1/10/03: Southlake English team wants Arlington Heights teen-Chicago Tribune Burn going to Southlake for at least two years-Dallas Morning News Southlake is home for Burn-Ft. Worth Star Telegram Wizards coaches head to MLS combine to assess talent-KC Star Sanneh Rejects Albion-LA Times
Earthquakes lose Graziani-SJ Mercury News Quakes unload Graziani-Top scorer in '02 salary-cap victim-SF Chronicle
Re: 1/10/03: Southlake MEDIC-ALERT: This is a Grahame Jones article. Bigsoccer posters with high blood pressure and other stress-related ailments are advised to avoid viewing without a doctor's consent. Even though there is no anti-MLS content, certain readers of Jones' columns have been known to suffer convulsions caused by the content and/or style of certain of his articles.
Re: 1/10/03: Southlake Whether you think it's a smart move a lot, having a US player turn down an offer to play in the EPL with quotes like that is good to see.
Re: Re: 1/10/03: Southlake I agree, but I suspect Tony could phrase his position so strongly because it looks like WBA is in the Premiership on a Just-Passing-Through basis.
When you see a guy like Sanneh only has 37 caps, it really puts Cobi Jones in perspective.... I love that a US player that started in the A-League has come so far.
"John Thorrington and Jovan Kirovski are other Americans who have chosen to sign with Manchester United in recent years." Talk about the kiss of death
I saw Tony play even earlier than his A-League days for the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. He wasn't exactly head and shoulders above everybody else, either, so he's REALLY come a long way, and he's obviously worked his ass off to do it. So, as much as he aggravated me in some of his USNT appearances (before Korea '02), I still gotta admire the guy. He's earned anything he can get from this game.
Didn't see this posted yet Didn't see this one posted yet, it was from yesterday but a feel good for those concerned about soccer carving out it's place outside the leagues in this country. HOPKINS: The best damn pick-up game in the U.S. http://foxsports.lycos.com/content/view?contentId=846922
Re: Didn't see this posted yet Wow! I'm originally from that area and never heard of anything like this while growing up. My folks still live there and I'd love to know where these games are being played.
Re: Didn't see this posted yet Cool stuff. Now all that needs to happen is to start a soccer version of the "And-1" streetball tour. From the article: "You can catch Allen Hopkins in a network cameo Thursday, January 9th on NBC's Will & Grace. Allen plays a star soccer player in a charity soccer match." Anyone catch Hopkins on Will and Grace? How did they work him in?
Anyone else catch this from the Hopkins article? "Outside of the idle passers by, insiders like former San Jose head coach Laurie Calloway, who will be coaching an A-League outfit in Syracuse this season have been doing their homework, coming out to Marin to see what talent is available." So there's a new A-League team in Syracuse? First I've heard of it. Nice regoinal rivalry with Rochester, and a close trip to Toronto and Montreal, and not all that far from Pittsburgh. Lots of "derby" matches in the northeast this year. Tom
Hopkins On Will & Grace/Street Soccer While I think it's always great to see soccer being in the mainsteam, I'm just wondering how long it's going to take for Jim Rome to hear about this and say, "what'd I'd tell ya, soccer is gay". I haven't seen the episode, but I hope that Hopkins isn't made out to play a homosexual soccer player, because I don't think that our society is past thinking all soccer athletes are pansies. Either way I'm glad they picked soccer and not one of the other four sports they could've. Just so I won't get flamed for being anti-gay, I'll give you the famous quote from Seinfeld,"WE'RE NOT GAY!, not that there's anything wrong with that." About the pickup soccer games in Marin, I've always dreamed about what it would be like if we had a street soccer following, like those seen in the AND 1 Mixtape Tours that travel the country every Summer. It'd be cool to see what crazy moves the guys would make up. It might backfire though, as players would try to do the street moves in games like the NBA players have and fundamentals might begin to be devalued. DaMarcus Beasley already has a perfect street name (Run DMB). I can see it now, Run DMB streaking down the flank and knows LD is behind him so he lobs the ball off the top crossbar so Donovan can do a diving header, or "soccer dunk",if you will. Come to think about it that would be kind of fun to watch. Just imagine what it would be like if every soccer player practiced their dribbling skills as much as Hot Sauce. -VON