Many of those teams have billionaire owners, but not all. These guys are one of the top executives at Goldman Sachs (in the past) and someone who heads a 5-10 bil company (-ish, depending on the market). These are big time people, sitting on possibly 9 figures themselves and with deep business connections. If one of them was the managing partner in an ownership group in one of those other leagues, it wouldn't be stunning. It's true, but I think they don't necessarily need owners to commit extra multiple millions to fix some of their issues. They just seemed to me like an organization that maybe lacks in business acumen, so I was surprised to see such owners. I guess they just don't care much.
Whenever SkyBlue comes up and the fact that they arent closer to NYC is always raised. I always shake my head and mouth Philadelphia. Is it the next big soccer hot bed? Not likely but it would be a much more stable place than the middle of Jersey. They could still draw on the Jersey youth groups tho mostly from South Jersey and add the Philly population. Talen is publicly owned and not so big that a small NWSL crowd would look lost in it. Maybe they can make some sort of cross promotional deal with the Union. If they made the move the first thing Id ask about is the availability of Carli Lloyd to front the team. If they could start out averaging say 3500 and build from there they could get themselves off the top of list of problem teams in the league.
Nice interview with Dunn, including her thoughts on Rapinoe taking a knee and why she won't follow suit: http://backlinesoccer.com/visibility-matters-an-interview-with-crystal-dunn/
well said. yep, she's well spoken. i wouldn't even be able to write it so well if you gave me a week, much less say it in an interview.
Steven Temares the CEO of BBBY was at the meet and greet with players after the last home game on Sunday so maybe he plans to stay involved with SB.
Yesterday, I underwent shoulder replacement surgery to address an injury I've been dealing with for some time... https://t.co/7p0xeQxmuv pic.twitter.com/BaqL5iTCvS— Hope Solo (@hopesolo) September 28, 2016
referees announced for semifinals: 09/30/2016 Washington Spirit v Chicago Red Stars Maureen Hendricks Field Maryland SoccerPlex (8:00pm ET) REF: DANIELLE CHESKY AR1: Cory Richardson AR2: Adrienne McDonald 4TH: Christopher Spivey 10/01/2016 Portland Thorns v Western New York Flash Providence Park (5:00pm ET) REF: MARCO VEGA AR1: Amanda Ross AR2: Benjamin Wooten 4TH: Farhad Dadkho
A joint replacement is spectacularly invasive. If I understand that right, she had a knobby part removed from its socket, cut off with a saw, then a cavity drilled into the bone, a titanium replacement part inserted down into the new channel and bone-glued into place (titanium alloy is good because it's biologically inert, and the bone grows into it), and then resocketed. I dunno what they do with all of the connecting tissues during this process -- maybe they can work in situ. Or if they're like computer cables, unplug one, pivot everything away from that connection, finish work, then reattach that one. Watch some YouTube videos to see how that's done Mike Krzyzewski had this done on both knees. Bo Jackson famously needed it for a hip, after a bad tackle crimped blood supply shut and the bone died. The shoulder has the widest motion cone of any joint in the body, so it would seem to be the riskiest of these procedures. It sounds like Solo has not retired, and expects to return to competitive shape(!). Mandatory boo for the Husky W Now she'll get to annoy TSA agents with the metal-detection wand every time she flies commercial: that shoulder cost more than your salary --
No thanks. I've seen a video of a complete knee replacement my friend did, that was the first and last one I'll watch. Ouch!! I was in pain, sitting in front of my monitor.
Nice, honest piece with Matt Beard about Breakers, the league & US soccer culture. http://www.thebentmusket.com/2016/9...ts-boston-breakers-2016-nwsl-hints-plans-2017
I feel bad for Beard... Even if it was a mistake to have high expectations from him, he simply wasn't brought into a nice situation with Boston. When a team has done so badly for years already, there are external expectations that you *have* to do better, even if the infrastructure to do so isn't necessarily there, and if you don't do better you're in and out quickly as they try to find the right solution. I mean, what will the expectation be for Beard next year? Getting to 1.0PPG? Getting off the bottom of the table?
In a situation like that, I don't feel an objective goal works. It has to be subjective. At the end of the next season, are they on a clear and obvious upward trend? As of right now the answer is no. They might be trending up but it's not clear. That said one season is too little. Boston has picks 1, 11, 12, 15, and 16 in the draft. That's a lot to work with. Let's see what Beard does.
Hopefully Beard was brought in as part of a long range plan. In any league with a tight salary camp it's about small steps.
I also felt bad for him, but I also thought like man, did he do his due diligence before he committed to that move? Because really, to be unprepared for the level of player, the standard of the rookie, and the type of game, those sorts of things, you would think that should not be a total shock for someone. I mean there is a huge network of English soccer people who have been working in the US for decades you can tap into, and lots of film available via YouTube etc. I thought maybe he got dazzled by WWC champs! Big Crowds! #1 ranking! and just did not realize that was not really what he was signing up for. I hope it will work out for him and for the players and the fans there. Great respect to the Boston fans for supporting and showing up and glad that the team was able to give them some good performances. Let's hope that they can get something going between the many draft picks and having a little more time before 2017 season to plan and build.
Well from what he said about draft picks and some teams not having many, it sound like he is looking to deal
Yeah, maybe Boston will give away it's top 3 picks for a Portland bench player or two (that's the Breakers M.O.).
Sorry, I was being a little sarcastic. It seems Boston makes moves during the draft which are always in favor of Portland. I consider the Breakers to be the Thorn's farm team.
I'm not sure how sarcastic that statement was. You're exactly right saying that Boston has been the Thorn's farm team up to now. Beard has a chance to continue or end that.
With today's earlier news of Engen getting future endeavoured by Jill, I'm thinking she doesn't play in NWSL next year which is another blow to Boston. She was forced back for that NT spot and now that it's gone, I would not be surprised to see her to sign somewhere she can play Champions league again.
Here is a fantastic article about Angela Salem's career. It describes lot about the life of non-WNT woso players. http://www.herpitch.com/articles/2016/9/22/angela-salem
Here's a general discussion to revive: NWSL so far has erred on the side of having half-or-slightly-fewer teams make the playoffs, while MLS has erred on half-or-slightly-more. Last year, people mostly said that the slightly-more option in NWSL (Houston) would almost certainly have not been appropriate; however, this year I've seen multiple people say that the slightly-more options (Seattle and maybe KC) should have been in the playoffs (both were 3-1-1 in their last 5). So, does anyone have any further thoughts on what the appropriate number of playoff teams is? If we still have 10 teams next year, do we stay at 4 or try 5/6? What if we expand to 11/12 next year?
While at 10 teams, I'd prefer they stay at only 4. Once they move to 12, I'd like to see 6 get in. But I also wouldn't mind an imbalanced schedule of EastvWest conferences which I think I'm in the minority supporting that.