Yahoo! Sports: Altidore...Next Big Thing...

[SterNYork]

It looks like the Media is finally learning about Altidore's magic...A nice endorsement from Beckham as well.

http://sports.yahoo.com/mls/news?slug=ro-altidore082007&prov=yhoo&type=lgns

[L.A. SOCCER NATION]

It looks like the Media is finally learning about Altidore's magic...A nice endorsement form Beckham as well.

http://sports.yahoo.com/mls/news?slug=ro-altidore082007&prov=yhoo&type=lgns
You got that right! Finally a true MLS player has made the front page of Yahoo. I hope this is the begining of something special for Altidore, he truly deserves it.
http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e141/bjcarrasco/Altidore.jpg

[SterNYork]

Ya! I forgot to mention that it was the "featured" story on the Yahoo front page... Not just a random sports page article...:)

[tambo]

I don't get the lead of the column:

EAST RUTHERFORD, N.J. – In 1998, Wyclef Jean was getting immersed in his solo career after leaving The Fugees, David Beckham was playing in his first World Cup and Ronaldinho was tearing up the Brazilian league with the sort of skills that soon would make him a world superstar.

Jozy Altidore was eight years old.

OK, so in 1998 all this stuff existed. That's cool. But, um... What, exactly, is the significance of 1998? The writer never says. Why not 1997, when blah blah blah and Jozy Altidore was seven? Or 1999, when blah blah blah and Jozy Altidore was nine?

[SterNYork]

I don't get the lead of the column: OK, so in 1998 all this stuff existed. That's cool. But, um... What, exactly, is the significance of 1998? The writer never says. Why not 1997, when blah blah blah and Jozy Altidore was seven? Or 1999, when blah blah blah and Jozy Altidore was nine?


David Beckham wasn't playing in his first World Cup in '97 or '99... I guess he's tying the Hatian descent (Wycleff) and being a soccer player (Beckham) together... '98 was the obvious tie-in year... Kinda cheesey, but, oh well...

[Pathogen]

Why does soccer in the U.S. need saving?

[SterNYork]

Why does soccer in the U.S. need saving?


Unfortunatley, this has become the misguided, elitest, anti-soccer journalist's tag line... It was spewed on ESPN a few times and now everything positive that happens in soccer begs the question... "Will it save soccer in America?" As if the sport is in peril...

[Boloni86]

The little sub stories "racist fans" and "spitting fans" is ridiculous. Those stories probably won't get a mention anywhere in the world because nobody cares. But yahoo finds an obscure incident from Uruguay. Why?? Is it important in an international sense? How many soccer fans, let alone regular people actually know or care about some incident in Uruguay?

I don't mean to whine, because I actually couldn't care less about yahoo and their news stories. But it seems like there may be other stories that people would be much more interested in hearing about. There is a USMNT friendly coming up, MLS season is in full swing, most Euro and Latin America leagues have started. Surely there could be something more relevant and interesting to talk about.

[Goldenballs]

Altidore is the real life version of Santiago Munoz from the movie Goal.

[BerlinKopKid]

From all I've seen of Jozy he looks a very very bright prospect, easily the most exciting US born player I have ever seen. And he's 17...frankly to hell with Beckham, he has a feel of the Michael Owens about him at the moment (lets hope his later career does not go so far off course).

The "US Soccer needs saving"...don't sweat it. When Gazza, Shearer, Owen, Rooney et al came to prominence they were talking about "saving English Football"...its a cliche headline.

[tambo]

David Beckham wasn't playing in his first World Cup in '97 or '99... I guess he's tying the Hatian descent (Wycleff) and being a soccer player (Beckham) together... '98 was the obvious tie-in year... Kinda cheesey, but, oh well...Nah, that still doesn't really explain it. You could just as easily write this:
In 1997, Wyclef Jean was releasing his first solo album after leaving The Fugees, David Beckham was immersed in his first season as a starter for Manchester United, and Zinedine Zidane was tearing up the Italian league with the sort of skills that would make him a world superstar.

Jozy Altidore was seven years old.The way the story is set up leads the reader to believe there's something significant about 1998 and Altidore being eight years old. Like, that it was (hypothetically) the first time he kicked a soccer ball... or got the attention of scouts... or decided he wanted to try for a soccer career. Or that it was exactly one decade ago. Or whatever. Otherwise "1998" and "eight years old" are just arbitrary non sequiturs.

[DirtyJerzey]

Nah, that still doesn't really explain it. You could just as easily write this:
In 1997, Wyclef Jean was releasing his first solo album after leaving The Fugees, David Beckham was immersed in his first season as a starter for Manchester United, and Zinedine Zidane was tearing up the Italian league with the sort of skills that would make him a world superstar.

Jozy Altidore was seven years old.

Except Altidore doesn't share the cover of FIFA '08 with Zidane now does he?

Anyway great to see the King of New York and Jersey getting some major press.

