Anyone been out the the Soccerplex?

Yup

I spent a long lunch over there and have little to report, but here it is...

The players arrived a bit late. [Rumor was that they'd been to the White House in the morning, but I think that was the World Cup team, rather than the MLS All Stars. Maybe it was both.] Marco was there as our rep, although I believe he came separately from the All Stars on the bus.

The MLS All Stars, did hold a "practice" (i.e., keep away, shoot on the keeper) for the benefit of fans and media. The lads had fun, but there wasn't anything to write home about. Marco slid a few shots past Tim Howard.

As a group, they looked older than I expected and I hope the one who was shockingly far from match fitness was a coach, but he was dressed as the team were and participated fully with them.

There are a number of autograph sessions for both MLS All Stars and the USMNT (all MLS players as well, of course) scheduled through the day. I don't have the details.

There are youth exhibition matches in the stadium until 7:00. The DCUnited U-15s were about to take on the Richmond Kickers U-15s as I left, but I have this thing called a job that I allow to interfere sometimes.

They are using a number of the fields for various soccer activities (e.g., human foosball, dribbling, shooting). The crowd for the activities was fairly sizeable (a lot more there than watching the practice) and there were lines for things, but I wouldn't call it mobbed by any stretch.

Yes, it was hot. Take water with you or you can pay for one of the fine Pepsi products that are offered.

 

I just talked to a guy who went and he said that it was hot as all hell and that it was surprisingly crowded with parking not easy to find. Apparently mobs of little kids are the order of the day.

 

I didn't go tonight but last night I went to Lucky Bar and met Clint Mathis and Ryan Suarez. Both were really cool and I had a nice long chat with both of them and the agent for one (or both, don't really know) of them. Don't remember his name; I didn't recognize it but he said he was local.

Anyway, there were all very friendly and gracious and had nothing but nice things to say about the weekend and DC and what not.

They left around 10 but shortly after they left several more of the all-stars showed up - Dema Kovalenko, Taylor Twellman, Carlos Bocanegra and later Landon Donovan (don't know how he got past the bouncer) were all there.

I talked to a couple of them and tried not to seem like a star-gazer of a jock sniffer and like the other 2, they were all very nice. All of them said they hope to impress Arena but didn't think a call-up was contingent on this game. Kovalenko also said he thought he was about 2 years from citizenship and hoped to play for the US once he is allowed.

I asked a couple of them what they thought of United's demise and a lot of them just shook their heads and most seemed to think they should be doing better given the talent they have. "They have a lot of good players" was a common theme but as one of the players said, in a 10-team league, even a talented team ends up in last place.

Anyway, I don't mean to name drop but I have to say that for being some of the bigger stars in their sport in this country that the players I met yesteday have to be among the nicest, most-modest, pleasant and all-around decent people going in professional sports. They were a credit to the league.

Having made last night's affair, I figured if I showed up at Germantown the players might think I was stalking them so I decided to take a pass on that event. Also, it was really effin-hot today! And, Germantown is a long-ass haul from the Va. suburbs. And, did I mention it was hot?

 

Seems like Niceness is a requirement!

My wife just reported she had a brief chat w/ Landon and that he was "soooo nice." "He stood for hours in the heat signing autographs and very sweetly signed my water bottle just after they said 'No more autographs.'"

It's nice to have his autograph, but I'd feel terrible if he keeled over from heatstroke in the 82nd minute tomorrow!

Sounds like a he's great ambassador for the sport!

DMB and others were also on hand. Seems like MLS, DCUnited, USSF, the MD Soccerplex all did a nice job reaching out to the community in this event.

 

The Soccerplex ROCKS. I was going to head out there at lunch time (I work about 10 minutes away), but I had to finish a report for a meeting.

[Homer voice] Stupid Job!! [/Homer voice]

 

I went out to the Soccerplex. It was hot as crotch.

They had tents set up with autograph lines. They had a stage with players talking and signing. The players practiced.

