Final Answer, still Agoos - L.A. Times Young and Old smashing Sports Barriers - Shreveport Times Adu uses MLS to elevate his Play - Inland Southern California Press-Enterprise Just call Fire's Marsch a Winner - Chicago Tribune Fire Vets return to MLS Cup - Chicago Tribune On Soccer - L.A. Times (key note on galaxy's profitability) Freddy isn't Ready - Richmond Times-Dispatch Where it's at: FIFA 2004 - Daily Illini Donovan a Challenge for Fire's Zero Tolerance - Chicago Sun-Times (day late) Quakes, Fire clash for MLS Cup - Boston Herald Fire in Focus - Naperville Sun (day late) The Sideline - Naperville Sun (day late) Former Wizard Johnston may be next Burn Coach - K.C. Star (day late) Finish, not the Start, matters to Fire's Ralph - Chicago Sun-Times Mirror-Image Teams Fire, Quakes face off for MLS Cup '03 - USA Today Donovan continues to rock for San Jose - Chicago Daily Herald Onstad stars in Goal for Quakes, Normally - Monterey County Herald
Today's "You Just Don't Understand Soccer" Column Adu's signing hints of desperation for MLS - Contra Costa Times Best championship yet? - NW Indiana Times Fire vets return to MLS cup - Chicago Tribune A STAY-AT-HOME STAR - Mercury News Preki shows age is relative - KC Star 14-year-old gets VIP treatment at elaborate news conference - San Diego Union-Tribune (note about Chivas too) Elite meet in MLS Cup - Beau Dure USA Today (posted elsewhere) Nelsen says he's ready for a big jump - Stuff And just wait until he's 15! - Dallas Morning News Media Insider - Star-Telegram (an aside in the middle..) Former Buc Johnson takes his gift of gab to Fox studio - USA Today (at the bottom) In MY Prime: A personal look at Adam Schultz - Courier and Press Not MLS but interesting: Finally, Sidekicks get a channel to reach people - Dallas Morning News
Man, these hand-wringing "but what about the children!" articles seem to just write themselves, don't they.
Re: Re: 11/21/03: Smithers That they do. Knee, meet jerk. The thing in all this "parents are going to push their kids to be pros now" is that there have to be two sides to the equation. Not only does your 14-year-old (or you) have to want to become a professional athlete, but someone has to think they can make money off him or that he's good enough (kind of intertwined) to give him a professional opportunity. You can't just walk around the 8th grade saying you're a professional athlete like you can walk around saying you're a Jedi Knight. There have always been those parents who push their children to be adults too soon, or to make sports a "job" of sorts even if they're not paid for it. We call those parents "morons". I think they existed last week, and they're going to exist next week, regardless of Freddy Adu. I don't think anyone could disagree that Freddy is a special case. He appears to be poised beyond his years (whatever those years may be). How many 14-year-olds do you know who could handle just the press conference Wednesday, much less everything else? Whenever something noteworthy like this happens, columnists grab their keyboards and write how (insert occurance here) is the first step on the Road to Ruin (and not the Ramones' classic album, either). Most of the time it's to try and sell papers. Crying wolf is guaranteed to get people riled up. Ever met Bobby Convey? The kid was poised at 17, much moreso than a lot of 17 year olds I've ever met, or than I was at 17. Sometimes they're like that. The ones who are have a shot at achieving their dreams, even if it's earlier than normal. The ones who don't are going to be lunkheads anyway. Parenting is the hardest job in the world and the easiest one to get. The fact that some will continue to do wrong by their children is not Freddy Adu's fault, MLS' fault, or soccer's fault. It just is what it is.
personally, i think one of the funniest comments on the adu situation is this: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/chronicle/archive/2003/11/21/SPG2D375NP1.DTL
Re: Re: 11/21/03: Smithers I don't like it when articles don't go the full distance. Suppose Freddy opted not to turn pro (Nike contract and all), and decides to go to college. He is still going to be 2 to 3 years younger than the other freshman. And, that would bring about a whole other analysis about the benefits of starting college too early.
On the Crew turning a profit Goal in reach: Crew could turn first profit for season (Columbus Business First - January 14, 2002) Columbus sets MLS standard -- in turning a profit (CNNSI - March 22, 2002) From that:
ClubQuake and BigSoccer (to an implied extent) gets a mention here from Dwight Chapin: Sign in, please: Club Quake, the official supporters' group for the Earthquakes, is putting together a guestbook on Sunday's MLS Cup for fans to sign and post comments. Webmaster John Mark Walker said the link to access is http://www. clubquake.org/?q=comment/reply/201. "I'd like to get at least 1,000 comments to show how much interest there is in MLS Cup and soccer in general,'' Walker said. The BigSoccer thread from the Quakes forum is here. I signed it, and anyone else who intends to watch the game in person or on TV (which pretty much means all of us) is welcome to do the same.
If that link from the article in the Chron's not working, just go to the thread listed. There will be one there that works.
Re: Re: Re: 11/21/03: Smithers These are opinion columns. If they went the "full distance," they wouldn't serve their purpose. Whether you agree with them or not, expectiing everyone in the world to think that signing a 14-year-old to a long-term, big-money contract is the greatest thing in the world is as silly as expecting everyone to think soccer is the greatest thing since Internet porn.
Soccer is the greatest thing since internet porn. Well, I guess it pre-dates internet porn. It's great, anyway. So are fish tacos. And eBay. And ATM's. And flying first class. Among other things. /digression
Yea, seems to be some confusion around this one. Nice to see the Galaxy made some money. Profitability is nothing to sneeze at, though $150,000 isn't going to lead to the raising of the salary cap by any high amount anytime soon.
I found this little gem. It's a fun read about Adu. http://www.sportsbusinessnews.com/index.asp?story_id=31353
It's like this guy is upset that Freddy is further along than his own son or something. Just because most kids can't figure out basic english (some bigsoccer posters too), and ignore their parents is no reason to say that this is their place. When one uses his gifts to take him places in life, we call that bad, but it's good for a kid to zone out etc. etc. I have a kid who may never be a prodigy of any sort, but I'd really appreciate it if he tries to do more than the average teen, in whatever way that turns out to be (he's only three, so it's all a long way off anyhow). How can someone say it's bad for anyone to try and do more. Americans push our lazy, loafing lifestyle on everyone until we think that it is normal and what the world should be like. Silly.
Ummmm. Any kind of tacos. You have no idea that garbage that passes for food over here, so I don't even want to start on English "Mexican" food...
My sister lived in London for the last two years before returning to the States recently. One of her dreams is to open up a series of quality Mexican food chains/restaurants/taco shops in London. She's sure she'd make zillions. You seem to confirm her point. Now back to our regularly scheduled soccer pontifications. PS. I'm more of a quesadilla with guacamole man myself.