Shea Something Smart

At the beginning of the Collective Bargaining Agreement battle, we heard a lot from player's union executive director Bob Foose. He was filled with all kinds of rhetoric about how the league was so mean to players.

He slowly faded away from the public eye. Some of that is probably due to the fact that both sides have tried to keep things close to the vest as progress has been made. Some is probably because his attempt to force the league to make changes via the worldwide player's "union" failed miserably.

But part of his muteness probably has to do with the fact that...

I love American soccer. All of it. I think the thing I love most is the lack of perspective that some of my fellow fans possess in spades.

Steve Ralston agreed to join the NASL's AC St. Louis today as a player-coach. While I loathe the New England Revolution more than any other team in MLS, I have always had a great amount of respect for Ralston. He played hard and fair and seemed to possess no pretension. He also scored the vital opening goal right in front of my seat in the 2005 U.S. 2-0 win over Mexico in Columbus.

This move makes a ton of sense. He's a St. Louis guy...

I have posted elsewhere my thoughts on how the players and owners can end all this nonsense about the collective bargaining agreement. I really think the core issues - guaranteed free agency and freedom of movement for players - can be achieved to a certain degree without really affecting the basic structure of MLS or spurring some financial problems.

The reality is we don't know a whole lot. MLS has done a great job at keeping their end quiet while the players have simply screamed about how they are being threatened with a lockout. Either the league has done that in private or the...

More than a week has gone by since Kevin Payne made comments critical of some MLS teams which earned him a fine from the league office. Since then, Paul Gardner has weighed in, just as have so many Internet pundits. I have taken some time to think about the situation and can only come to one conclusion.


Kevin Payne is full of crap.


First of all, I watched a lot of DC United this year and think leaving them out of any conversation which addresses unwatchable soccer is a crime. Never mind that some of the teams Payne whined about had much more attacking...

Over the past week or so, we have had the good fortune to receive a decent amount of real data regarding soccer on TV in the U.S.

We know what the EPL does on ESPN2. We heard how MLS fared on ESPN2. Then we got the big picture for a number of leagues on Fox Soccer Channel.

I have already seen a little chatter about these ratings. Sadly, some of what I have seen has tried to focus on excuses for the EPL trailing MLS on ESPN2. people can talk about time slots and promotion all they want, but I remember a bunch of posturing by EPL fans when the news broke that games would...

I love the underdog. Pluck really draws my attention, especially with sports.

The problem is, sometimes you can take your pluck a little too far when you realize people might be on your side.

Case it point: the whole kerfuffle involving the United Soccer Leagues and the Team Owners Association. The TOA is asking the US Soccer Federation to sanction their new league.

That's pluck I can get behind. I don't think splitting the second division will spell doom for soccer in this country. A little healthy competition might push owners in both leagues to find new...

On two recent weeknights, I totally shot my sleep schedule to hell. Both times I headed down to Washington, D.C., to watch United play in the CONCACAF Champion's League.

You see, I live about two hours from D.C. The matches kicked off at 8 p.m. I didn't get home until close to midnight and needed about 30 minutes to wind down before falling asleep. I get up generally around 5:30 a.m.

I'm not bitching. I had a great time seeing friends and watching United actually play some good soccer. I managed to get through the next day and make up sleep over the weekend.
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Two weeks ago, a new era in American sports gambling started. Delaware began taking bets on NFL games.

The state's hope to have a wide variety of betting options on all kinds of sports bit the dust in late August, thanks to a federal appeals court. But they could still take parlay bets on NFL games because they had operated a similar scheme in 1976.

So what does any of this have to do with MLS? Follow me on this long walk.

First off, the suit filed to stop the planned sports betting operation did not include MLS. The NCAA joined pro baseball, basketball,...

I love how more and more media outlets now pay attention to soccer in general and MLS in particular. Over the past few months, the Sports Business Journal has done a wonderful job looking at the league critically without seeming like your average message board poster without his happy pills.

But every once in a while, they report something like they did today.

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We have heard the insults toward MLS. Apparently, if you enjoy watching our nation's first division, you are a soccer novice according to some voices on this message board.

Just wait, the "experts" would trumpet. Just wait until "real" soccer is shown on television here. No one will ever watch MLS again. They will be mesmerized by the greatness of European soccer (as if people watching MLS are idiots and have never seen European soccer before) and shun this "Mickey Mouse" league (yeah, I'm going for a record of quoting things that I make up) once and for all.

The ratings...