Here's a nice piece on how the Union help their foreign players out: Education & Athletics Go Hand In Hand In Many Ways At Penn.@DaveZeitlin Showcases Hows A Pair Of Penn Professors Are Helping @PhilaUnion Players Get Stronger Using The English Language And How That's Translating On The Field.https://t.co/oQGuAkChMA— Penn Quakers (@pennathletics) June 27, 2018
http://www.espn.com/soccer/major-le...fine-each-mls-club-in-the-second-half-of-2018 Fittingly, there are no questions to be asked about the Union. Just expected misery.
The new Adam Cann podcast is pretty good... team sponsored, but quality. (Even though Earnie makes me want to throw my phone)
Subscribed to it, but haven't listened yet. "Everything is Alive" and "LeVar Burton Reads" are occupying my podcast time at the moment.
He came off the same way on Kevin Kinkead's latest podcast. I respect his opinion as a former player, but don't forget that he's a league employee and not a journalist, so part of his job is to promote the League's franchises to its fans. The fact that he is a Mechanicsburg native and is very familiar with the Union from his playing days would appear to give him a little more authenticity with Union fans than the average League shill. All that being said however, Union certainly have been a lot better recently after the poor start to the season, but I do think he's taking it a little bit too far.
Note also that Warshaw said that he tried to get a contract from the Union and Curtin rejected him. Nevertheless, he still is a Union lover.
Calling them "good" is what the media does this time of year. The Union respond by stinking it up for the last 2 months of the season. Hopefully they can change the script enough to win the USOC this time.
🗣️ It's #TOTW 42 featuring 92 Pogba, 88 Mané & 86 Rooney! #FUT pic.twitter.com/9elQwLgOsR— EA SPORTS FC (@EASPORTSFC) August 15, 2018
It's usually the last 3 months of the Season. From 2010-2017 here are our PPG for the final 3 months. August - 1.077 (9W, 15D, 15L) September - 1.278 (11W, 13D, 12L) October - 1.067 (9W, 5D, 16L) So far we are looking to better our historical results, as we are already carrying a 1.500 PPG for August at 1-0-1.
Warshaw is mostly partnered with Matt Doyle for his coverage, and Doyle routinely talks shit on most of the teams in the league (he’s spent the last six months trolling Orlando and Atlanta) so maybe it’s good cop/bad cop. Either way, they’re real journalists. Dave Zeitlin is also on the MLS payroll and doesn’t go out of his way to compliment the Union (although he doesn’t write Sugarman hit pieces either).
I don't think the league as any issue when their in-house guys like Doyle or Warshaw are critical of players and teams on the field (playing style, tactics, quality, organization, effort, etc.), but I recall hearing about instances where investor/operators were upset and there were consequences when the league's in-house "journalists" were critical of the front office and ownership (e.g., for being for cheap, incompetent, etc.). Many sports journalists routinely take unconventional or controversial positions on topics to drum up interest/discussion/clicks for their employers, and I see this as a variation on that practice. The main difference here is that their employer is the league, not a media outlet. The fact of the matter is that the league signs their paychecks, so while they are certainly encouraged to express their opinions to a point, there are obviously topics they aren't allowed to touch. Let's be honest, we're never gonna see Matt Doyle write articles in favor of pro/rel, promoting the #savethecrew movement, calling out Robert Kraft for not giving a shit about the Revs, criticizing NYCFC's Middle-Eastern ownership for human-rights abuses, etc.
Other team's fans to MLS writers: "Say something nice about our team! We demand respect! You're just shills for the big money teams!" Union fans: "Our team stinks! Stop writing nice things! You're just shills for the league and Jay Sugarman!" I love this place.
Wasrshaw has some valid opinions, but he's from the outside looking in and can look at things in an abstract way and not in wins v. losses. The Union winning doesn't matter to him, but the Union philosophy (which can be spun to sound good on paper or to an outsider) can be appealing. Honestly it was sort of nice to hear some optimism on the Kinkead podcast even if I rolled my eyes a couple times.
Someone from the Union marketing team called the Mike Missanelli Show complaining how they don’t like the sport and how they have soccer on the TVs all day at work. It was bizarre to say the least.