[tambo]

Except Altidore doesn't share the cover of FIFA '08 with Zidane now does he?

Anyway great to see the King of New York and Jersey getting some major press.Arrrggh, geez, then change the last sentence to "Ronaldinho was busy tearing up the U-17 World Cup." Whatever, because my point still stands -- the writer never tells us the significance of singling out 1998.

I know his ultimate point is to emphasize Altidore's youth, but it's a clumsy way of doing it. Writing that confuses the reader is usually not the reader's fault.

[flippin269]

Nah, that still doesn't really explain it. You could just as easily write this:
In 1997, Wyclef Jean was releasing his first solo album after leaving The Fugees, David Beckham was immersed in his first season as a starter for Manchester United, and Zinedine Zidane was tearing up the Italian league with the sort of skills that would make him a world superstar.

Jozy Altidore was seven years old.The way the story is set up leads the reader to believe there's something significant about 1998 and Altidore being eight years old. Like, that it was (hypothetically) the first time he kicked a soccer ball... or got the attention of scouts... or decided he wanted to try for a soccer career. Or that it was exactly one decade ago. Or whatever. Otherwise "1998" and "eight years old" are just arbitrary non sequiturs.

I don't get it. What difference would it make? Regardless of the years mentioned, it was a yahoo cover story on Jozy Altidore. So he was eight when Beckham was in his first World Cup, and you think 1997 was a more significant year. That doesn't change the fact that there's no harm in the dude having a name built by producing on an MLS pitch, which very rarely ever happens if your name's not Beckham or Adu. What's there to complin about?

[janner]

I'm actually envious of Americans as they can hype their players without ridicule.
"Englands Teen Sensation"...See what i mean!

I didn't see any of the U20's, only the last few NY games. What stood out for me was how composed in front of goal he was. Very impressive for 17.

[Indytrojan]

Arrrggh, geez, then change the last sentence to "Ronaldinho was busy tearing up the U-17 World Cup." Whatever, because my point still stands -- the writer never tells us the significance of singling out 1998.

I know his ultimate point is to emphasize Altidore's youth, but it's a clumsy way of doing it. Writing that confuses the reader is usually not the reader's fault.

i dunno but could it have some connection to his addidas commercial where he talks about being made to play with older kids when he was eight?maybe the writer is implying that other than the commercial most americans wouldnt know anything about Jozy.....its probably not what it meant but i was just stretching trying to figure it out.anyway good for Altidore and good for MLS.He should be paired with Donovan as our second forward right now at the senior level.There is not a better finisher than Jozy in the MNT lineup.He is more of a threat than Ching and Im a Houston and Ching fan.

Jozy and Landycakes could be a very potent strikeforce for us.

[tambo]

I don't get it. What difference would it make? Regardless of the years mentioned, it was a yahoo cover story on Jozy Altidore. So he was eight when Beckham was in his first World Cup, and you think 1997 was a more significant year. That doesn't change the fact that there's no harm in the dude having a name built by producing on an MLS pitch, which very rarely ever happens if your name's not Beckham or Adu. What's there to complin about?I don't think 1997 was a more significant year. Maybe it is, maybe it isn't. That's my whole point: The writer should tell us why he's singling out 1998/eight-years-old in particular. Otherwise it's a non sequitur.

I mean, I know I'm frikkin pedantic and stuff, but I honestly didn't anticipate that I'd end up arguing this whole thing over a series of posts. It was a quick little observation that I figured everyone would nod along to and move on...

[Davidraether]

The technique the writer is using in the opening of this story is one that is taught in journalism schools all over America.

The technique is called 'hackery' or 'lame-o writing.'

One of the keys to this type of writing is to put it to use when covering a topic you don't know much about. For instance, let's say I were to write an article on an American making it to the the sumo championships in Japan. I'd start it out with a lede that might go something like this:

"It was 1993 and Doug Johnson was just another fat kid from Lexington, Kentucky, when his parents made a decision that would forever change not only Johnson's life, but the world of sumo wrestling: they ordered cable. 'Little' 9 year-old Dougie was channel surfing later that night when he saw "Sumo Digest" and realized he had found his life's calling...'

See how that works? I don't know anything about sumo, but I've just blown 50 of the 200 words I've been asked for on a lede that tells the reader nothing but sure looks like I'm doing my job.

The 'money' quote was from David Beckham about Altidore's finishing ability. Guess where that was? Last sentence in the article.

That's a key element of hackery -- bury the interesting stuff at the end of the article. Why? Because you, the writer, don't realize it's interesting because you don't know what you're talking about.

[Soccerdude redded]

Oh jeez, who cares 1998,1900 or what ever, if he had said MLS sucks then we all be on him like white on rice.

[BerlinKopKid]

1998: Jozy is seven years old.

FIFA 2008 Cover...Jozy and Zidane share a cover. I know the games preceeds the change of the year but I think that is what he was driving at.