Nice props for MLS and U.S. Soccer

[maverick]

Great Commentary on MLS' carving out a substantial niche in the U.S. sports landscape (refers to All-Star game):

http://www.msnbc.com/news/789765.asp?0dm=s217s

[Northside Rovers]

It is always nice to read positive pieces like that and see some folks from the media picking up on MLS.

And I know this has been said other places, but that crowd in DC looked and sounded great. It is days like Saturday when everything went wrong and it still looked like fun that will help MLS become a permanent fixture.

[mpruitt]

nice take on the contration situation. calling it a mistake to put teams in south florida in the first place, rather then criticising them for contracting them in the midst of south florida not drawing well in practically every professional sport.

[Paul. A]

Nice article!

[GPK]

William Gildea works for the Washington Post. This article was in the Post on Sunday....

It is a positive article though.....

[BillQ]

Well, I think that the World Cup has opened a few writers eyes. Here is hoping that they put a great show on at Gillete Stadium in October so more positive press can be generated.

[jamesf24]

I love the Washington Post.

[BillQ]

Originally posted by jamesf24
I love the Washington Post.

We should all pray every day to Ben Bradlee for the modern creation of that newspaper. :)

[Sachin]

Originally posted by BillQ
Well, I think that the World Cup has opened a few writers eyes. Here is hoping that they put a great show on at Gillete Stadium in October so more positive press can be generated.

Just for the record, Gildea's eyes were open LONG before this World Cup. He has consistently, if sporadically, written thoughtful pieces about soccer.

He doesn't write many columns to begin with, but soccer gets a fair bit of his coverage.

Sachin

[Jerlon]

Better than the 'Soccer messes up again' headlines i'v been reading for the last few days.

[Tea Men Tom]

Originally posted by Northside Rovers
It is always nice to read positive pieces like that and see some folks from the media picking up on MLS.

And I know this has been said other places, but that crowd in DC looked and sounded great. It is days like Saturday when everything went wrong and it still looked like fun that will help MLS become a permanent fixture.

I thought the players and the fans in attendance Saturday did a TERRIFIC job in turning a potential negative into a positive.

The weather was as bad as you could possibly envision, potentially it was a mini disaster for MLS -- but the thing I noticed was the fans looked determined to have a good time and the players on both sides played like they were determined to give it to them.

I already had a ton of respect for our guys but I gained even more on Saturday. How can you not root for Donovan with the attitude he displayed? And I think you can say the same for just about everyone who participated.

It turned out to be a pretty good day for soccer in the US.

[eurojack]

Thanks for giving us fans some credit. But believe me, had any of you been there you would have understood. The rain, combined with fantastic play form both sides, inspired everyone.

It's almost as if we were all giving a collective "f' you" to the demons that have conspired to doom our sport from the beginning. I'm not just referring to the press and tv coverage, I'm also referring to the poor luck that this league has had to go up against throughout its entire existance. The 1st Mls Championship was in a torrential downpour that had been raining for days. The second cup at RFK wasn't very different. Today, we had a great celebration of the MLS and the National team and guess what? More shitty weather.

But it didn't stop the fans, the players, the coaches, the referees, the press from co-creating a perfect soccer event.

I can hardly think of a day that I make it out to RFK where it doesn't rain OR it is 95+ degrees with humidity. But here we are! Still going strong. Still creating fantastic and memorable moments!

Soccer is alive and well in the U.S. of A. All that its going to take is some time.

[harttbeat]

"Kids who used to carry baseball bats and gloves to the neighborhood park more and more are giving way to kids tapping soccer balls. And with such players as Donovan and Beasley to model themselves after, young players in increasing numbers likely will stick with the game."

I totally agreed... back then, we had no major American stars for kids to look up to... now we got so many in each MLS... Back then, i'll bet kids that grow up playing soccer abandon the game when they grew older b/c they had no one they want to model themselves to... now it is different...

BTW, today i was wearing an US Donovan jersey in NYC, and two chicks was like..."ooo, it's Donovan...Landon Donovan"...and they were HOT too...damn, i shoulda went up to them.

[Sachin]

Originally posted by eurojack
Thanks for giving us fans some credit. But believe me, had any of you been there you would have understood. The rain, combined with fantastic play form both sides, inspired everyone.

It's almost as if we were all giving a collective "f' you" to the demons that have conspired to doom our sport from the beginning. I'm not just referring to the press and tv coverage, I'm also referring to the poor luck that this league has had to go up against throughout its entire existance. The 1st Mls Championship was in a torrential downpour that had been raining for days. The second cup at RFK wasn't very different. Today, we had a great celebration of the MLS and the National team and guess what? More shitty weather.



Well said. I was, and still am to some extent, shocked at how many people stayed. In a way, the rain really helped get everyone inspired. People were hanging out in the concourse and singing along with La Norte (and the Screaming Eagles/Barra Brava, I presume). When we got back out and started up some of our songs, people all around the stadium were clapping along. I wish we get this type of atmosphere at real USMNT matches.

Sachin