View Full Version : 8/6/02: Shooting Star
Griffiths will give Revolution an edge-Boston Globe (http://www.globe.com/dailyglobe2/218/sports/Griffiths_will_give_Revolution_an_edge+.shtml)
Griffiths Revs up: Brings speed from far away Galaxy-Boston Herald (http://www2.bostonherald.com/sport/soccer/revs08062002.htm)
Hard to defend Metros' results-NY Daily News (http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/more_sports/story/8715p-8181c.html)
Positive step in bid to keep Donovan in S.J.-SJ Mercury News (http://www.bayarea.com/mld/mercurynews/sports/3808264.htm)
Notebook: MLS recognizes Cunningham for week's work-Columbus Dispatch (http://www.dispatch.com/crew/crew.php?story=dispatch/news/sports02/aug02/1406608.html)
Coach's Decision Leaves Berhalter in Limbo-NY Times (http://www.nytimes.com/2002/08/05/sports/soccer/06SOCCER.html)
Originally posted by GPK
Griffiths will give Revolution an edge-Boston Globe (http://www.globe.com/dailyglobe2/218/sports/Griffiths_will_give_Revolution_an_edge+.shtml)
Griffiths Revs up: Brings speed from far away Galaxy-Boston Herald (http://www2.bostonherald.com/sport/soccer/revs08062002.htm)
LOL...not one mention of the real reason he was waived. :p
Anyone check out the bottom of the Dispatch article?
"The league announced that the playoff format will remain the same this season but be re-evaluated for 2003....."
Check out the interesting proposal floating around....
kenntomasch
06 Aug 2002, 12:29 PM
GPK is still the man.
kenntomasch
06 Aug 2002, 12:30 PM
Originally posted by GPK
Anyone check out the bottom of the Dispatch article?
If they're going to make me register just so they can sell my frigging email address, they're just asking me not to read their paper.
"The league announced that the playoff format will remain the same this season but be re-evaluated for 2003....."
Check out the interesting proposal floating around....
Can you summarize for those of us who refuse to register to read newspapers? ;)
"One proposal being considered would put eight teams in two groups for a round-robin within the quartet, like the World Cup. The top two in each group would go to a knockout round"
BTW...I don't think they sell e-mail addresses....That was my old business and companies aren't selling lists anymore for a number of reasons....Another trick is to give an old e-mail address you don't use anymore ;)
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Flyer Fan
06 Aug 2002, 12:44 PM
The Dispatch article said that one proposal for a revised playoff format includes the top eight teams being drawn into group play with the top teams advancing. At least that's what I remember reading this morning while eating breakfast.
delo_pata
06 Aug 2002, 12:46 PM
Originally posted by GPK
"One proposal being considered would put eight teams in two groups for a round-robin within the quartet, like the World Cup. The top two in each group would go to a knockout round"
So then WTF not just add the ninth and tenth teams and just make it a real league cup?
Etienne_72772
06 Aug 2002, 12:46 PM
One proposal being considered would put eight teams in two groups for a round-robin within the quartet, like the World Cup. The top two in each group would go to a knockout round.
Hmm. Very interesting. How would seeding into the two groups work?
I suppose the only benefit you could get (assuming that they are one offs) is if you are the highest ranked team in the group, you would have home field advantage throughout the stage. The lowest ranked team would not get a game at their home field.
This could be a very exciting way to conduct the playoffs.
It seems logistically more difficult, though. And during NFL-time, when stadia are very difficult to get anyway, this could be a big problem, especially if you are one of those teams that is the highest ranked team in the group having to find time in your stadium for three games.
Jeremy Goodwin
06 Aug 2002, 12:55 PM
Originally posted by Etienne_72772
Hmm. Very interesting. How would seeding into the two groups work?
I suppose the only benefit you could get (assuming that they are one offs) is if you are the highest ranked team in the group, you would have home field advantage throughout the stage. The lowest ranked team would not get a game at their home field.
This could be a very exciting way to conduct the playoffs.
It seems logistically more difficult, though. And during NFL-time, when stadia are very difficult to get anyway, this could be a big problem, especially if you are one of those teams that is the highest ranked team in the group having to find time in your stadium for three games.
I still think there should be two groups of three teams. Top three teams from each division qualify. Every team gets a home game. Top team in each group goes on to the MLS Cup.
Again it would leave the possibility of a meaningless game if 2 of the 4 teams won both of their first round matches. Plus, do you have the matches over 3 weeks?
The league needs to start keeping things simple.
A League Cup will be great, but I think we need to get to 16 teams first.
westcoast ape
06 Aug 2002, 01:01 PM
That round-robin idea sounds unnecessarily complex to me. I guess they're just opening the floodgates on creative options and considering everything, but I think this particular option is rather outlandish. I mean, they've all already played each other between 2 and 4 times during the season, plus maybe once more during the Open Cup.
