Thursday 1 Aug 2019

Wayne Rooney, midfielder? With MLS all-stars, DCU star orchestrates attack in loss
https://www.washingtonpost.com/spor...hestrates-attack-loss/?utm_term=.2b92ce93008a

Enjoy February north of Atlanta.

Thx,

Jay!

 

Meh, early March and late February aren't much different. Union's first home game was on March 2nd this year and it was a high of 40 degrees that day. The week before it was 42 and the week before that was 50. 2018 wasn't much different as the first Saturday in March and the last two in February were all roughly the same. In fact there is only a 2 degree historical difference between the two dates. There is just a slightly higher chance you may catch a really cold day in February than you will in early March.

Of course weather is so screwy the last few years that who knows what will actually happen. This year we had those several days where it didn't get above 18 and within 3 days it was in the 60's, whereas last year we had more days with a high above 70 in February than days it didn't reach freezing (2 to 1, and that 1 was 31 degrees). That being said it'll be an Arctic freeze for next year's Union home opener just to teach me to shut my trap.

 

In Colorado those two weeks are the difference of 5 degrees and 4 inches of snow on average. I'm starting the O/U on rescheduled Rapids games at 1.5 (remember, we had 1 this year).

 

With Miami and Nashville in, there are more warm climate cities to schedule early home matches. Northern cities will just have to play first 3 weeks on the road every season.

 

Those still aren't good weather weekends even further south. Telling those franchises they are regularly in for less desirable weekends is not necessarily going down well.

 

Yep. The high in Lubbock for each Saturday/Sunday this February was:

Feb 1 - 63 Feb 2 - 70
Feb 8 - 36 Feb 9 - 40
Feb 15 - 78 Feb 16 - 74
Feb 22 - 55 Feb 23 - 55

Oh, and March 1 was 78 and March 2 was 40. It's all over the place that time of year, and we're definitely considered south. The average high here in February historically is under 60 and average low is right at 30, with a record low of -17. You've got a really good chance of bad weather in a lot of the southern cities that early in the year.

 

All you climate deniers. It's going to be balmy everywhere next February.

 

I'll give that a C- for trolling. Gotta up your game to play around these parts.

 

Oh, I was just being specific about the area around Philly. I know that there are plenty of places that February is a no go. Heck, there are places in MLS that March is barely acceptable. But NY, Philly, DC, Nashville, and likely Columbus? It isn't a huge difference. There is a higher likelihood of a really crappy day, but not much more. And one of the mitigating factors is that the league is adding several warmer weather locations (Miami, Nashville, Austin, and maybe Sacrament and Charlotte) that can keep questionable February weather clubs (like Denver) from hosting until March. Though I'd expect you'd still see and early March game that can get snowed out. Not ideal, but I just don't think it will be that big of a deal.

 

So can we consider soccer in this country has "made it" (yes I'm aware there are probably many "made it" moments) when we can get 30K out to a game in 30 degree weather, maybe some snow flurries? Is this a milestone? Doesn't seem to affect the NFL, in fact, some revel in those conditions. I know, I know, apples to oranges! I'll crawl back to where I came from now.

 

Oh, please please please O Mighty Scheduling Gods...

May we have the Galaxy's visit to Allianz next season be in early March?

(Preferably during State Hockey Tournament Weekend, where by State Law a snowfall of 2" or greater is mandated...)

 

I'm not sure Nashville really qualifies for that. It's better than the northern cities, but this February there were 3 weekend days with highs in the low 40s and lows in 20s, 3 days with highs in the mid 50s and lows in the high 30s to low 40s, and only two days with highs in the 60s and those had lows in the 30s.

Even Austin was anywhere from 39 to 91 for high temps this February. It's better than trying to plan on Denver or Minneapolis that time of year, but not as much as people think.

 

The coldest match I've been to in Columbus was a late February CCL night match vs RSL some years back. I think it was about 20 with a wind chill around 10. It was colder than la guerra fria. Let's just say the RSL match didn't draw well.

We got 18K for our home opener this year on March 2nd. It was cold and blustery but it was also an afternoon match with the sun out. The Crew can probably handle 1 cold weather match early in the season at home but the 3 home matches in March killed our attendance for the year. Crewsmas drew well as always and the others drew squat.

February is way too early to start the season. The northern teams don't want to play 4 of their first 5 on the road.

 

Not to mention the southern/west coast teams don't want to have to play 4 of their last 5 games on the road. You know, "when the games start to count."

 

Throw in KC, CIN, and hopefully soon STL. They all have comparable winter weather to Philly...

 

I wish some of the "just play the early games in southern cities" posters would understand this. There's a competitive disadvantage both ways to that, not to mention a significant marketing disadvantage as well. But many people just hand wave that away like its no big deal.

 

I'm actually happy for you that you've mind-wiped your MLS home opener.
Be loony and proud.

 

Yeah, but we got that big ol' wrap thingy surrounding Allianz Field. That'll keep the heat in.

Or the noise. I forget which.

 

Well, it is true that Don Gagliardi doesn't come close to the OS line when it comes to trolling.....

 

Yeah, that and the fact that the numbers of "warm weather" teams just don't add up. You have Miami, Orlando, Atlanta, Houston, LA, LA, San Jose and Vancouver (indoors) as the only truly "warm weather" teams. There are a few others that are iffy, like Dallas, KC, Nashville, Cincinnati, Portland, Seattle, DC, and maybe Philly and the 2 NY teams. Then there are other places that you really don't want to play in until mid-March at the earliest, and afternoon games even then.

And do you really want to have both LA teams playing at home for 3 weeks in a row? Sure, people love their soccer and most folks are fans of one or the other team, but that is overkill, even if you do one on Saturday and the other on Sunday.

Playing the first 2 weeks in a row on the road is OK, but it should even out within a month or so. At any given time in the schedule, no one should end up having more than a 2 game imbalance between home and away.