Are there any podcasts out there covering the complete US scene, from NPSL/PDL up to USMNT? It seems like every American podcast is MLS, USMNT, Europe, the end. If not, could someone start one? That'd be awesome. I wanna hear what DCFC is up to, how Pittsburgh is enjoying their new stadium, Oklahoma City NASL vs USL soccer war updates, interviews with supporters groups from around the country, Cosmos vs NYCFC stories, in-depth Open Cup coverage, etc. I'm too lazy to do it myself, so I'm throwing the idea out there...
As you probably know, there isn't much interest in lower level American soccer. I'm not saying a podcast about lower level soccer is bad, but look at these statistics. In 2012-2013, England's League Championship had an average attendance of 17,331 with 552 games played compared to an average attendance of 4,670 with 98 games played for the 2013 NASL Fall and Spring combined excluding the League Championship promotion playoffs and the Soccer Bowl. Therefore League Championship had 3.71 times the average attendance of the NASL with England having 16.7% of the USA's population, meaning that League Championship was 22.21 times more popular than the NASL per capita without adjusting for League Championship having 5.63 times as many games. When you adjust for the number of games, League Championship was 125.09 times as popular as the NASL. Another way to look at it is to think about all the NCAA Basketball and Football teams that get little nationwide attention but still have average attendances above the NASL's 4,670.
Here are a couple resources I have run across for complete American soccer coverage... http://www.recklesschallenge.net/ https://www.facebook.com/NAmovement
Soccer Morning is doing some interesting stuff lately: http://nasn.tv/category/shows/american-soccer-morning/
I was confused by Jason Davis' confusion about Big Soccer. He seemed to confuse what a soccer community board does and what online media does. I have no friends to discuss in any detail the specifics of Soccer. I go to Big Soccer to read and discuss a multitude of topics in very specific detail. ESPNFC or Bleacher Report or any other online source of soccer information isn't a two way communication or bulletin board of what I want to read. He seemed to dislike the noise and felt professional writers don't provide noise which I thought was missing the point.
I did think the conversation was all over the place and covered a number of sites that aren't BS (there was some aside about the boards where Beau can't comment anymore -- at first, I thought he meant a forum in BS). I would like to have heard more about the "signal" aspects of BS rather than just the "noise."
I agree. He seemed annoyed by BS but didn't really articulate any real points. He just used tone and facial expressions to indicate some disdain. That he didn't go there much anymore then talked about doing research there from 2003 but didn't mention what it was. Then he talked about its losing its importance but then hedged his point by indicating how important a role it plays. I like him but either he doesn't want to offend anyone so he doesn't use specific points. Similar to his discussion with Americanizesoccer guy who couldn't answer a direct question. He allowed him to ramble about more 'corrections' to the game without giving it context or answer bigger issues. Jason wouldn't hold him to an answer. Reminded me of Chris Farley character from SNL who would answer any question with 'remember when....'
Here's another good podcast for lower league coverage: http://www.mlsreserves.com/p/off-bench-contest.html