Are they angling for something that will be unique in the American sports landscape? Because if they are, the home-and-away tie works just as well.
And lastly...this doesn't take care of the problem of allowing 80% of the teams into the playoffs, which is just ridiculous.
ThreeApples
06 Aug 2002, 01:07 PM
It could go something like this:
Two groups: 1,4,5,8 in one, 2,3,6,7 in the other. Play single round-robin with the higher seed playing at home. Top 2 in each group advance to semifinals, one game knockout with the winner of each group hosting the runner-up from the other group.
It would take four games to reach the final, and the dates could all be known before the playoffs start. It gives a tangible reward for finishing higher in the regular season table. I could deal with it. One drawback would be the possibility of meaningless games at the end of the group stage. The maximum number of home games for the top teams would be 4, which is the same as it is now, so stadium availabilty issues would be no worse than they currently are.
ThreeApples
06 Aug 2002, 01:09 PM
Originally posted by westcoast ape
Are they angling for something that will be unique in the American sports landscape? Because if they are, the home-and-away tie works just as well.
Home and away doesn't work, because it gives no advantage for finishing higher in the table. If 80% of the teams are making the playoffs, they need a system that gives an incentive for finishing higher than 8th.
kenntomasch
06 Aug 2002, 01:15 PM
Originally posted by GPK
BTW...I don't think they sell e-mail addresses....That was my old business and companies aren't selling lists anymore for a number of reasons....
Well, somebody is because spam is still a problem.
And, yes, by all means, let's complicate the playoffs. Let's make it even harder for people to understand how the league works. As if first-to-five isn't hard enough to understand and harder to defend, let's have the equivalent of the AISA Challenge Cup from the late 1980's. That'll help.
What are the biggest problems in the playoffs?
(1) Selling tickets;
(2) Getting dates;
(3) Rewarding teams that do well in the regular season.
If you keep the playoffs short and lock in the dates beforehand, you help with numbers one and two because you don't have the potential for an unknown or unwieldy number of games. If you give division champions first-round byes, you help with number three. If you play single-elimination, you help with numbers one and two because the stakes are higher, you can likely play the games on weekends if you are smart enough to reserve the dates, and if you get the whole playoffs over in three weeks, you avoid stringing it out long enough for it to get even more lost amongst football and the World Series. #3 in each division plays at #2, while #1 gets a bye (and an extra week to sell tickets). Winner plays at #1. #1 and #2 know they're going to get a home game, which gives them a reward, and #1 gets the week off for winning the division. The Cup still has to be at a neutral site (or, at least, one picked beforehand) until everybody has their own stadium, but it's all over in three weeks. Boom.
Rocket
06 Aug 2002, 01:22 PM
Originally posted by GPK
Again it would leave the possibility of a meaningless game if 2 of the 4 teams won both of their first round matches.
This possibility could be avoided by letting only 1 team advance out of each group and by not letting playoff games end in a tie. I'd prefer to see the "shootout" used to break ties but otherwise PK's could be used.
retnicf
06 Aug 2002, 02:12 PM
Arena: All-Star Game isn't place to evaluate (http://www.suntimes.com/output/soccer/cst-spt-soccin06.html) -Chicago Sun Times
jmeissen0
06 Aug 2002, 02:22 PM
Originally posted by kenntomasch
Well, somebody is because spam is still a problem.
seriously... why is somebody necessarily passing it out? i can remember taking a look at some spam emails to see if they listed more than just me on their
some would, and it would look a bit like this:
jmeissen0@whatever, jmessen0@whatever, jmeissen@whatever, jmeisser0@whatever
get the idea?
besides, most mail services have a really nice junk mail detector... allowing you to throw everything to junk mail and then saying oh wait, that isn't junk
do you really think you get junk snail me because someone is selling your snail mail address?
jmeissen0
06 Aug 2002, 02:23 PM
have you voted this thread 5 stars today?
Rodan
06 Aug 2002, 02:24 PM
Thanks for the link retnicf.
Interesting comment from Josh Wolff about Bocanegra:
"Carlos is still riding high from his Gold Cup performance,'' Wolff said, "but that was back in January, when everyone was unfit. 'Los still has a few pounds he should shed.''
I'm assuming he was just playfully busting Boca, but it looks pretty negative in print.
More worthy of mention would be that Dema should probably get his head examined for one of the stupidest plays (clattering slide tackle from behind against teammate DMB) in the history of a pretty absurd spectacle. Dema certainly didn't do anything to quiet his detractors with that one...