That's nothing, in Italy we have the "parents-ultras", frustrated people who hope their kid gets successfull with soccer so he can be rich, they intimidate the players of the other team and at times they also get in a brawl with the parents of the other team players, sometimes they have to call the police to stop the fight, really sad.
Pure shithousery. When I played minors in little league I must have been 8 or 9, there was a girl on the team whose mom gave her a quarter, it was 1978 after all, for every base she got to and she used to beg our lead off guy to hit a homer so she’d get a dollar when she got on base. I think Shannon once made 3 bucks for a game’s worth of production. I think she got a hit, a walk and got hit by a pitch. Inflation huh? My kid better never find out parents pay kids for performances, he’d surely hold out. There was one point on Sunday when I saw the ref up on the hill talking to the parents of one of the teams and I’m sure it wasn’t a social call.
Seriously, when I read and see acounts of so-called "adults" acting this way, I believe we are doomed as a species. We've created structures and social organizations our feeble brains really can't maintain or comprehend.
IIRC, parents are banned from attending their child's match in some leagues in the UK - or at least that was true at one time.
Watched Uruguay-Japan, it's good to see every now and then a game that reminds you why you fell in love with this sport.
In the meantime, Cameroun did not depart to Egypt today... The reason? Unpaid bonuses from the federation to the players (in the amount of approx. $35K). Cameroun is playing with fire, because every teams has the obligation to be in the host country at least five days prior to their first game, and for Cameroun the deadline is tomorrow (friday)
All star games are designed to showcase the most popular players not the best ones. Guzan being picked shows that the process is working as intended.
All star games are designed to permit Atlanta or Seattle fans to stuff the ballot box. Once the fans, instead of the players or coaches pick the players, it's just who can stuff the ballot box. One of the many reasons I ignore them in all sports -- a waste of time. Note how many players incur "injuries" right before the All Star breaks. If any of this makes sense, it's because a very long time ago National and American league teams didn't place interleague schedules. So players of those leagues never "competed" head to head except for the two teams in the World Series. Given there was no national TV and certainly not the cable saturation we have today, there was interest from fans in the city selected to see the "best" players from the other league. Indeed, for many years, there were two All Star games in baseball. (I remember the one in Candlestick Park when Stu Miller was blown off the mound during his windup -- ruled a balk.) Today, All Star games are bullshit from a fans perspective.
Great news, NM United fans! We have a flight to MN for our July 10 @opencup battle. Thanks, @imafirst1 for a generous donation to help subsidize this amazing fan trip! Tix go live on Tuesday at noon. Limited space available. pic.twitter.com/e9PRR2EolZ— New Mexico United (@NewMexicoUTD) June 22, 2019 Some organizations get it and some don’t
For sure, when we had to go to SLC in 2013 for the USOC final, DCU didn't move a finger to help fans going there. 32 people (including me) ended up going anyway, but there was no package price or anything similar.
It's things like this that make you think pro/rel might not be a bad idea. Some owners get it -- others have rich friends to bail them out when their original moneybags decides to sell. Some folks think about having Leonis for an owner, at least he has his own money. However, I think all ownerships eventually revert to the mean -- in Leonis' case the mean is the Caps always succeed and the Wizards always suck. Balances out in the end and folks got to see a Cup winner. Sucks if you're a Wizards fan though.
US dismantles Trinidad 6-0. 1-0 at the half and then the dam breaks. Zardes with a brace Long with a brace and Pulisic and Arriola each get one. Pulisic playing at a very high level, Arriola and Boyd, then Morris for Boyd running the flanks and getting behind Trinidad all night long. It's only Trinidad, but the US team looked poised and like they knew what they should be doing.
I forgot the US were playing, so I went to Urbana to see FC Frederick vs Virginia Beach of NPSL, good game, a couple of interesting players, two red cards, tickets $5, hot dogs $3. Perfect weather to watch a soccer match. I am now watching the replay of the US game, it's really a shame to see the stadium half empty. With all the respect for Cleveland, maybe another venue would have been better.
In Italy, the Serie C Armageddon has started, 48 hours prior to the registration deadline for next season, two clubs - Siracusa and Albissola - announced that they will restart from serie D or lower. A third one - Rieti - is on the edge of jumping too. But there are probably another 6-7 clubs which are at risk of not making it. We'll see what happens on monday.
Look, nobody was expecting a free flight, but maybe free tickets for the away supporters section would have been appreciated. Someting small and classy. But we all know class did not live at 2400 East Capitol St SE.
I didn't bother caring at all this year - but usually I just go look at the two teams who DCU plays directly after the AllStar game and vote for players from those teams, hoping for an injury or a delayed flight. I haven't cared much about the AllStar game since they started playing random vacationing European teams. It was fun when they played East vs. West or USA Vs The World and had skills challenges and fun stuff for the payers involved - rather than hey, congrats, get with these guys you don't regularly play with and go out against a team you've never seen and try not to get hurt. I assume it's in July again, but I couldn't tell you who they're playing.
SBI is reporting Aron Johannsson is going to the Seattle Sounders. This year their strikers include (injured). Jordan Morris and Raul Ruidiaz (Peru national team). I can't believe we can't find a player that help take the team over the top into a real contender. The team is making money from the stadium (Not Sounders or Atlanta money) but where is the commitment to win the whole fu*king thing?