Morgan, Megan Rapinoe, Abby Wambach http://www.fifa.com/ballondor/playeroftheyear/women.html
Finally found explaination of 2 salary numbers that MLS players union puts out. Seems to me from explanation the 2nd amount would be the players true salary Cap number. For those wondering why there are two numbers, the first number is the player's base salary, meaning what counts against the cap. The second number includes any signing and guaranteed bonuses, annualized (meaning the bonus divided out over the length of the contract).
Great story by Toronto FC supporter about the MLS Salary Cap Myth. http://www.wakingthered.com/2012/11...cap-details-la-galaxy-robbie-keane-toronto-fc A little piece: What they said was that there is a budget for each team. In fact, on its official website, the league is fairly clear that each team operates with a salary budget of $2,810,000 and that "players counting against this budget are collectively known as the club's Salary Budget Players." Notice the word "budget"? Once you understand the structure of Major League Soccer, you'll understand how important the word "budget" is. MLS is a single entity league, which means that it owns all the teams. Each franchise is simply an owner-operator. As such, it maintains an overall budget for its expenses for all of its clubs. Important in the world of contracts in that it pays the salary of each player, minus the additional amounts paid to a team's Designated Player(s). As you know, these are players that make in excess of the league maximum. Unlike the NHL, teams don't pay salaries out of their own revenues. And given that all contracts are held and negotiated by the league, there is little risk of a renegade owner driving up the cost of labour through inflationary contracts. Therefore, there is no need for a salary cap to restrict owner spending. MLS is the owner and it spends what it wants. If you are still struggling with this information, consider how many times that the word "salary cap" appears in the league's Collective Bargaining Agreement . Zero. Consider how many times the method of calculation of a supposed cap appears. Zero. Consider the provisions, such as a luxury tax or having to sit a player as the Calgary Flames did a few years ago, for exceeding this rumoured cap. Zero. You will however find references to "budget" as well as acknowledgement that the league pays the salaries. Ladies and Gentlemen, there is no salary cap.
Yes, but none of this is new. Its been this way since day one. Essentially (more so now than in the early days though) that budget acts like a cap.
Yeah, I don't get the point of the article. He appears to be trying to do more than just make a semantic point about what to call the system that limits salary expenses, but it's confusing because the article is written as if he has cracked the DaVinci code. Maybe the Santa Claus comparison is apt, as people who have been paying attention learned what's in this article long ago. An odd thing about MLS is how many of the most vocal fans ("vocal" on the internet, at least) are even bigger fanboys about the league than their club. As a result, there's so much focus on the salary cap's salary budget's role in creating stability for the league. People want to remove "the training wheels" now that people are sure of the league's survival and have turned their attention to competing with LigaMX, European leagues, the big 4 US sports, and I don't know, maybe with Survivor and the Big Bang Theory, too. The league will never do it. I'm sure the specter of the NASL was a pivotal reason for the cap and for much of the league's historical behavior. The league's growth means parity rather than survival will become the public selling point for a cap, but either way the owners would still insist on a cap to help improve their return on investments, just like owners of the big 4 US sports do no matter how many billions in revenue those leagues generate. Future CBA negotiations are going to be real fun as players push to get a bigger piece of the well-shrouded revenue pie. At some point, there will be a strike/lockout; then we'll really know the league has arrived.
I know its been a bad year and all, but god damn Sir, your team lost to the Cougs. I think a crap load of hail mary's and a bit of flagellation is in order. I'll be sipping Port wine and eating caviar on my end. Cheers.
Yeah, but we didn't lose at home to a team called "the worst team in FBS" the week before they beat you (at home!).
I'm not a CU alumn (Baylor alumn) and I've been listening to Mile High Sports after this coach firing. Right now the CU AD is being absolutely HAMMERED by hosts. I thought the Rapids were dysfunctional...
Are they criticizing for firing the Embree or for hiring two bad coaches back to back? The football program is a disaster. What kind of coach is going to take the job now? 7 years under 2 failed coaches. CU is fairly strict, I believe, in how many JUCO types and academic exception type recruits they allow. And yet players who want to go to a school with good academics have better choices even in the same confererence. The training facilities aren't up to par with lots of other schools. They're going to have to overpay for the next guy, which means a huge burden when they fire him and have to buy him out again...
You aren't kidding about the facilities. We went to our first CU game 2 weeks ago when UW was here. The stadium wouldn't compare favorably to Husky Stadium when I was there in the mid-90s, much less to what they tore down and are replacing it with opening next season.