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,...