I saw many of the players and stood in some lines for autographs. All the players were great and liked having fans.

IT WAS HOT. And there were little kids everywhere because they brought school bus loads of kids from soccer camps and summer camps.

 

Oh yeah. I went to the Lucky Bar too.

I got involved in the foosball soccer tournament with Mathis and Suarez. They killed everybody. We played second. After playing, I told the organizers I didn't think anybody would beat them. So, rather than give prizes to the people who beat Clint and Ryan, they drew tickets out of a hat among those who had played. I think they were something like 9 wins and no losses.

We won a bag of goodies each. Mine had the MLS Greatest Goals 1996-2001 VHS video, two tickets to the All-Star game (in the 300 level so I might use them to get out of the sun under the overhang), 2 Budweiser T-shirts, 2 Budweiser hats, and 2 VIP passes to a pre-game party before the All-Star game sponsored by Budweiser (who sponsored the event).

 

Some of the players came by the Capitol Soccer Ball tonight including Taylor Twellman, Joe Cannon,
Marcelo Balboa. Roy Lassiter was there and no, the offside flag did not go up when he went over to the bar. They were all pretty cool about signing stuff and chatting with the fans.

It was a nice evening there at the CSB. I'm really glad I went. Everyone who volunteered for this did a great job.

Bill-DC

 

I went to the Socerplex today. The most significant thing I can say was that it was HOT!!!! 103F.

Frankly, I was very disappointed with the event. The games were fun for my kids, but I wanted to see the player skill competitions they have had in previous years. This year nothing.

I did spend 20 minutes talking to Ty Keogh and Jack Edwards under the shade of a tree. We talked about single entity, its effect on salaries, particularly for the younger players. Our young kids are certainly not doing it for the money.

As Ty put it, Twellman went from over 600k with his German team to a little over the league minimum 24k this year. That amount will surely change with his terrific season but it does point to a need to work on the low end of pay scale.

The other all be it related discussion was how to provide incentives into single entity for developing players. My idea was that individual teams, should keep most of the money made from developing players and transfering them, rather than the league. And whatever money was made could be used to increase salary caps. Jack was pretty skeptical but Ty liked the idea.

 

The Soccer Ball was funny.

Milton Reyes won the raffle for two tickets and a hotel night for the MLS Cup in Foxboro. Many were heard to remark that at least one DC United player is going to MLS Cup.

 

I was pretty disappointed with how they handled the event.

It was HOT as hell. My girlfriend and I tried to go into the building just to cool down for a little bit and the staff told us we had to leave. This despite the fact that we were there less than a couple of minutes (long enough to look at Agoose' signed Jersey) and that's where you were supposed to go to buy tickets for the All-Star game.

No water fountain anywhere to be found, you had to buy drinks to stay hydrated.

I can understand the desire to make money but in my opinion they were just asking for a law suit if anyone passed out.

 

That's bad. As it's a sports facility for kids you'd think someone there (if not the league) would have thought about keeping people hydrated. This DC hotspell did not suddenly appear. I mentioned to someone at United that they should have had water for sale in lot 8 on Sat as people kept asking the SEs for water (we're not allowed to sell anything and we quickly ran out for our own folks). They said maybe next time they could have one of those misting tents (although we don't play many games in the day so not sure if will be a next time). I hope no one did get heatstroke because it certainly would have been the day for it.

K

 

But, as I recall from going to the soccerplex on Friday, there was not a restriction on bringing in your own water. This was a free, public access event where they weren't searching your bags and removing outside beverages.

Most of the concessions were used to help pay for the development of the soccerplex if I understand the situation correctly. (So, I don't think money was being made). And if you bought a Pepsi product from the concession stand that was probably because Pepsi already holds a license with the facility.

Anyway, IMO, I think there is responsibility on both sides.

 

Word.

Don't be so fuggin' cheap, spend the buck fifty on some Aquafina.

 

Typical Metrostars behavior -- beating up on little children.