I guess I am in the mood to start threads. I figured I would set the stage for NC Courage 2020 by quoting @SiberianThunderT from 10/21/19: "Yeah, it's interesting. Here are how many points different teams have taken from the Courage in their three Shield-winning seasons (i.e. not counting playoff games) since moving to NC: CHI: 9p/3g + 2p/3g + 7p/3g = 18p/9g POR: 3p/2g + 0p/3g + 4p/3g = 7p/8g UTA: 0p/2g* + 5p/3g + 1p/3g = 6p/8g ORL: 6p/3g + 0p/3g + 0p/3g = 6p/9g NJ: 4p/3g + 0p/3g + 1p/3g = 5p/9g SEA: 0p/3g + 1p/3g + 3p/3g = 4p/9g DC: 0p/3g + 0p/3g + 3p/3g = 3p/9g HOU: 0p/2g + 1p/3g + 0p/3g = 1p/8g NC has Portland pretty well figured-out, as Portland has 2W-1D-5L against NC in the regular season. Conversely, Chicago has 5W-3D-1L against NC, though only one of those five wins were in NC. And of course, Portland is 1-1 against NC in the playoffs, while Chicago is 0-2 (so far)."
Podcasts. Nathan Thackeray: As an NC Fan, I found this podcast to be very interesting. It is more about coaching the pros (Labbe, Rowland, D’Angelo, Gay, Leshnak) than it is about modifying pro training to non-pros. https://podcasts.apple.com/ie/podca...t-for-goalkeepers-by-goalkeepers/id1356385943 Denise O’Sullivan: This one showed up in my twitter feed this morning. I always enjoy Denise’s interviews. https://open.spotify.com/episode/5hnDg5sL04LXFPNQ0DJRSY?si=tSun2zEpSumhspYignIvpQ
Denise O'Sullivan Is Undoubtedly The Brightest Irish Midfielder In The Game https://www.balls.ie/football/ireland-greece-denise-osullivan-427435 Proud night. Not over yet. Onto Montenegro 🇮🇪 pic.twitter.com/kmkL8Io5rG— Denise O'Sullivan (@OSullivanDenise) March 5, 2020
Have the Courage done enough to get better? What do you think? According to KeeperNotes.com, NC has 3 of 4 International Slots filled. On the Soccerwire.com podcast, Paul Riley said he is looking to tweak the formation, having played the same way for two years. Turnover for 2020 McCall and HAO are gone. So is Spetsmark. Mathias is still mending. Hailie Mace signed. Kayleigh Kurtz has not yet signed a contract. Ally Watt is a draftee. (So are Bri Folds, Sinclaire Miramontez, and Addisyn Merrick, whose reputations I do not know). Australia W-League 2019-2020 (semifinals are 3/13 & 3/15) Canberra United – 6th place · Kayleigh Kurtz was named team Player of the Year. Western Sydney Wanderers – 4th place & first playoff spot ever · Kristin Hamilton lead team in goals scored and tied for league lead. · Denise O’Sullivan played a 7-game engagement and ignited their best start ever. · Lynn Williams played until called up to WNT and was the lightning to Hamilton’s fire. Melbourne City – 1st place · Ally Watt signed for the last 3 regular season games: 2 goals vs Brisbane and 1 vs Western Sydney.
#laythetracks; #nofinishline; #burntheboats ? If you're wondering about @TheNCCourage player participation in the NWSL #ChallengeCup, well, it's what you might expect. @prileyfury4life tells @999TheFan (and I've been told separately) that all Courage players are presently on board to participate (sans injury issues). pic.twitter.com/Kd74LmWGGg— Neil Morris (@ByNeilMorris) May 28, 2020 Paul Riley: "As far as I'm concerned, we're going to Utah, we'll burn the boats and there's no turning back."
Its a variation on "burn your bridges," but with a more positive connotation, of leaving yourself no option but to succeed. The story behind it comes from one of the early European explorers (not sure which?) who landed in Mexico and ordered his men to burn the ships they came in. In other words, there was no going back; they were going to succeed (in their case, at colonizing/conquering) or die trying.
Also mentioned by that Sun Tzu guy in some memoir he wrote The actual elaboration about boats seems to be by the poet commentator Tu Mu. Sun Tzu wrote tersely about (3 of 9) facile ground (where retreat is still easy, and your army knows it). Tu Mu expounded about making it (ahem) non-facile. http://www.online-literature.com/suntzu/artofwar/17/ 3. When he has penetrated into hostile territory, but to no great distance, it is facile ground. [Tu Mu remarks: "When your army has crossed the border, you should burn your boats and bridges, in order to make it clear to everybody that you have no hankering after home."] With retreat no longer possible, the problem reduces to (9 of 9) desperate ground, where you must fight immediately or die. Sun Tzu recommends fight.
C/O Leland Privot - A great image! https://t.co/Bf9OqfXiji pic.twitter.com/CjDRFsnKv9— Leland Privott (@DopeStallion) May 28, 2020
Hernán Cortés de Monroy y Pizarro Altamirano On his second expedition to Mexico to prevent his troops returning to Cuba ( where he was a wanted man). He sent one ship to Spain to plead his case with the king. The next thing he did was set his troops to building new boats. it echos an incident where Berber commander Tariq ibn Zayid burned his boats during the Muslim invasion of Spain in 711. that incident got Gibraltar named after him ( jebel Tariq- hill of Tariq)
I should clarify. Neither event has hard evidence for it. Cortez’ boat burning wasn’t seriously attested until 250 years after it allegedly happened. He may have just run his boats aground making it harder for rouge escapes. and one story is that Tariq’s boats weren’t his, but he got ferried across by a Julián, Count of Ceuta, a Byzantine/Berber/Christian vassal of the Visigoth King Rodrigo of Hispania. Who had a grudge against Rodrigo because Rod alledgely raped Julian’s daughter Florinda who Julian sent to Rodrigo for an education. The story is she got one. Julian landed the boats in trading centers he owned. Rodrigo wasn’t a very nice guy and had enemies in the kingdom. In that story line, Julian just went back for another 5,000 troops under a guy named Musa who was Umayyad. Western sources are pretty clueless on the real events. and the ‘invasión’ was as much an internal revolt by the sons of the previous king Witija Rod had murdered (who were given fiefdoms by the Muslims in return) and was aided in several cities by the oppressed Jewish population figuring they’d get a better deal with the Muslims. That proved to be right for the next 800 years. Julius Caesar supposedly talked about burning his boats in his invasion of England. They didn’t and eventually left for Gaul.
The Courage and Washington Spirit are sharing a charter flight to Utah today. Richie Burke says the players are looking forward to it. He said the concept is basically we're going to join our bubble to their bubble and then get into the big NWSL bubble in the NWSL Village. So Paul has officially hashtagged #burntheboats and added #facethewind. HUGE thanks to Charles & Colvard. Wow they r magnificent. Truth is that U will never have more of what U want until U become thankful for what U have. U don’t usually drift to a destination u would have chosen. Looking forward to going with team to Utah #burntheboats #facethewind pic.twitter.com/24CQ8hpe68— PHR (@prileyfury4life) June 23, 2020 I'm thinking that folks who recognize the #burntheboats reference will attribute it to Conquistador Hernán Cortés, all due respect to Sun Tzu and Tariq ibn Zayid. While the concept is inspiring from a military, sports, and perhaps even an entrepreneurial perspective, the #burntheboats reference connotes the subjugation of indigenous people and is not going to be accepted with the staying power of #nofinishline.
BTW, I highly recommend the 2005 book 1491 - New Revelations of the Americas before Columbus by Charles C. Mann. It was highly acclaimed on multiple national bestseller lists.
I enjoyed this preview where Paul talks about all the players (in spite of the fact that Dean Linke lives inside Riley's ass). https://www.pscp.tv/w/1BdGYnpzepBJX It is mostly Paul talking, and Paul can start getting on one's nerves after a while, as well. He LOVES Mace, and claims she told him she wanted to play defense to get ready for the WNT but Paul said oh no no no, that's not where you'll play here. I mentioned this article in the Challenge Cup thread - found it an enjoyable read as Courage fan. In light of Crystal Dunn's comments that media folks need to be more aware of the adjectives and characterizations they use for the play of black players, the article does say this: .......ultra-talented players at his side, like centerback and captain Abby Erceg, creative Brazilian midfielder Debinha, and the versatile and technically-gifted Crystal Dunn........ https://www.wunc.org/post/nc-courage-are-poised-win-unprecedented-nwsl-tournament-utah
So uh we already know the Fall Series is gonna be weird, but it sounds like the Courage will be missing basically their entire starting XI except Debinha: Crystal Dunn, Abby Erceg, Jaelene Daniels and Kristen Hamilton have opted out of #NWSLFallSeries for @TheNCCourage. Several others, incl Dahlkemper, McDonald, L. Williams and Labbé weighing opting out in whole or part. Most due to concerns over COVID and/or league protocols.— Neil Morris (@ByNeilMorris) September 6, 2020 This is on top of Sam Mewis (Man City), O’Sullivan (Brighton-loan), Mace (Kristianstads-loan), Mathias (inj), Meehan (inj) and Watt (inj)
And I would recommend also his book "1493" which is about the impact the New World had on the Old and vice versa. It's called the Columbia Exchange and has interesting sections on African slaves in Brazil, Bolivian silver in China, etc.
When I was studying history at the university, I happened to read "The Columbian Exchange" by Alfred W. Crosby that, although slightly outdated (1972), was the study that originated the whole concept and I definitely recommend it.